The Holiday Home Page 0,79

own breakfast.

Pru shooed him out. ‘Go. Upstairs. I’ll be there in a minute.’

‘Oh.’ Francis gave a nervous smile. ‘OK.’

Connie stared at Pru’s back as she busied herself with slices of salmon and cream cheese for the bagel.

‘Come on, Pru. Tell me. What’s got into you?’

Pru smiled coyly and in a hushed voice told Connie about the book she’d been reading.

Connie’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. ‘Oh. My. God! Poor Francis! You’ve been practising on him, haven’t you?’

Pru nodded gleefully.

‘I thought you told me you didn’t like sex?’

‘Well, I’ve woken up again.’

‘Blimey. I bet Francis doesn’t know what hit him: nothing for yonks and now you’re going to wear him out!’

Pru leaned with her back against the worktop and gave Connie an earnest look. ‘It was something Belinda said the other day. I think she’s got her eye on Francis.’

Connie gave a hoot of laughter. Pru held up a hand.

‘Honestly, Con! And a couple of days later I read a review about this book and how it had transformed one woman’s love life, so I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about. You should read it.’

‘I did. I skipped to the first couple of dirty bits and found it rather dull. But then I don’t need anything to improve my love life. Greg and I satisfy each other very nicely.’

‘Well, bully for you.’

‘Oh, Pru, I’m sorry,’ exclaimed Connie, seeing the hurt expression on her sister’s face. ‘I didn’t mean to pooh-pooh your new lease of life.’

Ignoring her, Pru carried the breakfast tray out to the hall in silence.

‘I’m pleased for you,’ Connie called after her, ‘truly I am.’

Pru met a sleepy Jem on the stairs and gave him a smacker of a kiss. ‘Morning, my darling boy.’

He rubbed his cheek where her lips had left a damp impression and then scratched at his unshaven throat. ‘Not so loud, Mum.’

‘Oh, poor little boy. Working hard for his living?’

‘Yeah, and I’ve got to see Poppa before I go. He wants me to do something on his iPad for him.’

Pru laughed and gave him another kiss, which he tried to dodge.

‘Muuum.’

‘See you later, darling. Bye.’ And she continued up towards her bedroom.

*

With a sigh of contentment, Jem wiped the bacon sandwich crumbs from his lips.

‘Can I make you another one, Jem?’ queried Dorothy, poised with the frying pan in her hand.

‘No, you’re all right, Gran.’ He got up and collected his canvas bag, which he slung over one shoulder. ‘Gotta go now. Tell Poppa his iPad’s all sorted now. Laters!’

Dorothy saw him out of the door and waved as he rode off to Trevay on his bike. She spied her husband coming up the path on his way back from Higher Barton where he’d collected some milk and his newspaper.

‘He’s a good lad,’ said Henry, as he watched Jem disappear into the distance.

‘And growing. I reckon he’s shot up another two inches this summer. Must be over six foot by now.’ Dorothy shut the front door. ‘Won’t be long before he’s ready to take on the family firm … assuming it’s still in the family.’

‘I’d be happy to have Jem and Abi in the family firm after uni, but …’ Henry frowned. ‘I don’t think it’s fair to burden them with that sort of decision at this stage. They may not want to be part of it.’

‘So sell up and share it all out between Pru and Connie.’

‘I can’t sell the company – I’d feel I was letting Dad down.’

‘Now you’re being silly.’

Henry looked steadily at Dorothy. ‘I just don’t want to make the decision.’

‘Better to give them the whole lot – the company, Atlantic House, the Dorothy – while we’re still alive to see them enjoy it. If nothing else it would put an end to the tension between them.’

Henry gazed out of the window to the garden and the ocean beyond, saying nothing.

Dorothy tried again: ‘It’ll save any misunderstandings when we’re gone.’

He turned and looked at her with a heavy heart.

‘You mean Susan.’

Dorothy hesitated, then said, ‘Yes, I mean Susan.’

‘If she wanted anything from me, she would have found me long ago.’

‘Maybe she’s been abroad and doesn’t know what a success the company is?’

Henry smiled ruefully. ‘Darling, Carew Family Board Games is an international brand. She’d know.’

‘So she’ll also know that she could be entitled to a share … unless she’s dead?’ Dorothy brightened at the thought. It was one that always brought a glimmer of hope. ‘If we only had confirmation, that would solve all our problems.’

‘And how