‘Your usual?’ Sara went to get the soya milk out of the fridge.
‘No. Sod that for a game of soldiers. A double espresso, please – and pronto. I need a caffeine hit.’ The posh voice was getting more strident and obstreperous.
‘And a bacon sandwich?’ Sara questioned tentatively.
‘What? Don’t be bloody ridiculous!’
Sara bit her tongue, wishing at times like this she could channel Rosa’s acerbic and quick wit. Rosa would never have put up with this rudeness, since to her, the customer was always right – but only up to a certain limit. Sara, however, had always just meekly sucked it up and let it go.
‘I’ll just have Bovril on some brown toast, please,’ Bergamot said more calmly, ‘but don’t tell the fucking planet police it’s not vegan, will you, darling.’
As Queen B removed a twenty-pound note from her bag, two others fell to the floor, along with a red business card. The man who’d just walked in bent down behind her to help pick up the money. They almost clanked heads on rising. For one always harping on about being broke, Bergamot seemed to have plenty of cash this morning, Sara thought.
Greg Picket always wore a white, old-school milkman’s hat. The ladies loved it. Sara had sourced the excellent products from his farm shop for some years now. His cream-laden ‘gold top’ milk was always a winner with the older locals and made a delicious milkshake too.
‘Oh, hello sailor,’ Bergamot said suggestively, clocking the man’s weather-beaten but still undeniably handsome face. ‘I bet your cream always rises to the top.’
Sara’s mouth fell open. Greg winked at her discreetly. He was a happily married man with three kids, but a bit of milkman banter had kept his business going for years and he was always on the look-out for new customers.
‘Sign up for my delivery service today, madam, and I will of course endeavour to provide full satisfaction.’
Bergamot’s pout increased as she wrote her number down on the back of a serviette. ‘I’ll be seeing you,’ she said seductively, her dairy allergy suddenly disappearing without trace.
An hour later, Titch arrived, pushing Theo in his pram, with the puppies in their little crate tucked inside the shopping rack below. She picked up the red business card that Bergamot had dropped earlier. ‘“Polhampton Paws”,’ she read aloud, then handed it to Sara, who placed it on the shelf under the counter.
‘That’s weird,’ Sara said. ‘Alec mentioned them the other day. They are a local dog and cat shelter, I think.’
‘Always good to know for when these two start playing up.’ Titch pointed at the puppy crate.
‘Titch! You don’t mean that.’ Sara laughed at the youngster’s irreverent humour. ‘Anyway, what can I do you for, this fine morning?’ Walking around the front to peek in the pushchair, she was faced with the rare sight of a sleeping Theo.
‘I’ve just come down to tell you about Rosa, actually.’
‘Is she all right? I did wonder, as I texted her earlier and it’s not like her not to be up and about.’
‘She’s fine now but she had a bit of a scare last night.’ Titch lowered her voice. ‘She had a few spots of blood, but Jacob took her to the hospital, and they scanned her immediately. Everything is fine. Evidently this sometimes happens in early pregnancy.’
‘Oh no! Bless her. Has she told Josh?’
‘Yes, she spoke to him last night. He is of course now frantic and wants to come back, but you know what she’s like. So bloody stoic about everything. We just need to try and keep her stress-free, and I for sure won’t be letting her lift anything in the shop from now on.’
‘Is she at home?’
‘Yes. Mary is with her now. It’s her day off from the Co-op so she can open the shop up and I’m in there this afternoon. Can you cope on your own here, Sara?’
‘Oh yes. At this time of year it’s usually quiet.’ Sara sprayed a table with sanitiser and quickly wiped it down. ‘I’d planned to be on my own this morning anyway. But it’s such a shame that Nate disappeared the way he did. He was a good worker and I liked him. I need to talk to Rosa about advertising for someone else.’
‘Good idea. The university students will be breaking up soon, so even if you got someone in here for the holidays, it would help during the Christmas period.’
‘That’s a great suggestion – thanks. Right, what can I get you?’
‘I’ll have a coffee and a sausage sandwich when I come back, please, but while he’s asleep, I’m going to put him out the back if you don’t mind, so I can run these scamps on the beach for a minute.’ The two puppies were now scrabbling around, eager to escape from their crate prison.
As Titch let her tiny canine companions explore the seashore on a double lead, she noticed Lucas’s white plumbing van pull into the Ship’s car park, closely followed by the distinctive bicycle with a basket on the front belonging to Edie Rogers. She watched from the pub wall as one by one they threw the windows open, upstairs and down. It was a perfect day for airing the place, Titch thought – cold, bright and crisp, with just enough breeze to make a difference.
A lot of time and water had flown under the bridge since Titch had slept with Lucas and accepted the bribe from Sheila Hannafore to get rid of the baby which she had pretended was his. She had avoided him since, so was quite shocked to see him open the door, and then give her a wave before coming over to join her.
Titch tutted as the ever-inquisitive Mr Chips went rushing towards him and started sniffing his ankles.
‘Sorry, he’s just a puppy. Into everything and everyone at the moment.’
‘You never could keep the boys under control, could you?’ Lucas gave her a wry smile.
‘How you doing?’ Titch said, with care.
‘Not bad. Keeping busy. You know.’
At that moment his phone went. Holding his hand up as a goodbye, he strode back to the pub and shut the heavy door behind him.
But Titch didn’t know. After losing her father and brother at such a young age, the thought of losing her own mother was a constant underlying worry, and for once she felt a massive pang of compassion for Lucas Hannafore and his grieving soul.
CHAPTER 48
‘Josh, it’s five in the morning where you are, darling. You’ll be knackered all day. Please try and get a couple of hours sleep in.’ Rosa’s handsome but very tired-looking husband stared back at her on the phone screen.
‘I’m just worried about you, Rosa. So, for the last time, are you sure you don’t want me to come home today? I will just drop everything; we are nearly done on this project now. Carlton could cope, if he had to.’
‘And for the last time, no. I’m fine. It literally was a couple of drops of blood, there is no drama and I promise I will do as I’m told and let other people lift and carry for me. This baby is in here for keeps, I’m telling you. I still feel pregnant and I was sick as a dog again this morning. It’s common, what happened, I’m told. I just feel bad I saw the scan before you though.’
‘Show me again.’ Rosa held up the grey and white picture. ‘Aw. That’s our baby, that is.’ Josh was beaming. ‘Look to the right, I’m sure I can see a willy.’