‘About Cillian? He’s a good man. Heart of gold. Fiercely loyal. Look after him.’
Look after him? An odd thing to say.
‘Er, I will. I’ll make sure he’s paid the going rate, minus a bit for rent of course.’
Martha snorted with laughter. It took a few seconds for April to realise it was laughter, and not a stray biscuit crumb down the wrong hole.
‘You’ll see, love. We here at Lizard Point are a close-knit bunch, but secrets hide in plain sight like ornaments on a hearth.’ She lowered her sketchpad a little as April stared at her open-mouthed. ‘Look after him, that’s all I’m saying. He’s had a rough time lately.’
April found herself nodding along, wondering what secrets hung on the hearths of the people she’d met so far. What did she mean?
A van pulled into the chalet park, and April’s worries fell out of her head. Her first delivery was here for the chalet shop, the basics, with more stuff coming later. She was going to get this place up and running, and keep her head down. As she smiled a greeting at the affable delivery driver, she was aware of how her guts churned at the thought of home, and what she had left behind. Maybe she shouldn’t have left at all. Maybe this was the biggest mistake of the whole tragedy that seemed to be her life. She padded over to the office, to let the man deliver the boxes, and pushed the terror she felt down into the depths of her mind. She would focus on what she could change, not what she couldn’t. After today, she would have a neighbour, and a helper, and she was determined to make the very best of both.
***
‘She’s so annoying! I mean it, Paddy – it’s not going to work! I was better off in the crummy flat.’
Paddy rolled his eyes back in his head as he lifted his pint glass to his pouting lips. Cillian started to speak again, but Paddy held an index finger up to pause him, and kept drinking. Once half of the glass of amber liquid had been drunk, he reluctantly placed the glass back on the table and wiped the froth from his moustache.
‘Really? Old Shady Pines that bad? Surely she can’t be any worse than Tim. You put up with him long enough.’
‘She doesn’t have a clue.’
It was true, she didn’t. He’d felt bad about going along with Martha’s plan of him living in, but when they’d gone into the reception hut and discussed her plans, he’d realised just how skittish she was. How much she needed things to work out. Which meant pressure on him, to come through for her. What was she doing here? He couldn’t help but feel like he had to help her now. The thing was, he couldn’t get attached. He was already thinking about what she was doing now. What she would look like when he rolled up to live next door. He needed to keep her at arm’s length. Focus on how bad a boss she was at the moment, all fingers and thumbs. His head was in a quandary, so being annoyed by her seemed to be easier. In his head anyway. The male brain was a wonderful thing. Who said all we think about are boobies and football?
‘Tim didn’t.’ Paddy’s raised brows said it all, but he said more anyway. Typical Paddy and his Dr Phil obsession. ‘The man was a charlatan, and a lazy eejit to boot. This woman sounds like she’s just out of her depth. Sound familiar?’ The brows went again. ‘We’ve all been there, mate. Shit happens, and we have to make a life.’
‘She’s not from round here.’
‘Neither are you. Neither was Tim. What is this, the Mexican border?’
‘She’s a woman though.’
Paddy guffawed at that one.
‘Oh no, a bloody woman! You should have said! Aren’t you raising a future woman, single-handed? Come on, Cillian. You’re not sexist. What’s really the problem?’
Cillian huffed, straightening up in his seat, ready to give his friend what for, and list all the numerous reasons he had for not liking the new owner. Except, now Paddy had dismissed his concerns, he didn’t actually know why he wouldn’t like her. Maybe it was because she had up and bought a great big whack off chalet park single-handed, with seemingly no experience or help. Who did that? Cillian just couldn’t understand it. Was she some sort of trust fund kid, spending her parents’ money on some frivolous whim? She didn’t look it, and her wheels weren’t exactly posh. What was she doing here? This question just went around and around in his head, and all signs pointed to her not sticking around. All the more reason to focus on the negative and shut off his heart. Which, annoyingly, seemed to be beating that bit faster around her.
Paddy was watching him with a tiny little smirk on his face, and Cillian glared at him.
‘All right, fair enough now. So she’s not a total horror, but still, I ask you. Who just turns up in Cornwall with a car full of stuff, and nothing else?’
Paddy’s eyes glinted with suppressed mirth. ‘Er … you … me, half the bloody pub. People change their lives all the time. We did.’
Paddy was Irish too, but contrary to popular belief, they didn’t know each other from Ireland. Paddy had moved here after his first marriage ended, and he needed a fresh start. He worked on the fishing boats, and years later, he was still here.
‘I know, but I still don’t like it. What if she just ups and leaves, and the place turns to shit again?’
Paddy stood up, taking both their pint pots and heading to the bar for a refill. ‘Mate, it was shit before Tim left. She has to open properly first,
