Imogen looked at her sister. ‘Really?’ she whispered sarcastically. ‘We’d hardly noticed.’
Anna hastily mouthed a warning: ‘Be nice.’
‘Thanks for coming down, Mum,’ Anna said, walking over and taking Jan’s wet coat from her. ‘I’ll hang this on the radiator. Imogen, can you put the kettle on?’
‘Hi, Mum,’ Imogen said dutifully, getting some mugs out. ‘So what do you think?’ she said, putting her arms out to show off the new shop décor.
‘Very nice,’ Jan said, giving her daughter a hug. ‘You’ve done a lovely little job. Given the time and money you had, I mean.’
Anna reappeared. ‘Let’s sit down,’ she said. ‘It’s not like we’re exactly overwhelmed with customers, as you can see.’
‘Such a shame,’ Jan said. ‘I mean, you should have let me know. We could have done something at the agency, put a … what do you say –’ she glanced up and to the left, searching her mind for the words – ‘We could have put a shout out on Twitter for it,’ she said. ‘We’ve got an account now. “At” something, it’s called. That’s our handle. The work-experience girl set it up.’ Jan smiled proudly.
‘We did some publicity,’ Imogen said, thinking back to the hours she and Anna had spent both online and standing in the street chatting to shoppers and promoting the shop.
‘Well,’ Jan said, ‘that’s good. But there’s no harm in asking the professionals, that’s all I’m saying. Especially when they’re family – bargain rates!’ Imogen glared at her. ‘I’m not trying to take over, sweetheart. Just saying we could have got a few Lewes locals down here. Sad to see the place empty like this. Not everyone’s scared off by a bit of rain.’
‘Maybe next time,’ Anna said diplomatically. As the kettle clicked she jumped up at the excuse to escape.
‘So Dad couldn’t make it,’ Imogen said. ‘Probably for the best, though. All things considered.’
‘He wanted to come, sweetheart,’ Jan said. ‘He was talking about it just the other day. But then this morning … Well, never mind,’ Jan said, shaking her head. ‘Your mum’s here now – is that not worth something?’ She put on a smile, but her expression was strained and sad.
‘You don’t need to pretend, Mum. If something’s wrong, we all need to know about it,’ Imogen said. Anna returned to the table and put down the three mugs.
‘There’s no need to be dismal though, is there?’ Jan said. ‘No use both of us walking round with big black clouds over our heads.’
‘Is there anything we can do, Mum?’ Anna asked. ‘Maybe one of us could talk to him?’
‘You can try,’ Jan said with a shrug, her frustration starting to show. ‘But he’s … ’ Her words fell away.
‘Are you OK?’ Anna said, touching her mum’s arm.
‘No, Anna,’ Jan snapped. ‘No, actually, I’m not.’ Her eyes welled up with unshed tears. ‘It’s been bloody awful.’ The words burst out, as if she couldn’t hold them in any longer.
Anna and Imogen sat in stunned silence.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Now look what I’ve done. I don’t mean to take it out on you.’ Her tears started to fall. ‘But it’s horrible, seeing him like this. Wouldn’t even get out of bed today, and won’t say a word to me. One day I think he’s better and that we stand a chance of getting back to normal again, and then the next we’re back where we started. Our anniversary this week, that’s been and gone without a whisper, obviously. Not that either of us would have wanted to do anything.’
‘I’m sure with time … ’ Anna said. ‘It’s not been long.’
‘That might be so,’ Jan said. ‘But I guarantee you wouldn’t be saying that if you were living at the cottage, day in day out. I know it’s not his fault, I know that. And I want to support him. But I can’t. He’s the strong one – Tom’s my rock. Always has been. I don’t know how to be his.’
Jan stayed another hour, and then made an excuse to leave, her eyes still red with tears. Shortly afterwards, a man in his late twenties, his dark-blond hair rain-drenched, put his head around the door of the shop.
‘Hi,’ he said, with a warm smile. ‘How are you doing?’
Imogen’s heart lifted. Could this be their very first customer?
‘I’m Finn,’ he said, stepping inside the shop. Raindrops hung from the end of his eyelashes and the tips of his hair, dripping onto his hooded sweatshirt. He was holding two cardboard cups. ‘I run the surf shop two arches down.’
‘Oh, hi,’ Anna said. ‘Our grandma mentioned you.’
‘I saw you were opening today. Worse luck with the weather, eh?’ he said sympathetically.
‘I know,’ Anna said, with a smile. ‘We haven’t exactly had a run on the ice creams yet.’
‘I thought maybe you could do with some hot chocolates. Me and Andy were just making some for our clients, seeing as we’ve had to cancel the classes today.’
He passed them a cardboard cup of steaming chocolate each.
‘Thank you,’ Imogen said, as she took a sip of the rich, creamy liquid. ‘It’s good,’ she said, wiping away a chocolate moustache that she realised had formed on her upper lip.
He glanced around the empty shop. ‘I’m sure you’ll be flooded with customers,’ he said, his eyes full of encouragement, ‘when people see that you’re open again.’
‘Thanks,’ Anna said earnestly. ‘We hope so. I mean our grandma ran this place for decades – we want to do just as good a job, hopefully better. But I guess it takes time,’ she said, with a shrug.
‘That’s right,’ Finn said. ‘And a good dose of sunshine never hurts.’
Anna smiled. ‘Today’s been a bit of a disaster really,’ she said sheepishly.
‘A hiccup,’ Finn said, with a smile. ‘This place will be busy before you know it. Your Grandma Vivien always made it feel like home. She really was a wonderful woman. I was there at the funeral but I didn’t see you two – not that I’m surprised, the whole of Brighton was in there. We all miss her, Evie especially, of course. And our customers loved her – they’d often pop in for an ice cream when the surf was flat.’
‘Talking of ice cream,’ Anna said, ‘where are our manners? Can I tempt you to a Funny Feet?’ She took one of the giant pink foot-shaped ice creams out of the freezer and offered it to him.
‘I’m good for now,’ he said. ‘Just about managing to stay warm. But those are brilliant – haven’t seen once since I was a kid.
‘Well,’ he added, ‘I’m sure we’ll be seeing a fair bit of each other over the coming months. In the meantime, good luck.’
Later that evening, after they’d shut the shop, Imogen lugged her bags out of Jon’s car and in through the front door of her grandmother’s house.
She stepped into the hallway, which was cold and silent, and then went through to the living room. She, her dad and Martin had boxed up some of her grandma’s valuables, but most of her furniture remained; the armchair, the sofa, the heavy gilt mirror over the mantelpiece. Imogen would have her own space for the first time in three weeks. She placed her camera and other equipment carefully on one of the living-room shelves.
She checked her phone again. Luca hadn’t replied to any of her text messages asking if they could talk. She should probably give up. But there was still a chance he might change his mind and agree to wait – she clung onto that hope.
Imogen walked up the stairs of Vivien’s spacious Victorian house. On the first floor were three bedrooms and a bathroom, with a wooden staircase leading up to a third floor where there were another two small rooms. For a moment the first floor was alive with laughter as she recalled how she and Anna used to play there – darting up and down the stairs, hiding in blanket cupboards and under beds. Used to the small proportions of their family’s cottage, this place had felt like a castle to them. Vivien had known they liked the two top rooms the best, with the small doorway linking them, so she would always make those up especially.
She went through into her grandmother’
s bedroom. This room she, Tom and Martin had barely touched, so most of Vivien’s possessions were still just where she’d left them. On the mantelpiece was a wedding photo of her and Stanley, taken in the early 1950s. Vivien must have been around twenty, with Stanley a year or so older. Imogen picked it up, and looked at their smiling faces. It was strange to think that she was already older than Vivien had been then, settling down with the man she’d spend most of her life with. It was romantic and lovely, but nothing Imogen would ever want for herself. Her own spirit was restless, perhaps it always would be. She missed Luca, sure, but the thought of staying in any one place – even on the island – with one person, leaving so much unexplored, made her feel claustrophobic.
She walked over to the dressing table. The costume brooches Vivien used to wear were still lying there, and brightly coloured strings of glass beads were draped over her mirror. Her hairbrush, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, looked as if it were waiting to be picked up.
Imogen gave another glance around the room, the biggest in the house. She couldn’t sleep in there, or even in either of the adjoining rooms – ones that had so often been filled with friends and visitors. She made her way up the second flight of stairs, to the attic rooms which she and Anna had thought of as their own. They looked just the same, and while Anna’s head would be touching the ceiling now, Imogen, who hadn’t inherited their mother’s height, fitted snugly. She sat down on the single bed and took off her shoes, tired after the long, disappointing day at the shop. This bedroom was where she’d sleep tonight.
Chapter Eight
‘Imogen didn’t need to move out, you know,’ Jon said, sorting through his DVD collection and putting aside some older ones for charity. He was in jeans and a grey T-shirt, freshly shaved.
‘Oh, it’s OK,’ Anna said, sitting down on the sofa. ‘She didn’t mind. It doesn’t make any sense Grandma’s house sitting empty. And now that we’re working together all day, it’s probably a good thing if we give each other a bit of space.’
Anna thought back over their first week of trading at the shop. She and Imogen had done their best to keep each other’s spirits up as the bad weather continued. Their most regular visitors were Evie, during her tea breaks, and an elderly couple who popped in to say hello to Hepburn. In a week, they’d had just three paying customers.
‘You know what you need?’ Jon said, coming over to the sofa where Anna was and sitting beside her, then gently stroking her hair.
‘No idea,’ she said, turning slightly to face him, with a hopeful smile on her face. Maybe Jon would come up with an ingenious solution – a way to draw customers out of their warm, dry houses and down to the quiet end of the beach for ice cream. They might not be able to fix the weather, but perhaps there was a publicity trick they’d missed?
‘A break,’ Jon said, landing a gentle kiss on her neck. ‘Let’s get away somewhere this weekend.’
‘Are you sure?’ she replied. Normally she’d have jumped at the chance of spending some time alone with Jon. But not now, when there was so much at stake with the new business. ‘But the shop … ’ she started. ‘And what about Alfie?’
‘Mia’s parents are over this weekend and she’s asked if he can stay with her to see them. So the weekend’s free. Imogen can watch the shop, can’t she? You said there are hardly any customers at the moment, didn’t you?’
It was true – yet Jon’s frank words still stung a little. ‘I don’t know … ’ Anna said.
‘Come away with me this weekend, Anna. I’ll book us somewhere. We’ll head off on the Friday evening and have the whole weekend to ourselves. No ice cream shop, no toddlers … just us. How does that sound?’
‘It sounds pretty good,’ she said, snuggling into his embrace. As much as she enjoyed spending time with Alfie, the idea of spending a weekend with Jon on his own had definite appeal. ‘Where do you want to go?’
‘Let me surprise you,’ Jon replied with a smile. ‘Just pack a weekend bag, and be ready.’
On Friday evening, Jon and Anna were cruising down the coastal road, rain pattering on the roof of Jon’s car. Storm clouds had been hanging over them all for more than a week now and the sun seemed no closer to breaking through, but as Anna stretched out her legs she began to feel something she hadn’t felt for months – a little bit relaxed.
The cluttered townscape of Brighton and Hove gave way to Sussex’s rolling hills, lush and green, and the stresses of the past two weeks of slow business started to fade.
‘Hey, dreamer,’ Jon said, glancing over at her, his hands on the steering wheel.
‘Winding down,’ Anna said, with a contented smile. ‘Slowly. There’s been so much to think about lately. What with Granny’s funeral, then the shop … and you busy at work. We’ve hardly had any time just to be.’
‘My thoughts exactly,’ Jon said. ‘But now we’ll have some uninterrupted time together. So get ready for a whole lot more of just being,’ he laughed.
Around twenty minutes later they came to the outskirts of a small village, and Jon turned right up a narrow dirt track. In front of them was an avenue of oak trees, and at the end of it stood a grand hotel, in a picturesque Edwardian building.
Anna was transfixed. ‘This place is gorgeous,’ she said, as the car’s tyres crunched against the gravel of the pathway.
Jon smiled. ‘You deserve something special,’ he said, giving her a kiss. ‘Now let’s get our things and go inside.’
They went in through the main entrance, and the receptionist gave them their keys. Their room was at the top of a steep wooden staircase, and Anna’s excitement built with every step. Jon pushed open the heavy wooden door to their room, to reveal a four-poster bed and a huge sofa, a door to the left leading to a luxurious en-suite bathroom.
Anna went straight over to the bed and gently bounced up and down. ‘This is great,’ she said. ‘Come and try it out.’
Jon put down their suitcases, then settled down beside her. ‘Nice,’ he said. ‘Now, did you remember your bikini? Because there’s a pool and spa downstairs with our names on it.’
‘I don’t need asking twice,’ Anna said. She got up and unzipped her suitcase, getting her swimming things out. Downstairs, they found they had the pool area entirely to themselves.
‘Jacuzzi?’ Anna suggested.
They climbed in and let the water bubble up around them until Anna could barely see Jon through the steam. He reached through the foam and ran a hand up her leg, sending a tingle through her.
‘I could get used to this,’ Anna said, slipping in deeper so that the water warmed the back of her neck.
‘Me too,’ Jon said, with a smile.
‘Reminds me of how it was when we first got together. The blind date, staying out until dawn, nothing to think about but enjoying each other’s company.’
‘You were every bit as lovely as Ed and Jess told me you’d be. I couldn’t believe my luck.’
‘Ah, you charmer,’ Anna laughed. ‘Although to be honest I felt pretty lucky too. It wasn’t a bad result for my first ever blind date.’
‘And there was I,’ Jon said, ‘worried that me being the separated dad of a baby would scare you off. Little did I know you’d be far more smitten with Alfie than me.’
‘You had nothing to worry about. Who wouldn’t fall in love with Alfie?’ Anna said, running a finger through the bubbles on the surface of the water.
‘I’m glad you did,’ Jon said.
‘I love this – being with you,’ Anna said. ‘I wouldn’t change a single thing.’
‘It’ll be up in half an hour,’ Jon said, putting the phone down after ordering room service, and leaning back on the bed. Wind and rain lashed against the hotel-room window, but inside they were warm and cosy. ‘They said they’d leave it outside.’
Anna went to join him, her fluffy white robe wrapped around her. A three-course meal cooked by a Michelin-star chef and they didn’t even have to get dressed to eat it. It was a whole new level of luxury.
Jon gave Anna a kiss, then got up and walked over to the mini-bar. He opened it and pulled out a bottle of champagne. ‘I think it’s time for some fizz,’ he said, getting out two glasses and popping the cork. He passed one to Anna.
‘Wow,’ she smiled, taking it. ‘What’s this in aid of?’
‘Some time alone with my girlfriend,’ he said. He reached towards her for a kiss, drawing her close. ‘Do I need any other excuse?’
After their kiss, Anna took a sip of champagne, and relished the feeling of the bubbles on her tongue.
‘Ah,’ Jon said. ‘Just realised I’ve forgotten something. Give me a minute.’ He got out of bed and pulled on his trousers and a sweater. ‘Just nipping down to the car.’
‘OK,’ Anna said, a little confused. Didn’t they have everything they needed, right there?
With a wink Jon closed the hotel room door behind him. Anna leaned back against the cushions in bed. Unless it was … ?
Anna looked from the glass of champagne in her hand to the extravagant room they were in – and recalled the romantic moment they’d shared dancing together on Jess and Ed’s big day. Her heartbeat quickened and she took another sip of her drink. He wasn’t going to … was he?
Jon’s mobile rang from the side table, interrupting her thoughts. She peeked out of the window and saw him out in the car park by his car, holding his jacket over his head to shield it from the rain.
Anna looked over at the phone. Mia’s name flashed up. She hesitated. She wouldn’t normally answer it – but what if it was something important?
‘Hello?’ Anna said, picking up.
‘Oh Anna, hi,’ Mia said. ‘That is Anna, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it’s me,’ Anna said. ‘Jon’s just had to pop out, I’m afraid. Can I pass on a message to him?’
‘Yes, please,’ Mia said, sounding stressed. ‘Look, I’m really sorry about this, I know you two are away this weekend. But it’s Alfie. We were out all day with my parents and now he’s got a raging temperature. He keeps calling for his dad. Could you ask Jon to give me a ring when he gets back?’
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