The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,21
voice dropping. ‘It really doesn’t bother me as much as you seem to enjoy thinking it does. He’s with Melissa now – they’re together and he’s happy. End of.’
‘Happy?’ Georgia leaned in to join Sadie and Natalie. ‘That’s not what we’ve been hearing.’
‘Well—’ Sadie began, but was interrupted by the man hailing them.
‘How’s it going?’
All three women set their faces in bright, innocent smiles as the couple walked over to their table.
‘Hey, Dec,’ Natalie said. ‘How are you?’ She looked at the woman, her blithe smile growing even wider. ‘Melissa… have you lost weight? You look amazing!’
‘About half a stone, that’s all,’ Melissa replied, beaming.
Sadie offered her most encouraging, open smile. Not because she liked Melissa – she didn’t, despite the fact that Melissa had really done nothing to deserve her dislike except date Declan after Sadie had finished with him – but for Declan’s sake, because she still considered him a dear friend and he seemed genuinely happy with Melissa. If she made him happy, then she couldn’t be all that bad, could she? Even if Natalie and Georgia, and to some extent Sadie herself, said that there was something off about her that none of them could quite put their fingers on.
Natalie was right about the weight. Sadie couldn’t deny that Melissa looked great this evening too – her dark shoulder-length hair was glossy like Natalie’s but much finer and poker-straight. The weight she’d lost sharpened her already quite spectacular cheekbones, and though she favoured heavier make-up and tighter clothes than Sadie would ever dare wear, they suited her. This evening she was in a short white jersey dress that possibly nobody else in the world could pull off. Declan was his usual relaxed self, giving all three women at the table an easy smile as he rested his beer on a nearby table for a moment so he could roll up the sleeves of his denim shirt.
‘I think Sea Salt Bay’s amateur dramatics society are missing the three witches from their production of Macbeth,’ he said, his smile turning into a broad and cheeky grin. ‘What are you three cooking up? You look shifty as hell sitting huddled in this corner.’
‘Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble,’ Georgia said.
‘We’re actually making a voodoo doll of you and deciding what to do with it,’ Natalie added sweetly.
Declan’s grin spread further still. ‘Make it something nice, won’t you?’
‘I can’t think of anything nice that you might deserve,’ Natalie replied airily.
‘Aww, come on, there must be something.’
‘Hang on… Nope.’ Natalie laughed. ‘Nothing.’
Declan chuckled. Then he looked at Sadie and the merriment disappeared. Sadie hated when that happened, but it happened a lot. He laughed all the time at Natalie and Georgia, but always, when it came to her, though they were friends and things were good-natured, he was more serious. He didn’t use to be serious, once upon a time. Things had changed and he had become this different man with her. There was no way back and the thought made Sadie sad.
‘How’s your gran today?’ he asked. ‘I saw earlier that the waffle house is still closed. Is that it now? Have you all made up your minds?’
‘It’s locked up,’ Sadie replied, a little confused.
‘I know, but he was hoping it would be open so he could eat,’ Melissa said. ‘I don’t know what I would have eaten if it had been open – everything your grandma serves is covered in sugar.’
‘A hollow banana?’ Georgia offered, and if Melissa noticed the sarcasm she didn’t show it.
‘Probably. I’d have had to watch Dec stuff something nice into his face while I drank water. It’s hardly fair, is it?’
‘Well, beauty is pain,’ Natalie said, with almost the same degree of subtle mockery as Georgia. Melissa didn’t appear to be concerned by this either, though to Sadie there was no mistaking it was there, and she had to stop herself from frowning at Natalie in disapproval. Natalie and Georgia were doing their friend thing, backing Sadie because they thought that Dec and Sadie ought to be together. They’d never really understood or believed that Sadie had accepted her fate and were essentially siding with Sadie in an argument that didn’t really exist.
‘I can’t help that my job burns lots of calories,’ Dec said cheerfully. ‘And I keep telling you that you don’t need to diet; you’re perfect as you are.’
Melissa threw him a flirtatious look. ‘No, I’m not,’ she said, though clearly she wanted to hear more about how perfect he thought she was.