He just had to be patient, that was all.
Reaching the corner of Water Street, where the town met the coastline, he saw the StarFish sign hanging a few feet away. The scent of the sea and the sound of distant waves rolled up from the beach, and he remembered exactly why this had been the perfect place for his dream restaurant, with his dream girl. The place to raise a family and grow old.
Well. He still had the restaurant, anyway.
And maybe Mia was right. Maybe he would make it back to London one day. Even if he wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing. Aberarian, as Mia often told him, had many charms.
He paused at StarFish’s door as he saw Mia farther up the street, and it took him a full thirty seconds to realise that not only was she not alone, he also didn’t know the man she was with. Or why she was holding his arm. Or what he’d said to make her laugh so openly, her face shining and bright with the sort of relaxed joy Charlie had never yet managed to get her to show.
Charlie blinked. Mia hadn’t noticed him at all, and was already leading her friend farther along Main Street, towards the tiny rundown cinema. She’d tell him all about it later, he was sure. There was probably a perfectly innocent explanation.
Except it didn’t need to be innocent, did it? Because he had absolutely no claim on her anyway.
Depressed once again, Charlie pushed open the door and retreated into the dream restaurant that had become a nightmare.
Becky waited until she saw Tony and Mia take the turning down Water Street, towards the Esplanade, before she ducked out of the newsagent’s doorway and over to the A to Z shop next door.
It had been a good idea, having Tony lure Mia away first; this was a family matter, after all. And Mia, for all they’d been friends as kids, before the thing with her dad, was never going to be family. She’d wondered how he’d managed it, but not for very long. Tony always seemed to manage to get what he wanted one way or another, often leaving the other party thinking it had been their idea in the first place. It was one of the reasons Champion Casinos were such a success.
The other reason, of course, was that Becky got what she wanted pretty much all the time, too. When they worked together, they were unstoppable.
The thought made Becky smile. Aberarian was going to roll over and beg for them to save it.
It was a good feeling, knowing she was just one deal away from ruling her old hometown. She hadn’t been ready last time she’d come back. They hadn’t taken her seriously. But this time, they weren’t going to have a choice.
Becky had always known that she would come back to Aberarian one day. It had a strange pull on a person, this place. Even as a teenager, when she’d longed to escape to university, to London, to real life, she’d always known she’d return. When it was time. When she was ready to settle down, start a family, grow up – there had never been any doubt in her mind that Aberarian was where she would do it.
Three years ago, she’d thought it was time. She’d seen her future stretching out before her, Charlie at her side. But when Tony had contacted her with a new business idea, a chance for her to really make her mark… how could she say no? She was still young, she still had time. This was her chance to truly shine, before she settled down.
So she’d taken it. Who wouldn’t?
Well, apart from Charlie, of course. Guilt throbbed in her middle as she remembered his sleeping face, the morning she left. He’d loved her, enough to move to Aberarian for her. And, more importantly, he’d stayed. He was still waiting for her.
And she was ready at last.
Becky smiled, watching the A to Z shop sign creak in the wind. It might not be easy, but this was her chance to make everything right. She’d have her business, and she could win Charlie back, no problem. She could have the future she’d always dreamt of. She could run things in Aberarian, Tony would leave town and Charlie would never need to even know about her fling with her boss. And Tony…. he was a businessman. He’d understand the importance of shaping circumstances to get what you wanted.
She was his protégée, after all. He’d probably be proud of her, once he got over the part about not being able to sleep with her any more.
But first, she had a plan to put into action. Starting with Aunt Ditsy.
Becky paused at the window of the A to Z shop before going in. No customers, of course. She hadn’t seen a single tourist all the way in from the station. That’s why Aberarian needed her.
Ditsy sat behind the counter, pouring over something – either the accounts or the crossword, probably. You could never tell with Aunt Ditsy. Becky paused, hand on the door, remembering better times for the shop, when Uncle Henry was still alive and sneaking sweets to his favourite niece. When she was still the town’s sweetheart and her biggest responsibility was remembering to keep the jars of lemon drops on the L shelf filled.
With a deep breath, Becky pushed the door open, bracing herself for surprise and hugs and amazement. What she got instead, when Ditsy looked up from her papers, was a look of utter shock.
‘Hello, Aunt Ditsy,’ she said with a calculatedly nervous smile.
‘I thought…’ Ditsy still hadn’t moved from behind the counter. Becky felt a twinge of concern. Not the best start. ‘When you didn’t come home for your Aunt Hannah’s funeral, I thought we’d never see you in Aberarian again.’
Ah. Right. ‘I felt just terrible about that, Auntie. I just… It was too soon for me, so soon after everything.’ Ditsy nodded, the movement jerky, and Becky decided the best thing was probably just to steam ahead and hope Ditsy would forget, eventually, some of Becky’s failing as a niece. ‘But I’m back now. Things have been going really well for me in Manchester. And now I’ve got the opportunity to share some of my success…’
But before Becky could get into the revelation that had prompted her return, the shop door opened again, its brass bell jingling as Mrs Heather Jenkins entered and bustled straight up to the counter without acknowledging Becky’s presence at all. That wouldn’t last long. She was going to show them she mattered in this town.
‘Now, Ditsy, what’s all this about a letter from Mia’s father?’ Mrs Jenkins hadn’t become any less blunt over the years either, it seemed.
Ditsy gave a frustrated sigh. ‘Heather, since I don’t want to spend all afternoon repeating myself, and now Mia’s out of the way I’m sure you’re not going to be the last to ask, could you just get Jacques to amend his story when he’s telling people? He just needs to tell them I have no idea who the letter was from, what it said, or even if Mia’s got any plans to open the damn thing. She certainly hadn’t when she left here.’
Heather Jenkins gave an almost-snort of polite disbelief. ‘And I’m sure if she had you’d have told me all about it.’
‘Then why did you bother to ask?’ Ditsy said with raised eyebrows. Check and mate. Aunt Ditsy had obviously been practicing that comeback.
But even as Mrs Jenkins left, grumbling under her breath, Becky could see the vicar, Dafydd Davies, striding purposefully towards the shop. Ditsy dashed out from behind the counter with surprising speed and flipped the sign on the door over to Closed, smiling with false apology at Reverend Davies while he fumed outside the window.
‘Never known a man of God to gossip so much,’ Ditsy muttered, watching him turn and leave.
Becky decided to seize the opportunity. ‘Since you’re closed early for the day,’ she said, her mind already playing out the next part of her plan, ‘Why don’t we go and get lunch at StarFish? I’ve got a… business proposition I’d like to discuss with you.’
Ditsy snorted,