Page 97 of Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop
‘Yes, I promise.’
‘Tell me about your life before you came to St Felix,’ Jack asks immediately, as if he’s been planning this. ‘Like why you came here.’
‘Okay … so I’d always wanted to run my own shop. Well, a craft shop actually. I’d always made bits and pieces at home that had been popular with friends and family, and I thought I might be able to sell it properly and make a business of it if I had my own store.’
‘Go on?’ Jack says when I pause.
‘What do you meanGo on? That’s it.’
‘What I’ve just heard is your very practised version of the story that you tell anyone when they ask. I want to hear therealversion. Why St Felix – why not somewhere else? Why at that moment in your life? What made you take the leap?’
‘Okay …’ I say, a little more hesitant this time. ‘I didn’t choose St Felix, more it chose me. I was in the hairdresser’s one day and someone next to me was talking about how they’d just been to the funeral of their great-aunt, and how she owned this shop in Cornwall and had worked there all her life. Then she began talking about the place and how lovely it was, and when she said the name St Felix I immediately Googled business properties for rent here and that’s how I found the shop.’
‘Nice,’ Jack says approvingly. ‘So what were you doing then? For a job, I mean.’
‘I worked for a finance company. I had a bit saved up so I thought why not – let’s do it.’
Jack looks at me suspiciously. ‘Just like that? You uprooted your whole life, and your daughter’s life too? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t strike me as the most spontaneous of people, Kate. Quite the opposite in fact.’
Jack was correct, of course, but I wasn’t about to admit that. ‘I’m not saying I didn’t think a lot about it,’ I reply, ignoring his comment, ‘but it seemed like the right thing to do. I talked to Molly, of course I did. She was a little reluctant at first, but she soon came around when we visited St Felix. Who wouldn’t want to live by the sea?’
‘So, that’s it, you saw an opportunity and took it. There were no other reasons for your move?’
I sigh. I had promised to be honest.
‘I’d just come out of a verydifficultrelationship,’ I say carefully. ‘It was a good time to get away.’
Jack nods, and I’m grateful yet surprised when he doesn’t ask me any more questions. Most people would want to know why it had been difficult. ‘Understood,’ is all he says.
‘Right, is it my turn now?’ I ask quickly, keen to move on. ‘I feel like you’ve grilled me plenty.’
‘Ask away,’ Jack says, lifting his pint. ‘I have no secrets.’
I think for a moment. I already knew how Jack had come to be in his wheelchair, and why he’d snapped at me that night in his flat. ‘Why don’t you want your friends back home to know where you are?’ I ask, suddenly remembering the conversation between Jack and Ben when we’d been in here the last time.
Jack looks mystified.
‘When we were in here with Molly and Ben, Ben said one of your friends didn’t know you were here in Cornwall running a shop. He was surprised to hear it.’
Jack nods slowly as if he’s considering his reply.
‘You promised to be honest,’ I remind him.
‘Actuallyyoupromised to be honest. I never promised anything.’
I glare at him.
‘Okay, okay, I’ll be honest with you.’ He pauses. ‘The truth is I don’t want them to know.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m ashamed of what I’ve become.’ Jack looks away across the bar at something, anything, in the distance. ‘I used to be a strong, fit soldier. I used to travel all over the world defending Queen and country. I risked my life during that time more than once, and I earned the respect of my comrades. Now I’m just a sad guy in a wheelchair who runs an art shop in a funny little seaside town in Cornwall.’
I stare at Jack again, but this time because I can’t quite grasp what he’s telling me.
‘Do you really see yourself like that?’ I ask quietly.
He shrugs and reaches for his pint again. ‘Pretty much.’
