by Kate Field
‘It hasn’t put you off the sea, has it?’
‘Not at all. I’m not giving up after one go. I was fine until I got a cramp.’
‘Try warming up before you go in,’ he said. ‘You’ll soon get used to it.’
Mim smiled and rang the biscuits through the till. Why couldn’t Corin have been so relaxed instead of barging in with his ‘I told you so’ attitude and his offer of charity? Sometimes kind words were needed more than actions.
‘You’ll let me know if you have a favourite veg, won’t you?’ Bobby continued. He held out a crumpled ten pound note to Mim.
‘Veg?’ Mim was confused by the abrupt turn in the conversation. ‘You’ve walked past it.’ She pointed to the baskets of over-priced fresh produce. Bobby pulled his face.
‘You’ve not bought any of that, have you? I’ll be bringing you a box tomorrow. I thought Bea would have mentioned it.’
‘Bea? Oh – you’re Bobby the gardener?’ That explained not only the muscles, but also the roughened hands that were ingrained with earth. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’
‘No, there’s loads to go round and it’s better quality than anything you’ll find here. More variety too. You’ll probably get some cabbage, carrots, sprouts, parsnips and Jerusalem artichoke tomorrow.’
‘Jerusalem artichoke?’ Mim laughed. ‘I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with it. You can leave that one out.’
‘All the more for Lia then. It’s her favourite.’
A faint colour crept over Bobby’s cheeks as he said this. That was interesting.
‘Lia’s away at the moment,’ she told him. ‘Didn’t you know?’
‘No. Where’s she gone?’
‘The Maldives. I don’t even know where that is.’
‘It’s outside my price bracket,’ Bobby said. ‘That’s all I need to know.’
He said this with such a glum air that Mim’s suspicions were heightened even further. Did he like Lia? She wondered if he would stand any chance if he did. Bill had given the impression that her love life was like a constantly revolving door, with a new man entering as soon as the old one was on his way out. And would Bill and Bea approve if Lia did show an interest in their gardener? He probably ranked higher than Mim on the social ladder, but they were both well below the Howards. There was quite a leap from letting someone like her stay in an unused caravan to welcoming them as a member of the family.
‘What’s all this, Bobby Knight?’ Janet asked, shuffling back into the shop and clearly catching only the tail end of the conversation. ‘If you’ve not got the money for those biscuits, you can put them back.’
‘He’s already paid for them,’ Mim said, and while Janet checked the till Bobby made a cowardly escape and dashed out of the shop.
‘What are you doing here so early?’ the large, gruff man behind the bar asked, when Mim turned up at the Boat half an hour early for her first shift later that night. ‘You won’t get paid until seven, so you don’t want to be working a minute before that.’
‘Don’t I need training?’ Mim asked.
‘Have you pulled a pint before?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you work a till?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can you carry a tray of empty glasses?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s good enough for me.’ The man held out his hand. ‘I’m Howie. Pleased to meet you. You’ve been in the shop all day, haven’t you? How’d you find that?’
‘It was busy,’ Mim replied. She had no idea who Howie was and whether he was related to Janet, so she decided to be careful. He guffawed at her response.
‘I’ll bet. Janet worked you until you were ready to drop, I expect. You’ll find we operate differently here. Have you eaten?’
‘I had an apple.’ There hadn’t been time for much else.
‘That’ll never do,’ he said. ‘You’re no use to me if you faint away. Go to the kitchen and get a bowl of soup down you.’
‘I can’t afford to buy soup.’
Howie laughed again.
‘Who said anything about buying it? I’m the boss here. It’s a perk of the job as far as I’m concerned.’
Mim headed in the direction he pointed, through the kitchen door, thinking she was definitely going to enjoy her nights in the pub more than the shop work. The chef gave her a steaming bowl of tomato soup and a couple of slices of bread, and Mim took them through to the bar. It was fairly empty at this time, and she found a quiet table near the toilets from where she could look around at her new workplace.
The Boat was an old-fashioned pub which had apparently escaped any urge to modernise it. It felt friendlier inside than it had looked from the outside. The floor was stone-flagged and a defined groove had been worn from the front door to the bar. A huge fire blazed in a hearth on one side of the pub. Brass lights hung on the walls, which were otherwise covered in old photos of boats and fishermen, and with pieces of equipment that Mim guessed came from ships although she had no idea what they were. A banquette covered in red velvet ran along the main stretches of wall, and an assortment of mismatched tables and chairs filled the centre of the pub. Looking round, Mim wondered what sort of customers came here. It was the only pub in the village, as far as she had seen, and it certainly had a cosy warmth to it, but she couldn’t imagine that many young people would come in. The three customers in at the moment couldn’t have seen sixty for some time, but that suited Mim. Most of the visitors to Gordon’s hotel had been middle-aged and upwards. She was going to feel right at home here.
As soon as seven o’clock came, Mim joined Howie behind the bar and he quickly showed her where everything was. Thursday night was traditionally quiet, he explained, except for the book-club ladies who were due in half an hour; they met here every week, although they opened more bottles of wine than books. Friday and Saturday night were always packed, with even more customers visiting over the holiday season.
Mim was pleased to see a familiar face when the book club arrived. Heather was one of the dozen or so ladies who invaded the pub in a cloud of perfume and noise. She waved at Mim and approached the bar while her companions occupied the table that had been reserved for them by the fire.
‘Hello,’ Heather said, unwinding her scarf. ‘I didn’t expect to see you in here. When did you start?’
‘Tonight is my first shift. I work in the deli by day and the pub by night.’
‘It’s a shame you’re working. I was going to ask if you wanted to join the book club. It would help you to get to know more people.’
‘Thanks, but I’m not much of a reader,’ Mim said.
‘Really?’ Heather looked shocked. ‘You mustn’t have found the right book yet, that’s all. You need to keep trying.’
‘I’ve tried enough. The books were either too grim or too happy. I’ve seen enough grim, and I don’t believe in happily-ever-after.’
‘Well we’ll have to see what we can do about that. Have you met my brother Bobby yet?’
Mim laughed. She couldn’t accuse Heather of subtlety – although if her suspicions about Lia were correct, Heather wasn’t very observant.
‘I have,’ she said. ‘He seems nice. But please don’t even think about matchmaking. I’m not into all that love and romance stuff. It’s the last thing I’m looking for.’
Heather gave a resigned shrug and joined her friends. Mim was kept busy for the next hour or so serving their drinks and food, and dealing with the other customers who gradually wandered in over the course of the evening. By nine o’clock she thought the bar had reached its peak and Howie had just suggested she take a fifteen minute break when the door opened and another cluster of seven or eight people hurried in out of the cold, Corin, Bobby, and Dickens amongst them. They dragged a couple of tables together and settled down on the opposite side of the pub from the book club.
What were the chances? Almost half of Mim’s acquaintances in the village seemed to have descended on the pub tonight. She stared at Cori
n’s back as he shrugged off his coat and scarf and threw them on the banquette. Was it a coincidence? He knew she had started work here tonight. Was he checking up on her? His reputation was on the line, after all, as he had vouched for her with Janet.
He turned before she could avert her gaze and smiled at her. She looked away quickly and shuffled the beer mats along the bar, wishing she had taken that break when she’d had the chance.
‘How has your day been?’ Corin materialised in front of her at the bar. ‘I’m delighted to see that you survived your first day with Janet. Are you the best of friends now?’
‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ Mim responded to his laughing smile with a reluctant grin. ‘But I haven’t been sacked yet so I’m taking that as a successful day.’
‘Very successful. Her record is thirty minutes, but that wasn’t so much a sacking as a mutual parting of the ways.’ He laughed. ‘It was Olly. He took it into his head to obtain work experience to enhance his university application. I don’t think he made it beyond the rule that he had to cover his carefully curated outfit with an apron.’
Corin’s easy laugh was infectious and it was impossible not to join in.
‘That was never going to be an issue for me,’ Mim said. ‘The apron was probably the most expensive thing I was wearing.’
Corin looked her up and down – or as much as was visible over the bar.
‘You look perfectly charming to me.’
‘What can I get you?’ Mim asked. ‘I assume you’re here to get the drinks, not to make cheesy comments.’
He reeled off a list of orders and Mim lined up the glasses on a tray.
‘And one for yourself,’ Corin said, as he held out his bank card to pay. Mim picked up the card machine and hesitated.
‘Do you buy Howie a drink?’ she asked.
‘Sometimes, but he’s fond of a double whisky so it can be an expensive business.’ Corin smiled. ‘Let me guess. You think I offered out of charity.’
Mim smiled.
‘Did you?’
‘No. I was being polite, not rich, and to prove it I’m now limiting my offer of a drink to a maximum spend of £2.50.’
‘In that case, I’ll have half a pint of bitter.’ She held out the card machine. ‘Thanks.’
She watched as he carried the drinks back to his group, and took a seat in the centre of them all. It was easy to make friends if you were wealthy and could buy the drinks, she supposed, although he seemed to have chosen an odd selection of friends. They were a group of men across a broad age range, with Bobby probably the youngest and the oldest one a similar age to Bill. They all looked like working men, not posh ones, and she wondered what Corin could possibly have in common with them. Clearly something – he looked entirely at ease, in the thick of the group, and there was lots of laughing and chatting going on.
The book club left around ten and Heather popped over to remind Mim of the arrangements for their first swim together on Monday. Some of Corin’s friends gradually drifted out, until by closing time only he and Bobby were left. As Bobby left the pub, Corin joined Mim at the bar.
‘It’s closing time,’ Mim said. ‘Didn’t you hear the bell for last orders?’ She’d be amazed if he’d missed it. Very appropriately, there was an old ship’s bell behind the bar and to her great delight, Howie had let her ring it.
‘I did,’ he replied. ‘You rang it with such gusto they probably heard it at Vennhallow.’ Mim grinned. Perhaps she had been rather hearty with it. ‘I came over to see if you can manage to get home safely.’
‘I expect so. I’ve figured it out now. Left at the top of the hill, then right then left. That’s it, isn’t it?’
‘Spot on. You’re like a local already.’
‘As long as I don’t open my mouth and reveal the flat vowels.’ She smiled and Corin laughed.
‘In that case, I’ll wish you goodnight.’
He’d taken a few steps away when Mim called out.
‘Corin?’ He turned, still smiling. ‘Thanks for checking.’
‘Any time,’ he said.
Chapter Seven
It was late January before Lia returned from the Maldives. She burst into the shop late one Sunday morning, startling Mim who was cleaning the shelves during a lull in trade. Although, from her experience so far, the whole of Sunday seemed to be a lull. She rarely had more than a dozen customers, and she wondered why Janet paid her to mind the shop when even her slim wages must outweigh the profit. Not that she would ever ask. The wages might be slim but they could be made to stretch surprisingly far with some clever shopping.
It helped, of course, that she was living in the static caravan rent free and bill free. Bea had even insisted that Mim should use the washing machine at the main house when she’d caught Mim handwashing her clothes in the sink. Bobby delivered a box of fresh fruit and vegetables twice a week, so Mim was eating well. It was hard to believe that a month ago she had been sleeping in her car and eating the cut-price food from the supermarket that was about to be thrown away. She owed Bill and Bea everything and her only complaint was that they wouldn’t let her do anything in return. Her debt to them was mounting by the day.
Lia bounded round the shelves and air kissed Mim’s cheeks. She looked amazing: her skin glowed with a natural tan and her hair had been transformed into a sheet of ash blonde.
‘What do you think?’ Lia asked, swishing her hair around her shoulders. ‘I had it done in London yesterday at the most divine salon. I won’t tell you how much it cost because you would be horrified, darling, but some of the top models go there so you can probably guess.’
Mim thought she probably couldn’t. Her last haircut had cost £15 over a year ago and she felt she’d been robbed at that price. But there was no doubt that Lia looked gorgeous and was wanting to be told that, so Mim obliged.
‘Did you have a good time?’ she asked, as she ran a damp cloth over the shelf to pick up the dust.
‘The. Best. Time. Ever,’ Lia said. ‘There was such a fabulous crowd there this year. We had a blast.’ She stopped and peered towards the counter. ‘Janet isn’t here, is she? This might not be fit for her disapproving ears.’
‘She’ll be here in ten minutes to cover my lunch break.’
It had taken almost three weeks but at last Janet had decided that she could trust Mim to run the shop on her own. It had made the hours in the shop a lot more fun, although Mim still had to be on her guard. She’d discovered that Janet lived in the flat upstairs and she still popped in for occasional spot checks.
‘Perfect,’ Lia said now. ‘Come home with me for lunch and I can tell you all about it.’
‘There isn’t time. I only have half an hour.’
‘Oh, she really is so mean. I’m amazed you’ve managed to bear it here for so long, darling. What do you usually do? Go to the Boat?’
‘I walk along the beach if the weather’s fine.’
Lia glanced out of the window. It was one of the best days that Mim had experienced since arriving in Devon and a weak sun was bathing the village with the illusion of warmth. Lia sighed.
‘Very well. The beach it is, although it really won’t compare to Constance Halaveli.’
‘Is she one of your friends?’ Mim asked, confused. Lia’s laughter pealed round the shop.
‘It’s a beach, darling; one of the most fabulous places in the Maldives. I’ll show you a picture in a minute.’
Mim finished stacking the shelf while Lia wandered round touching and inspecting everything in the shop. She paused at the pick ‘n’ mix sweets and helped herself to a couple. She put a finger to her lips, her eyes sparkling.
‘You’ll get me sacked,’ Mim said, laughing. ‘She probably knows—’
She broke off just in time when she heard a warning creak from the stairs.
‘Swallow quickly,’ she hissed to Lia, who obliged and stuck out her tongue to show her mouth was empty. She was still laughing when Janet shuffled in.
‘What’s going
on?’ Janet asked. ‘Why aren’t you working?’
‘I am.’ Mim waved her duster. ‘I’ve cleaned and restocked all the tinned soup and vegetables. What do you think?’
‘Hmm.’ It wasn’t high praise but Mim had realised by now that it was the best she was going to get from Janet. Janet looked at her watch. ‘Your thirty minutes has started. Don’t be late.’
Mim grabbed her coat and hurried Lia out of the shop. They headed across the road to the footpath that led down onto the beach.
‘What happened there?’ Mim asked. ‘Janet didn’t acknowledge you at all. I thought the Howards were her favourite family. She gushed when Corin went in.’
‘It’s a mystery, isn’t it?’ Lia laughed. ‘I can’t explain why I don’t have the same effect on women as my gorgeous, unattached older brother. ‘
‘Urgh.’ Mim pulled a face. ‘You’re not telling me she fancies him?’
‘Of course she does, darling. Who doesn’t? Apart from me, obviously, because that would be totally gross.’
‘I don’t.’
‘Oh, are you a lesbian?’ Lia looked at Mim with interest as they walked across the pebbles. ‘You should go and visit Olly in London. His boyfriend manages one of the best gay bars in town.’
‘I’m not a lesbian,’ Mim said, and immediately regretted the confession when Lia grinned and carried on.
‘So what’s wrong with Corin?’ she asked. ‘I mean, have you seen his eyelashes? I would literally die to have those long, dark lashes. He’ll get under your skin in the end. He always does.’
‘He won’t be getting under, over, or anywhere near my skin, thank you very much,’ Mim replied. ‘I’m not looking for anything like that.’ And if she were, she wouldn’t be looking in Corin’s direction. He was friendly enough but she wasn’t convinced that any substance lay beneath the surface charm. He didn’t seem to do much apart from take Dickens for a walk and drink pints in the Boat. She supposed he didn’t need to when he had family money to rely on. Yet he seemed totally unaware of how privileged he was, judging by his words at New Year. He made her laugh but she could never be seriously interested in someone like that. She smiled to herself. It was never going to be an issue. Why would the son and heir look twice at her?