Page 14 of The Cornish Christmas Book Clu
‘Thanks.’ Gage appreciated her unsympathetic practicality. ‘It’ll be hard to fit regular gym sessions around running the shop anyway. I’m not sure why I’m admitting this to you, but I about knackered myself shifting these boxes earlier.’
‘I’m not surprised. So where are we putting them?’
‘In the old kitchen for now, out of the way. They’re all numbered, so I want to keep them in order to match my spreadsheet when I’m ready to unpack and start shelving.’
‘Right, you go inside. I’ll haul the boxes in. You stack.’ She smiled and waved him away.
Gage could hear his old mates laughing to hear anyone ordering him around this way, but he worked hard to keep a straight face in case he offended her again.
* * *
‘So, what made you join the marines?’ Tamara picked up her steaming mug. As soon as they’d finished, he’d offered to put the kettle on.
‘I was living in Bristol. I’d just turned sixteen and hated school. Me and my mates were always bunking off. We were aimlessly wandering around the city centre one day and passed a recruiting office. Someone dared me to go in and so I did. It didn’t take much for the chap to talk me into applying.’
‘That’s very young. What did your parents think? Did they support you?’
He was slow to answer. ‘By that time, it was only me and my mum. We weren’t hitting it off. Usual teenage stuff.’ Gage’s smile didn’t reach his dark, moody eyes. ‘The training was tough, but I relished the discipline. The camaraderie. All the travel. Later on, I went to night classes and retook my exams, and eventually got a degree in history. That’s when they sent me to officer training. Not much more to say, really.’
At a shrewd guess, she’d say it was nowhere close to the full story.
‘What about you?’
‘Born and bred in Penworthal. My parents both passed away within a couple of months of each other – cancer – when I was only twenty-three.’
‘I’m sorry, that must’ve been tough for you.’
‘It was awful.’ Tamara didn’t know him well enough to say any more. ‘I’ve one sister, Tracy, who used to manage the hairdresser’s shop but now lives in Australia with her partner. My childhood was nothing out of the ordinary, but, like you, it all changed when I was just a teenager.’
Shock flickered over his face when she told him succinctly about Toby.
‘I don’t need you feeling sorry for me, thank you very much.’
‘Sorry for you? Who says I am? I can’t believe you’re old enough to have a twenty-two-year-old son, that’s all.’
‘You haven’t seen me first thing in the morning.’ Tamara realised what she’d said and covered her face with her hands. When she peeked through her fingers, his face was redder than hers. ‘Forget I said that. Please.’ She studied him some more. ‘You should grow your hair longer,’ she blurted out. What was it with her and her big mouth around this man?
‘My hair?’ Gage ran a hand self-consciously over his close-cropped head.
‘Then you’d resemble Hugh Grant and pull the female customers in droves.’
The puzzlement on his face said he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. Why would he? Macho Royal Marines probably didn’t watch romcoms. Unless they had wives or girlfriends who forced them to, something else she had absolutely no business touching upon. ‘You’ve never heard ofNotting Hill, have you?’
‘The neighbourhood in London?’
‘No, well, yes, but...’ Talk about tying herself in knots. ‘It’s the name of one of my favourite films.’ By the time she finished explaining the plot, Gage’s smile was positively impish.
‘So if I’m to be the floppy-haired, shy bookshop owner, who’s playing Julia Roberts’ part? I can’t quite see any stunning A-list Hollywood actresses stumbling across The Mighty Pen and swooning over me.’
Like Hugh Grant in the film, Gage genuinely had no idea how interesting and outright sexy a lot of women might find him. Not that she did herself of course.
‘I bet she’d be high-maintenance, though, and that’s not my style.’ He shuddered, as though it had struck a nerve.
‘Oi, all right to come in, mate?’ Georgie Rowe threw open the kitchen door and ambled in, grinning at them both. ‘Sitting down on the job? Won’t get no work done that way. The wife wanted me out from under her feet, so I thought I’d finish putting your shelves together.’ His beady eyes registered Tamara’s presence. ‘Didn’t interrupt nothing, did I?’ A coarse laugh burst out of him.
‘Tamara’s been kind enough to help me shift all these boxes.’
‘I’d better be off.’ She exhaled with relief and was glad to be saved from herself. ‘Things to do. See you around.’
