Page 74 of Happy Days Ahead in the Cornish Village

‘Well,’ Sally said, passing Rex’s lead to Jay, ‘if the kitchen is out of bounds, I might just go and take a look at the agility see-saw. It was a bit wonky, wasn’t it?’

‘It was. Shall we take these two on a walk?’ Jay nodded towards Rex.

‘Good idea. Catch you both later.’ Sally turned and held her hand up in a wave before heading back towards the paddocks.

‘Shall we head down to the beach with them?’ Megan indicated the two dogs.

‘Maybe we could grab a drink from the chip van in the village first?’ Jay said as they headed across the courtyard, the dogs following at their heels. ‘You don’t mind that Sally worked it out, do you? About us?’

‘No, of course not.’ She slipped her hand in his. ‘Why would I mind?’

Jay shrugged. ‘I just wasn’t sure whether it would make things worse for you if Lyle found out. After the way he reacted before when he saw us together digging the foundations…’

Megan sighed. ‘He can think what he likes. He will do anyway. I just want to get on with my life.’

‘Good, good.’ Jay swung the gate open, stepping aside to let Megan and Cindy through first before following.

‘Now, this is the life.’ Megan grinned as she sank to the sand. Cindy and Rex had played in the sea whilst she and Jay had paddled and now both the dogs were tired and in need of a rest. ‘That’s it, Cindy. Come and sit down and rest for a moment.’

Jay sat next to her and rolled his trouser legs down. ‘You know, I’ll miss this when I do get a job.’

‘Me too. Although let’s hope we’ll still both have time to come and help out.’ Megan stroked Cindy between the eyes as she flopped her long body against her.

‘Most definitely.’ Jay nodded and glanced over his shoulder. ‘I wonder how Percy is getting on. Do you think he asked Flora?’

‘I’m not sure. I hope so and I think it would have been tricky for him to get out of having the conversation… a conversation at least. Flora knew something was going on and if she’d overheard anything then I don’t think he would have got away with not asking, but I’m not sure if she did.’ Megan shrugged. ‘Besides, if he really has been wanting to ask her out for decades then I’m not sure whether he suddenly will now.’

‘If he doesn’t, maybe we all need to get together and set them up. We could book a table at a nice restaurant and send each of them an invitation to an open night or something. I don’t know.’

‘Yes, that’s a good idea.’ Megan nodded. ‘Maybe we should.’

‘I think so. But, like you said, hopefully Percy will have asked her by now.’ Jay shifted on the sand.

‘Let’s…’ Megan frowned as the ringtone of her mobile filled the cove.

Please don’t let it be Lyle. Please, not Lyle.

She pulled it from her back pocket and glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number. She closed her eyes, bracing herself just in case he’d now moved on to withholding his number.

‘Hello?’

‘Afternoon, is this Megan Trussel please?’ It was a woman’s voice. The tone cheery.

‘Yes, I’m Megan.’ Looking down, she drew a circle in the sand.

‘I’m Primrose from the Ice Cream Parlour. We met the other day when you came in to put your card up on our noticeboard?’

‘Hi, Primrose. Yes, that’s right. Did you need me to take it down?’ Megan used her fingernail to scrape off the top layer of sand from the circle.

‘No, I was actually ringing to offer you a job.’

‘A job?’ Megan straightened her back. She could see Jay grinning beside her. ‘Wow, that would be amazing.’

‘Let me just tell you a little about the role before you accept or otherwise.’ Primrose laughed.

‘Yes, of course. Sorry.’

‘Please don’t be sorry. I need someone enthusiastic. The role would be behind the counter primarily and with perhaps a little help out the back with preparing the ice cream and things like that.’

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