Page 16 of Summer in Sunset Harbour
‘Are you ready to break for some dinner?’ Hilda grinned. ‘It’s curry and a pint night at the pub.’
Josie frowned. ‘Neither of which I thought would interest you….’
Hilda shrugged. ‘Things have changed. Don’t worry, we’ll drive down, get a taxi back up. Just in case you’re a bit worse for wear, you can stop over at mine tonight.’
‘But a queen needs to be at her palace.’
‘Not when it’s curry and a pint night. Come on, grab something decent to wear and I’ll take you over to my place for a rinse down. I think you have a bird’s nest in your hair.’
Josie scrabbled at her head, but came away only with a couple of leaves. She glared at Hilda, who shrugged and gave a little smirk.
‘I guess my eyes aren’t what they used to be.’
The Horse and Buoy Inn,Porth Melynos’s premier pub, was set just back from the harbour, a dramatic and beautiful stonewalled building with pleasant landscaped gardens to the side and rear. Even though late April was still a little chilly, several tables were occupied outside. Josie caught a couple of upcountry accents mixed with the gravelly ones of locals. A couple of kids played on a climbing frame at the bottom of the garden, while the smell of curry wafted out of the pub’s kitchen windows.
‘Not sure my ulcers will handle a phaal, so we’ll likely go for a mid-to-high heat tikka,’ Hilda said, rubbing her hands together as they walked up the path.
‘You have ulcers?’
‘Who doesn’t at my age? What are you thinking of having?’
‘Oh, just something mild. A korma will do.’
‘Don’t you want something to put some fire into your belly? You were saying about those strange people. Did you have a word with Nat?’
‘I went up there but I forgot. I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about them being there.’
They pushed in through the doors and took a table by the wall. About half the tables were occupied, the food a mixture of curries and old-fashioned pub staples. A few people sat by the bar, chatting amicably over beer and wine. A fire flickered in a grate, paintings of the harbour and cliffs hung from the stone walls, and photographs of old local sports teams hung above the bar. A shelf of books stood in a corner, a stack of board games and magazines in another. Beside the fireplace was a sculpture made out of driftwood and fishing nets. At first Josie had no idea what it was supposed to be, before squinting a little and realising it was a representation of a mermaid sitting on rocks. Even once she had seen it, however, she couldn’t be entirely sure.
‘Is that one of Nathaniel’s?’ she asked Hilda as her friend scoured a laminated menu.
‘Oh, yes. I think so. It’s been there a while. I think he’s better now that he’s blind, though.’ She raised a hand in the air, then suddenly let out a gasp of surprise.
‘Cathy? Is that you?’
A big, boisterous woman wearing a white blouse over black trousers, with an apron adorned with a seashells pattern tied around her waist came blustering over. A shoulder-length bob of hair bounced up and down as she clapped her hands together hard enough to make half the conversation in the pub stop.
‘Hil? Oh my word, Hil? Is that you?’
‘Cathy!’
Hilda stood up to greet the other woman, who dwarfed her both in height and width. Cathy leant in and gave Hilda a surprisingly delicate kiss on the cheek, before clapping her hands together again. The gentle background music, which had seemed to pause, now seemed to rise again as people on the surrounding tables resumed their conversations.
‘Oh my, Hil, I thought for a minute I’d been struck by a speeding pasty van when I saw you just then,’ the big woman said. ‘What brings you down here?’
‘Just a night out with my best friend,’ Hilda said, indicating Josie, who gave Cathy a shy smile. ‘Cathy Ubbers, this is Josephine Roberts.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ Josie said, sticking out a hand which was immediately swallowed up by a huge and podgy, but surprisingly powerful, paw. Cathy gave her hand a tug hard enough to make Josie’s shoulder ache, then let out a dramatic sigh.
‘It’s Cathy Ubbers-Benson these days. ‘Me and Gav got hitched. I so wished you could have been there.’
‘I was in Antarctica.’
Cathy let out a guffaw and gave Hilda a playful punch on the arm. ‘Oh, you. Any excuse.’ She turned to Josie. ‘What brought you down here, Jose? On hols?’
‘Divorce,’ Josie said.
Cathy let out a hysterical laugh. ‘Oh my, I can see why you two are friends. Anyway, I’d better get back to the kitchen, lol. Them curries ain’t gonna cook themselves.’
