Page 6 of Dead in the Water

“You’re serving coffee now?”

Lily nodded. “It’s not great. Whenever you want decent coffee you should go to the Cookie Jar.”

Glynis chuckled and patted her hand. “I could do with a glass of water, if you don’t mind. And if you’ve got five minutes to sit and tell me how you’ve been, that would perk me up no end.”

“Of course.” Lily smiled and made her way inside.

While filling a tall glass with water, she felt a heaviness in her stomach. Had Glynis come to visit Lily because they were friends and she was genuinely interested in her, or was she gathering information to pass back to Maria?

Heading back outside, Lily cast her eyes over Glynis and decided the notion was absurd. She barely looked fit enough to be out, never mind be on some convoluted spy mission.

Sitting, Lily filled her in on the shop, and how lovely it was to have Jessica working with her. Glynis smiled along, but wasn’ther usual chatty self. After five minutes, she feebly said she should get home, then waved away Lily’s offer to escort her.

Watching her go, Lily realised she hadn’t asked about Flynn, which was a sure sign she wasn’t back to full fitness. Another thought hit her too – at the speed Glynis was going, Lily could easily nip around the other way and catch Maria alone. Presumably, she’d be at home. As far as Lily could tell, she didn’t leave the house much. It was another reason she suspected her of being the owner of the ice cream shop – she was keeping herself hidden because she was concerned about being recognised by someone who knew her twenty years ago.

“Hello!” Jessica said, arriving for work and breaking Lily from her thoughts.

With Jessica there to look after the shop, there was no reason she couldn’t finally confront Maria.

She smiled brightly at her chirpy employee. “It looks like the weather will be better for us today.”

“I hope it’ll be busy,” Jessica said, walking inside with her. “I love seeing the customers reacting to your ice cream.”

“I like it too,” Lily agreed, pushing thoughts of Maria aside and focussing on her job.

As she’d suspected, they had a steady stream of customers over the morning. They took it in turns to take a lunch break, though Lily’s was only a quick dash up to the flat to grab a sandwich. At a lull in the afternoon, she left Jessica to keep an eye on the place and wandered onto Porthcressa Beach to stretch her legs.

She walked the length of the beach and had started back towards the shop when she caught sight of Seren. With her striking red hair swinging in a ponytail, she was easy to spot as she strolled towards her.

“Jessica said you were out for a walk.”

“I fancied some fresh air,” Lily said. “What are you up to?”

“Just killing time before I start my shift in the pub.”

“Were you on the hunt for ice cream, by any chance?”

“Not really, no.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Should I be offended?”

“No. You know I love your ice cream. I just think I love it a little too much. I need to get back to eating ice cream as a treat, rather than every single day.”

“Fair enough,” Lily said. “I feel the same way. I’m almost sick of the sight of the stuff already. But that’s probably a good thing.”

“We should start swimming in the mornings,” Seren said. “A few years back I swam a few times a week, but I got out of the habit.”

“I’m definitely up for that.” The thought had crossed her mind a few times recently, when she’d looked out of her living room window to see people getting their exercise out in the bay.

“Anyway,” Seren said, linking her arm with Lily’s. “I haven’t got long, so tell me what’s up?”

“How do you mean?” Lily asked, dragging her toes through the soft sand as they walked.

“You seem a bit down? Or are you just tired now that you’re working for a living?”

“I am tired,” she admitted. It was a good kind of tired though. The shop kept her busy, but she enjoyed it.

“It’s probably a shock to the system being so busy. It’s also kind of amazing that you’ve done so much in such a short space of time. Don’t you think it’s crazy that just a few months ago you had no clue how to make ice cream or how to run a shop?”

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