Page 56 of Summer at Harbour View House
‘Well, I appreciate the effort.’
‘Seriously, whether you pull it off or not, you’ve done something really great for this place.’
‘I can’t just sit on a beach all day … sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.’
Ben smiled. ‘I’m working, I’ll have you know.’ He stood up. ‘And it looks like there’s a kid who’s drifted out a little far. I’d better go and do my David Hasselhoff thing before he gets eaten by a shark or ends up in the shipping lanes.’
‘I’m going to head back over to the village. Do you want me to get you a pasty from the pub?’
‘I’d be delighted if you got me a pasty from the pub. Thanks.’
‘No worries.’
Ben, lugging a lifesaving ring over his shoulder, ran off down the beach. Only as she watched him go did Natasha feel a little buzz of excitement. Getting him lunch … it was almost like a date.
She shrugged the feeling off, heading back up the beach, purposefully not looking back. No. They were just friends. It was better, easier that way. Once she had managed to get over the outward prow of both his jutting chin and his personality, she found herself liking him more and more. He was a country boy at heart, and he just happened to be handsome—albeit in a rather angular way—even if Natasha was reluctant to admit it. And while there weren’t a lot of options now Hannah spent every waking moment with Davey, she enjoyed Ben’s company. He was a better conversationalist than Charlie, at least.
Back at the house, she fed Charlie, then headed next door to give Eddie a progress update. She found him sitting on a deckchair on his front lawn, reading a Clive Cussler paperback, a jug of iced orange juice on a picnic table beside him.
‘Good afternoon,’ she said, as he sat up and took off a pair of sunglasses. ‘I thought I’d let you know how we’re getting on.’
‘You mean you haven’t given up yet? I thought that was all just for show. You actually think you can pull this off?’
Natasha glared at him. ‘Yes, I do.’
‘Well, good luck.’
‘You’re not going to pull out, are you? You made a promise.’
‘And I’ll stick to it. Like I said, get me a band, and I’ll be there.’
‘We’ve got Mikey Pinsent on board—’
‘Mad Mikey? Are you serious? He should be in a lunatic asylum. Do you know why he got fired? He was too mad. We couldn’t handle him. He showed up to a rehearsal dressed as a cabbage once. He said he’d been up all night making the costume. And there was the time he spray-painted the manager’s car pink—’
‘He’s an insurance salesman now,’ Natasha said. ‘He’s probably calmed down a bit.’
‘Don’t count on it,’ Eddie said. ‘He’ll have been holding it in all this time, waiting for the right moment to unleash hell.’
‘Well, he said he’ll do it, and he’s coming down next week. He said he hasn’t played bass in twenty years—’
‘Anyone can play bass,’ Eddie said. ‘And it’s not like the songs are that hard. It’s his personality that I’m worried about.’
‘And we’ve got Karen Dixon—’
Eddie sat up. ‘Karen? Is she … single?’
‘Ah, that wasn’t one of the questions that I asked. I know she has a daughter—’
‘But she could be divorced, abandoned, or her husband could be dead. There are options.’
Natasha smiled. ‘Did you have a … thing for her?’
Eddie sighed. ‘If I’d walked away before that last tour, things might have been different. It’s too late now.’
‘Anyway, she’s onboard for the concert. And I had Hannah call the Curve—’
Eddie rocked back his head and exploded with laughter. ‘Are you serious? You actually bothered to call that egotistical son-of-a—’
