The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,107

good look. Luke didn’t say anything about it because he didn’t feel it was his place to, and Ewan didn’t want to look like less of a swimmer than he was, still concerned that if people found out he’d needed rescuing when he was supposed to be the sort of man who did the rescuing he’d be a laughing stock. Kat simply rolled her eyes and told him not to be ridiculous, but they all knew that it wasn’t going to change anything. And Sadie didn’t put any of the gossipers straight out of respect for all the others.

The important thing was that a week had passed and everyone was getting on again. Except, things were different than they had been before it had happened. Melissa and Declan were back together, but Melissa looked at Sadie differently than before. Sadie didn’t know why, and Declan didn’t tell her, but perhaps that was because he’d kept his promise to Melissa and kept his distance. She’d thought about phoning him to talk about things and see if he was really OK but decided against it. Sometimes you just had to let it go, even if it went against everything that you believed ought to happen. Gammy had forgiven Sadie, and after the drama in the sea she had found it in her heart to forgive Ewan too. And, a few days later, she had clean forgotten that she had ever been annoyed at either of them in the first place.

As for Sadie, she’d barely spent a moment out of Luke’s company, and he seemed to like things that way. Their relationship had even been given the seal of approval from the Schwartz family, but then, they could hardly have withheld it because, as Sadie pointed out, he was a hero and they owed him even if they didn’t like him. Then Ewan decided that he did like him and, to Sadie’s great shock, took him for a pint at the Listing Ship. Sadie had grilled her brother and then Luke afterwards to find out what they’d talked about, but both of them had simply grinned and told her to mind her own business, which made her more insanely curious than ever and, thus, even funnier to them both. If she’d featured heavily in the conversation (and it stood to reason that she would) then she was never going to find out what they’d said. But the main thing was that they were finally getting along and perhaps that was all that mattered in the end.

In fact, the only thing still hanging over her, unresolved, was the fate of the waffle house.

The fireworks party always started with a barbeque that was organised by Declan’s parents. Tonight, Declan’s dad had left the chip shop in his assistant Nessa’s capable hands (she hated fireworks anyway, and didn’t care for most of the people in attendance that much either) while he came to set up. Declan’s mum, Declan and Melissa were both helping him. By the time Sadie had arrived there with Luke, her parents, Ewan and April (Kat was following with the kids), the coals were already smoking and the first of the burgers were on the grill, the smell of cooking meat rising on the gentle breeze that rolled in from the sea. The weather was being kind to them too, far kinder than it had been the week before, and Sadie still gave an involuntary shudder whenever her eyes happened to settle on the spot beneath the pier where four of Sea Salt Bay’s residents had almost drowned.

As they wandered over to the barbeque Declan left his station at the salad bar and jogged over to greet them. He shook Luke’s hand and then Ewan’s in turn. His smile for Sadie was rather less certain.

‘How are you all doing? On the road to recovery?’

‘Fine,’ Ewan said. ‘How about you?’

‘Ah…’ Declan shoved his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders. ‘I still feel like a total dick about the whole thing, but…’

‘We’ve all done stupid things from time to time.’ Ewan clapped him on the back. ‘I wouldn’t let it worry you.’

Declan gave a sheepish grin. ‘Easy for you to say.’

‘It is, but I’m saying it anyway.’

Sadie glanced across at the barbeque. Melissa was standing with Declan’s mum, and although she was talking to her, she was watching them now. More specifically, Sadie. Or at least, it felt that way. Perhaps she was being paranoid. In the week since the incident (the second