“Hi, how are you?” she asked when Davina answered.
“Already wishing September was here, to be honest. Sophie’s bored out of her mind and driving me crazy while I’m trying to work. Silly me thinking I could work from home with a six-year-old. I can’t believe how quickly the holiday clubs filled up. Thank goodness Gary’s off work next week and can keep her entertained.”
“I’m sorry I’m not able to help out,” said Carrie. Poppy loved having her bestie round during the holidays and usually Carrie would have Sophie as much as possible so Davina could work.
“Don’t be daft! I shouldn’t even be complaining — we’re off to Florida in a couple of weeks! And I’m so glad you got to go away, even if it is a working holiday. How is it?”
“The shop’s great. I can’t believe what Auntie Mary’s done with the place. It’s so different from when I was last here. And everyone’s lovely. The lady who runs the café next door brought round pastries this morning.”
“That’s so nice!”
“It was. You won’t believe what happened at the beach earlier though.”
Carrie told her the sorry tale and couldn’t help laughing now that the whole traumatic experience was over with.
“Maybe you’ll never see him again,” said Davina, kindly.
“I don’t want to have to avoid the beach. He was walking his dog there yesterday as well...”
“You’ll have to get a disguise then, or at least wear better underwear!” Davina joked.
“I fear hiding from him is the only option,” Carrie said, now giggling.
Carrie felt a lot better for speaking with her friend. Having a laugh about it had helped put things into perspective. She was a grown-up, and so was the man on the beach. If they saw each other again, it was no big deal. They’d simply ignore each other. There was no need to mention what happened ever again.
Chapter 4
Carrie was much more confident opening the shop the following morning. Not least because she was opening at the right time today! Seren wasn’t due in, but Carrie knew she could call her with any problem she had.
Poppy had apparently booked herself in for holiday club in the afternoon because there was going to be rock-pooling and ice cream, which made Carrie laugh when Nat called to check it was all right. Carrie guessed her daughter got her confidence from her father because it certainly wasn’t from her.
Tabitha the cat entered with the first customer again and slinked off to her favourite spot. She was swiftly joined by Poppy, who ventured to perch on the arm of the chair the cat curled up in. This seemed to be acceptable to Tabitha. Poppy began reading softly to her new friend.
Carrie took the opportunity to look through more of the notes Aunt Mary had left for her. The general message was that Seren was awesome and could help with pretty much everything. Unfortunately, Abigail, the teenager who used to work on Saturdays, had recently left. She was going to spend the summer travelling before heading off to university; Aunt Mary urged Carrie to find someone else. One of the days Seren worked was Saturday, but they could get busy and two people needed to be in the shop. If Carrie found someone else to work, Seren would sort out the pay and contract. And then Carrie would be able to have the weekends free.
Carrie had never hired someone before and wasn’t absolutely sure how to go about it. Should she advertise? She’d worry about that another time. It wasn’t the end of the world if she worked Saturdays, although it would be nice to have the two days off to spend with Poppy, especially as the holiday club didn’t run at the weekend.
The bell over the door rang and Carrie’s heart sank as the bra-stealing little dog, thankfully on a lead this time, entered...closely followed by the man from the beach, carrying a cardboard box. The man looked just as stressed as he had the other times she’d seen him.
He fiddled around making sure the dog’s lead didn’t get tangled in the door as he closed it and Carrie contemplated ducking behind the counter to hide from the awkwardness of talking to him. But she dithered too long and he turned to face her...and recognised her immediately.
“It’s you. From the beach,” he blurted out.
Carrie felt her cheeks redden. She wished the ground would open up and swallow her. She didn’t know where to look.
He didn’t wait for her to respond. “I’m so, so sorry about what happened. I’m terribly embarrassed,” he continued.
“You’re embarrassed?” Carrie laughed before holding her face in her hands. “I was mortified!”
“I’m glad I’ve found you so that I can apologise properly. I’ll buy you a new bra, of course.” His cheeks turned pink. “I mean... reimburse you for that one.”
“It’s fine, honestly. It was an old bra. I should have thrown it away years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t...” She was rambling.
“I swear Monty isn’t usually that badly behaved.”
Carrie took a breath. He was being nice. She needed to relax and try to get over at least a little of the embarrassment.
“Monty’s a sweet name,” she said. “I’ll make sure I tell my daughter. She thinks he’s very cute.”
