Page 12 of A Second Chance in Seabury
Grabbing a basket, Hannah started to hunt along the modest shelves of groceries.
Scrubbing brush… bleach… bin bags…
She quickly filled her basket with everything she could think of to help her make a proper start on things at the house when she was ready.
Hannah returned to the counter just as Doris joined her with a pair of paper bags, full to bursting with sweets.
‘Would you like to leave everything here while you’re in town?’ said Doris, ringing up the shopping and loading everything into a bag as she went.
‘That’d be great,’ said Hannah. ‘Thank you… but first, I just need to…’ She reached into the bag of rhubarb and custards and snagged a couple of sweets.
‘One for the pocket… and one for the road!’ she said with a grin.
Hannah was so busy unwrapping a sweet as she stepped back out onto the seafront that she almost missed the tricycle as it whizzed past.
‘Kate!’ She returned the wave as Kate doubled down on her pedalling efforts, clearly keen to build up some momentum before she reached the hill.
Hannah grinned. She really liked the smiley café owner. She’d met Kate several times over the years. In fact, The Sardine had become a bit of an oasis for her, somewhere she could escape for cake and coffee whenever Gareth’s behaviour simply got too much.
Hmm… maybe that could be her next stop! It was a shame Kate wouldn’t be there for a chat, but with any luck, there would be plenty of opportunities to catch up with her before she left town. Maybe Stanley would be there for a tickle, though. He hadn’t been riding in the little trailer on the back of the trike, so perhaps he was still snoozing in the café.
Hannah turned in the direction of West Beach and picked up her pace, suddenly very keen on the idea of cake, coffee and Stanley cuddles.
Reaching The Sardine, Hannah paused outside the tiny café to peer through the window. Blimey, it was heaving in there! She wasn’t going to let that put her off, though she was suddenly very grateful that Doris had offered to babysit her shopping for her.
Pushing her way inside, Hannah smiled and nodded at the round of greetings from the chattering groups of women piled in around the tables. The volume was loud, and the tone was more than a little bit giggly… clearly, everyone in there knew each other.
‘Hi! What can I get you?’ The girl was pink in the face, but that didn’t stop her from beaming a smile at Hannah.
‘Sarah?’
The girl nodded, then her eyes lit up. ‘Hannah – you’re back!’
‘So are you!’ Hannah grinned. ‘I thought you were off at college, taking the baking world by storm?’
‘Just back for a break,’ said Sarah. ‘We’ve got a couple of weeks off, and I wanted to see Dad and Kate.’
‘Bet they’re chuffed to have you back,’ said Hannah, peering distractedly at the cake display.
‘So chuffed, Kate’s got me working in here!’ laughed Sarah.
‘You on your own?’ said Hannah in surprise.
Sarah shrugged. ‘Kate’s just left on the delivery round, and Lou’s taking over from me in about ten minutes, so of course this is the moment the whole of Seabury decided to descend on me. I might be able to find you a spot to squeeze into if you don’t mind sharing?’
Hannah smiled and shook her head. As lovely as that sounded, right now she was craving fresh air. ‘I’ll grab a takeaway if that’s okay?’
‘Sure. What would you like?’
‘What’s that?’ she said, pointing to a large, golden, gooey-looking loaf.
‘That’s King’s Nose Honey loaf,’ said Sarah, tossing her long dark plait over her shoulder and fanning her face.
‘Mr Eaves’s honey?’ said Hannah.
That’s right!’ said Sarah. ‘So… tempted?’
‘Yes please,’ said Hannah. After all, her day had started with a good dollop of Mr Eaves’s honey… it might as well carry on like that!
