Page 61 of Best Summer Ever

‘Are you joining Nick for the quiz?’ I asked Josh. ‘There’s no sign of Penny yet, so he could do with the company.’

‘I suppose I could,’ Josh said, with a lazy smile.

When he looked like that, I had no desire to let him move further away and I wished I’d stalled him.

‘He’s mad for you, you know,’ Marguerite nudged me.

‘Oh,’ I said, playing it cool, but feeling thrilled. ‘I don’t know about that.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I do.’

I was beginning to feel increasingly mad for him too, but I wasn’t about to confess that.

‘It’s just a summer fling,’ I said. ‘We’re just having fun until the fall,’ I added, using a phoney accent that didn’t cut it at all.

‘You sure about that?’

I looked over to where Josh was sitting and found that even though he was chatting with Nick, he was looking at me. My heart practically somersaulted in my chest.

‘Absolutely,’ I said, having first cleared my throat. ‘Absolutely sure.’

‘You can join Nick and Josh for the quiz, if you like,’ Sam said to me, making me jump.

I hadn’t realised he was there and hoped he hadn’t heard what Marguerite had said. Not that Sam was likely to gossip, but word had a way of getting around in Wynmouth.

‘No,’ I resisted, ‘I’m working tonight. It’s fine.’

‘No one will want a drink while Tess is asking the questions,’ he countered.

‘And I’ll serve them if they do,’ Marguerite further said.

I got the impression that she could run the bar, ask the questionsandcook the food, and all without missing a beat. It wasn’t that she was trying to take over or make me feel redundant. Marguerite was too kind for that and I could tell she was an open book, so there was no ulterior motive either. She was simply in her element.

‘Well,’ I said, ‘if you’re sure…’

My feet were aching after the earlier stint in the café so the option to take a load off was appreciated. I wondered how Penny was feeling and more to the point, where was she? She had been pretty insistent, both times, when I had asked her about it, that she’d be at the quiz but so far, no sign.

‘We are sure,’ said Sam.

I pulled myself a slightly frothy half-pint and then a better pint for Josh because he hadn’t ordered a drink when he came in, and then paid and carried them over to where he and Nick were sitting.

‘I wish I knew where Penny had got to,’ I said, as I set the glasses down.

‘Thank you,’ said Josh, when I indicated that the pint was his.

‘I know where she is,’ said Nick. ‘Sorry, I should have said.’

‘Yes,’ I scolded him, ‘you should. I’ve been worrying. I hope she’s not still down at the café.’

‘No, she’s not. She’s sparked out in her armchair at the cottage.’

‘How do you know that?’ I asked, as I stopped midway to taking a drink.

‘I wandered along to her place before coming here,’ he told me. ‘And I could see her asleep through the window. Obviously I didn’t knock for her after that. I don’t know how she’s going to get through the next few weeks if she’s already this exhausted right at the start of the season.’

‘Me neither,’ said Josh, sounding kindly concerned. ‘We were in the café earlier, weren’t we, Daisy? And it was rammed.’

‘We were,’ I said, looking over to where Marguerite was chatting and laughing with a couple of customers while pullingpints at the same time. I couldn’t do that. The glasses I filled always required my entire attention. ‘But don’t worry about it. I have a plan.’

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