Page 39 of Sunrise By the Sea

Polly raised her cup.

‘I can see why you order stuff in. This coffee and biscuits are absolutely awesome.’

‘From Italy,’ said Marisa.

‘Oh, great.’

‘But as soon as I can make it to the bakery, I’ll get my bread from you.’

‘Is that a promise?’

‘Yes,’ Marisa said firmly. ‘Yes, it is.’

Next door a terribly clunking duet was making its way to an end. There was a lengthy pause and then BANG! all four tiny paws finished simultaneously and on the right chord.

Marisa and Polly grinned at each other.

‘Did you hear that?’

‘YOU ARE NINJAS!’ came the voice from next door, loud enough to be heard in the kitchen. ‘YOU ARE MY TWIN NUNCHUK DUET NINJAS!’

‘How come he knows the word for ninjas and he doesn’t know the word for strawberry?’ grumbled Polly.

Chapter Twenty-three

Predictably, Avery had a lot of questions about nunchucks as Polly thanked Marisa for the coffee and headed on down the road. Mr Batbayar watched them go. Marisa, buoyed, stood out on the steps too.

Marisa gave him a half-smile, which he tentatively returned, then vanished into his house and returned her freshly washed lemon-yellow plate and fork.

‘I am sorry,’ he said, staring at the ground. ‘When I did yell-ink at you.’

‘It’s okay,’ she said. And then, surprised at her own daring. ‘How much is a piano lesson?’

‘You want piano lesson?’

He looked totally bemused. Obviously he had her down as a total music hater in every conceivable way.

‘Oh God, not for me.’

He half-smiled. ‘Noooo, not for you.’

‘. . . if I was to pay for the children? But, not with money.’

‘Actually, I would say money is good.’

In fact, Marisa had a plan. She had been a little taken aback by Polly pointing out – correctly – how she didn’t contribute to the community, as well as the curly-haired woman talking about neighbourliness. And she wasn’t exactly spending her own wages.

She could see how proud Polly was. Of course she wouldn’t take charity.

On the other hand.

‘If I said, you can play at night that’s fine and also maybe if I cooked for you, when I was cooking . . . could you maybe keep teaching the twins?’

This all came out in a rush and he frowned as his serious careful face worked through what she meant.

‘Ah,’ he said sadly. ‘You mean, to hear me play that would be a great sacrifice for you but you would do it to help another person.’

‘No!’ said Marisa. ‘Well. Is that what I said?’

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