‘Danny, isn’t it? I’m Jacob, Rosa’s friend from the Lobster Pot pub up the hill. She just called me from the hospital in Exeter so I thought I’d pop in and say hi and check that you’re doing OK. It’s really kind of you to step in like this.’
‘It’s the least I could do after your mate Rosa saved my son’s life. My old dear is called Tina – you might have met her when she was staying in the Bay with my boy.’ He smiled to reveal a gold back tooth. ‘They’ll be down here later for the fireworks. I know they’d love to see Rosa – if she’s back, that is.’
‘I’m not sure if she will be, in the circumstances.’
‘Well, I’m all right to stay for a bit longer if she needs me to.’ Danny looked around. ‘Bet it’s a little goldmine here, isn’t it?’
‘Er, she does OK, I think. Look, if you’re sure you don’t mind hanging on for a while here that will be incredibly helpful for Rosa, especially at this time of year. Thank you, Danny.’
Ding! The shop bell rang, and a fur-coated Bergamot flounced to the back of the shop without acknowledging either man and began looking at the Christmas gift selection that Titch had so beautifully displayed only the day before.
‘Cool.’ Danny leaned forward and said in a low voice, ‘I’ve seen a safe out the back. Any idea of the code? I shall need to put the takings away in there later.’
‘I have no idea. Sorry.’
‘OK, I shall come and find ya at the pub after, then, shall I? I’ll bring the takings. Don’t want to be leaving a load of cash on the premises, eh?’
‘It’s not like London here. Just leave the notes in the microwave out the back, and it should be fine. I’ll take Hot with me now too, so I can keep him amused while the fireworks are going off.’ Jacob leaned down to clip on Hot’s lead, causing his furry friend to bark his approval at a pending walk. Before he left, Jacob asked, ‘So, Danny, where are you staying while you’re here?’
‘At the caravan park at the top of the hill.’
‘OK. Well, look – thanks again on Rosa’s behalf.’ He handed the stranger a business card. ‘Here’s my number if you need to ask me anything at all.’
‘Nice threads,’ Danny said under his breath on clocking Jacob’s designer coat and jeans as he walked towards the door.
‘Pardon?’ Jacob turned around.
‘I said, “Have a nice day, mate”.’
As Danny was looking around for the light switches, he noticed a dark-haired young man stop outside the shop window and peer in. The fellow’s hair was dishevelled, his long parka coat dirty, and he had a rucksack on his back. His anxious grey-eyed stare made the Londoner feel slightly uncomfortable.
Relieved to find the light switches, Danny illuminated the shop and poked his head out of the door onto the street. The man was still outside.
‘You all right, mate?’ Danny asked.
‘Who are you?’
‘Who’s asking?’
‘I’m looking for Rosa.’
‘She ain’t here, mate.’
‘I can see that. What time is she back? Do you know?’ The lad scratched at his greasy hair.
‘Dunno, sorry.’ Danny had a lot to thank this girl for, and although he knew nothing about her, he certainly wasn’t going to be sharing her business with anyone – especially someone who looked like a homeless stray. ‘See you then, mate,’ he said, beginning to close the door. ‘I better get in, got a customer. Who should I say called?’
‘Nate. Just say Nate.’
Bergamot was still fingering items on the Christmas shelf but on hearing Danny come back in she turned around and smiled at him. Her long red hair framed her thin pale face and her red lipstick somehow brought out the blue in her eyes. She had undone her faux-fur coat, and her tight, white roll-neck jumper alerted the Londoner to the fact that she was obviously bra-less. He tried hard to keep his eyes at face level.
‘Nice to see a new – and may I say handsome – face down in the Bay,’ she said in her posh voice. ‘I’m internet dating, you see, and there are very few handsome men to be found in this area, as you can imagine.’ She picked up a thick church candle from the shelf and held it at the base with both hands.
Danny blinked and cleared his throat. ‘Er, well, I’ve been swiping right in London for a while and it’s not that easy there either. I think my scar puts women off. They reckon I’m a gangster.’ He smiled somewhat awkwardly.
‘A gangster? How divine,’ she drawled, her posh accent standing out against Danny’s not so posh one. She put the candle down and came to stand within a foot of Danny’s bedazzled and now somewhat hungry eyes. ‘Lock.’ She placed her finger gently on his nose. ‘Stock.’ Then on to his lips. And then stroked her hand over the shocked man’s now firming trouser area. ‘And two smoking barrels.’ She ran her tongue around her lips.
‘Er, I need to…erm…’ Danny straightened himself up and took a deep breath. Even in prison he hadn’t encountered such a direct approach.
Bergamot made her way to the front of the shop, turned the hanging sign to Back in 20 minutes and locked the door. She then led Danny into the back kitchen, roughly pushed him against the cooker and after huskily saying, ‘I know exactly what you need,’ she planted her red lips onto his and began to unzip his trousers.
CHAPTER 35
Mary managed a smile as Rosa approached her hospital bed in a little side ward off the main ward. She was just about to lean down and kiss her mother’s pale cheek when her mobile rang quietly.
‘Sorry, Mum – it’s Josh, thank God. At last! Josh, where the hell have you been?’ she hissed, aware of the two other patients in the small ward.
Hearing that it was Josh, alive and well and speaking on the phone, Mary’s eyes had opened wide with relief; any wider and they would have popped out of her head. She held the oxygen mask to her mouth and inhaled deeply several times.
Rosa gave her the thumbs-up and carried on speaking to her husband. ‘I love you too …yes, yes, honestly, I’m fine… Yes, Mum is coming along just fine too. Josh, stay there as planned for now, OK?’
‘I told him not to come back before the fireworks,’ Mary said agitatedly, pulling her mask back down.
Rosa gently laid her hand on her mother’s and helped to replace the mask, saying, ‘I won’t be a minute, Mum.’ She went out into the corridor to finish her conversation in private. On her return, she was glad to see that a nurse had helped Mary to sit up in bed, where she was now drinking some orange juice.
Mary handed her daughter the beaker to put down. ‘I’ve had enough, thanks. Now, what’s going on, duck?’
‘It’s the weather. It’s so bad in New York that they’ve grounded all planes. Josh said he’d messaged and emailed but nothing has come through yet, and for some reason he was unable to call out. It could be something to do with phone signals in the storm, I don’t know.’
‘I thought his plane had crashed,’ Mary said in a weak voice. ‘It sent me into a right old state. I saw the bad weather; I saw it all.’