Page 47 of A Summer Scandal

‘Jesus.’

Lucy wandered up, raising her camera out of instinct and catching Beau with one leg slung over the top of the gate. He spotted her and assumed a muscle man pose, giving her a photo worth taking.

‘What’s going on?’ she said, as the three of them stood watching Beau jog off along the pier.

Vi pointed to the new chain. ‘Someone decided to make it hard for us all to go to work this morning.’

‘The Lady Mayoress, by any chance?’ Lucy said.

Violet and Keris both shrugged, but their identical, knowing expressions said they agreed.

‘Shall we march up to the mayoral office and dump it on her desk?’ Keris said.

‘Probably exactly what she wants,’ Vi sighed. ‘I bet the photographer would just happen to be around too.’

They watched as Beau reappeared with a set of bolt-cutters and made short work of slicing the chain through from the other side. Violet shook it free and unlocked the normal padlock, pocketing the keys as she picked the offending chain and lock up off the floor.

‘Come on. I’m going to go and chuck these off the end of the pier.’

‘Hi,’ Cal said, putting his head around her door an hour or so later.

The sight of him made her heart skip a beat as she looked up from her sewing machine.

‘Hi,’ she said softly, taking her foot off the pedal and pushing her hair out of her eyes.

‘I heard about the chain on the gates,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if my mother was responsible.’

So that was how they were going to play it, by pretending last night had never happened.

‘No major harm done. Beau saved the day.’

Cal nodded, then held her gaze for a moment.

‘About last night,’ she said.

‘Don’t,’ he said, cutting in. ‘It was my fault.’

‘It wasn’t anyone’s fault, it just happened,’ Vi said, slightly hurt by his tone, by the way he obviously felt what happened between them was a mistake to be apologised for.

He frowned, and then he sighed, and then he nodded. ‘Okay.’

And then he closed her door, leaving her staring at it and feeling as frustrated with him as she did with his bloody mother. One way or another the Dearhearts were driving her nuts.

Violet sat in the chair in the bay window of her mermaid bedroom and watched the sun come up, rose-gold fingers of light across a deep purple sky. It was Saturday morning, the day she’d invited the local community to come and see the pier for themselves. The weather forecast was for a bright May day, cakes had been baked and bought, and the new coffee machine installed and ready to dispense cup after cup of designer coffee. Who wouldn’t fancy a slice of Barty’s carrot cake and a stroll along the pier? He’d been a great help in spreading the word at all of his various clubs; Violet couldn’t have asked for someone more practised at banging the jungle drums.

‘Sorry Gladys, no rain today,’ Vi murmured. She was sure the Mayoress would know all about the open day by now and had no doubt been hoping rain would blow in and spoil play. She’d been well and truly thwarted on that score; the last weekend in May promised blue skies and sunshine.

From Violet’s bedroom window she could see the pier, the early morning sun slanting off the glass birdcage balanced out over the sea. At this time of morning the swallows gathered; she could just about make them out. The sight of them always touched a place in her heart; she could well imagine that Monica had drawn pleasure from them too. Much had changed in Swallow Beach since her grandmother’s day, but the sight of the swallows would have been just the same. It was a comforting thought to start the day on.

‘Okay, let’s do this,’ Keris said, trying to whip them all up into a frenzy of excitement.

It was just before eight in the morning, and the occupants of the pier were gathered bright and early in Keris’s shop at the front of the birdcage, which was looking rather splendid now that she’d worked her magic. The old wooden and glass display case looked fabulous stocked with Cal’s work, and Beau’s cage was now inhabited by a taxidermied fox, which looked terribly avant-garde. Beau and Cal had cleverly worked together too to create a new line of leather jewellery and accessories especially for the shop: ribbon and shell bracelets and necklaces similar to the one Cal had given Violet; funky silver rings Beau had fashioned from a box of old cutlery found in the birdcage; little delicate glass and fretwork replicas of the birdcage; and belts, key rings and purses. It was a great idea – give the public something they could actually buy for themselves or as momentos and gifts.

Lucy had done her bit too, taking wonderfully atmospheric shots of the pier at dawn and sunset, of the beautiful old gates and of Swallow Beach town itself. She’d made them into prints and postcards, and Keris had used them to create a breathtaking display on one side of the shop. And to top it all off, Lola the headless showgirl stood proud in one corner, allowed a one-day pass out of Violet’s studio just to add a little extra open-day pizazz.

‘Coffee’s good,’ Beau said.

The newly installed machine was quite a hulk of a thing in chrome and green, but with a bit of coaxing it produced a cracking cappuccino and a killer espresso in cups liveried up with Swallow Beach Pier. Violet loved them a disproportionate amount for a throwaway cup; they suggested established, here to stay regardless.

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