back to the Cove after a five-year absence in the summer I was horrible to her. I mean, I was a total bitch.’
‘Hard to imagine,’ Lucy laughed. Tilly was feisty but never nasty.
‘I wasn’t nice at all. I was angry at how she’d hurt Barney by running off and never coming back. But what I didn’t realise was how much she was hurting too. There were things she didn’t share, things Harvey didn’t divulge. Honestly, life would be far easier if people just told the truth.’
‘Hey, you’re preaching to the choir.’ Lucy thought about all the messing around Julian had done over the years with his inability to be straight with her. Maud’s phrase to describe his grandad who ‘couldn’t lie straight in bed’ fitted perfectly when it came to Lucy’s ex-husband. But that wasn’t Daniel. She knew it wasn’t him deep down. Except for this one lie, he wasn’t a man who hid from the truth – he didn’t seem to have a problem speaking his own mind. But this one untruth might just be what it took to overshadow anything else about him, the times they’d talked, the waffle-tasting at the shack, seeing him in the pub and wanting to get to know him all the more.
Tilly shifted to set her empty wine glass on the coffee table. ‘Remember there are two sides to this, Lucy. It might seem clear-cut with the facts you think you’ve got from Harvey and Melissa, but doesn’t Daniel deserve a chance to tell his side of it?’ Her face softened. ‘I can tell how much you like him and the feeling appears to be mutual; maybe listen to what he has to say. It might be worth it.’
‘I don’t know.’ But Tilly had already moved Shadow to the cushion on the sofa and was taking away Melissa’s glass.
‘Get your coat back on, let’s at least go to the grand opening. And if nothing else, we’ll have a big fat waffle to enjoy.’
‘I guess I can’t argue with that.’
‘You could try,’ Tilly grinned.
Bundled up in her smart midnight-blue wool coat over a teal tunic top with dark jeans and ankle boots, Lucy was ready to head out to the Little Waffle Shack with Tilly.
Tilly was right, Daniel did deserve a chance to tell his side of the story.
She just wasn’t sure she was going to like it when he did.
They set off from the flat, the same crowds Lucy had seen gathering on her return to the Cove a short while ago still lingering. There was an air of festive cheer surrounding them as they passed the village tree, faces illuminated by the lights all the way up the Norway spruce, others lit up by the lights from the shack or by people’s phones held in the air snapping shots of one another with smiles all round. Daniel had looped twinkly lights around the roof of the Little Waffle Shack like a beacon across the other side of the green space guiding everyone in the right direction. Lucy stopped when another local asked her about the sign, which had lights wound around it to show it off, and she proudly told them it was indeed her work.
The sweet smell of waffles hung in the air. Everywhere she looked, delight could be seen on the faces of customers with their cardboard containers, waffles topped with all kinds of colourful additions, little wooden forks poised to dig in for another bite. And when she turned again as they drew closer to the shack she saw Daniel handing waffles to three children. He was crouched down on his haunches pointing out the toppings, and when he stood up the parents thanked him and the kids got stuck into the sweet treats at long last.
Before Daniel went inside he turned to survey the crowds and that was when he spotted her. Lucy’s heart pounded; she was nervous. Nervous about whether when he talked to her she’d know the horrible truth, or, worse, that she’d listen and want to fall into his arms anyway. It felt like a betrayal of Joanna’s memory, but Tilly was right, she should at least give him a chance to tell his side.
Someone was trying to talk to Daniel and he was doing his best to reply without taking his eyes off Lucy, as though she were an apparition and would disappear if he looked away.
Lucy waved over at him, just to let him know…well, she wasn’t sure what she was letting him