Chapter 48
The sunny weather had brought Teddy’s restaurant extra business, as people weren’t ready to say goodbye too early to the day
and had started their week off with a teatime treat. They’d had to set up tables outside to accommodate everyone. There were
a few repeat customers who had posted reviews and presented their vouchers for free desserts or coffees, which was good. The
flow of troll reviews had slowed down, but it hadn’t yet stopped; some were still getting through. They were obvious fakes
because when Flick answered them asking for details of their bookings, they didn’t respond.
Marielle had walked down to check on Flick and ended up being drafted to help wait on tables. It did her good; it took her
thoughts away from a past she couldn’t alter and into a present where everything was better than she’d imagined it might be
when she was sitting at home worrying. Flick was still sorting things out in her mind, but there seemed to be more advantages
than disadvantages for her to the disclosure. If Teddy was her brother, then that made Marielle her sort-of stepmum, and she
was well happy with that.
They closed the doors just after ten thirty. The waiters got straight off because they were going to a nightclub in Whitby.
Marielle envied them their energy. She started to strip the tables with Sabrina, who told her she could manage but George
could do with some help in the kitchen.
As Sabrina was taking a bag of rubbish out to the bins outside, she heard George say, “Marielle, I don’t know if this would be of interest to you, but I have two tickets for the theater to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding .
..” And when she came back in, George’s face didn’t read that Marielle had turned him down. She grinned. Dear George and
Marielle, they just needed a little push toward each other to start things off, and then they’d be fine, she was sure of it.
Teddy’s eyes locked with hers as she was wiping down the hatch.
“Are you okay?” she quizzed him.
“ You’re asking me ?”
“Yes, I am,” she said. “I know that Flick and your mum have had a lot to take in this weekend, but it can’t have been easy
for you either.”
He looked at her, really looked at her, into her beautiful, unusual gold-flecked eyes, at her hair caught up in a ring of
elastic and her flour-splattered black top, and he could so easily have reached through the hatch, placed his hand on the
back of her neck, and pulled her soft, full lips toward his own. She had stirred up his life by doing nothing really but being
in it; his feelings for her were strengthening day by day, and he was about to lose her anytime soon, he could feel it. He
knew his mum was hurting, he knew that Flick was trying to get her head around it all, but Sabrina was the only one who had
seen through his facade and realized that he, too, might be sorely affected by what had happened all those years ago between
his father and Cilla.
“I’m disappointed in him,” said Teddy, careful not to let his mother and George behind him hear. “He thought he was a good
father and he was, but when he hurt my mother, he hurt me too, and I’m not sure he ever thought about that. He saw us as two
separate pieces of his life. I wish I could have said this to him, got it all out in the open instead of keeping it inside
me. You always think you’ll have more time, though, don’t you? We should say the things that are important... before it’s
too late.”
He was looking at her so intently, as if he had something important to say to her. Then Flick appeared at her side and the moment was lost.
“I forgot to give you this, sorry, it was just so busy earlier on. Someone dropped it off for you on a motorbike. Said it
was a present from a well-wisher. Sweet.”
She had a parcel in her hand and on the front was written in Sharpie, “For the lady who has lost her memory.”
Sabrina tore off the brown paper to find a leather handbag with white waves of salt stains covering it. Puzzled, she unzipped
it and pulled out what was inside. Teddy watched her reach for the passport and open it slowly. He saw her breath catch in
her throat as she turned to the back, and he registered the moment when she saw her own face staring up at her from the page.