Lucas served a couple of locals who had just come in for a quick pint, then tended to the open fire. It had been a funny old day and he was feeling tired. He sighed as he remembered his girlfriend stomping off this morning. Davina was great, a good laugh, and the sex was off the scale, but the honeymoon period was definitely over, and despite them coming up to their one-year dating anniversary, he hadn’t once felt the desire to move on with the relationship and ask her to move in with him. He couldn’t deny that Carly had really turned his head this morning, but despite him feeling such a huge physical attraction, he sensed that it hadn’t been reciprocated; scarred from the trauma of unrequited love he had experienced with Rosa, he wasn’t going to put himself through that again.
Realising that he might have upset his girlfriend, he reached into his pocket for his phone and texted her. ‘Shit,’ he then swore aloud, breaking his own rule of no swearing in the Ship. No wonder she was moody, he’d been so dazzled by Carly he’d forgotten to ask Davina how the interview with the final Father Christmas had gone. He hoped it had been successful, as she had said that all of the others had looked like they would either scare the children or were so old they could well die on the job.
Come to me when you’re off shift if you like, Lucas messaged. I’m closing up at ten, so we have time to eat, rest and play! X
Her reply was short and most definitely not sealed with a loving kiss. I’m busy. I’ll see you tomorrow for the fireworks.
CHAPTER 16
‘Have a good time tonight, wifey,’ Josh was saying down the phone line as Rosa pushed the pram up the hill to Seaspray Cottage. Little Ned was sitting propped up and screaming his disapproval of having to come out into the cold November afternoon. Hot, who’d kept hanging back and turning around to go home, was now in the pram too, with his lead looped around the handle. His sensitive ears shivered at the baby’s cries and he gave a short bark, which only made Little Ned weep all the louder.
Trying to ignore the din from her two boys, Rosa pushed her earbud tighter into her ear to hear better. ‘Your son has been a little bugger today; can you hear him?’ She pulled the bud out again for a second and held it to the pram.
‘Which son? Do you mean Hot or Little Ned?’ Josh joked. Then: ‘Mary will sort him out; she always does.’
‘I bloody hope so. Remind me when you are home again?’
‘I checked the calendar earlier; it’s less than six weeks now. Are you sure you’re OK for me to keep working away?’
Rosa huffed. ‘Please don’t ask me that again, Josh. I said I’m fine.’
Josh knew the word ‘fine’ meant ‘shut up’, so he did, about work anyway.
‘You’re leaving him with your mum early,’ he said unwisely.
‘Yes, Josh,’ Rosa snapped, her voice now full of agitation. ‘I want to check that all my charity tins are in place. The Ship, the Residents’ Association and the café are going to have a couple out so I’m hoping we will make a few quid tonight.’
‘What a good idea. Your great-grandad would have been so proud of you, you know.’
Rosa tutted and went on, ‘Plus, the whole thing is starting at five tonight. The tides have been unusually high, so the fireworks will have to be done by six-thirty, then there’s just an hour left for eating and drinking before the sea comes up.’
‘Are Jacob and Raff going?’
‘I think Jacob may pop down. He was moaning about missing out on the action, so the Lobster Pot are providing home-made pasties for the Residents’ Association. They are putting their tent up in the pub car park this year, just in case the tide does come right up.’
‘The Lobster Pot will be rammed with drinkers later though.’
‘Yeah, you know what our friend and drama queen is like. He loves a hissy fit.’
‘And we love him for it.’ Josh said wistfully, ‘I do miss the Bay when I’m away. And you of course, my sweet.’
‘Well, you’ll be back soon, and I will be handing our little treasure right over to you,’ Rosa told him. ‘OK, we’re here. I’ll video call you tomorrow so you can say hello to your son before he forgets what his daddy looks like.’
‘Ouch!’ Josh replied. ‘Catch up tomorrow, darling – oh, and Rosa?’
‘What now?’
‘I still love you to where the sky touches the sea, you know.’ He hung up.
Rosa shook her head. Yes, her husband might be dependable, reliable and kind and yes, she had said that he could go away and work, but if she was honest, it was beginning to annoy her that he didn’t seem to appreciate just how much work was involved in caring for a young baby.
Knocking on her mother’s front door, she was surprised when Christopher opened it.
‘Hello, you,’ he greeted his daughter with a beaming smile.
‘What are you doing here?’ Rosa asked as the tall, white-haired man stooped at the small front door to help her in from the street with the pram. He then lifted Hot out and put him down on the floor, whereupon the keen sausage dog, sniffing food, hurried over to Merlin’s food bowl, causing it to clatter on the hearth as he emptied its contents then licked it until it was gleaming while the outraged moggy hunched up and hissed at him from a corner, before going out of the back cat-flap in a huff.
Little Ned then proceeded to start crying at the top of his voice again. Christopher put a hand to his forehead. ‘I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone, spend some time with Polly – I mean Mary here – and also our grandson. A bit of co-parenting, or, in this case, co-grandparenting, never goes amiss, does it?’ He then grimaced. ‘My big mouth. Sorry, Rosa.’
Rosa noticed that her mother had on both mascara and lipstick. It was like looking at a different woman. When she laughed, her face seemed relaxed, prettier even.
‘You were never one for tact even all those years ago, were you, Kit Webb?’ Mary said, ‘but we are very much here for you both now, Rosa. You know that, duck.’
Mary touched her daughter’s arm, then lifting Little Ned from the pram, she took off his outer clothes then wrapped him in one of her own crocheted blankets and rested him on her shoulder, walking around the room and rocking him. Soothed and feeling secure, he immediately stopped sobbing. ‘You just needed a cuddle, didn’t you, my beautiful boy?’ she murmured.
Christopher winked at Rosa. It all felt kind of surreal. These two people in the same room as her, were her parents. The little wrapped-up bundle was her son. Feeling suddenly overwhelmed by it all, she walked through to the kitchen to get herself a drink of water. The ever-intuitive Christopher followed.
‘Would you like me to leave?’ he asked.
‘God, no.’
Mary was busy fussing the baby. Hot had been put out of harm’s way on Queenie’s (Rosa’s deceased great-grandmother) old chair. Despite the smell of Merlin and some of his cat hair on the cushion, the small dog was soon lulled by the warmth of the fire and fell fast asleep.
Rosa turned round to face her father. ‘It’s just a bit weird,’ she tried to explain. ‘I felt like this when I first met Mum. I am part of you, but I know nothing about you really. It’s as if you are a stranger.’