The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,60

walking distance,’ Sadie said as Vivien went to get their drinks. ‘I don’t know how it’s even classed as a town at all – it’s basically about three streets.’

‘It doesn’t seem all that small to me.’

‘OK,’ Sadie said, laughing. ‘Maybe about half a dozen streets. Only just big enough to sometimes not feel like walking.’

‘Ah. Well they’re half a dozen very nice streets.’

‘Oh, yes,’ Sadie replied. ‘I’m the last person to argue with that.’

Vivien returned and plonked two frothing glasses down. ‘Will you be wanting food? Only the kitchen might be closing early tonight. Also, I don’t know who eats the muck, but the halloumi is all gone. Only two burgers left an’ all so if you want burgers you’d better get in quick.’

Sadie turned to Luke.

‘I could eat a burger,’ he said. ‘Ask me any time about burgers and I’d always say yes.’

‘Well, it’s hardly…’ Sadie began, but then paused. What she’d been thinking was that it was hardly first-date food and ordinarily she’d have gone for something a bit daintier. But she had skipped dinner at home and by now her black mood had lifted – even if only for the moment – and she was hungry. Not to mention that somehow this didn’t feel like a first date, though she couldn’t say why. The excitement was there, the newness, all the possibilities laid out before her. Would they get beyond tonight? If they did, how far could it go? The difference was that she felt far more relaxed today than she ever had on any first date. Conversation and even banter felt easy with Luke, and the desperate need to look like a girl who was more than she was just didn’t trouble her.

Perhaps it was down to the spontaneity of it, the speed by which events had taken over. She hadn’t had time to stress over what to wear or what she’d say. She was standing here, hair unkempt, sand in her shoes, wearing the same clothes she’d had on at work. But somehow, that was OK. Because Luke’s hair was also windswept, and he had sand in his shoes too and paint on his old denim shirt. As first dates went, it was about the most casual one Sadie had ever been on, but there was something she liked about that – very much – something different and wild and a little bit sexy too. Like anything could happen. And age difference or not (which wasn’t all that bad – in her opinion anyway), family disapproval or not, Luke was a little bit sexy too. OK, more than a little bit. He was what Natalie would have called sex on legs.

He looked at her, waiting for her answer with a mischievous, inviting look in his eyes. Burger first, and then what? She hardly dared imagine because the thought had her heart beating so fast it made her dizzy.

‘Why not?’ she said. ‘I’m starving.’

‘Me too,’ he said. He turned to Vivien. ‘We’ll take those burgers if you don’t mind.’

Vivien shrugged as she rung them through the till. ‘No skin off my nose. One less item on the menu for me to worry about.’

* * *

‘This’ – Luke nodded at his burger, still chewing on the mouthful he’d just taken – ‘is just the best burger I’ve ever had.’

‘The best?’ Sadie asked, laughing as she reached for her own. ‘The absolute, undisputed best you’ve ever had in your entire life?’

‘Yup.’

‘Wow…’ Sadie took a bite of her own. The patty was juicy, no doubt about that, the pickle-to-sauce ratio just about perfect and the brioche bun soft and a little sweet, but the best ever? She munched with a look of contentment as she contemplated his statement. Or rather, she contemplated him. God, he was good-looking, and he got better-looking the longer she looked. There was no doubt that tonight was turning out to be an unexpectedly good night, a distraction from her worries which, right now, seemed a lifetime away.

‘So,’ she said as she swallowed a mouthful, ‘what made you choose Sea Salt Bay over all the other seaside towns you could have chosen?’

‘I used to come here as a kid with my parents. Until I was about eight anyway.’

‘Why did you stop? They got bored? You got bored?’

‘My dad got bored… with my mum.’

‘Oh… I’m sorry.’

He waved away the apology. ‘Life, isn’t it? He left her like so many do. Went off with his muse.’

Sadie frowned. ‘His muse?’

‘He was an artist. Mum was his muse at

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