Page 12 of Winter Nights at the Bay Bookshop
There were a couple of customers in the shop – an elderly man studying the beautiful artist bears Jemma and her mum created and kept in glass cabinets as a sign that they weren’t meant for children, and a woman with a couple of young children in a double buggy. She had her back to me and was picking soft toys from the shelves and showing them to the kids.
‘Is it a bad time?’ I whispered.
‘No, you’re fine. So, it’s going well. The only tears when I dropped Jasmine and Kieran off with our childminder were mine, but I’m fine now and I was ready to come back to work. And with it being part-time for now, I get the best of both worlds.’
The woman with the buggy approached the till so I moved aside.
‘I’ll take these two, please.’
She placed a lilac rabbit and a cream teddy bear on the counter and, as she looked up, my breath caught.
‘Jordan?’
She whipped her head round and glared at me. ‘Oh! It’s you!’
My stomach lurched. After all these years, did she really still have to be rude to me, especially when she was the one who’d decided she didn’t want to be friends with me anymore?
‘How are you?’ I asked, keeping my tone friendly.
She placed her phone over the terminal to pay for the soft toys then looked up at me, her eyes narrowed. ‘As if you don’t know.’
‘Know what?’
‘I suppose you think it’s karma.’
I shrugged. ‘I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.’
She snatched up the toys. ‘Like I believe that.’
As Jordan pushed the buggy towards the door, Jemma rushed over to open it for her. Jordan paused in the doorway.
‘Ozzie and Rhianna?’ She raised her eyebrows at me.
‘I’m sorry. I really don’t…’ I shrugged once more.
‘It’s all over town so you might as well get it straight from me. They’ve been having an affair since before we were married and now he’s buggered off with her. That kid of hers? She’s his. Pair of them probably thought it was hilarious asking me to be godmother. She’s pregnant again so I’m back at my mum’s having to explain to my kids why their daddy chose them over us. Fun, eh?’
She’d gone before I even had a chance to respond.
‘I didn’t realise you knew her,’ Jemma said, wincing.
‘We were best friends in primary school but she ditched me for Rhianna.’
‘Ah! That explains the karma comment.’
I nodded. ‘Except I wouldneverthink something like that, especially when someone’s world has just been turned upside down.’
‘She comes in here every so often with her kids and usually has a quick chat, but obviously I’ve been off with Jasmine so I hadn’t seen her for ages. I asked her how she was and out it all spilled. She went to her mum’s when she found out about the affair and, when she returned to the family home, she discovered he’d already moved this Rhianna and her daughter in. Age six, I think she said the little girl was. How do you pick yourself up after that?’
‘It’s awful. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, although, funnily enough, Jordan and Rhianna are probably just that. The pair of them were horrible to me at senior school but she doesn’t deserve that, especially when there are children involved.’
The man approached the till. ‘Apologies for interrupting, my dear, but I can’t decide between two bears.’
Jemma smiled at him. ‘I’ll get them out for you, Mr Simms.’
‘I’ll see you later,’ I said. ‘We’ll organise a night out with Cassie.’
‘Sounds good. Bye, Lily.’
