Page 22 of Riding the Waves

“Amy says the same,” Damian remarked. “But despite that, she’s still sure they harbour some kind of grudge against her. I gave up trying to figure it out.”

* * *

Amy was walking out of the local shop on Sunday morning when a familiar baritone wished her good morning.

“Hi, Martin,” she said, immediately filled with nerves even though Damian’s dad was one of the friendliest people she’d ever met.

“It’s great to see you, love.” He pulled her into a bear hug so tight it was almost painful.

“Nice to see you too,” she said. “How are you?”

“Absolutely smashing.” His wide grin filled his face. “It’s a beautiful day and I get to spend it with my grandkids. What could be better than that?”

“I’ll bet the boys were over the moon to see you?”

“We’ve been having a grand old time. Full of energy, aren’t they? It’s hard to keep up with them. Fantastic kids, though,” he said affectionately. “Lovely for them to have you around for the summer too. Damian said you were doing some work in the area.”

She nodded. “For a local publishing company.”

“It sounds very glamorous.”

“I don’t think it is really, but it’ll be interesting. Always good to learn something new.”

“Definitely.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Listen, I need to nip in and buy some eggs, but why don’t you come back with me and have breakfast with us? I’m sure Wendy would love to see you. You could tell us more about this publishing work.”

“That’s very kind,” she told him, with a pang of guilt for thinking they were only nice to her because she was the mother of their grandchildren. It would make them excellent actors, but it just didn’t make sense that they actually liked her. “I’ve got a lot on today,” she told him, not sure Damian would be thrilled at her descending on their family time. “It’s my first day at the job tomorrow, so I want to do some research and make sure I’m in the right headspace.”

“Of course,” he said. “You’ll want to make sure you’re prepared. Always a diligent one, aren’t you? Anyway, I hope the first day goes brilliantly.”

“Hopefully I’ll see you again soon,” she said politely.

“I’m sure you will. We can’t stay long this time. We’re heading up to Cardiff tomorrow to visit Marissa. She just had another baby last week. Did Damian tell you?”

“No, he didn’t. Congratulations! That’s four grandchildren for you now, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. She had another little girl. Faith, they’re calling her.”

“That’s lovely. Tell her congratulations from me.” She’d only met Damian’s sister a couple of times, years ago, but she sent the odd message asking about the boys and always sent them gifts for birthdays and Christmas.

“I’ll do that,” Martin said. “And we’ll be back to see the boys again in a few weeks. We’ll be able to spend a bit longer then.”

“That’ll be good.”

“Won’t it just.” He gave her another big hug. “We’ll catch up properly then. I’ll look forward to hearing how it’s going with the publishing job.”

Smiling, she told him to give Wendy her best, then set off back up the hill while he went on with his shopping. She hadn’t actually planned on doing any research for the next day, assuming that it would be an informal afternoon of listening in on whatever Lizzie, Emily and Scarlett were discussing in their meeting. But having told Martin that was what she was doing for the day, it suddenly seemed like a good idea.

Back at the bungalow, she took her laptop and a coffee onto the patio. To start with, she went onto the website for Hope Cove Press, familiarising herself with the books they’d published and the authors they worked with. Following that, she trawled an online bookshop to see which books were currently popular, then followed several social media accounts about books and publishing. Once she’d finished, she’d been tempted into several new book purchases, which were instantly downloaded onto her Kindle. Among them were books by both Emily and Scarlett.

After a quick lunch of a sandwich and salad, she settled herself on a sun lounger and opened up Scarlett’s book – the first in a trilogy of fantasy novels. If she were honest, she had low expectations for the book, but after only a couple of pages she’d completely forgotten it was Scarlett who’d written it.

Reaching the end of the third chapter, she paused and marvelled at how well written it was and how the story already had her hooked. Not what she’d expected at all. She felt an odd tingle of pride on Scarlett’s behalf.

In recent years she’d only read for pleasure on holidays, and then it was with the constant interruption of her children. She was surprised by just how much she enjoyed getting lost in a book. Time seemed to go far quicker while she had her head buried in the pages. Only her rumbling stomach forced her to have a break, but it was a short one.

By the time she settled down to sleep that evening, she was more than halfway through Scarlett’s book and annoyed that her eyes refused to stay open any longer for her to continue.

CHAPTER 11

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