Chapter Five #2
Her enthusiasm drew him in and Gage found himself telling her about the meticulous preparations he’d started about six months ago.
Once he’d found the property, there’d been the purchase to complete, the business name to register and insurance to sort out.
Then there’d been the research to do on the local demographic to determine who might be his potential customers.
The steepest learning curves had been in designing the space, selecting and ordering books, and setting up the website and social media sites — crucial these days.
‘I’ve loved having something to get my teeth into again.’
‘I had no idea so much was involved and it makes my tin-pot idea of opening a café here sound totally unrealistic. I wouldn’t have known where to start.’
‘If it’s any consolation, I didn’t either. But you strike me as smart, so you’d have figured it out.’ Gage hesitated. ‘Did I tread on your toes buying this place?’
‘Not at all. I didn’t have the money. I dare not touch my measly savings now, not if I’m almost certainly going to be jobless in the new year.’ The flat statement struck hard.
‘I was fortunate that the money wasn’t a big issue, partly because of this.
’ He tapped his left knee. ‘It bumped up my pension significantly. I’ve lived pretty frugally too, one way or another.
’ Gage was anxious to get this next part out of the way.
‘I was injured a couple of years ago in Khartoum. 40 Commando were on a humanitarian mission to evacuate British nationals from Sudan and we ran into a spot of bother.’
‘A spot of bother?’ Her eyebrows shot up. ‘Is that a classic example of British understatement?’
He managed the ghost of a smile. ‘I guess. It’s not that I won’t share all the details, but I can’t for security reasons.
Let’s just say, our intelligence wasn’t what it should’ve been and we were pinned down.
I was shot trying to escape and it shattered my kneecap.
This one’s a fake. After some heavy-duty reconstructive surgery and intense physio it does a pretty good job, but I’ll never run marathons again. ’
‘Did you before?’
‘No, but I played a lot of rugby and basketball. I was huge on keeping fit. It’s more of a challenge now.’ It’d been a struggle to reach the point where he could sound nonchalant about it all, but nothing changed the fact he was no longer fit, strong and close to invincible.
‘That’s a bummer.’
‘Yeah, well, that’s life.’ Which was a lot more than his old mate, Angus McDonald, could say.
Known as Farmer, for obvious reasons, the soft-spoken Scotsman came home in a flag-draped coffin to be buried with full military honours in front of his heartbroken wife and three dazed children.
‘I should get back to work,’ he said reluctantly. ‘I’ve got the van to unload. It’s full of all the used books I had in storage.’
‘Would you like a hand?’ Colour suffused Tamara’s face. ‘I didn’t mean to imply—’
‘Don’t bloody tiptoe around me! I’ve had enough of other people’s pity to last a fucking lifetime.’ The words burst out before he put his brain in gear. ‘Hell, I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Just go,’ Gage whispered.
‘No.’
‘What do you mean, no?’
Tamara smirked. ‘I had you down as a fairly intelligent man, so I didn’t think simple English was beyond your understanding. I said no, because I’m still happy to stay and help.’
‘Even though I’m a rude, ungrateful bugger?’ He might as well say it himself.
‘Go figure.’
Her unrestrained laughter sent a surge of warmth racing through him.
‘Come on, I’ll help.’
Outside, he opened the van’s back doors.
‘There’s at least fifty boxes, I’m afraid.
’ His gaze drifted to her muscular arms. ‘Not that they’ll be a challenge to you.
The first time we met I wondered if you bent iron bars for fun.
You must be at the gym all the time. I was going to ask you for a recommendation so I can get back to regular workouts. ’
‘The gym? Sorry, but I’ve never darkened the doors of one in my life unless you count PE lessons at school.
I’m sure St Austell must have a gym, but there’s nothing closer.
’ She playfully flexed like a bodybuilder.
‘Hauling beer barrels up from the cellar. Digging my garden. Surfing. That’s where these come from.
I’m a pretty serious coastal walker too. ’
‘I used to love a good hard hike, but these days I have to pace myself and uneven ground can be tricky.’ He swallowed a wave of bitterness. Some days it felt like he’d lost a lot more than a kneecap.
‘I’ll take you sometime if you like? Show you the best spots and those it’s probably best you avoid. A lot of people use mountaineering sticks, so that might be worth a try.’
‘Thanks.’ Gage appreciated her unsympathetic practicality. ‘It’ll be hard to fit regular gym sessions around running the shop anyway. I’m not sure why I’m admitting this to you, but I about knackered myself shifting these boxes earlier.’
‘I’m not surprised. So where are we putting them?’
‘In the old kitchen for now, out of the way. They’re all numbered, so I want to keep them in order to match my spreadsheet when I’m ready to unpack and start shelving.’
‘Right, you go inside. I’ll haul the boxes in. You stack.’ She smiled and waved him away.
Gage could hear his old mates laughing to hear anyone ordering him around this way, but he worked hard to keep a straight face in case he offended her again.
* * *
‘So, what made you join the marines?’ Tamara picked up her steaming mug. As soon as they’d finished, he’d offered to put the kettle on.
‘I was living in Bristol. I’d just turned sixteen and hated school. Me and my mates were always bunking off. We were aimlessly wandering around the city centre one day and passed a recruiting office. Someone dared me to go in and so I did. It didn’t take much for the chap to talk me into applying.’
‘That’s very young. What did your parents think? Did they support you?’
He was slow to answer. ‘By that time, it was only me and my mum. We weren’t hitting it off.
Usual teenage stuff.’ Gage’s smile didn’t reach his dark, moody eyes.
‘The training was tough, but I relished the discipline. The camaraderie. All the travel. Later on, I went to night classes and retook my exams, and eventually got a degree in history. That’s when they sent me to officer training. Not much more to say, really.’
At a shrewd guess, she’d say it was nowhere close to the full story.
‘What about you?’
‘Born and bred in Penworthal. My parents both passed away within a couple of months of each other – cancer – when I was only twenty-three.’
‘I’m sorry, that must’ve been tough for you.’
‘It was awful.’ Tamara didn’t know him well enough to say any more. ‘I’ve one sister, Tracy, who used to manage the hairdresser’s shop but now lives in Australia with her partner. My childhood was nothing out of the ordinary, but, like you, it all changed when I was just a teenager.’
Shock flickered over his face when she told him succinctly about Toby.
‘I don’t need you feeling sorry for me, thank you very much.’
‘Sorry for you? Who says I am? I can’t believe you’re old enough to have a twenty-two-year-old son, that’s all.’
‘You haven’t seen me first thing in the morning.
’ Tamara realised what she’d said and covered her face with her hands.
When she peeked through her fingers, his face was redder than hers.
‘Forget I said that. Please.’ She studied him some more.
‘You should grow your hair longer,’ she blurted out.
What was it with her and her big mouth around this man?
‘My hair?’ Gage ran a hand self-consciously over his close-cropped head.
‘Then you’d resemble Hugh Grant and pull the female customers in droves.’
The puzzlement on his face said he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.
Why would he? Macho Royal Marines probably didn’t watch romcoms. Unless they had wives or girlfriends who forced them to, something else she had absolutely no business touching upon.
‘You’ve never heard of Notting Hill, have you? ’
‘The neighbourhood in London?’
‘No, well, yes, but . . .’ Talk about tying herself in knots. ‘It’s the name of one of my favourite films.’ By the time she finished explaining the plot, Gage’s smile was positively impish.
‘So if I’m to be the floppy-haired, shy bookshop owner, who’s playing Julia Roberts’ part? I can’t quite see any stunning A-list Hollywood actresses stumbling across The Mighty Pen and swooning over me.’
Like Hugh Grant in the film, Gage genuinely had no idea how interesting and outright sexy a lot of women might find him. Not that she did herself of course.
‘I bet she’d be high-maintenance, though, and that’s not my style.’ He shuddered, as though it had struck a nerve.
‘Oi, all right to come in, mate?’ Georgie Rowe threw open the kitchen door and ambled in, grinning at them both.
‘Sitting down on the job? Won’t get no work done that way.
The wife wanted me out from under her feet, so I thought I’d finish putting your shelves together.
’ His beady eyes registered Tamara’s presence.
‘Didn’t interrupt nothing, did I?’ A coarse laugh burst out of him.
‘Tamara’s been kind enough to help me shift all these boxes.’
‘I’d better be off.’ She exhaled with relief and was glad to be saved from herself. ‘Things to do. See you around.’