Page 13 of An Ill Wind in Seabury
‘I can take them up for you a bit later, if that’s any help?’ said George. ‘I’d need to finish off the rest of my round first, but they’re right at the back of the van, so it’s really no bother.’
‘You’re a hero,’ said Connie. ‘You sure you don’t mind?’
‘Not at all!’
‘Great, I’ll let Ewan know.’
‘When you do, you might want to give him a bit of a warning,’ said George, peering out at the van just to check that the coast was still clear of anyone looking to nab him for his illegal parking.
‘Warning?’ said Connie with a little frown. ‘That sounds ominous.’
‘Mmm, it might well be,’ said George, wiggling his eyebrows.
‘Spit it out,’ laughed Connie, ‘you’ve got me worried now!’
‘Well, it’s like this,’ he said, grabbing a beautiful beany hat and trying it on for size. ‘You know how Rory’s engaged?’
‘Blimey, I can never get over how fast gossip spreads in this town,’ said Connie, shaking her head. ‘We only got the call yesterday.’
‘Well, I don’t think you were the only ones to get the call,’ said George. ‘There’s a visitor in Seabury this morning. Apparently, Rory’s new fiancé’s sister is in town.’
‘You say that like it’s a bad thing,’ said Connie, doing her best to disentangle a hank of her hair from Melody’s fist.
‘Erm… itisif you’re one of the people she’s spoken to!’ said George. ‘She had Lionel literally slumped across the reception desk in the hotel. Oh, and Jess is on the warpath. Even Charlie’s not too keen on her.’
‘Oh dear,’ sighed Connie. ‘Poor thing. If I’d have known she was coming, I could have taken her for breakfast or something.’
‘Or gone into hiding,’ muttered George.
‘Don’t be daft, she can’t be all that bad.’
‘Do youknowhow hard it is to ruffle Lionel?’ said George.
‘Actually… no! Because I’ve literally never seen it happen.’
‘That’s kind of my point!’ said George.
‘But, why’s she here?’ said Connie, still looking rather taken aback.
‘When she was busy giving Kate a hard time, she let it slip that she was looking for Seabury House, so I’m guessing she’s here to check that her future family-in-law are up to scratch.’
‘Goodness!’ said Connie. ‘That’s all a bit… drastic.’
‘She sounds like she’s a bit of a drastic person,’ chuckled George. ‘Have you… erm… met Rory’s fiancé?’
‘Freya?’ said Connie in surprise. ‘No, but we’ve spoken to her loads online. She’s Rory’s co-pilot. Totally mad, really lovely. A bit of a tigger, I’d say. I think you’d like her.’
‘Well, her sister might be a bit… different. She’s marching around town, done up to the nines, being demanding. And that’s putting it nicely.’
‘Wait… I wonder if that’s who was pounding on the window this morning before I opened,’ said Connie.
‘Could be,’ said George. ‘What did she look like?’
‘I didn’t actually see who it was,’ said Connie. ‘I was changing this little sausage out the back. I figured if it was anything urgent, or someone wanted to buy something, they’d either wait a few minutes or just come back!’
‘Thank your lucky stars she didn’t,’ chuckled George. ‘Uh oh, I’d better go! I see a demon in high-vis coming this way.’
‘The traffic warden?’ gasped Connie.
