The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea. Jennifer Joyce

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СКАЧАТЬ was explaining herself to this stranger who was managing to get on her nerves despite doing very little to justify it. ‘I don’t really show my photos to people.’

      ‘Blimey, what kind of photos do you have on there?’ He grinned at her, still lounging against the back of the bench. ‘Now I’m even more intrigued.’

      ‘Get stuffed.’

      ‘Hey, I was only kidding,’ he said as Melody rose from the bench. ‘Don’t go. I’ll shut up, I promise. I won’t say another word.’ He mimed zipping his lips and Melody was annoyed further as she felt her lips pull up into a hint of a smile.

      ‘Sorry, I’m not usually this touchy. It’s just…’ Melody lowered herself back onto the bench, her fingers fiddling with the camera as she tried to find the right words to excuse her grouchiness. ‘My photos are sort of private. Not in that way. I just find it difficult to show people. It’s daft, I know, and I’m working on it, but…’ She shrugged. ‘It isn’t easy.’

      She dragged her gaze from her camera to look at her bench companion, but while he was watching her intently, he was true to his word and didn’t open his mouth.

      ‘Your dog’s very cute,’ she said, blatantly changing the subject. She reached down to stroke him again and he sneaked another doggy kiss onto her hand. ‘What’s his name?’ She scratched behind his ear, but looked up when she received no reply. Her companion raised an eyebrow at her and pointed at his closed mouth.

      Crossing her arms, Melody sighed. ‘Are you telling me your lips are still zipped?’ He nodded and Melody rolled her eyes. ‘Fine. You can unzip them now.’

      Giving a closed-mouth smile, he reached for the corner of his mouth with a pinched-together thumb and index finger, but instead of sliding the fingers across his mouth, he gave a couple of short tugs before widening his eyes at Melody. He gave a few more tugs before he gave up and threw his hands up into the air.

      ‘The zip’s stuck, isn’t it?’ Melody asked, suppressing a sigh. He nodded before pointing first at Melody’s hand and then at his mouth. ‘You want me to help?’ He nodded again and so, giving another eye-roll, Melody reached towards the guy’s mouth, feeling like the biggest fool as she made a pincer movement with her finger and thumb. Grabbing her hand, he helped ‘tug’ the zip back across his mouth.

      ‘Thank you,’ he gasped, slumping against the bench.

      ‘You’re an idiot,’ Melody said, but she was smiling.

      ‘You’re not the first to make that observation,’ he said with a grin. ‘Luckily, I’m also thick-skinned.’ He reached down to give the dog some fuss. ‘His name’s Scoop Dog, in case you’re still wondering.’

      The giggle erupted without warning and Melody pushed a hand to her mouth to muffle it. ‘Scoop Dog?’

      ‘Scoop to his friends. He seems to like you, so Scoop it is.’

      ‘Scoop as in ice-cream scoop?’ Melody asked.

      ‘We’ve found ourselves a clever one here, boy,’ he told the dog, giving his head a good scratch.

      ‘Hey.’ Melody folded her arms across her chest. ‘I could always zip you back up, you know.’

      ‘Sorry.’ He picked the dog up and sat him on his lap, giving his head another scratch. ‘Let’s start again. Meet Scoop, the bravest dog in Clifton-on-Sea, perhaps even the world.’

      ‘Pleased to meet you, Scoop.’ Melody gave the dog a stroke and received a lick in return. ‘What makes him so brave, other than being seen out in public with a madman?’

      ‘I’ll ignore that last comment,’ Scoop’s owner said. ‘And launch straight into the story of how Hugo – that’s me – met Scoop Dog.’

      Scoop, Melody learned, was a rescue dog who’d been found cowering in a bush, bloody and collarless, five months ago. He’d been savaged so badly by another dog – perhaps more than one – the vet wasn’t sure the poor fella would make it. But after lots and lots of TLC – plus surgery and numerous stitches – Scoop had surprised the vet by making a full recovery.

      ‘He has a bit of scarring,’ Hugo said, lifting Scoop to show his underside. ‘And his fur is only just starting to grow back on his neck.’ He popped the dog back down and lifted the yellow bandana to show the patchy fur underneath. ‘But other than that, he’s on top physical form.’

      ‘So how did you come to own him?’ Melody asked.

      ‘The vet’s a mate of mine from the pub,’ Hugo said. ‘Scoop wasn’t tagged and nobody came forward to claim him, so once he was ready to be rehoused, I asked to meet the little guy and that’s how we became buddies.’

      ‘You are brave,’ Melody told the dog, stroking his golden fur. ‘And lucky to have found a good bloke to look after you.’

      ‘I thought I was an idiot,’ Hugo said.

      Melody shrugged. ‘Against all the odds, you seem to have redeemed yourself.’

       Chapter Ten

      Willow

      Willow had been eighteen when she met Ethan in a bar close to the university where they were both studying. She was in her first year, Ethan in his second, and they’d hit it off immediately, though just as friends. Willow had a boyfriend back home and Ethan was seeing a girl on his course, but even when she split up with Alex, the boyfriend from back home, it was Ethan’s housemate she started seeing, beginning a not-very-serious five-month relationship. Through the relationship and subsequent break-up, Willow and Ethan remained good friends, and the friendship lasted until they went their separate ways after university. It was four or five years later that they met up again after one of the guys from their group of uni mates set up a reunion on Facebook. Willow hadn’t really thought about Ethan all that much, to be honest, but as soon as she saw him again in the arranged bar, she knew they were meant to be together.

      It was supposed to be simple from that moment on. Both single this time round, they started dating, fell in love and got married. But fairy tales were for children’s books, and real life didn’t have a guaranteed happy ending. Willow was painfully aware of this fact as she looked up at her poor, scaffold-clad house, its fate unknown. They’d had such high hopes when they’d bought the house, when they’d moved their essential possessions into the little room at the back, the one requiring the least work that would become their living and sleeping quarters during the renovation. The little room Willow couldn’t wait to decorate and fill with furniture she’d lovingly upcycled.

      But now?

       Maybe we shouldn’t have bought this house. We should have thought about it more. Thought about us, our future.

      Willow didn’t know what was in their future now. She’d been so sure, naive perhaps, but she’d assumed their wedding day was the start of the life they both wanted, this house the setting, the anchor, a place to fill with beautiful memories.

      At the moment, we don’t even know what’s in the future for us.

      Pushing СКАЧАТЬ