Page 10 of The Path to the Last House Before the Sea

‘Are you proficient with using the till?’

She nodded.

‘And what were you doing before you came to Heaven’s Cove?’

Alyssa frowned. This felt like a job interview, after the position had been filled. ‘I worked in an office, in customer relations,’ she said, surprised by how easily she lied these days.

‘And now you live in Magda’s caravan?’

‘That’s right. What about you?’ she asked, keen to deflect attention from herself. ‘You said you’re a scientist.’

‘I work in medical research in London, where I live.’

‘With your family?’ Alyssa assumed there was a family somewhere because he was sporting a wedding ring, so she was taken aback by the shudder of pain that crossed his face. ‘I’m… I’m sorry,’ she stuttered. ‘I didn’t mean to pry.’

‘It’s fine,’ he said gruffly, glancing at the door as a customer came in. ‘Anyway, I’d better leave you to it.’

Alyssa helped the customer find the breakfast cereals he was looking for and took his money. Then she started emptying the box of salt and vinegar crisps, all the while trying to remember what she’d heard about Jack Gathergill.

Snippets of gossip started coming back to her, until she suddenly realised her faux pas in bringing up his family. Jack was divorced or in the process of getting divorced. She’d overheard Magda talking to Stan about it. And they’d mentioned a young boy called Archie, who, she presumed, was Jack’s son. Poor lad. His bedtime story, with a dad whose mind was so closed to magic and mystery, was more likely to be encyclopaedia extracts than Harry Potter.

Alyssa glanced at Jack across the shop floor. Perhaps she was being mean and he was a fun-loving father who missed his son. Maybe that was the reason behind his grumpiness, because being separated from your child was a terrible thing. She closed her eyes, suddenly overwhelmed with guilt and remorse – though not for thinking badly of the man who, let’s be honest, had been a pain on the tour. Her mind was reeling back to a loss that she was determined not to revisit.

Alyssa kept the memories at bay by working flat-out all afternoon, while Jack appeared to be doing his best to avoid her. He spent ages stock-taking in the cellar, or nipping upstairs to check on Stan, and only emerged from the basement as Alyssa’s shift drew to a close and Stan clumped back down the stairs.

‘How are you doing, Dad?’ Jack asked, pushing his fingers through his fringe. ‘When I nipped up to check on you a while ago, you were dozing.’

‘I’m fine, and you should have woken me up. I can’t believe how long I slept.’ Stan gave a slow yawn. ‘However much sleep I get these days, I’m still worn out,’ he added, setting off another klaxon in Alyssa’s brain. Though if Stan was truly unwell, at least Jack was here now to sort him out.

‘How have you two been getting along?’ asked Stan, looking between Alyssa and Jack, who was loitering by the tinned tomatoes.

‘Good,’ said Alyssa brightly.

‘Yeah, good,’ Jack agreed.

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Stan, helping Alyssa into her jacket. ‘Jack said he enjoyed your tour this morning.’

‘Did he?’ Alyssa caught Jack’s eye and a frisson of amusement passed between them. He looked younger when he wasn’t being so serious. ‘That’s good, then.’

‘Do you have any more tours planned?’ Stan asked, picking up a handful of bananas from the fruit display. ‘Here you go, Alyssa. Take these home with you.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely. They’re starting to turn and need to be eaten. So, what about the tours?’

‘Tomorrow’s tour is fully booked and a couple next week are half full already.’ Alyssa opened her canvas bag and dropped the bananas into it. ‘I have a new project that I’ve been wanting to talk to you about, actually, Stan. I’m thinking of expanding into smuggling.’

‘An unusual business decision,’ murmured Jack, but he was silenced by a wave of Stan’s hand.

‘Shush! I want to hear what Alyssa’s got in mind.’

‘It’s nothing definite yet because I’m at the research stage, but I’m thinking of setting up a new tour that focuses on the village’s rich smuggling heritage. I had the idea when I was telling tourists about the sea dragon.’ She glanced at Jack, anticipating his derision, but he gave her a straight stare back. ‘I was googling about Charity and Josiah, whose disappearance sparked the dragon legend, and I discovered there was a secret smuggling ring in Heaven’s Cove at the time.’

‘Not so secret that you couldn’t find it on the internet,’ Jack butted in.

Stan gave his son a disapproving look. ‘The whole world is on the internet. Nothing ever stays a secret.’

Alyssa crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping that Stan was wrong and her secret was safe.

---