The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,62

can just see the tell-tale signs that I fancied you. Let’s just say he won’t be very pleased when he hears he was right.’

‘We don’t have to tell him – it’s just one date after all.’

‘No, but you can guarantee that Vivien will; she’ll be straight over tomorrow hoping for brownie points.’

‘What is it with this town and your brother?’

‘I can’t explain it, but everyone just loves him – and I mean everyone. You won’t hear a bad word said about him. Imagine how it feels to be the little sister of such perfection.’

‘I should imagine it’s hard for everyone to compete. I’d hate to have been a teenage boy in this town if he’d been at my school.’

Sadie laughed as she reached for her beer. ‘You’d have got my vote, if it’s any consolation. Although, I could hardly date my own brother.’

‘With one hand she giveth, then with the other she taketh away.’

Sadie’s laughter rang out across the pub. ‘Sorry, that probably sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it was a compliment.’

‘Then thank you.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘What about you?’ he asked. ‘There must have been more than your fair share of boyfriends.’

‘So I look like a slapper?’

‘God no!’ he cried, almost choking on his burger. ‘God, is that what it sounded like? I didn’t mean that at all!’

Sadie’s laughter was louder still. ‘Oh, dear, you’re very easy to wind up, aren’t you?’

‘Hmm. I’ll have to look out for that. But seriously, what I meant was that you’re… well, you’re gorgeous and I would have expected to see men queuing outside your door.’

‘So now I sound like a prostitute, so thank you. I can see there was a compliment in there too though.’

‘I mean it,’ he said. ‘I think you’re stunning. After… well even after the boat accident I shouldn’t have been thinking about you… well, not in the way I was, but I couldn’t do anything else. And I was really hoping you’d call the number on my card because it would give me an excuse to talk to you again.’

‘You have Ewan to thank for the fact that I didn’t. He did his best to lose your card, although I’ve since found it. So I do have it and maybe I will call the number on it now I know all this.’

He smiled. But then it became a vague frown. ‘Your brother really doesn’t like me, does he?’

‘Let’s just say I’d better not take you to his house for a visit any time soon.’

‘I suppose that’s fair enough in the circumstances. Maybe one day in the not-too-distant future he might be able to forgive me?’

‘If you’re living in Sea Salt Bay now he has a very good reason to. The town is too small for people to have serious grudges; we make an effort to get along for that reason if nothing else. It doesn’t mean it’s all peace and harmony, but it means that we try maybe a bit harder here. Ewan will come round.’

He nodded. ‘That’s good to hear. So… what’s the deal with your waffle house?’

‘It’s not my waffle house – it still belongs to my grandma. She and my grandpa have run it for as long as anyone here can remember, and when he died we – the family – were all set to close it. But I decided to help Gammy get it running again.’

‘And that’s a long-term plan for you? What did you do before that?’

‘I was training to be a teacher, would you believe?’

‘You’ve given it up?’

‘I’ve quit my course, though everyone seems fairly sure that I could get another place if I needed to.’

‘Do you think you’ll go back to it?’

‘I don’t know. It depends what happens with the waffle house. I don’t know that I’m cut out to be a teacher, if I’m honest.’

Sadie took a swig of her beer. She didn’t much like the way the conversation was going; after the day – no, the week – she’d had, she just wanted to forget about the waffle house and her future for a while.

‘Tell me more about you,’ she said. ‘What do you do?’

‘It’s a bit dull in comparison to what you’ve told me.’

‘How can it be dull? You’ve already told me that your dad is an artist – that’s not dull.’

He shrugged. ‘I’m just a builder. By trade, anyway. Now it’s just this and that.’

‘Ah, so that’s why you can be so blasé about restoring the Old Chapel! A handy guy to know actually, and I think people will