Page 67 of Winter at Wishington Bay
She made a ‘pffft’ noise. ‘I heard he was supposed to be quite the brain box.’
‘He is.’
‘Not in this area, it would seem.’
I shrugged. ‘Corinne’s pretty and vivacious. Maybe he has a type.’
‘A type that is no good for him by the sounds of it.’
I belted my coat and pulled my hat down over my ears. ‘I guess we’ll see. Maybe it’s just what he needs. Who knows?’
Eloise tilted her head at me momentarily. ‘Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?’
‘Why would I care?’
She reached over and gave me a hug. ‘Quite. Why would you care? If he can’t see what he’s missing, then he’s nowhere near as clever as he’s been portrayed.’
‘Honestly, I’m not interested in Nate McKinley, Eloise. He’s only here for a short while and I’ve had more than enough of relationships to last me a lifetime. Yes, he’s pretty to look at but, as is blatantly obvious, underneath most men are all the same. Swayed by youth and beauty and, frankly, Corinne’s welcome to him.’
Eloise looked at me for a while. ‘That’s a very wounded heart you’re carrying round in there, my darling. Be sure not to wrap it away so securely that no one can ever touch it again.’
I shook my head. ‘That’s actually been working pretty well for me, to be honest, and I’m definitely not about to change it for him.’
Eloise looked at me for a long moment before giving a slight nod, realising that the discussion was closed.
‘Will you be at the lights tonight?’
‘I expect so,’ I said, more positive this time. ‘It’s lovely to see all the shops and streets lit up. I’m not sure what time yet, though.’
‘Fair enough,’ Eloise replied, clearly not wanting to push any further than she already had. ‘Just give me a ring if you’re around and we can get together for a hot chocolate or maybe something stronger.’
I gave her a grin and a hug and headed out into the chill air, waving at Bob as I did so before tucking my chin down and battling against a fierce headwind that was doing its best to keep me from the cosiness, and security, of my flat. Winding my way through the cobbled streets and relishing the shelter provided by some of the buildings, I finally arrived at Flora’s shop. Like many of the others in the village, it would be opening late tonight and just as I approached, George was climbing back down off a stepladder beside the blue and white striped awning.
‘Hi, George. Everything all right?’
‘Hello, love. Yes, thanks. I was just giving the lights a quick test and one of the blasted things blew. Still, luckily I’d bought a few spare so we should be all systems go tonight. You’re coming, aren’t you?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I expect so.’ As much as I loved the village, and having thoroughly enjoyed the lighting ceremony last year, my enthusiasm for tonight had been waning the more I battled against the bitter north-easterly on the way home and even all the beautifully festive shop windows couldn’t boost my excitement. If I was honest with myself, I knew that the possibility of seeing Corinne’s smug expression as she paraded her newest conquest around really wasn’t adding to the desire to be outside when I could quite easily be cuddled up with a blanket and a good book, or a binge-worthy series on Netflix. But on the other hand, this community had helped me heal and I knew it was things like tonight that made it special.
‘That’s good. Oh, I think Flora wants to see you, if you’ve got a minute.’
Right now, I just wanted to get in and put my feet up for a bit but instead I gave George a pat on the arm and turned to head into the gift shop. As the bell tinkled announcing my entry, Flora glanced up, bright eyes smiling in her attractive face. She’d once shown me pictures of herself in what she called her ‘heady days of youth’ and it was no wonder George had fallen for her. She’d been an absolute knockout and she still retained a more mature, elegant sense of that today. I only hoped I could look as good as she did when I got to her age.
‘Oh, Soph, there you are. How’s the face?’ she asked, taking my chin gently in her hand and tilting it a little to inspect it.
‘It’s fine,’ I said, shrugging it off. ‘Looked worse than it was.’
‘Nate was ever so concerned.’
‘Probably worried he’d have to clean his own house for the rest of his break.’
Flora raised an eyebrow and I flapped a hand. ‘Sorry, I’m just a bit tired and grumpy. Long shift.’
‘Oh. Then I’m afraid you probably aren’t going to be thrilled at why I’ve called you in either.’ Something in her tone sent a creeping chill of discomfort through my veins.
‘Why? What’s happened?’
Flora held my gaze for a moment then pulled a magazine from beneath the desk. ‘My granddaughter dropped in earlier and she knows I love all these magazines so she left me a bunch. This one just came out a couple of days ago. It’s got a gossip section and I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.’
