Page 27 of Summer at Harbour View House
‘Fourteen pounds?’
Lizzie glared at Natasha. ‘Them’s tourist prices.’
Natasha glanced at Hannah, who said, ‘Well, technically, we’re residents at the beach house up on St. Juliot Lane, and we’ll be there for about six weeks, which makes us technically local, since more than one month in any particular place counts as residency.’
Lizzie frowned. ‘What are you on about, maid?’
Hannah stuck her chin in the air. ‘We’d like locals prices, please.’
Lizzie grinned. Over in the window, Matt chuckled.
‘In that case, eighteen pound, please.’
‘Eighteen?’
Lizzie lifted an eyebrow. ‘All the locals round ‘ere are loaded.’
In the end, Lizzie let them put their drinks on a tab she said they could settle when they left, and one pint of the exceptionally strong “local” was enough to get them both sloshed.
‘You know,’ Hannah said, one arm around Natasha’s shoulders and the other around Matt’s, while Lizzie sat opposite, rubbing her chin, a frown on her face, ‘I didn’t know it before … but Brad … well, I really, really love him. Like, I don’t think I can live much longer without him.’
‘Let me get this straight,’ Lizzie said, poking a finger into an open packet of pork scratchings which they had been sharing, ‘this is the same tosser who asked you to move in with ‘e, then tossed you’s back out on the pavement less than a day later? Didn’t even give you’s time to unpack your stuff?’
‘That’s right.’
Lizzie prodded the pork scratchings again. ‘Heave ‘im in the sea,’ she said.
‘Off Janner’s Point too,’ Matt said. ‘Ain’t no city plonker swimming home from there.’
‘Quite, quite,’ Lizzie agreed. ‘Any way we can lure him down?’
‘Perhaps if we get another round on his credit card,’ Natasha said.
‘Here, flash us that plastic,’ Lizzie said, holding out a muscular hand. ‘I’ll put one in for Dom, Roger, and Jan for when they come in later.’
‘I’ll call Jago, get him to turn round the sign, stop the pigs getting in,’ Matt said, just as the clock over the bar began to chime. ‘Jesus, is that the time?’
‘You’d better get yourself home,’ Lizzie said. ‘Otherwise Flora’s having meatballs for dinner.’
‘Right,’ Matt said, untangling himself from Hannah, who sagged sideways. ‘So, we’re on for tomorrow, then?’
‘On,’ Hannah said, giving him a fist bump. Natasha, trying to focus on the empty glass on the table in front of her, tried to remember what they were on for.
‘Well, I’ll wait for ‘e end of the lane at six sharp. ‘No later or we’ll miss the tide. See you’s then.’ With a smile, Matt headed out.
Something to do with the sea. It would come back to her.
‘Right, girls,’ Lizzie said. ‘Next round’s on the house. Local special, make you wake up without a hangover. Just give us five minutes.’
As Lizzie got up and went back behind the bar, Natasha tried to sit up straight, but succeeded only in sliding back down her chair until her feet were underneath the chair on the other side.
‘I think I’m drunk,’ she said.
‘I mean it,’ Hannah said. ‘I really, really love him. I mean … what was his name? Am I losing my mind?’
‘I think it fell in the sea,’ Natasha said. ‘Along with mine.’
‘Shall we go swimming?’ Hannah suddenly cried, jumping up. ‘Come on, yes, let’s!’
