His Horizon - Con Riley Page 0,24

atop a spoonful of herbed sauce.

Saw them? Sharks had been visible in those shallow waters and had filled Jude with despair until Tom had noticed and sailed where the sea was opaque instead of transparent. Even so, imagining them circling his parents was all too easy. “Yeah,” Jude admitted, still harrowed. The moment Rob noticed the shift in his expression was almost a mirror of Tom’s reaction. That slow dawn of understanding, like a body rising to the water’s surface, was too hard to witness here in the last place Jude had seen his parents. “I saw plenty of sharks,” was all he said for a while.

They worked next to each other in silence, Jude slowly stirring his sauce as he side-eyed the array of amuse-bouches that Rob steadily created, a suite of single mouthfuls that would never satisfy a man like Carl who would have been hard at work since before dawn. He bent his head over his pan rather than say so again. Rob was trying, so he could as well.

“I’m sorry,” Rob murmured as he passed on the way to the refrigerator, his hand on the back of Jude’s neck a cool comfort he hadn’t expected. “That must have been rough.”

“Yeah.” Jude let out a breath, a prolonged gust of sadness so pure he had to look away, blinking. His gaze snagged on the clock. “What time are they due?” The chime of Louise’s voice raised in greeting from the hallway was an answer. A few moments later, she poked her head around the door to say, “They’re here and ready whenever you are.”

Jude made to go and greet them.

Rob blocked his path. “Listen. When did you last see Carl’s wife?”

“Susan? The day I left to start searching.” Something about Rob’s nod had him asking, “Why?”

“You should know that she hasn’t been well.” Rob arranged his creations on a platter, taking care to make it pretty. “She’s on the mend, though, so remind yourself of that if she looks different than you remember.”

Nothing around here looked the same, Jude thought as he plated Carl’s meal. From the beach to his old bedroom, so far change had been the only constant.

He followed Rob to the smaller snug bar, mentally noting yet more change. It had been transformed too. No longer a private place for locals to drink while the main bar heaved with summer tourists, now it was a dining room that oozed class, but seeing the change to Susan was almost one change too many.

Jude hesitated for a second, grateful Rob had at least given him a heads up, and realising now exactly why he’d made such tiny offerings. Susan was so much thinner, as was her hair, once worn in a thick plait, now far too fine and patchy. “Jude, love!” Even her voice was frailer. She accepted his kiss to her cheek, holding his free hand before saying, “I’m so pleased to see you!”

Jude could only nod, grateful all over again that Rob carried the conversation. He pulled up a chair and sat down, talking the first customers of the New Anchor through each mouthful he offered while Jude stood behind him, his grip on the back of Rob’s chair doing a lot to keep him steady.

How many months had she been ill?

The thought struck him that Susan might have died while he’d been away. It looked as though she’d come close.

Carl watched as he tucked into his meal, eyes darting between Jude and his wife, and Rob who talked her into trying a tiny taste of each of his offerings. And that was what they were, Jude recognised now. Not Rob showing off or pitching the bar too high for average people compared to boutique-hotel clients. No, he’d created a tasting menu designed to tempt a waning appetite. Carl nodded once he saw his wife eating, relaxing enough that he lost his usual gruffness. He finished the bass Jude had prepared and was complimentary. Rob stood and took his empty plate from him.

Susan tapped the back of the seat Rob vacated. “Now come and sit next to me, Jude. Let me catch you up on village gossip.”

Jude did exactly that, listening as he learned of the storm and how many families had left when the tourist trade dried up until someone slid a plate in front of him; a fillet of pan-seared bass smelled fresh and tempting. “Go on,” Rob urged. “Stay and eat while Carl and I go talk business. Catch up on