please, please, please can I have a pogo stick?’ Then, three days before Christmas, they go to a friend’s house and see a talking mermaid on a TV ad and suddenly they want that instead. But it’s already sold out,” she ends in gloomy satisfaction. “So you have to find it on eBay at three times the price.”
“Minnie won’t change her mind,” I insist. “She loves that hamper.”
“You wait,” says Suze, sounding like a grizzled old fisherman predicting a storm. “She’ll see a talking mermaid on telly, and the hamper will be toast.”
“Well, she’s not allowed to see a talking mermaid,” I say crossly. “I’m banning the telly until Christmas.”
“Yeah, right,” scoffs Suze. “Are you going to move to an Amish village?”
I’m about to retort, “Maybe!” and google Amish villages (are there any in Hampshire?) when Irene comes up, holding a piece of paper out to me.
“Oh, Becky!” she exclaims. “Good news. I found the name of the young man who was asking after you.”
“The striking young man,” puts in Suze, grinning at me.
“Exactly.” Irene beams innocently. “It was…” She reads off the piece of paper. “Craig Curton.”
I stare at her, feeling a bit gobsmacked. Craig Curton?
“D’you know him, Bex?” says Suze with interest, as Irene hands me the piece of paper.
“Actually, I do,” I say. “Actually…” I hesitate. “He’s an old flame.”
“An old flame?” Suze stares at me. “I never heard about him! When was he?”
“Ages ago.” I make a brushing-away motion. “At uni.”
I’d completely forgotten about Craig Curton. Or not forgotten about him exactly, but I can’t say I’ve thought about him much.
“He’s very striking, Becky, dear,” puts in Irene, her eyes bright. “Very handsome.” She heads off to greet a customer, and Suze grins wickedly at me.
“Irene’s got the hots for your old boyfriend. Is he a supermodel or something?”
“I think Irene must have quite low standards,” I say, giggling. “He’s a bit weird-looking. You know, dyed black hair and really pale and awful teeth. He was in a band,” I add hastily. “That’s why I went out with him.”
“Well, I’m googling him,” announces Suze, grinning. “I have to see this Greek god for myself.”
“He’s not a Greek god.” I roll my eyes. “In fact, I don’t know why I went out with him, even if he was in a band.”
I wait for Suze to reply but she’s staring down at her phone, looking a bit stunned.
“You know what, Bex?” she says slowly. “He is a bit of a Greek god. Unless it’s a different guy. Is this him?”
She holds out her phone and I jolt in shock. That guy is gorgeous. That can’t be Craig Curton.
I stare down at the image, trying to make sense of it. OK, I can just about see that it’s Craig. An older Craig. But his hair, which used to be weird and shapeless, is now tumbling down to his shoulders in dark shiny waves. And his teeth have been done. And he’s tanned. And look at those arms.
“He’s amazing,” says Suze flatly.
“He’s changed.” I find my voice. “He’s…he didn’t look like that. Nothing like that.”
“What does he do?” Suze scrolls down the page, which is some kind of professional network. “Musician,” she says, sounding a little awestruck. “His latest release is called ‘Love Underneath.’ ”
“Really?” I try to grab for the phone, but Suze snatches it back.
“I haven’t finished looking!” she says. “Last year he released ‘Honest.’ He recently toured Germany with Blink Rage. Who are Blink Rage?”
I have no idea who Blink Rage are, but I’m not going to admit that.
“Haven’t you heard of Blink Rage, Suze?” I say, a little pityingly.
“Hi, Becky.” A raspy male voice greets me from across the shop, and both our heads jerk up—and I nearly die of shock.
“Hi!” says Suze in a weird squeak, dropping her phone with a clatter. “Hi. Welcome to the…Hi!” As he gets near, she grabs her phone and hastily turns it over—but not before we’ve all seen his face filling the screen.
My face goes instantly red. This is so embarrassing.
“Hi, Craig,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant. “Hi. We were just…Hi. What a surprise! It’s been…”
“Years.” He nods. “Unreal, right?”
He sounds like a rock god with that raspy voice. And he looks like one, too, with his long hair and battered leather jacket and a skull tattooed on his earlobe.
He greets me with a kiss on each cheek, then he steps back and just looks at