‘What?’
‘She didn’t come down for breakfast, didn’t answer when we knocked, so then we went in and found her next to a pile of sick, fully clothed on the bed – and she was so white I honestly thought she was a goner.’
Rosa laughed. ‘She’s pale as a ghost anyway.’
‘I know that now!’ He paused and took a deep breath. ‘Why didn’t you tell me she was allergic to prawns, Rosa?’ he asked awkwardly.
‘What? What do you mean? I didn’t know.’
‘Davina said you checked her in, and you must have forgotten.’
‘Did she now? Well, Davina is going to get a piece of my mind when I see her for being a complete and utter lying bitch.’
‘Oi. That’s a bit strong.’
‘No. The lying cow. I got as far as running up and getting the key out of the door of the Titanic, that’s all. By the time I got back downstairs to reception, Davina had just arrived and carried on checking the woman in and showing her to her room. There was no mention whatsoever of prawns.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Luke, you do believe me, don’t you?’
He looked directly into Rosa’s pretty green eyes. ‘I trust you with my life.’
‘Good, because you should.’ Then without even thinking, the words, ‘I love you, Luke Hannafore,’ shot out of her mouth into his ears and wrapped around his heart like clingfilm.
Tears formed in the man’s eyes. ‘I love you, too,’ he replied softly.
‘In the way we discussed the other night, I mean,’ Rosa quickly added.
‘I knew what you meant.’ Lucas cleared his throat.
‘So, you don’t think it was the tuna, do you? Fuck! This is just the worst thing to happen.’
‘Yeah, thanks for that – and yes, it had actually crossed my mind that Jacob may have given us an old bit of fish.’
‘Come on – Jacob is hot on his fresh stuff, and he may be a drama queen sometimes but he would never in a million years stitch you up like that. It must have been a prawn.’
‘But there were no prawns in her dish. It is a bit of a mystery; she was really drunk though.’
‘Well, that’s it then, she probably just had too much to drink.’
‘She’s blaming the food, and Tina did say the colour of her puke looked like it could be food poisoning. So we are fucked whatever way.’
‘Shit. I’m sorry.’ Rosa started to make up bottles of baby milk.
‘It’s fine. It’s just a star.’
‘A big pulsating Seaside Star.’ Rosa then laughed.
Lucas grinned back. ‘And we already have two of those.’
‘But two’s not three.’ Rosa then decided, ‘OK, this is awful, but I think this is one for “chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on”, don’t you?’
Lucas started laughing. ‘The inspector woman, she was dead glamorous in an older woman kind of way, dead loud though, and the drunker she got, the more she swore.’
‘Maybe she was so hungover, she will just forget all about it.’
‘Rosa, you’re talking to me. I don’t think so.’
‘On a positive, no one will know you were going for the third star unless you tell someone. You may get a bad review – so what? Happens to everyone. In fact, you know how I like my reading? Well, before I download a book that I fancy, I always check out the bad reviews before the good ones because they are usually codswallop with spelling mistakes and make me laugh. It’s so obvious that people write them out of malice and because they’ve got nothing better to do.’
‘Jacob will know though,’ Lucas said moodily.
‘Don’t worry, he won’t spread it around. He’s too decent for that, and he knows he’s got a good business going on up there. I’ve said it before and it’s true, there is plenty room enough for the both of you in this town.’
‘Actually, can you find out if he knows when we are likely to hear about whether we’ve got one or not?’
Rosa opened her eyes wide. ‘Why? You don’t honestly think you will get a star after this, do you? Actually, can they take them away from you?’
‘You’re such a bitch.’ Lucas threw a tea towel at her.
‘But yeah, let me find out so you can avoid Jacob boasting about his.’ Rosa filled the kettle and turned it on. As she was hunting for mugs she said casually, ‘You don’t seem terribly upset about Davina and the situation.’
‘If I’m honest, I feel a bit relieved, especially after last night.’
‘How come?’
‘I saw Carly.’ Luke couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face. ‘She popped into the bar late last night.’
‘Ooh, go on.’
‘She’s just split from someone, actually, had just dumped him last night. He evidently wasn’t looking for the same thing as her.’
‘Which is?’
‘Marriage and kids.’
‘Shut the front door!’ Rosa rubbed her hands together. ‘You’re made for each other, honestly.’
‘She’s got your eyes.’
‘Well, as long as she protects your heart, I don’t care what else she has.’
‘She rushed off, then texted me. I don’t know if she likes me or not.’
‘Show me.’ Rosa read it out loud. ‘Thank you for making me smile again tonight. Carly – and a kiss! Of course she likes you. There’s the evidence right in front of your eyes. Does she need to spell it out?’
‘I don’t know, because when she left she said that I wouldn’t be single for long.’
‘That’s another good thing.’
‘Is it?’ Luke looked perplexed.
‘Anyway, what did you reply?’
‘Nothing. Thought I’d think about it.’
‘Oh Luke, she probably sat awake waiting for a reply from that message.’
‘There wasn’t a question mark!’
Rosa bashed her forehead with her hand. ‘Men! Reply now, something nice.’
‘I’m still seeing Davina.’
‘I don’t want to be cynical, but by the sound of things I don’t think she’d care.’
Lucas started typing. He read out: ‘Glad I made you feel better. Thursday at 4 in the café for our meeting? Kiss. PS: Will you marry me? Smiley face. How about that?’
Rosa laughed. ‘The last bit is a joke, right?’
‘It’s our standing joke.’
‘Whoa, well don’t scare her off.’
‘I give up.’ Lucas scratched his head and pressed send. ‘You can’t win with women.’
Little Ned started crying upstairs. ‘I’d better go and get the main man,’ Rosa said.
‘I need to leave anyway. I want to walk up the cliffs to clear my head before I meet my main man, Danny.’
‘OK. Good luck and I want to be kept posted on everything – and I mean everything. All right?’
CHAPTER 44
Satisfied that she had cleaned all of the rooms ready for new arrivals later, Tina Green ripped off her pink rubber gloves, put them in the upstairs cleaning cupboard then made her way back into the Mary Rose – the room with the best view of the back car park of the Ship. Thanks to the magic carpet cleaner, a great deal of elbow grease and ditto fresh air, the Titanic was now good as new.