Chapter 24
ADDIE
Aunt Gayle had seen the last of the stragglers to the door and as the sun began to set, it was time to get underway with the big clean-up.
It was Susanna who had suggested they help out now.
At first, Addie had thought it was because she felt guilty about not helping with the setting up, as they’d initially said they would.
Instead, Susanna had had them boxing their father’s belongings that they wanted sent back to the mainland, and she’d even gone all the way and arranged for their shipment.
What had changed Addie’s mind, however, was when right after Susanna’s suggestion they help now, she’d added that the sooner they cleared up, the sooner they could get out of here.
Susanna had been unusually tetchy since last night, a different person to the woman who’d been in the kayak laughing her head off, the sister who had relaxed as they ate and drank and shopped and enjoyed one another’s company.
And Addie hadn’t had the chance to ask what was wrong because Susanna seemed to be on autopilot, getting things done as fast as she could.
Maybe Alex was the problem. The sisters had talked about him on their holiday, but not much.
In fact, Susanna had been having fun and seemed to have put him out of her mind, but maybe now she was getting closer to going back to Cambridge, she was worrying all the more about what might be happening in her marriage.
Addie thought of how her sister had looked at Mateo during the gathering, and the body language which suggested there could easily be something between them again.
She hoped Susanna wasn’t going to do anything silly.
She and Alex belonged together – surely they could work it out.
She’d been sorely tempted to call her brother-in-law and have a word with him, but she didn’t want to interfere.
Susanna wouldn’t ever thank her for that.
Addie took her phone out when it buzzed with a message from Maurie.
She felt her insides settle when she saw a picture of Isaac with Jonty.
For once, Isaac’s dad had actually shown up, and despite the unease she felt that Jonty wasn’t used to parenting, she knew Maurie would have everything in hand.
She’d hit the jackpot with her and Jarrett as her son’s grandparents.
As she picked up some debris from the floor and left it on the side of a table to pop in the bin later, she thought about her encounter with Samuel earlier.
She’d wondered whether the man who had rescued her from being tangled with his son’s kite would be on the guest list today, and although she hadn’t spotted him when she first arrived, her eyes had locked with his right after she finished her speech.
She’d finally plucked up the courage to go and say hello after chatting with Nancy, Gayle and some of the other locals who welcomed her back.
She’d caught him midway through a mouthful of pudding.
‘Sorry.’ She grimaced. ‘I didn’t time that well, did I?’
His hand covered his mouth for a moment. ‘I’ve had four helpings already. Maybe it’s a sign I should stop and talk instead.’
‘Don’t worry, I could never resist Gayle’s baking, either.’
‘My son would’ve loved coming home from school to fresh bakes, but I’m afraid I’m not all that good in the kitchen.’
Susanna had told her that she’d noticed Samuel hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring when they’d met for the first time, and she found her gaze drifting to his hand to double check. Susanna was right.
Billy came barrelling over to his dad.
‘Lovely to meet you again, Billy. Did you ever get to fly your kite properly?’ Addie asked.
‘We got it so high!’ His hands flailed out to demonstrate. ‘I almost got it tangled around a post, though, and then I almost let go of it.’
Samuel put a hand on Billy’s shoulder. ‘First kite. It’s a learning curve.’
Addie had thought how marvellous it would be to let Isaac have a go at flying a kite. She could take him to one of London’s many open green spaces, but how lovely would it be to have vast open spaces and the beach at your fingertips the way everyone on Anchor Island did.
‘How old are you, Billy?’ she asked.
‘I’m seven,’ he announced with confidence.
She looked into the same big brown eyes that his father had and told him, ‘I have a little boy too, and he is seven just like you.’
‘What’s his name?’ Billy asked.
‘Isaac.’
But Billy had caught sight of more chocolate puddings arriving on a tray and wriggled out of Samuel’s grasp.
‘Careful, Billy,’ Samuel called after him, wincing as he narrowly missed knocking into someone on his quest to reach the pudding. ‘I’m afraid he’s overdosed on sugar today.’
She laughed. ‘I think we all have. My son is just as energetic, with or without sugar.’
‘Is Isaac here today, with your husband?’
‘No, he’s staying with his grandparents for a while. And there’s no husband, I’m not married.’ It all tumbled out when perhaps it sounded a bit desperate.
‘Me neither, not any more. Wife, I mean, not husband.’ He grimaced at the muddling of his words.
‘It’s okay, I knew what you meant.’ It was endearing and suggested Susanna might be right. Perhaps he was interested.
Samuel pulled a face, his attention flitting from Addie to across the room. ‘I’m going to have to follow Billy around before he knocks something or someone flying.’
‘I should go and help out a bit in the kitchen.’
‘We’ll talk later?’
She’d smiled. ‘That sounds good.’
She hadn’t got the chance to catch up with him again after that, but she sincerely hoped she did before she left the island in a couple of days’ time.
Susanna was mopping the floor. Addie finished picking up the remaining debris from various surfaces, and as she picked up her cloth to wipe down a couple of sticky tables, she said to her sister, ‘Mateo seemed chatty today.’ She could bring up his name when it was just the two of them, with Gayle and Louisa in the kitchen dealing with the clean-up in there.
‘Susanna,’ she repeated when it appeared that her sister was in her own little world.
‘Sorry, what?’
‘I was just saying that Mateo seemed chatty today.’
‘Yes, it was good to catch up.’ She dunked the mop back into the bucket, squeezed out the excess water, and then carried on mopping.
‘Is he married?’ Addie asked.
Susanna didn’t stop. ‘What does that have to do with anything?’
‘Just a question. I wondered if he’d settled down, that was all.’
Maybe she wouldn’t ask anything else. She just hoped her sister knew what she was doing if she was getting close to him again when she had problems with Alex.
She wiped the back of one of the chairs that had a smear of something or other on it.
The breeze from the open window – which would help to dry the floor quicker – sent goose-pimples all the way up her bare legs.
The weather had cooled but given the request for colour on the invite her navy linen knee-length spaghetti-strapped dress, coupled with a lightweight lime-green cardigan with dainty white flowers on the top had been the best choice for the occasion.
When she’d packed, she hadn’t really thought it through and brought many options, and she felt good in the dress too.
She turned to see a couple more stray bowls on the lowest windowsill near the door. ‘I’ll just take these to the kitchen.’ There was, it seemed, a never-ending supply of crockery in this place.
She made her way behind the counter where she noticed one more bowl on the very edge that she skilfully picked up as she passed through the short corridor to the kitchen.
She was almost at the open doorway but stopped when she heard the name Harry.
She hadn’t talked much to Aunt Gayle about her dad since they’d come back to the island – she was usually wary of going on about him in front of Susanna – so now she wanted to pause and hear what her aunt had to say, especially because she’d also mentioned the Cuppas and Treats Café.
Addie loved hearing the Oxford memories, a lot of which she couldn’t recall given how young she had been.
‘Harry always wanted the café to stay in the family,’ Addie heard Gayle say to Louisa. ‘I hate that I couldn’t help him with that.’
Addie never realised their aunt had felt guilty about not being able to help Harry. The story she had pieced together, mostly from what she remembered her dad saying and what Susanna had told her, was that their aunt had left and never looked back. Her focus had become the Sweet Life Café.
‘You had a dream, and you followed it,’ came Louisa’s voice. ‘You shouldn’t feel guilty.’
‘He’d like seeing this.’ Addie could hear a smile in her aunt’s voice and expected Gayle to expand about the event or the fact that Addie and Susanna were here, but she went on to say, ‘You and I working alongside each other.’
Addie was confused. Why on earth would he like the fact that Louisa was here when she was a random stranger?
She didn’t have to wonder for long. The next words almost caused her to drop everything she was carrying when she heard Louisa say, ‘I’ve enjoyed getting to know my father through you.’
‘He would’ve been proud that you came here to find family,’ said Gayle.
Addie took a step backwards, then another and another until she was back behind the counter. She turned and dumped everything she was holding with a clatter.
Her gaze went to the outside where Susanna was emptying dirty water from the mop bucket.
She couldn’t move.
Susanna came inside, one arm wiping her brow, and looked over. ‘Everything all right?’
Addie said nothing.
And now her sister knew something was up.
Susanna abandoned the empty bucket and the wet mop beside the front door and came to her sister’s side. She guided her from the counter to the nearest chair. ‘Addie… What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’
How could she possibly find the words to tell her what she’d just overheard?
‘Addie, you’re scaring me.’ With Addie seated, Susanna sat opposite. ‘Tell me what’s wrong. Is Isaac all right?’