Page 50 of The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove

Everyone burst out laughing. This wasn’t really the way that I wanted my family to find out, but when I looked across at Mum, she just smiled back at me. Dad looked at his feet and Dan winked at me and shout-whispered, ‘Get in!’ It would seem that this was no surprise to any of them.

Dennie walked across to me, kissed me gently on the lips and slung his arm around my shoulder.

‘Better, Nan?’

‘Perfect, my boy. Perfect.’ She smiled at him and the love that shone between them was quite overwhelming. They reallydid have a lovely relationship and it had bloomed over the last few weeks. ‘You’re so good for him, Nancy. I’ve noticed such a change. Not so uptight as he normally is.’ We all laughed. ‘It’s been lovely to watch him finally start to relax and not be so focused on work and bloody money all the time. To have the love of a good woman is doing him the world of good.’

‘A good shag always helps too,’ my brother mumbled.

‘Language, Daniel!’ my mother said, using her warning voice like she did when we were youngsters.

As I put my arm around Dennie’s waist and he looked down into my eyes, smiling that gorgeous smile of his, I felt the happiest I’d ever been in my life.

The hammering on the door startled us all, and when we looked up, there was a man that I didn’t recognise peering through the glass. I heard a little gasp from Dennis as he seemed to register who it was.

I headed for the door. Whoever he was, he wasn’t giving up the banging until he came in. As I opened it, immediately the stench of alcohol hit me and I took a step back.

The man stumbled into the shop and made his way over to Dennie. He went to high-five him but was left hanging while Dennie looked at him in horror.

‘So, this is your little project, Dennis. This is what’s been keeping you away. Nice, mate. Nice.’

‘Craig. What are you doing here?’

‘Come to see what it’s all about. I was hoping to get down earlier for the open day but got caught up at a business lunch instead. Bit too much to drink and ended up falling asleep onthe train and not long arrived in this little seaside town of yours. Where the fuck even is this? The arse end of nowhere?’

Craig was clearly a bit of an arsehole and I took an immediate dislike to him. He had a permanent sneer on his face and an attitude that made it seem like he thought he was better than everyone else. Little man syndrome, in my opinion. Five foot nothing with spindly little legs. Not that I was generalising about short people, of course. But I’d come across his type many times before. Think they’re the dogs’ doodahs but don’t realise what a total tosser they look!

I looked across at my brother and giggled as he wiggled his little finger and mouthed ‘tiny dick’ at me. It was something he’d done for years when he encountered someone who thought they were something special.

The irony of years of dealing with people like this, who despite being huge dickheads most probably had tiny todgers, was something that Dan and I laughed about all the time. He wasn’t a lover of David Beckham but I was, and while Dan insisted he’d only have a very small appendage, my love for Becks had assured him many times that it would be absolutely fricking huge!

Dennie’s arm had immediately dropped from my shoulder and I was puzzled by the horrified expression on his face.

‘He’s off his head,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘Let me get him out of here.’

Sadly, Craig clearly had an acute sense of hearing because he shouted back at him, ‘Dennis my mate! No need to get me out of here. I’m not planning to stop in this dead-end shithole. I only came to give you your hundred quid.’

My puzzlement was growing. Why on earth would he have travelled all this way to give Dennie a hundred pounds?

‘Come on, buddy, let’s go for a walk,’ Dennis said, trying to appease his friend. ‘Or I could take you to the pub for a drink.’

I hoped he didn’t mean that. Craig had clearly had quite enough although I somehow felt that he would still be a total twat even if he hadn’t got alcohol inside him. What a vile little man he was. I was surprised Dennie would even be friends with someone like this. He didn’t strike me as the sort of person he would want to spend time with. Maybe they were just colleagues. I was sure he would tell me as soon as he could get rid of him.

Though I wasn’t sure where he would go. The last train back to London would have gone by now. Maybe Lucy and James would still have a vacant room for the night – he definitely looked like he needed to sleep this off – although I didn’t think they should have to put up with someone in his state.

‘I don’t want to go to the pub. I want to have a look round this lovely bookshop that’s been keeping you away from the office for so long.’

He wandered over to the shelves, picked up a special edition of a Dickens novel, a gorgeous specimen with sprayed edges and one that would have sold for quite a tidy penny to a collector. He flicked through the pages with his clumsy fingers, and then dropped it on the floor. I scooted over to retrieve it, trying to limit the damage, and at the same time I tried to block off the shelf that held all the most valuable stock.

Dennie came to my side immediately.

‘Ah, so maybe you’re what’s keeping our Dennis here then. You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you?’ He sneered at me and laughed right in my face. ‘It’s making more and more sense now.’

‘Come on, mate, let’s go.’

‘Ah, but, Dennie, I wanted to come and see it for myself and see if you really did make this “poxy little bookshop”—’ he made the universal sign for speech quotes ‘—isn’t that what you called it, into a thriving profitable business. It looks like you have, mate. Well done. And found yourself a sexy little shag too. Top marks. Top marks.’ He reached into his back pocket and threwsome folded-up notes at Dennis. ‘Here’s your winnings. And congratulations. Not only will you now get the promotion you’ve been desperate for. You also won the bet.’

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