Page 57 of Best Summer Ever

‘And don’t be pedantic about it,’ insisted Dad.

‘In that case, yes, I’m seeing someone,’ I said succinctly. ‘I have definitely taken up with a tourist in the village.’

Dad’s shoulders sagged.

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Mum frowned.

The evidence now on my phone, and stored up in my memory bank of my bedroom antics over the last few days, thought it was a wonderful idea.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked innocently.

‘We just don’t want you to get hurt,’ said Dad. ‘More hurt than you already must be,’ he further added.

He sounded so genuinely concerned that, had I not again been feeling the sting of what his words, actions and manipulation had put paid to when I left school, then I might have felt enough compassion to reassure him, but as it was, I stuck to the facts.

‘I appreciate that,’ I told him, ‘but that’s not going to happen. The American tourist I’m… dating, is going to be in Wynmouth just for the summer. He’s single, as am I, and we’re… keeping each other company until such time as he has to leave or I do. Whichever comes first. There’s no ambiguity. We both know what we’re doing.’

‘I see,’ Dad said.

‘Spending time with him isn’t interfering with my work,’ I carried on, ‘and I don’t think you need to know more than that. I’m not a child.’

Mum still hadn’t said a word, but I could tell that my idea about how I should be spending the summer differed vastly from hers. I daresay she and Dad were also both thinking that the fact that I was already seeing someone else really was the death knell for mine and Laurence’s relationship. Zero chance of rekindling now. Hooray!

‘So, if you message to tell us that you’re having a night away,’ Dad nonetheless further probed, ‘you’ll be with this American, not Penny.’

‘I’ll most likely be with him, yes,’ I confirmed. ‘Though sometimes I might be with Penny, who, by the way, thinks the guy is absolutely lovely. And Nick likes him too.’

That stopped Dad in his tracks. He thought highly of Nick’s opinions.

‘So,’ Mum finally said, breaking her silence, ‘they’ve both met him, have they?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘we were all at board-game night together in the pub and he helped me out at the café, lugging all the orders Penny had delivered on Tuesday, while she was still finishing up the term at school.’

‘That was nice of him,’ Mum said tentatively.

‘Heisnice, Mum,’ I said, wanting her to know that even though Josh was only going to be a temporary fixture, he was a wonderful one. ‘Really nice.’

‘Oh, well,’ said Dad, sounding resigned. ‘I suppose that’s that then.’

I didn’t ask him to clarify what he meant by that because I knew. If I gave Dad the slightest opportunity, he’d bring the conversation around to include Laurence. I’d only just stopped holding my breath that it might be him responding to Dad’s call every time I heard the cottage phone ring, which happened a surprising number of times, in the brief hours I was at home, and I didn’t want to poke the hornet’s nest further.

‘I’d best get off,’ Dad sighed. ‘Every day I feel like I’m getting further behind.’

It was on the tip of my tongue to blurt out that ultimately,he only had himself to blame for that but again, acting in favour of family harmony, I kept my lips zipped.

‘Yes,’ said Mum, taking a final bite of her toast, ‘me too.’

She began to pile the plates together.

‘Leave all of that,’ I told her. ‘I’m not going into the village until later so I can do it.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely,’ I said, immediately getting on with it.

I had promised to help out around the house when I first arrived back at Wynbrook, so it was the least I could do.

‘Are we likely to get to meet this tourist then?’ Mum asked. She didn’t use Josh’s name because I hadn’t supplied it. Given the efficiency of the village gossip I was sure both she and Dad most likely knew it anyway. ‘He could come for supper one evening.’

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