Page 91 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘Hi.’
‘Before you say anything else, I just want to apologise for—’
‘Soph,’ he cut across me.
‘Yes?’
‘There’s nothing to apologise for. So, you’ve got a slightly fancier name than we thought. Big deal. Other than that, you’re still one of my best waitresses for as long as you want the job.’
‘Oh Ned.’ I felt the tears prickle my eyes. ‘Thank you.’
‘Nothing to thank me for. But it might be an idea for you to take the next couple of days off.’
‘Oh,’ I felt the colour draining from my face. Was this Ned’s way of letting me down gently after all?
‘And don’t take that the wrong way. I literally only mean for a couple of days. It’s not a prelude to anything. It’s just that there’s a whole pack of press camped outside the restaurant. I heard they’re outside your place too. So, it’s probably best you just keep your distance from this lot, at least for now. Obviously, no one is talking to them so they’re not getting anything from here.’ He paused. ‘Not now anyway. I know Corinne had a pretty large hand in all this, and I’m sorry about that.’
‘That’s not your fault, Ned.’
He made a sound that suggested he didn’t entirely agree but carried on. ‘Anyway, she’s been sent packing now. She was on her last warning anyway – and she’d had far more of those than she had a right to. I only ever hired her as a favour and she only did it because her mother insisted.’
‘So, you’re already short?’ I said, thinking of the shift I was supposed to do.
‘Not at all. There’s a couple of university students home for the holidays and they’re happy to fill in for as long as we need them for, so don’t worry. And when you’re ready, if you still want it, the job will still be here waiting for you.’
‘Thanks, Ned. I really appreciate that, and I’m sorry if the press are causing you problems.’
‘Don’t worry about that. If they want food, they’ve got a limited choice with most of the other restaurants closed for the season.’
‘I hope you’re charging them double.’
‘At least.’ I could hear the cheeky smile in his reply.
‘Glad to hear it.’
There was a pause and for a moment I thought the connection had dropped but then Ned spoke again.
‘Nate was in here last night, with a woman. One of the kitchen staff said it was his wife.’ The laughing tone of a moment before had been replaced by one of confusion.
‘Yes. They were right. She flew in yesterday morning from what I understand. I guess she wants to give it another try.’
‘And Nate’s taking her back?’ Ned asked, the surprise in his voice unmistakeable. He and Gabe were close, and he had obviously heard various tales of Serena’s behaviour from her frustrated brother-in-law. And Ned, like the rest of us, had also witnessed the change in Nate since he’d been here. On one hand it was hard not to be surprised. But on the other, you only had to look at Serena for the surprise to lessen.
‘It rather looks that way.’ At least it had yesterday, I thought, remembering Serena’s possessive stance, her eyes warning me off, telling me Nate was hers.
Ned let out a sigh. ‘Gabe always did say his brother was nuts about her, and I guess, on the face of it, I can see why. Even Carrie let out a small “wow” when she poked her head in.’
I made a faint sound of agreement.
‘But he was so different, Soph. It’s almost like he was back to where he was when he first got here. Like he’d retreated back inside himself. It was kind of sad to witness.’
The words, Ned’s tone, all of it, settled in my stomach and twisted round, making me feel something I didn’t want to. I shoved it away. I had enough going on right now – I couldn’t take on Nate’s pain too – if that’s what it was. Maybe it was just discomfort going to Ned’s with Serena, knowing that they all knew he’d spent the weekend with me. It was hard to keep a secret in this village, especially when that secret involved someone as drop-dead gorgeous as Nate. Not to mention that the ‘married man’ the papers had happily harped on about was, clearly, Nate, even if the media hadn’t mentioned him by name. Why Corinne had kept that little nugget back, I didn’t know. I assumed it was just to ingratiate herself with her new pal, Serena. Either way, I was glad for his sake he hadn’t been identified. Whatever else had gone on, he didn’t deserve to be dragged into my mess any more than he needed to be. I suddenly realised Ned was still speaking.
‘He didn’t laugh or even smile once. It was kind of sad.’
I squashed back down the feelings threatening to rise up. ‘I’m sure they had a lot of serious things to discuss.’
‘If they did, they weren’t doing it last night. Nate barely spoke a word from what anyone saw.’
