Walking to his car, that image imprinted on his brain, Jason wondered how on earth she remained unattached. Any man would be crazy not to want to do just about anything to be on the receiving end of a smile like that.
‘Are people still on at you about that blasted interview?’ Sarah asked when she popped round with spring vegetable soup.
Claudia sniffed at the soup in appreciation, then sighed at Sarah’s question. ‘Yes. And they’re not buying anything.’ She dropped her voice, glancing at her browsers. ‘Thank goodness for the tourists!’
‘How’s Pudding?’ Sarah pointed to the cat, curled in his basket behind the counter, where customers couldn’t try to stroke him.
‘Still traumatised.’
‘I’d be traumatised, too, if you shoved me in a bath and covered me in shampoo and oil.’
Pudding looked up and gave her a woebegone expression.
‘Sorry we were away last night, Claudia. You know we’d’ve come, otherwise.’
‘I know. But it turned out okay.’
‘Jason and Millie, your very own superheroes?’
‘I guess.’
Sarah raised a speculative eyebrow. ‘Hmm. It was one thing Jason helping last night in an emergency, but as for his follow-up activities this morning? Above and beyond the call of duty, if you ask me.’
Claudia smiled. ‘I know. Especially since he’s not a cat lover.’
‘You sure it’s the cat he’s worried about, honey?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean.’
Ignoring her, Claudia said, ‘I need to buy him a new shirt.’
‘That’s a pretty personal gift.’
‘Not a gift – a replacement for the one he ruined. And I need to thank them both properly. Maybe dinner tomorrow night?’
‘Isn’t Millie going to her grandparents for most of half-term?’
Claudia slapped her forehead. ‘My brain’s mush after this week! Yes, she is – as soon as she finishes at Healing Waves tomorrow.’
Sarah’s eyes took on a mischievous glint. ‘Doesn’t stop you having Jason round, does it?’
‘On his own?’
‘Why not? He might be lonely without Millie.’
‘Ha! I should think he’d relish the peace and quiet.’
‘Might relish dinner with you more. Like you said, you owe him, and not just for last night. Didn’t you have dinner at his house last weekend?’
‘Yes, although that was meant to be with Millie, too, but she went out.’
‘So? You’ve survived one dinner alone with him. What makes you think you wouldn’t survive another?’
Last time, we opened our hearts and souls to each other, and I’m not sure it was a good idea.
Sarah smirked. ‘Think about it. I should get back.’
Claudia did think about it. She owed Jason thanks and a return dinner invitation. She could leave it until Millie was available. Or she could stop being a wuss and get on with it, instead of agonising all day.
She reached for her phone.
Hi. I was wondering if you fancy dinner here tomorrow night? As a thank you for helping with Pudding. And for the meal at yours last week. If you have time after driving Millie to Devon, that is?
Claudia refrained from adding a kiss as she would with any other friend – too much room for interpretation – and waited nervously for his reply. It took twenty-eight minutes.
A thank you isn’t necessary, but dinner sounds good. Millie’s grandparents are meeting me halfway, so I should be back by six thirty or so. What time suits you?
Relieved at his straightforward acceptance, Claudia texted back a simple Seven?
Then she phoned Tanya. The last time they’d discussed Jason, he’d been pilloried for treating Claudia so badly. The least she could do was to tell her he’d apologised and redeemed himself with his help the previous night.
Tanya was beside herself over Pudding, so much so that she would have come to see the patient, but she was due to visit her parents for the weekend, a duty she limited to a few times a year. Much as they loved their daughter and were proud of her running her own business, they had never reconciled themselves to her extra-curricular activities as a witch.
When Claudia threw her dinner invitation to Jason into the conversation, Tanya was just like Sarah – speculative and mischievous.
The pair of them weren’t helping with Claudia’s misgivings at all.
‘Looking forward to staying with your grandparents?’ Claudia asked Millie as they restocked shelves during a quiet patch the following day. Millie was in the middle of unpacking colourful textile bags and passing them to Claudia to hang on hooks.
Their progress was hampered by Pudding trying to jump into the cardboard box, but as Claudia didn’t want his still-oily fur anywhere near the goods, it was a battle of wills.
Millie laughed. ‘You love your boxes, don’t you, Pudding?’
‘He spends half his time down here in boxes. The minute I unpack one, in he hops.’ Claudia wagged a finger at the cat. ‘No. You can have it when it’s empty.’ She glanced at Millie. ‘So. Your grandparents?’
‘I suppose I am. And it’s for longer this time, so they can show me around and we can do stuff together.’
Claudia nodded in understanding. Days out and distractions might reduce the intensity.
Millie looked around to check that their one customer was out of earshot. ‘Dad says you’ve been stressed about the radio thing. I’m sorry.’
‘Thanks. I’m sorry if this nonsense makes it difficult for you working here, when you like going into Hester’s Cauldron. Do you… go in there a lot?’
Subtle, Claudia.
‘Yeah. It’s on my way home.’ Millie hesitated. ‘By the way, has Dad said anything to you?’
‘About what, specifically?’
Millie shifted uncomfortably. ‘When Phoebe and Jessica came round this week, we’d bought something at Hester’s, and I think Dad might’ve seen it when he came upstairs.’
Claudia kept her expression neutral. ‘What was it?’
‘A… a spell book.’
‘No, he hasn’t said anything. Were you spell-weaving?’
‘Spell-weaving?’
‘Casting spells.’
‘Oh. No, we didn’t get that far.’
What would Jason want me to say? Why didn’t he warn me about this?
Because you’ve been distraught all week with one thing and another, and you weren’t talking to each other so he didn’t have chance.
‘Will you, do you think?’ Claudia asked carefully. ‘Go further, I mean?’
Ugh, this is like some mother-daughter discussion about boys! How did I get landed with this?
Millie gave a casual shrug. ‘Maybe. Some time. Amber and Raven said it’d be fun but that we’ll need supplies…’
Which they sell, of course.
‘So we’ll need to save up more pocket money first.’ Millie narrowed her eyes in that stubborn way that matched her father’s. ‘You can’t tell Dad. Friends don’t betray confidences. I won’t forgive you, if you do.’
Well, this week just gets better and better.
What would Claudia do if this were her daughter? She’d have no qualms about her exploring alternative practices and spiritualities. But she would want to make sure she was safe and that her sources were reliable. Above all, she’d want her daughter to be open with her. Through his own stubbornness, that wasn’t happening between Jason and Millie.
‘Okay. Just don’t go delving into things before you’re ready, will you?’
‘Don’t worry. Amber and Raven said they can teach us.’
Oh no. ‘They’re practising witches?’
Millie frowned. ‘They must be, or they wouldn’t own a shop like that, would they?’
‘I’m not sure the two necessarily go hand in hand, Millie.’
‘How would you know?’ And there it was – the anger, the stubbornness, the sense of betrayal
that she’d confided something and look at where it had got her.
Claudia had to rescue this, fast. ‘I don’t know how skilled they are,’ she said, hating every word. Tanya was convinced they dabbled at best and knew very little at worst when it came to the Wiccan side of their stock. Talking of Tanya… ‘But my best friend’s a witch, so I do know something about these things.’
Millie’s eyes widened. ‘Is that true, then? I thought you just invented it to shut that stupid Ollie Barton up.’
Ah. Jason hasn’t mentioned Tanya to Millie yet, then.
Claudia sighed. She may have regained a few kudos with Millie, but she might have dug herself a deeper hole with Jason.
‘Who is she?’ Millie asked, enthralled. ‘What kind of things does she do? What…?’
Four customers came through the door in quick succession, thankfully putting an end to the conversation for now. Claudia only had time to whisper, ‘I wouldn’t tell your dad I spoke to you about that, if I were you, Millie, or we’ll both be in trouble.’
Chapter Eighteen
Jason had been surprised by Claudia’s dinner invitation, especially since he knew that she knew that Millie would be away. After their last dinner together, he couldn’t deny he felt some trepidation. But he could hardly refuse, and he’d do plenty of rattling around the house on his own over the next few days – not that he wasn’t looking forward to that, for a little while anyway.
Since Jennifer and Harry had met him halfway to hand Millie over, he’d had time to get home and shower and change before setting out… making it seem like a proper date. Jason wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
At Claudia’s door, he was greeted by the smell of something delicious roasting and Claudia’s only-just-there scent as she kissed his cheek in welcome. He followed her into the glow of the lamplight, taking in the small table under the window set for two, and lingering on the vision of Claudia in a long skirt of swirling sea blues and a simple white top that showed off her figure with its flowing lines.
Pulling himself together, he lifted the bottle he held in one hand and flowers in the other. ‘I brought these. Consider the flowers a replacement for the ones I chucked over your DIY fire.’
Claudia smiled as she placed the flowers in a vase. ‘Thank you. I’ll arrange them later. And talking of replacements…’ She handed him a tissue-wrapped parcel.
Knowing this must be the dreaded shirt replacement and expecting the worst, Jason was pleased to unwrap a simple collared T-shirt in a denim-blue fabric. ‘It’s soft.’
‘Bamboo.’
He held it against himself. ‘You needn’t have. But I love it.’ And he did, not least because there wasn’t a speck of tie-dye in sight.
‘Wine?’
‘Please. I walked, so I don’t have to be good.’ When she looked amused, he hastily said, ‘What’s cooking?’
‘Butternut squash.’
Who knew a vegetable could smell so good? ‘I assume we’re having another ban on the topic of Hester’s Cauldron tonight?’
Claudia looked panicked for a moment, puzzling him, then said, ‘That’s a very good idea,’ with some relief.
They chatted about Millie’s progress at her Saturday job, and Jason was glad that Claudia found her useful. When Pudding sauntered through from the bedroom with a rattle of bead curtains, Jason was pleased to see that his fur looked a bit more like a feline’s should.
‘I thought he’d never look the same again,’ Claudia confessed.
‘He’s a survivor, like his mistress,’ Jason said, more to himself than to her, but she smiled. ‘Can I help with the cooking?’
Claudia gestured at the tiny kitchen area. ‘Not unless we want to injure each other. I would say “feel free to explore”, but that’ll only take you two minutes, and you’ve been here before.’
‘I think every one of those times has been fraught at best and a crisis at worst. I’m happy to explore.’
While Claudia lifted the squash from the oven and turned to a pan on the hob, Jason wandered. Shells, bowls of colourful pebbles and sea glass, crystals. Only three photographs – Claudia with Tanya on the beach; Claudia with Sarah and Evelyn outside The Porthsteren Page Turner; and a selfie of Claudia and Millie making soap. It struck him what an honour it was for Claudia to display one of herself and his daughter when there were only three photos in the room.
A translucent statuette caught his eye, an interpretation of a female figure – no face, no details – with exaggerated curves, her arms stretched to meet in a circle over her head. Its simplicity appealed to his aesthetic senses. It was very Claudia.
‘What’s this?’
‘A goddess. For channelling divine feminine energy.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Jason resisted the urge to shake his head. Apart from anything else, he didn’t see why Claudia would need a prop for that. She exuded divine feminine energy without any help at all.
‘You can channel yours, too,’ she told him. ‘Being male doesn’t exclude you.’
‘And I would want to do that why?’
‘It would help you get in touch with your higher self.’ Catching his doubtful expression, she said, ‘That’s not particularly mystical, Jason. It’s about learning to trust your intuition, understanding yourself better, allowing yourself to be creative – which you already are in your work. And more playful – which you’re not, nowadays.’
‘Hmmph.’ Jason touched the almost-transparent statue, feeling the cool, smooth surface. ‘What’s it made from?’
‘Clear quartz.’
‘Which is…?’
She smiled as she stirred. ‘Do you really want to know?’
‘Can you do it in a dozen words? My brain’s already overloaded from channelling my divine feminine energy.’
Claudia laughed. ‘Clear quartz has powerful healing properties. It can help with intention and protect against negativity.’
‘I do like her,’ he admitted.
‘I’m sure she’ll be pleased to know that. I’ll tell her, next time we commune.’ There was a wicked glint in her eyes, and Jason grinned.
He wandered nearer, to watch her cook. Her movements were graceful, confident, her hair glowing gold in the kitchen spotlights.
‘How come you’re not dating anyone?’ he blurted out, mentally kicking himself the minute the words were out.
Staring at him in surprise, Claudia’s lips curved. ‘How do you know I’m not?’ When his face fell, she laughed. ‘Don’t you think you’d’ve heard from Libby or Evelyn by now if I were?’
‘In that case, crassly put thought it was, I’ll repeat the question. How come you’re not dating?’
‘I’ve had offers.’
‘I bet you have.’ Oh dear. That had slipped out unbidden, too.
‘But I didn’t take any of them up. Partly because I didn’t think it wise to get involved with a local while establishing myself in a new place, and partly because nobody tempted me enough.’
Do I tempt you enough?
‘Wait. Are you saying you haven’t dated anyone since your husband?’ Three years ago?
‘Does that surprise you?’
He thought about it. ‘Yes and no.’
‘Care to expand?’
Ah. ‘No, because I know you think carefully about things – and there’s probably an element of once bitten, twice shy. And yes, because you must’ve had men battering the door down.’
Claudia smiled, almost shyly. ‘Thanks for the compliment, but not as many as you think. Even if men find me attractive, I scare them a little.’ Deftly chopping green leaves, she turned the tables on him. ‘How about you? Have you dated?’
Serves me right for prying.
‘No,’ he answered honestly. ‘Although I was surprised at the interest I got, after Gemma died. It seems that becoming a widower gives you an edge, for some reason.’
‘You weren’t tempted to have an affair when you and Gemma grew apart?’
If anyone else had asked Jason that, he w
ould’ve told them to mind their own business. He didn’t mind Claudia asking.
‘I didn’t want to compound the problems we were having.’
‘Not even after you found out she was having an affair?’
‘I know some might think that would’ve been justified, but it wasn’t long before she became ill and then… Well.’
Claudia reached into a cupboard for a spice jar. ‘Sounds like your sex life’s been in the doldrums for as long as mine, then.’
Jason almost dropped his wine glass. ‘Er. Hmm. Yes. Sounds like it.’
She laughed. ‘Don’t worry, Jason. It was a comment, not a chat-up line.’
Did he want it to be a chat-up line? Perhaps a change of subject would be wise. ‘You’re very relaxed when you cook.’
‘You’re not?’
‘I see it as a necessary chore. Millie complains that I’m not very flexible with recipes – I have to follow them to the letter. It’s not intuitive for me. My daughter prefers to wing it, which involves a great deal of mess and rather mixed results.’
‘I probably fall somewhere in between,’ Claudia said. ‘I use recipes for inspiration, but I like to play around and see where it takes me. As for being relaxed, I think you should enjoy doing something if you can.’
‘Is that how you approach everything?’
‘Other than the washing up. I hate that, and no amount of positive thinking will ever change it.’
He grinned at her honesty. Glancing at a pile of mail on her kitchen counter, he noticed an envelope addressed to Ms C.R. Bennett. ‘What does the R stand for?’
Claudia added white wine to her pan. ‘What R?’
‘In your name. “C.R.”’
‘Oh. Rose.’
‘Claudia Rose? I like that.’
‘It’s just a middle name. I never use it.’
‘You should. It rolls off the tongue. Kind of exotic. Sumptuous. It suits you.’
Claudia gave him a startled look. ‘You think I’m exotic and sumptuous?’
Jason blushed the brightest red he had in years. ‘Well…’
The Little Shop in Cornwall: A heartwarming and feel good beach read Page 23