‘That’s a very unusual name.’ The woman smiled too. ‘Tory? As in Boris Johnson and his cronies?’
‘No, definitely not. Tawrie as in Taw, the river Taw, T-A-W, runs right through Devon.’
‘Well, how lovely!’
‘Yep, my dad named me after the local river, which could be worse, we might have lived by the Amazon and I’d now share my name with the online shopping giant!’ She forced a smile; it was still painful to recall her dad. It was that tooth jab again. She whisked the order to Connie who grabbed the docket and placed it on a little metal shelf with a magnet.
‘No beans touching scrambled egg?’ Her cousin turned to face her, narrowing her heavily mascaraed lashes.
‘Yep.’ They exchanged a lingering look. Connie, she suspected, like her, was wondering how the day might unfold if this was how it started.
The morning passed quickly as it always did. Waiting tables, washing dishes, fetching supplies from the store room, interspersed as ever with laughter when the pace dropped.
‘How long has Needle been asking you out?’ Tawrie was curious.
Connie took a sip from her mug of tea and rested on the sink as she considered this.
‘I reckon since I was twelve.’
‘And you’re now . . . thirty-five?’
‘Yes, thank you, Taw, for that timely reminder.’
‘Well, I’m twenty-nine this September! Not that far behind you.’ She hoped this helped a little.
‘What are we going to do for the Gunn Fire? I was thinking a hog roast?’
Connie liked to plan a theme or think up something to make the event special.
‘I’d like a glitter ball – a big old disco orb that we can dance under!’ She smiled.
‘On a beach? And how do you suggest we manage that?’ Connie tutted.
‘I’m allowed to have an idea!’ she protested.
‘Oh, I should have said’ – Connie tapped her own forehead – ‘only good ideas! And that’s a shite one.’
‘You’re no more than little Tom Toddys the lot of you!’ Gaynor, who had the age advantage, laughed. ‘But be warned, Con, after two decades or so, Needle might stop asking.’
‘Two decades. Bless him.’ Tawrie felt a flicker of sympathy for the man who if nothing else had proved to be steadfast.
‘It’ll be a bit longer an’ all before I say yes!’ Connie rolled her eyes.
‘He deserves marks for persistence, if nothing else.’ Gaynor voiced Tawrie’s own thoughts.
‘Yep, well, his persistence might have paid off once or twice.’
‘In what way?’ This was news!
‘Well, we might have had a little snog at the Gunn Fire last year.’ Connie put her mug in the sink and cracked an egg on to the griddle, standing back as it spat.
‘You sly old dog! You kept that quiet.’ Secretly she was delighted that Connie not only felt she could confide in her, but also that at least one of them was having some fun.
‘I kept it quiet because it’s Needle!Needle!’
‘Well, for what it’s worth, I think he’s all right.’ She spoke in defence of the man.
‘Yep, and that’s all we can ever ask for, isn’t it? To spend the rest of our lives with someone who is “all right”! I mean, Jesus, I tried that with Gary and look where that’s landed me? Divorced, skint, and me and my son living back in my dad’s house! I sometimes wonder if I should take a leaf out of my mother’s book and buggeroff with a tall Dane!’ Connie made light of the event that Tawrie knew had broken her cousin’s heart.
