Page 12 of Best Summer Ever

‘No,’ I responded, thinking of the angst she’d gone through before settling on teaching, ‘I can’t, but I do know you stilllove to cook, Penny, and given my track record when it comes to the world of work, I’m hardly in a position to try and talk you into sticking with the teaching, am I?’

‘Not really,’ Penny said, grinning.

‘Well, I think it’s a shame,’ said Nick, ‘but I do love your food and knowing what you’ve been through this year, Pen, I can understand where you’re coming from. Life’s too short to work at a job that makes you miserable.’

‘Hear, hear!’ I agreed, holding up my glass and feeling another pang because I didn’t know the details of what she’d recently been through.

‘I thought we’d just agreed your opinion doesn’t count, Daisy,’ Nick then teased. ‘You’ve never stuck at anything long enough to find out if you like it or not.’

‘Hey,’ I yelped, pretending to be affronted and pelting him with a stray piece of lettuce. ‘I know my own mind, thank you very much,’ I stated, echoing Mum’s words. ‘I just can’t get it to settle on something, that’s all…’

My words trailed off as I wondered if, in reality, I was ever going to find something I could do, love and excel at.

‘It will one day,’ Penny then kindly and convincingly said. ‘Something will come along when the time is right, just like this café opportunity has for me.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘the next thing that’s coming along in the very near future is pulling pints in the Smuggler’s. Sam has offered me a few shifts behind the bar.’

My mind flitted to the American guy who I had earlier crossed paths with and I wondered if he’d been passing through the village or planning to hang around. I might end up pulling a pint for him. Assuming he had a taste for British beer.

‘That’s a new one, isn’t it?’ asked Nick. ‘I can’t remember you ever working in a pub before.’

‘Completely new. Maybe this could be that special something I’ve been looking for.’

‘Really?’ Penny asked, sounding sceptical.

‘Maybe.’ I shrugged, even though I didn’t genuinely think it would be. ‘Who knows?’

‘I do,’ said Nick, standing up and stretching his arms above his head, which made his shirt ride up and exposed his midriff. ‘I give you a fortnight. Three weeks at best.’

‘Biff him for me, would you, Pen?’ I requested. ‘I’m out of salad to throw at him.’

She didn’t biff him and when I turned to look at her, I found she was bright red and suddenly engrossed with stacking the plates together.

‘Just phase him out,’ she muttered, without looking up. ‘That’s what I’ve learnt to do.’

Between the three of us, we tidied everything away and I said I’d better get back to Mum and Dad’s before the drawbridge went up because I’d forgotten to take my key.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Nick, as he threw a blanket around Penny’s shoulders and we headed back into the garden, ‘I’ve got one for the cottage. You can borrow that if needs be.’

‘In that case,’ I said, quickly sitting down and stretching out on the recliner he had been heading towards, ‘I won’t rush off.’

‘But I’ll have to get going in a minute,’ Penny sighed, checking her watch. ‘It is, as you pointed out earlier, Daisy, a school night.’

‘The first of the week too.’

She let out a groan of frustration.

‘How can it only be Monday?’ she grimaced. ‘It’s sports day on Thursday and personally I’m hoping for rain.’

Nick reached for his phone.

‘The forecast is still showing sunny and very warm,’ he said regretfully. ‘Hot almost. Though of course, that’s exactly what I need to put some paint on the strawberries. Sorry, Pen.’

‘How’s the fruit farm doing?’ I asked, loving his description of the way the sun ripens the fruit. ‘It sounds like Dad’s got a lot extra on his plate in the garden this year. Have you got more to do on the farm too?’

‘Thankfully not and it’s going really well,’ Nick told me. ‘Even better than usual, I think. The weather has been perfect and considering we’re not at peak holiday time yet, it’s very busy too. Had it been a bit quieter, I would have been helping your dad out in the garden. I know he’s struggling.’

‘He’s told me Algy got him to set up a cut-flower enterprise,’ I said. ‘I haven’t seen it obviously, but I can imagine it’s another full-on thing for Dad to have to deal with during his already stretched time.’

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