The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,25
tell her why I couldn’t eat her food and in the end she was convinced I had an eating disorder. When she found out what was really going on, that was the first time I saw someone in the bay get angry with April, but even my mum couldn’t stay angry for long because who can? April is just so lovely and sweet it’d be like shouting at a puppy.’
Declan and Natalie laughed, but Melissa simply aimed an uncertain smile at Sadie. Georgia’s recollection of their schooldays was probably just the sort of shared childhood memory, growing up as they all did in the bay, that she must have felt put her at a disadvantage. She must have felt there was a part of Declan’s life that she could never know. It happened to many couples, of course, but in this case, the only woman that she might perceive to be a threat – Sadie – did know that. In fact, she’d been a huge part of it. Once again, Sadie found herself feeling a bit sorry for Melissa, though it did nothing to allay the weird, intensified sense of rivalry she was suddenly gripped by.
‘Well…’ Sadie looked at everyone in turn, ‘as I’ve said about twenty times now, I haven’t made up my mind what I’m going to do.’
Her gaze flicked back to Declan, though she dared not let it rest there too long. She might say she hadn’t made up her mind, but maybe, at some point during the last ten minutes, she had after all.
Chapter Five
Sadie adjusted her face mask. If there was one person whose opinion she trusted more than her friends’, even more than that of her parents or Ewan, it was Kat’s. Technically, of course, Kat was family, but it wasn’t quite the same. In fact, it was strange how her sister-in-law had very quickly become a confidante to a younger Sadie when she’d first started seeing Ewan, and these days, with Sadie’s sister Lucy mostly absent, Kat had taken the role of honorary sister/auntie/best friend. She was level-headed and saw emotionally charged situations with more clarity than other family members, and thus was able to offer thoughts (especially on family situations) that were much more balanced and trustworthy. Perhaps because she had a different relationship with them all, or perhaps just because that was the sort of person she was, Sadie didn’t know; she was only glad that she had someone like that in her life.
They were perched on the rocks now like black-clad mermaids, the afternoon sun mid-sky and warming their shoulders as they prepared to snorkel together. Sadie could scuba, as Kat could, but she preferred the freedom of snorkelling as opposed to dealing with the weight of extra equipment and – frankly – the stress of diving with air tanks. Snorkelling was their bonding thing; it had been from very early on. Kat had taught Sadie how to do it – Sadie’s parents weren’t interested in diving, preferring to see the sea from the surface, and Ewan was so critical of Sadie’s technique that they’d always end up bickering. But with Kat, Sadie could just relax and enjoy it, and it gave her space to open up because them diving together was often an excuse for an hour alone to catch up.
This afternoon, Freddie and Freya were with Ewan, further up the beach looking for sea life in rock pools, which had allowed Sadie and Kat to steal away for a little privacy.
‘It seems like ages since we’ve done this.’ Sadie’s wetsuit-clad legs dangled into the sea. She kicked out, sending a spray of water up from the surface that glowed like crystals in the sun. The weather had been calm over the last couple of days and so the sediment that sometimes got stirred up from the sea bed to dirty the colour was firmly settled where it belonged, making the depths a glorious turquoise. On a day like today, if you squinted and looked around – ignoring the very British pier and shops lining the shore – you could almost imagine you were on some Greek island. Today would be a very good day to see so many things below the waves, and no matter how often Sadie saw swooshing rays or forests of vibrant blue snakelocks anemone and seaweed in dazzling shades of green, darting fish or tiny crabs scurrying along the ocean bed – even the odd sea horse – she never tired of it. Every