Page 92 of Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon
Sol nods his agreement, then smiles at her. ‘Have you thought any more about what I suggested?’ he asks. ‘About me driving you to Sydney to see your son?’
She has thought about it, and dismissed the idea, and thought about it again, and tried to predict how Dylan would react, and each time she thinks it would be a bad idea to introduce these two. Sol is her friend, nothing more. But Dylan will think it’s more. Sol will think it’s more.
Not that she can tell him any of that. So she settles for a lie.
‘Honestly, I haven’t had time,’ she says. ‘I’ve been run off my feet with Josie away.’
‘How is the poor lass?’
‘Not happy. Which is understandable.’
Trudy has taken to visiting Josie each Sunday afternoon, just after lunch, bringing a little cake or a bun because the hospital food is awful. The girl wants to go home, of course, but it would be impossible for her parents to manage her, since she can’t walk anywhere yet.
‘A difficult time for all,’ Sol says seriously. ‘She’s lucky to have you looking out for her.’
‘It’s what anyone would do.’ Trudy believes that. Not that she has proof.
‘I doubt that. Most people, I find, can’t be bothered thinking about others.’
He looks mildly amused as he says it, so she doesn’t know if he’s joking.
‘That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?’
‘You think that because you can’t imagine it.’ He is gazing at her in a way that is adoring yet unsettling, because she’s not sure she wants to be adored by him. ‘That’s how good your heart is.’
She glances away, not able to hold his stare. ‘It’s not too good,’ she mutters. ‘It’s been doused in cigarette smoke for years.’
In fact, she’d like to douse it right now but she doesn’t smoke that much around Sol – his clothes are immaculate and smoking may ruin them. Or, at least, make them smell.
‘I see your heart.’ He sits forward on his chair. ‘Its endless capacity. You are welcoming to everyone in that salon.’
He’s only been in two or three times, so she’s not sure how he’s worked that out.
‘It’s my job.’
He wobbles his head from side to side. ‘Perhaps. But you mean it. I can tell. You care about everyone who walks through that door, even if they don’t necessarily deserve it.’
‘Everyone deserves it.’
‘You see? That’s what I mean. Good-hearted.’
He keeps smiling at her as the waitress puts down their little pots of tea and walks away.
‘You are a wonderful woman, Trudy. I admire you greatly.’
She fidgets in her seat. ‘So you keep saying.’
‘Because I’m not sure you believe me.’
‘That’s because I don’t think you’re right!’
‘Or you think I have ulterior motives, perhaps?’
That hangs in the air between them as he pours tea for her before taking hold of his own pot.
‘I do,’ he says, and their eyes meet. ‘I want to see as much of you as I can. My life is greatly improved by having you in it.’
It’s such a compliment. One of the best. Isn’t it? As she digests it she thinks about who improves her life. Evie. Sam. Josie. Her clients. Her friends. Her son. Her grandchildren. Sol? Yes. He does. Notgreatly, but he does improve it. They’re sitting here in a nice place having a chat. That’s an improvement to sitting at home feeling sorry for herself.
