The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,6

a glass of water. ‘I’d say about five.’

‘Oh,’ Kat said with a light laugh. ‘So you quite liked this one?’

‘What was his name again?’ Lucy asked.

‘Jason?’

‘That’s it,’ Kat said. ‘I’m so used to Ewan calling him Whatshisface I forgot!’

Sadie gave a light laugh. ‘Jason was bearable, I suppose.’ She put the water jug down. ‘Better than Ash.’

‘Ash is the one before, right?’ Lucy asked. ‘I lose track these days. How long did he last?’

‘I forget,’ Sadie said.

‘About ten minutes,’ Ewan said.

‘No,’ Kat said. ‘At least twenty.’

‘Wow,’ Lucy exclaimed with an indulgent laugh. Sadie often suspected that her older sister found her a little silly. Perhaps it was the age gap, but it sometimes felt like Lucy thought Sadie immature and misguided. And often, when Sadie reflected on Lucy’s success in New York as a theatrical agent, a powerful personality making her way in a difficult, cut-throat industry, Sadie could see why she might view her that way. There was no room for procrastinating in Lucy’s world, no time for sentiment or immaturity and definitely no time to waste on unsuitable men.

‘So Jason was bearable? That’s true love in your world, that is,’ Kat said.

‘No,’ Sadie said, joining in the banter because really she had no choice but to laugh at herself. Even she could see how silly it all looked to everyone else that she couldn’t keep a boyfriend. The reason why wasn’t so funny, but if she didn’t laugh then she’d think about that and cry. ‘True love is at least an eight. Seven maybe, but that’s pushing it. Jason was definitely not true love.’

‘So what went wrong this time?’ Lucy asked.

‘Nothing really. I just couldn’t summon up any enthusiasm at the thought of a date, so what was the point?’

‘None,’ Kat agreed. ‘Is there anyone who does fill you with enthusiasm though? Going by your score chart, I don’t think the man exists who would be a seven or eight.’

Sadie shrugged and took a sip from her glass. ‘I’d like to think he does,’ she said, putting it down again. ‘I just don’t know if I’ll find him in Sea Salt Bay.’

‘I don’t know if you’d find him in this hemisphere,’ Ewan said.

‘You could always try New York.’ Lucy passed her empty starter plate to Henny, who was collecting them up to make way for their main course. ‘Come and stay with me for a few weeks and I’ll get you hooked up with some eligible bachelor.’

‘New York’s alright for a holiday,’ Sadie said, ‘but I don’t think living there would suit me.’

‘There’s a big world outside the bay,’ Lucy said.

‘I know,’ Sadie replied. ‘I went to look for it once – remember?’

Lucy gave that indulgent smile again. ‘Yes, I suppose it’s not for everyone to leave the bay. Sometimes when I’m back here I do see why you wouldn’t want to. I don’t miss it when I’m busy day to day back in New York, but when I’m home…’ She paused, looking distant for a moment. ‘When I’m home I do feel different… sort of calmer. Like I’ve spent the whole month at a yoga retreat. It makes me remember how lucky I was to grow up here.’

‘You could always come back,’ Graham said.

Lucy shook her head. ‘After I’ve worked so hard to get where I am in New York? As lovely as the thought is, I’d be mad to do that. For the next few years at least I need to stay put. After that… who knows?’

‘I think you had found your man once,’ April put in, and Sadie turned to her, almost surprised to find that her grandmother had been following the conversation and had managed to muster an opinion on it. Sadie didn’t often admit it, because she hated that everyone knew what she wouldn’t say out loud, but April was right about that much. Everyone else looked vaguely uncomfortable and probably hoped that April wouldn’t say the name of the man she meant.

Sadie gave her a tight smile. The truth was, she’d once imagined she’d found a whole ten, and it had been here in Sea Salt Bay, just as Gammy had said. She’d had him once too, before she’d gone to university and let him slip through her fingers. She’d been fickle, silly and headstrong; she hadn’t realised what she’d had until she’d driven it away. And all because she’d been searching for something more, something she hadn’t really needed in the end, something she thought was beyond the borders of the