‘Perfect!’ Tom said to me with a smile. ‘Shall we?’
And, not waiting for an answer, he took hold of me and began to twirl me around slowly in time to the music. By the time the song had finished, I’d forgotten about the rest of the crowd, forgotten about the pebbles beneath our feet, the twinkling lights and the sound of the waves splashing on the shore. I’d forgotten everything apart from the feel of Tom’s arms around me, his eyes gazing into mine, his breath so close to my face … his lips, finally, finally, finding mine. When the crowd began to whoop, we still didn’t stop kissing, presuming they were cheering the newlyweds. But to my embarrassment, when we eventually came up for air, it was to find we too were encircled by all our friends from Pennycombe Bay, who were clapping us and calling out friendly, jokey comments.
‘You go, girl!’ said Edie, leaning towards me and giving me a wink. ‘Nice work! Has he got a friend?’ – and I laughed, surprised to find I didn’t care in the slightest that both Tom and I were blushing furiously as we took the teasing in good part. Next to us on the beach, Ruth and Ollie were also holding each other close. It seemed love really was in the air.
‘Ollie’s just asked me to marry him,’ Ruth said, her eyes shining. ‘We’re going to choose engagement rings on Monday.’
‘Whoopee!’ Kevin cried, overhearing the news. ‘Another party!’
I hugged Ruth, and then Ollie. I was thrilled for them both. Ruth put her hand on my arm, bending close to me.
‘Don’t worry, Jess,’ she said. ‘Ollie’s moving in with us permanently, but there’s no question of you having to move out. We’ve got plenty of space in the house, and we like having you and Prudence around.’
‘Thanks, Ruth. But I’ll be in the way. I’m earning more now and …’ I glanced back at Tom, unable to keep the grin off my face, ‘things are changing, at the shop. It’s time I started looking for a place of my own. I’m not your baby cousin any more.’
‘No, you’re not,’ she said with a smile. ‘But … please don’t rush to leave.’ She followed my glance. ‘And you might find, eventually, you want to look for a place for two rather than one.’
I blushed again. That was moving things along a little too fast! But I just grinned at her and promised I wouldn’t rush into anything. There were enough big changes about to happen in my life. It was good to know I could stay put at West View Villas, for a while at least.
When the party ended, Tom walked home with me, following at a discreet distance behind Ruth and Ollie.
‘Come in for a coffee,’ I said. ‘Pru will love to see you.’
‘I’d like to, but I’d better get back,’ he said, regret in his voice. ‘I left Mum to put Jacob to bed, and he was playing up a bit because he couldn’t come—’
‘Does your mum live with you?’ I asked in surprise.
‘Of course! How did you think I managed, working at the café? I get to do the school run on quiet days, but more often Mum does it for me. Why are you laughing?’
‘I wondered about that,’ I admitted. ‘But I’m laughing because of all the times I’ve hung around the school gates on a Wednesday afternoon, trying to get a sneaky glimpse of you. And more often than not, your mum was probably there instead!’
He laughed softly and pulled me closer to him. Blushing again, I realised I’d just given myself away: that I’d been watching for him, wanting him, for longer than I’d admitted even to myself.
‘And the reason I’ve been trying to do the school pick-up on Wednesdays at all recently,’ he said thickly, tracing my lips gently with his finger, ‘was that I was hoping for a sneaky glimpse of you.’
It was a few more minutes before we could bear to let go of each other and say goodbye. When I went inside, smiling to myself as I thought about his mum living with him, sharing the childcare, I suddenly decided there was just one person in the world I needed to talk to, no matter how late the hour, to share my excitement for the future. Dad wasn’t asleep anyway. Still sitting here on the sofa on my own watching rubbish on the TV, he said. It took me all of five minutes to spill out all the news. The party. Ruth and Ollie getting engaged. Getting back together with Liz, offering her a job. Jim selling the shop. The café. Tom. The new joint venture. Pop Inn for Paws. Or maybe not!
‘It sounds like everything’s coming together for you, love,’ he said warmly. ‘And about time too. You deserve a bit of luck.’
‘Thanks, Dad. Yes, it really does feel, this time, as if it’s all coming good. All except for one thing.’
‘Go on?’
‘I wish you lived nearer!’ I blurted out. ‘I miss you! I know it’s not far, but—’
He laughed. ‘You must be a mind reader, love. I’ve been looking at properties in Pennycombe Bay. You know how much I’ve always loved it there. I’ve often thought about moving back—’
‘Have you?’ I asked, surprised.
‘Yes, I have. But I suppose it was always the thought of leaving this house that stopped me. You know … it feels a bit like leaving your mum behind.’
‘Oh, Dad, no it doesn’t! Your memories of mum would come with you.’
‘Yes, I realise that now. Rose has helped me to understand that. She’s been very understanding altogether.’
‘Rose?’ I frowned. ‘Who’s Rose?’
‘My … um … lady friend, from the bowls club. She’s a widow herself. We’ve been seeing a bit more of each other, since Christmas, and well, you know how it is.’ He sounded awkward. ‘Nobody will ever replace your mum, Jess. I don’t want you to think that—’
‘I know!’ I smiled to myself. I missed Mum every day, just as Dad always would, but I didn’t want him to be lonely anymore. ‘I’m glad you’ve got someone, Dad. And yes, hurry up and move to Pennycombe Bay, and bring Rose with you – good for you! It’s an easy commute to your work from here, and it would be … just fabulous, to have you here in the town.’
I said goodbye, and looked up from my phone to see Ruth smiling at me across the room. Prudence, lying at my feet, looked up at me too, her little face expressing all the love and happiness I was feeling myself. I was so lucky, I told myself. My life was turning out, after all, to be perfect all of a sudden.
‘We’re so lucky, aren’t we, Pru?’ I said, and although she wagged her tail, so hard that it thumped a rhythm like a drumbeat on the floor, I couldn’t hear her response, couldn’t seem to formulate her voice inside my head. ‘Aren’t we, Pru?’ I said again, waiting. But there was nothing, just her trusting eyes gazing back at me, just her tail thumping the floor.
‘I guess I don’t need that anymore, then,’ I said out loud to myself, regretfully.
Don’t be silly! The little voice finally burst through my thoughts just as I’d given up waiting. You might have a new boyfriend and a new business plan and all that stuff going on – all very nice I must say. But you’re always going to need ME most of all! Don’t you forget it!
And I never will, Pru. I promise!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
With grateful thanks to Jennifer Dubois, Volunteer Support Officer at Pets As Therapy, for help with some queries about the way this wonderful charity works. For more information about PAT, see their website https://petsastherapy.org.
Thanks once again to Sharon Whelan, my friendly local vet, for her advice about dogs’ sore paws.
And thanks as always to the team at Ebury, especially Katie Seaman, my editor.
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Epub ISBN: 9781473550131
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Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
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Ebury Press is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
Copyright © Sheila Norton, 2019
Cover illustration by Dawn Cooper
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Sheila Norton has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published by Ebury Press in 2019
www.penguin.co.uk
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9781785034220
The Pet Shop at Pennycombe Bay Page 31