‘I hardly know her,’ I said, and she laughed gently.
‘That’s not a no, then,’ she said, and I laughed too.
‘No, it’s not.’
We sat quietly for a moment, letting her calm down and marshal her thoughts.
‘I don’t think she loves him,’ Mel said finally. ‘She’s going to ruin his life.’
‘At the risk of sounding judgemental…’ I started.
‘I know, I know, I already ruined it.’ She sighed. ‘I didn’t do it lightly. And I did love him. I just fell in love with someone else as well.’
‘Your driving instructor.’
She looked at me, surprised. ‘I keep forgetting that everyone knows everyone’s business in this town. Your mum and my mum—’
‘They both go to the OAPs’ coffee club at the church hall on Wednesdays,’ I said. She nodded.
‘Of course. Anyway, I fell for my instructor but I still loved Tony. I wasn’t stringing them both along, I just didn’t know who I wanted to be with.’ She sighed again. ‘If it’s any consolation, I chose the wrong one. She did to me what I did to Tony.’
I looked at her miserable face. I remembered how I’d almost instantly fallen for Daisy’s dad – PC Richard Doyle, to give him his official title, or ‘that cheating swine’ to give him the unofficial one my mum always used – spotting him across the room at a team briefing. He’d just transferred to the station and I had to show him around. I ended up showing him a lot more than that after a few drinks in the pub after work. I hadn’t known he was married at first, and I didn’t care about his wife when he left her because it meant he’d chosen me. I’d been a lonely workaholic and I wasn’t letting him go. Doubtless the woman he left me for – who I was sure was just one of many sad extra-marital conquests – twelve years later didn’t care how I felt, either. It had felt like he’d ripped my heart out and stamped on it. And stamped on Daisy’s, too, because when he left me he left her as well.
There wasn’t a finite amount of heartbreak in the world. It didn’t make any difference how many people suffered from it, it didn’t lessen the sting. I sighed.
‘Of course it’s not a consolation, not to anyone. Not even to Tony, because he’s not like that.’ I picked up a piece of gravel and tossed it into the pond, watching the ripples spread out. I turned back to Mel. ‘But what makes you think she’s going to ruin his life?’
‘She’s not marrying him for love,’ she said firmly.
‘What makes you say that? What’s she marrying him for?’
‘Money.’
I laughed. ‘He hasn’t got any, has he? I mean, I know the shop’s still going after all these years…’
She looked at me steadily.
‘The shop?’ I said. ‘You think she wants the shop?’
Mel shrugged but didn’t say anything. Why would Cheryl want the shop? It can’t have been that profitable; I was amazed it was still going. Smaller shops were closing all the time in seaside towns like Penstowan.
I looked at her thoughtfully. ‘You said to me earlier, was I here investigating them. Investigating who?’
‘The Laity family,’ said Mel without any hesitation. ‘Are you?’
‘I’m not a police officer anymore,’ I said. ‘I’m just doing the catering.’
‘Oh.’ She looked disappointed.
‘I’m still nosey, though,’ I said. I had to admit that my childhood nickname had become quite apt during my years on the force. ‘Why should the Laity family be investigated?’
She looked around nervously. ‘My cousin works for the council. Let’s just say, that family have got plans for Penstowan that not everyone will agree with.’
‘What sort of plans?’ I asked.
‘Everything okay?’
I looked up into Tony’s concerned face. He looked anxiously from me to Mel, a worried smile on his face.
‘Tony! I’m so sorry…’ started Mel, looking like she might cry.
‘Do you want me to leave you to talk?’ I said, standing up. Emotional scenes are not my thing. But they both looked horrified at the idea. Mel grabbed my hand.
‘I just wanted to make sure you were okay,’ said Tony. ‘I know it must be hard for you, seeing me move on and be happy—’
‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, Tony, this is not a bloody love triangle with you in the middle!’ she snapped. He looked affronted, then annoyed.
‘Oh, so you just decided to rock up and ruin my wedding for a laugh?’
Mel got to her feet and it was in danger of all going off again. I jumped up and stood between them.
‘Tony, thank you for checking on us; everything is fine. Mel is going to go home now so you get back to your party and I’ll be in for a drink in a bit.’ I really needed a drink after all this. To think I’d been expecting to be bored. I gave him a little shove towards the hotel and took Mel’s arm.
We left him standing there with his mouth open, catching flies.
‘So what were you going to say?’ I asked Mel, when we were out of earshot. But she shook her head.
‘No. Balls to him. If he wants to marry her, let him get on with it.’
We were almost in the car park by now. She disentangled her arm from mine and stopped.
‘Thank you for stopping me make an even bigger idiot of myself,’ she said. ‘I appreciate it, honestly.’ She looked over at an old and slightly battered Vauxhall that was parked on the other side of the gravelled drive. A small, furry, and undeniably cute face peered out of it, nose sniffling at the window. ‘I left my dog in the car. She must be hot.’ Mel must have seen my disapproving expression; the window was open a tiny crack, barely enough to let any air in, and it had been a hot day. ‘I can’t leave the window down any further than that or she gets out,’ she explained, and chuckled. ‘She’s so clever, she throws all her weight at the top of the window until she forces it down, and then wriggles out. I should have called her Houdini. I’ll just let her out for a pee and then I’ll be off.’
She went to leave but I grabbed her arm to stop her.
‘If you ever want to talk…’ I said. ‘I’d give you my business card but I left my bag in the bar.’
She smiled softly. ‘Thank you. If you’ve moved back to Penstowan I’m sure we’ll run into each other.’
I watched as she opened the car door and made a fuss of Germaine, faithful companion and would-be canine escape artist. Then I went back to the bar.
I thought I should probably stick around long enough to have a glass of wine, and then I would make my excuses and leave. It really wasn’t my kind of party. But there was someone else missing from the bar too: Cheryl.
Tony saw me enter, brought me a glass of champagne, and steered me over to the window.
‘So, do you think she’ll come back?’ he asked.
I gulped at my champagne. ‘Who, Cheryl?’
‘No, you muppet. Cheryl’s having an early night. Mel. Will Mel cause any trouble tomorrow?’
‘Oh, right. No, I don’t think so.’ I shook my head. ‘And anyway, if she does turn up, I’ll be right over there in the kitchen, preparing vol-au-vents