The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,45

‘at least I’m safer in a wetsuit than I am in a boat.’

Kat stared at him, but Sadie found herself giggling. It was hard to stay mad with a guy who had such obvious charm and humour, so much so that it was hard to keep down, even in a situation like this. And now that Sadie could look without a huge bruise and a thumping headache, she could appreciate that he was very attractive too. And, judging by his choice of hobbies, he not only had charm and a sense of humour, but he had an adventurous streak as well. Not that it mattered, of course, because she was quite sure her entire family would think she’d gone mad for so much as airing any of these thoughts to them. And she could hardly blame them – he had almost killed her after all. As introductions went, it was hardly conventional.

April suddenly straightened in her seat. ‘Is this the man?’ she asked.

‘I’m afraid it is,’ he said. April opened her mouth to say something but Sadie got in there first.

‘Don’t get mad,’ she said to her grandma. ‘The poor guy’s already had enough of a roasting from just about everyone else in Sea Salt Bay.’

‘Deserved, though,’ he said. ‘I can’t believe what a clumsy idiot I was. I’m not usually like that and I still feel just terrible about it. And, like I said to you that day, if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just say the word and it’s done.’

‘Hmm,’ Sadie said, giving him a playful grin, ‘I don’t think you want to go around making promises like that.’

‘Within reason,’ he added, smiling himself now – a proper, more relaxed smile.

Kat seemed to relax a little too.

‘So, about this session,’ she said, turning back to the laptop. Business was business, she and Ewan always said, and Sadie was glad to see her sister-in-law had enough sense to view this situation in that same way. The last thing she wanted to do was lose money for Kat and Ewan.

‘Oh, I…’ Luke began to edge towards the door again. ‘Maybe another time…?’

Kat looked up from the screen. ‘You don’t want to book now?’

‘It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just—’

He stopped dead as he backed into Ewan, who was walking in, hair still wet from his last dive.

‘Ewan,’ Sadie said firmly, as her brother’s face darkened, ‘we’ve already had about a thousand apologies; let’s not make it a thousand and one, eh? After all, it was my head and I’m happy to leave it.’

‘Even so,’ Luke said, ‘I’m truly sorry for the whole thing.’ He held out a hand for Ewan to shake. ‘Could we at least call a truce? I’ve just moved here and I really don’t want to make myself an army of enemies before I manage to make any friends.’

Ewan automatically took it and shook stiffly, though he looked annoyed with himself afterwards.

Sadie sat up straighter. ‘You’ve moved here? You’ve moved to the bay?’

‘Yes,’ he said, and despite the confrontational situation there was a sort of boyish glee in his expression. ‘I’ve always dreamt of living somewhere like this and finally, at the grand old age of thirty-five, I’ve managed it.’

Kat frowned slightly. ‘There’s only one house I know of for sale around here and that’s—’

‘Yes,’ Luke cut in. ‘The Old Chapel.’

It was Sadie’s turn to frown. ‘But the conversion is only half finished. I didn’t think it was ready to sell.’

‘I think the last owner had had enough of the job. As far as I know he’s gone to a new build somewhere near Poole. I’ve got time on my hands and no family to worry about so I’m happy to finish converting the chapel. In fact, I’ll enjoy it.’

Sadie nodded. Nobody had really known much about the previous owner of the Old Chapel, other than he was another out-of-towner who’d moved to the south coast from London and was planning to turn the disused little church into a second home. It meant the full-time residents of Sea Salt Bay hadn’t made much of an attempt to get to know him all that well. It wasn’t that they were being deliberately unfriendly, but most of them knew from experience that he probably wouldn’t be around that often – if he even kept hold of the chapel at all once it had been converted to a home. It seemed that they’d been right too. But Luke… this might be different,