Page 35 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘He’s not here for anything like that. And neither am I,’ I added quickly.
‘But he walked you home.’
‘Bryan needed a walk.’
‘And the swathe of sandy beach right in front of the house would never do for that,’ she grinned.
‘Oh, shush.’ I waved a hand. ‘He’s been going through a difficult patch and is just looking for some peace and quiet.’
Flora frowned for a moment. ‘Is he married?’
‘Separated.’
‘Likely to reunite?’
I shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable about discussing Nate’s private life behind his back. I knew Flora wasn’t the type to gossip to others but even so. It was Nate’s business and no one else’s.
Flora rested her head in her hands. ‘Well, I can see I’m not going to get anything juicy out of you. Spoilsport.’
I laughed and gave Flora a squeeze round the shoulders. ‘There’s nothing juicy to tell. Honestly. I’d been down to clean the house and Nate had been in front of the computer screen for a while, writing. Bryan was due a walk and it was a good opportunity for Nate to take a break too so he walked with me into the village. He wasn’t walking me home; he was just walking with me in the same direction.’
Exactly.
‘Right,’ Flora said, the look in her eye saying a whole lot more.
I smiled and shook my head. ‘Come on, show me where these decorations are before I change my mind.’
Flora jumped up, laughing, and headed out the back. ‘Mind the shop for me for a minute. I’ll be back in two shakes.’
I’d served a couple of customers and was just wrapping up a beautiful china figurine when Flora re-emerged a short time later carrying one box and pushing another along with her feet.
‘Wait a minute, Flora. I’ll help you with that.’ Flora was long past retirement but seemed to have more energy than most people half her age, and there was nothing she wouldn’t have a go at. But her current method of moving things still looked like an accident waiting to happen. She paused, considered, caught the look in my eye and bent to put the box down.
I rang the sale through, handed the customer her receipt and gave her and the little girl a wave as they closed the door behind them, sealing out the biting wind that practically blasted each customer into the shop every time it opened. Going over to Flora, I picked up the boxes and set them on the table, then dived in for a rummage.
‘These look like tree decorations. Is there a tree back there?’
‘No, I need to pop down to Greg at the grocer’s and collect the one he’s put aside for me. He normally drops it off but he’s put his back out at the moment.’
‘I can do that. I assume it’s not too big?’
‘No, it’s only a little one as it’s going to go in that corner over there so can’t take up too much space. It’s usually all bound up so shouldn’t be too unwieldy. Are you sure you don’t mind?’
‘Not at all. Do you want me to go and get that now or get on with the rest of the shop?’
Flora tapped a well-manicured nail against her lip for a moment. ‘If you could grab the tree, then one of us could be doing that while the other one decorates the actual shop. It’ll get done in half the time then.’
I nodded. ‘Good plan. I’ll just nip back up and get my coat and then head down to Greg’s now.’
* * *
‘You sure you’re going to be all right with that, Soph? I can ask my son to drop it round to Flora later, if you like.’ Greg was watching as I endeavoured to find the best way to carry the tree, which I had a feeling was bigger than Flora was anticipating,
‘Yes, I’ll be fine. It’s just a case of getting it in the right position, I think.’ I jiggled it again and tentatively moved. Right, this could be it. I gave it one last jiggle and headed away from the grocer’s back up the street towards Flora’s shop. My arms were wrapped tightly round as much of the tree as I could reach, which had proved the best way of carrying it. The only slight downside with this method was the tiny fact that all I could see was tree so I had to rely on others giving way to me. I bounced off something and apologised as I hoiked the tree back up from where it was slowly slipping down my body. Tentatively I peered round it and realised I’d just apologised to a lamppost. As I gave the tree another jostle, the string holding the top few branches together rolled further up and let loose its captives, one of which pinged out and smacked me in the face.
‘Ow!’ I said, trying to overcome the urge to drop the tree where I stood and give it a good kicking. ‘No good deed goes unpunished,’ I grumbled as I tightened my grip on the foliage and set off again. It seemed a lot longer back to Flora’s shop than it had been in the other direction. I could feel the damn thing slipping and heading slowly for the pavement. Doing my best to grab hold of it, I tried to speed up, reasoning that I might be able to beat its descent to the floor. In reality, all this did was hasten the tree’s slide to the ground. As the trunk made contact with the pavement, it acted as a form of brake – something I hadn’t accounted for, and having sped up my pace, now had no time to prepare for. Momentum carried me on, into the tree until we were both sprawled on the pavement.
‘Sophia?’
