a mass of bangles on them, which cascaded down her arm and gathered around her wrist with a jangle. Maddie took her hand and shook it.
‘Got any waitressing skills?’ Lauren tilted her head to one side, as if willing Maddie to say she had years of experience.
‘I’ve worked for years as a dinner lady, if that counts?’
Lauren held up her hands and grinned. ‘Counts? That’s awesome!’ She leant in across the counter. ‘We had a couple of teenagers apply for the job – did a day’s trial and oh my gosh, they were hopeless. At least you look like you can make a cup of Joe!’
‘Sorry?’ Maddie frowned.
‘Coffee!’ She grinned.
‘Yes, I can do that!’
Lauren glanced at her watch. It was two o’clock. She headed to the door and turned the sign on the door around to say ‘Closed’. Coming back to the counter she laid out some cups. ‘What can I get you?’
‘Cup of tea would be lovely.’
‘Sure thing, go sit down and I’ll bring it over.’
Maddie looked around the café. There were about ten wooden tables, some for two, but the biggest was for six, covered in plastic tablecloths. Each one had a tiny vase on the table keeping a small sprig of gypsophila in place. A row of shelves dissected the wall at the back, but they were bare apart from a few lonely salt and pepper pots, and some rather worn Christmas decorations. Maddie tilted her head to one side. Those shelves looked so empty, as if they needed to showcase something, bring the café to life. The whole place was cheery enough, but it could do with an overhaul, just like Maris Cottage had.
Lauren placed a steaming pot of tea on the table along with a cream eclair on a plate.
‘We can share that!’ She smiled. ‘One of the perks of the job.’
Maddie took a sip as Lauren explained the set-up. ‘It would just be part-time – for now. To let me have a break, and then in the afternoons, when it’s busy there really needs to be two of us. Some days everyone wants serving all at once and I can’t manage.’
‘Sure.’ Maddie nodded. They chatted for ages. Lauren was easy to talk to. It turned out Lauren was from San Antonio, travelling around the world on a ticket her parents had bought her. She was at university in Austin, Texas, studying music, and had wanted to see the UK. She was on the IOW by accident – she’d boarded the ferry thinking she was going to France, but had ended up at Fishbourne. But she’d liked it, said to Maddie it was ‘real quaint’. She’d ended up working at the coffee shop on a trial basis and had stayed for six months. Lauren explained to Maddie about Sue, the manager of Shore Café. She rolled her eyes. ‘She’s never here, but,’ sighed Lauren, ‘the poor woman is going through a rough patch. She often calls “unexpectedly” and leaves me to cope.’ Lauren took a sip of tea. ‘It’s not so bad, though. I like it here.’ She shrugged. ‘Despite the weather! What about you? What brings you to Brightwater Bay?’
Maddie looked out to the grey skies hanging over the village, the pavement smeared with dark patches where clumps of snow were melting, then she turned to face Lauren and found herself telling her all about her life, about Olive, Ed, Maris Cottage. When she looked up, Lauren had tears in her eyes.
‘Oh, I didn’t mean to upset you!’
‘No, it’s just your story about Olive. It’s so sweet that you have her cottage. Look,’ she said, pouring them both another half cup of tea. ‘We’re shut over Christmas but why don’t you start after that? See how we both feel after a few weeks? What did you say? Brightwater Bay is your new beginning? Then why not start with a new job?’ She grinned at Maddie who found herself nodding.
‘Yes, all right. Let’s give it a go.’
Later, as she walked along the coast path back to her cottage, she realised she hadn’t asked Lauren what the pay was. She shrugged to herself, because money wasn’t everything. Her New Beginning was underway. The money was important, but not as much as this feeling of being part of something bigger. She was starting to feel a lot more at home in Brightwater Bay than she’d ever done at Little Rowland. And yet just as quickly as this hopeful feeling landed in her heart, it was eclipsed by