by Rebecca Pugh
‘You found a new waitress pretty quickly.’
Mia jumped and slammed her hand to her chest. ‘Bloody hell, Cal! You scared me to death. What on earth are you still doing here?’ Mia flapped at her face. ‘Snooping around like that you’ll kill someone.’
‘I was just finishing up with the pots and pans.’ He grinned in amusement. ‘And sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you. Just thought I’d hang around so you weren’t alone. So what’s your sister doing here, then?’
‘She mentioned that she’d spoken to you earlier and you told her about the job?’ Mia hung her apron up before turning back to face him. He looked as gorgeous now as he always did with his hair slightly ruffled and his green eyes glinting as if there were magic trapped inside them.
‘Yeah, I hope that was okay?’ he replied with an apologetic frown. ‘She seemed to know what she was doing, too, or it seemed that way the few times I poked my head through to see how we were doing. I’m glad you two are on speaking terms now – it’s really good to see.’ He smiled a lopsided smile. ‘She’s all right really, isn’t she?’
Mia laughed. ‘Yeah. She is.’ And after Laurie had helped her out when she’d needed it most, she actually meant it, too, but deep down she knew her sister had always been ‘all right’ anyway, more than all right really.
***
Back in the cottage, after a plate of sandwiches and a cup of tea, Mia took herself up to bed, sighing with bliss as she snuggled beneath the duvet and curled her legs up. She’d slept that way since she was a child and still found it comfortable. Laurie had always laughed at how she slept but Mia thought her sister had been the weird one with how she lay flat on her stomach with her arms crossed above her head. In those long ago days when they’d been little girls, they’d often slept in the same bed, topping and tailing each other. Mia had always been the one who’d snuck into Laurie’s bedroom and slipped beneath the duvet. She’d felt instantly safe whenever she’d done so. They’d shared a bedroom up until they’d hit their teens. Mia remembered how alone she’d felt lying in the darkness on her own, which was why she’d begun the sneaking into Laurie’s bedroom, tiptoeing across the dark hallway and trying her best to push the door open as slowly as possible so that it wouldn’t squeak and give her away.
In Honeysuckle Cottage, with the dark sky visible through the window and able to be seen clearly from where she lay, Mia closed her eyes and lost herself to those childhood memories. They were so wonderful and full of girlish giggling and squeals of delight. They’d spent almost every day together. Even at school, despite being in different year groups, Mia would go and find her big sister in the playground at lunchtime and she was always welcomed into the older girls’ group, always proud as punch to be there with Laurie. Mia smiled in the darkness, eyes still closed, and eventually drifted off.
***
The next morning, Mia woke, jogged along the beach, showered, dressed and then took off to the diner. Despite knowing that Laurie was going to be there, she still felt surprised when she saw her sister, dressed in the Dolly’s Diner uniform, standing outside with Cal and Marco, chatting away to them as if she’d known them for years.
Mia waved when they saw her approaching. ‘Morning!’
‘Morning!’ they chorused back as one. It was almost comical, like a three-person acapella group.
‘I have to say, it’s weird seeing you here,’ she laughed when she arrived beside Laurie. The sisters looked each other up and down, and smirked at their matching uniforms. ‘Ready for another day of madness?’ Mia opened up and held the door for everyone. ‘Uniform looks great on you,’ she commented as she eyed Laurie once inside.
‘I agree.’
Mia almost choked in surprise. It was Marco who had spoken, and as she watched him she saw his eyes slide up and down her big sister’s frame.
A blush arose on Laurie’s cheeks. ‘Thank you.’
Mia was still in shock but forced herself to get on with opening. ‘Seems you might have an admirer,’ she whispered to Laurie once they were side by side behind the counter and the cooks had disappeared behind the swinging doors. ‘I think you’re the first woman Marco has ever spoken to.’
Laurie let out a hoot of laughter. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘I’m serious,’ she continued, shaking her head in bewilderment. ‘The man barely says a word to anyone. Everyone thought he was mute for a while, until a couple of months back when he burnt himself on a frying pan. He yelled out a string of expletives so loud everybody out here heard it, and that was when we realised he wasn’t mute at all.’ She giggled to herself. ‘But honestly, he keeps himself to himself a lot of the time. Think yourself lucky that you received a compliment from him, as odd as that sounds, because he doesn’t dish them out easily.’
Laurie smiled. ‘Oh. Well, that’s lovely of him.’
Mia, despite Laurie having only just appeared back in her life, felt comfortable standing there beside her. The jukebox was playing and they hummed together while they worked. They were set for another busy day, but Mia wasn’t worried in the slightest. She’d seen how quickly Laurie worked the day before and had been seriously impressed. It was as if Laurie had been working as a waitress for all of her life. She’d flown around the diner like a pro, scribbling down orders as quick as lightning before dashing off to deliver them to the kitchen. Mia was hoping that when they had a moment she would be able to show Laurie how they prepared the milkshakes and desserts. It would be helpful to have someone else who knew what they were doing, besides Cal and Marco.
‘So, how long have you known Cal for?’
Mia stiffened slightly and peered over at Laurie who didn’t look too interested, thankfully. Perhaps she was just bringing it up as a general topic for conversation. ‘Only a couple of years. He started working here just before Grandma Dolly passed away. He lived in Great Yarmouth before he came here. He had a long-term relationship with his ex while he was there, but they split. He took it pretty hard, I think. Came to Sunset Bay and stayed with his parents for a while. He must have fallen in love with the place because he decided to rent one of the beach-view apartments on the other side of the town and he’s been here ever since.’ She shrugged. ‘I feel like I’ve known him for ever now. I like having him around, just not his girlfriend so much.’ She snapped her mouth shut when she realised how bad that sounded. ‘I mean, not because I like him, but because … Well, she doesn’t hide the fact that she doesn’t like the diner. Or me, for that matter.’
Mia saw Laurie’s head cock to the side. ‘You’re good friends?’ she asked.
‘I’d say so, yeah. He’s always been lovely to me. He can be a bit of a flirt sometimes, too, but I think that’s just his way. The women who come to the diner love him.’
‘I bet,’ Laurie commented. Mia wasn’t sure why, but she felt like Laurie was prying.
They finished up and Mia opened the diner. Just as she was tying her apron, the diner’s phone rang out. She rushed over to answer it. ‘Hello, Dolly’s Diner?’
‘Mia? It’s Mum. Where the bloody hell is that sister of yours?!’
Mia winced. She glanced over at Laurie who was going over the tables once more before the customers arrived. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.
Chapter Twelve
Laurie gulped as Mia’s words resonated with her. Mum’s on the phone? This was exactly what she hadn’t wanted to bloody happen. As much as she was desperate, dying even, to know about what had happened with the will, she was too terrified to face what their mother would have to say to her, because chances were, it wasn’t going to be civil.
Laurie shook her head frantically. ‘I’m not here!’ she hissed.
She watched as Mia turned back and told their mother that she hadn’t seen Laurie, and her shoulders sagged with relief. Good old Mia. She hated to put her sister in this position but if their mother knew where she was, and had heard about the job and boyfriend fiasco, she’d be on the war path and pulling up outside the
diner in flash. She’d probably drag Laurie all the way back to London, too, by the scruff of her neck, no doubt.
When Mia put the phone down, she let out a breath and shook her head. ‘What did she say?’
‘She sounds pretty angry,’ Mia replied apologetically. ‘She said if I see you, I have to tell you that you need to get your arse back home ASAP. Her words, not mine.’
‘God, what am I? Five?’ Laurie scowled at the space beside Mia’s head. ‘This is so stupid. I’m a thirty-year-old woman. What has my life honestly got to do with her any more?’ A little screech of frustration escaped as she threw her hands into the air. ‘Well, she can bugger off. I’m not going home. That’s the last thing I bloody want. Can you imagine? I’d be told to sit in the corner and face the wall until I apologise for what I’ve done.’ Her earlier light-heartedness at being in the diner with Mia had gone completely.
She slumped into the nearest booth. ‘It’s inevitable that she’ll come here eventually. Won’t she? I knew she’d hit the roof. You’re so lucky, Mia, that you’ve never had to put up with her like I have. You were allowed to move down here and do whatever the hell you wanted to do, while I was pushed into a stupid bloody career that I didn’t even want.’ She could feel herself getting worked up now but there was no stopping the torrent of emotions and confessions that were beginning to spill out. ‘Do you know how jealous I was of you when you announced to them that you were going to live with Grandma Dolly? I almost died of green monster syndrome! You were off to do what made you happiest, while I was stuck with my face in a book, choosing any old career path just so I could get out of there. I used to watch you skipping off down the road with your suitcase, heading to the train station, ready for another adventure down here. While I was stuck back there with Mum, moaning at me constantly!’
Laurie realised then that she was crying. The tears were streaming thick and fast down her cheeks and she couldn’t seem to stop them from escaping. She coughed a little, hoping Mia hadn’t noticed, but she had, and she was at her side in seconds, rubbing her back, just like she’d done when they’d met on the pier and she’d started crying then. God, she was a blubbering wreck these days. She needed to get a grip! But it had all been so awful. She had so many regrets, so many things she wished she could go back and do differently if given the chance. But as she sat there, slumped over and choking back sobs, it hit her with a dramatic force that she would never get the chance. The only thing to do now was to make sure the remainder of her life was lived in exactly the way that she chose. There would be no bowing down to other people’s expectations. She’d already wasted so much time doing that, sitting in her office, staring at the same four walls, wondering how her life would have turned out, if only she’d had the courage to stand up and tell the world that this wasn’t what she wanted.
‘I had no idea you felt that way, Laurie.’
Hiccupping, she raised her head to look down at Mia who was kneeling by her side. And how much of her and Mia’s relationship had she allowed to slip down the drain? She knew she could have done more where they were concerned. Her only excuse, albeit a stupid one, was that she’d been too drained and exhausted to even make the effort when she’d got the message that Mia really wasn’t all that interested in her any more. The emails and phone calls had lessened, and while Laurie had thought Mia had moved on and left her behind, Mia had thought she’d done exactly the same.
‘You should have told me.’
Laurie laughed as she swiped away a tear. ‘I didn’t think you wanted to know.’
They stared at each other and suddenly they were little girls again, raiding their mother’s make-up box, bouncing up and down on their beds, carefree and happy and incredibly together.
‘Of course I would have wanted to know. I wasn’t angry because of your life, Laurie. I was angry because I thought you’d heard about the diner and not wanted to be a part of it. Your life and career? I was proud of that, happy for you. Well, not so happy now that I know how miserable you were, but I was. I’ve always been proud of you, even when I thought you’d abandoned me and didn’t care.’
‘I’ve always cared, Mia. If I had known about the diner, if Mum had told me, I would have been here in a flash. We could have done it together, just like we used to do everything together. I would have loved it.’ She sighed heavily. ‘What a mess, eh?’
‘What are you going to do about Mum?’
Laurie didn’t know. Her original plan to escape here and seek out solace from Mia had worked out pretty well so far, complete with a few surprises along the way, but she hadn’t thought much further than that. She knew deep down that she’d have to leave at some point, at least just to figure out what she’d do next. As much as she was loving the impromptu getaway, real life was waiting just around the edges and she feared it wouldn’t leave until she accepted its presence and began planning her next couple of steps. And as for her mother? Well, after everything that had been revealed in Grandma Dolly’s will, she had a few choice words of her own to throw her mother’s way, as well as a whole lot of questions. She was sure there was some sort of motive behind her mother’s actions and, when the time came, she’d do everything she could to find out what that motive had been. Until then, she had no idea what she’d do.
Her shoulders rose and fell. ‘No idea. Right now, though, what I need most is a cup of coffee and a mirror to clean my face up. I bet I look a mess.’ She swept a finger beneath each eye and stood, straightening out her uniform and tightening her ponytail. ‘What I do know is that I can’t sit around moping. If Mum does happen to figure out where I am, she’ll come and find me, no doubt about it. But until then, I guess I just carry on as normal. Stay here in Sunset Bay, work here with you.’ She glanced at Mia. ‘If that’s okay with you, of course.’
Mia smiled and nodded. ‘Sure it is. Now I know that you didn’t abandon me on purpose, it’s kinda’ nice having you around. It feels like old times again, and the old times were good.’
‘They were.’ Laurie smiled back, then headed to the toilets to clear herself up. She’d scare away the customers if they saw her like this, puffy-eyed and snotty.
***
Over the following weeks, Laurie really got into her stride in the diner and August arrived before she knew it. She loved being in Sunset Bay, felt completely alive and, for the first time in years, truly happy and content. The relationship between her and Mia had blossomed and it wasn’t long until they were laughing, joking, reliving old memories and generally enjoying being together again. They spent Sundays in each other’s company, either enjoying a Sunday roast in the pub with a cheeky glass of wine, strolling across the beach or riding the fair on the pier, sharing greasy bags of chips and stealing each other’s time. Their old easy and familiar bond returned to them, which Laurie was glad about. She’d worried that it would never be the same between them again but, apparently, all it had taken was some understanding of each other’s circumstances and they were right back to how they’d begun.
Laurie came to know the locals by name, and it wasn’t long before they knew hers, too, as they called a hearty hello to her in the mornings when she was on her way to the diner. She quickly fell into Sunset Bay life and found herself adoring every inch of the town, admiring the beauty and charm of it, falling more in love as the days flew by.
Another person who was growing on her was Marco, the apparently ‘mute’ cook. Since he’d dropped that compliment the first day she’d arrived in her Dolly’s Diner’s uniform, it seemed he had decided to continue, but Laurie was wary. After Neil, after his disgusting bedroom antics, she wasn’t too keen on developing any sort of relationship between them besides good old friendship. He’d flash her a smile each time they passed one another, told her she looked well and asked how she was finding Sunset Bay. She enjoyed their time together and it seemed that she had very much found a friend in him.
‘He definitely likes you,’ Mia commented as she popped a chip into her mouth and sat further back on
the bench. ‘I mean, it’s obvious.’
Laurie smiled at the tone of her sister’s voice. She sounded hopeful, but there was no way she was going there. ‘He’s nice, and I am fond of him, but I’m just not ready for another man to come into my life yet. After Neil … I just …’ She shook her head and smiled gratefully when Mia’s hand reached over to squeeze hers.
‘I just think it’s nice that you have another friend here, besides me, that’s all. I understand you’d feel that way after Neil, though. It was awful what he did to you. Were there no warnings of him being a cheating scumbag? I mean, usually women can tell, can’t they? There are signs they pick up on, like hiding phones, staying out late with excuses of having work meetings, etc. Was there nothing that made you even the slightest bit suspicious?’
‘Nope, not a single thing,’ Laurie replied with a shake of her head. ‘But, I guess I was so trusting of him, I wasn’t looking for anything like that, you know? Urgh, anyway, let’s not talk about him. He’s miles away, and I’m here with you, and, do you know what, Mia?’
‘What?’
‘Life is pretty bloody good right now.’
Mia laughed. ‘You’re enjoying being here, then?’
‘I really, really am. Life here is just relaxed and, to tell you the truth, that’s exactly what I needed. It’s perfect here.’ She turned and admired Sunset Bay, sitting pretty like a watercolour painting at the end of the pier. ‘What about you and Cal, then? Is there anything going on there?’ She noticed the blush that rose on Mia’s cheeks and her little sister shifted uncomfortably.
‘We’re just friends,’ she said quickly. ‘Nothing more. He has a girlfriend, Hannah, who you’ve met. He wouldn’t be interested in me anyway. The thing is, I don’t have time for a relationship. Working in the diner is demanding but, when it became my responsibility, I promised Grandma Dolly I’d always take care of it.’
