Page 22 of You Only Live Once
I turned, knowing I should make my presence known before anything else was said, but somehow I was unable to.
‘Oh, is he now?’
‘Yes, haven’t you heard? Living with Miss Lily up there at the Meadow Blossom House, apparently.’
‘No, really? I’ve not seen hide nor hair of a man since she moved in there, other than her family. Such a shame about what happened. You can hardly blame her for closing herself away. It must have been so traumatic.’
‘Jack always did have a way with the ladies. And he’s only got better looking, if that’s possible. You can hardly blame her for falling for him. I just hope he doesn’t leave her broken hearted. She’s had far too much of that in her life already.’
The other woman made a sound of agreement as I looked down at my hands to see that the knuckles were white as they gripped my wicker basket. I should go to the till. But then they’d know I’d overheard and it would be hideously awkward. But I couldn’t hide in here all day. Bloody Felix. I should have known that there would be gossip if Jack stayed with me. I hadn’t even considered that until now.
‘He did leave a trail of broken hearts behind when he left. My niece pined over him for nearly a year.’
‘She wasn’t the only one.’
‘I wonder why he’s back?’
‘Maybe old Charles is on the way out?’
‘Do you think?’
There was silence for a moment, and I could only assume the first woman was shrugging her shoulders.
‘Unless it’s love that’s brought him home? Maybe they’ve been having a long-distance romance. Her brother’s his best friend, you know. Has been for years. He used to spend a lot of time at their house so they must have got to know each other back then.’
‘I never heard of them courting, though, did you?’
‘No, I doubt he was particularly interested in the quiet ones.’
‘I don’t remember him being that picky at the time. Anything to boost his ego.’
‘Oh, now, Marge, that’s a bit harsh. A few years younger and you’d have been queuing up too.’ Two cackles of laughter broke out, punctuating the sentence.
‘I don’t think he was all that happy at home. Can be funny, these aristocratic lot, can’t they? She swans in here from time to time, his mother, acting like lady of the manor.’
‘She is lady of the manor, Marge.’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘I don’t blame him putting all that distance between them. Can’t imagine he had much of a warm upbringing. Maybe that’s why he went looking for comfort in the arms of as many women as he could.’
I tipped my head back and looked at the ceiling, wondering how long realistically I could stay here. I didn’t want to overhear this conversation, and wished I’d left a long time ago. The longer I stayed, the worse it was getting. I took a deep breath and made for the till.
‘I wonder—’
I registered the brief shock on both the women’s faces before they hurriedly tried to cover it as I emerged from behind the shelves.
‘Hello, dear. Nice to see you here. Find everything you needed?’
‘Yes, thank you.’ I smiled.
‘Celebrating anything nice?’ Marge asked as she rang up the champagne I’d picked out. It wasn’t a great brand, but it was the best that the village shop stocked and right now I really wished I’d left it on the shelf. The truth was it was for champagne jellies that Felix and Poppy adored but, having already overheard their conversation, I could only imagine the thoughts now racing through both their heads as to what me buying this bottle of champagne meant.
‘No, not at all. It’s for making champagne jellies with. My family love them.’ I decided to go with the truth, although I had my doubts as to whether they’d believe a word of it.
‘Lovely!’ Marge said as she rang the items through.
I made a show of looking down to get my purse out, but I didn’t miss the brief exchange of looks between the two women as I did so.
