‘That’d be great.’ He laughed. ‘Come knock for me. I’m at Corner Cottage.’
‘Yes, you said and I know where it is.’
‘It’s on the corner of Fore Street and Mill Head,’ he explained and she saw his own anguished expression, as if he too were cringing, aware that she would know every house in the street far better than he. The idea that he might be a little nervous too, a little kerflummoxed with nerves, thrilled her.
‘So that’s a date.’ He wiped sand from his hands on to his shorts. ‘I mean, not a date ... I mean ...’
Tawrie stared at the man. ‘I know what you mean.’
‘Well, it’s nice to see you, Taw, thanks so much for coming in!’ Connie turned from the grill with a look of thunder.
‘I’m sorry, Con, I got held up.’
Grabbing her apron and fastening it around her waist as quick as she was able, she was aware of the grin that split her face, making a mockery of her apology, and which she would have controlled better if she were talking to anyone other than her cousin. Having never been habitually late – she was a stickler for timekeeping, in fact, unable to stand the thought of keeping anyone waiting – she tried whenever possible to extend the same courtesy to others. She figured, however, that one rare slip-up was allowed. Especially when the cause was an important one.
‘Oh my God, look at your face! You were with wanker-name lover boy, weren’t you!’
‘I might’ve been.’ She screwed up her face and raised her shoulders.
‘I want to give you seven kinds of warning about him, Taw, but I can tell it’s too late for all that. You’re proper smitten, aren’t you?’ A twist of a smile appeared on Connie’s carmine lips.
‘I think I could be, depends how tonight goes.’
‘What’s happening tonight?’ Gaynor popped up at her shoulder. ‘Three crispy rashers for table two with extra toast and one more tea, please, Con.’ She rattled off the additions to the order and stuck her biro into the back of her hair for safekeeping.
‘Righto.’ Connie nodded and peeled rashers of bacon from the waxed paper to throw on to the grill.
‘What’s happening tonight?’ Gaynor repeated. ‘What have I missed?’
Tawrie hesitated, aware that telling Gaynor, who would pass it on to Sten, was the verbal equivalent of taking out an advert in theNorth Devon Gazette.
‘Taw’s got a date!’ Connie let her mouth fall open comically.
‘I wouldn’t call it that.’ She tried to play it down despite the sparks of joy that crackled in her stomach. ‘It’s not really a date, it’smore of a get-together.’ She felt the bloom of embarrassment on her cheeks and chest. It was almost impossible to stop grinning!
‘I see, and who are you getting together with exactly for this not-really-a-date?’
Tawrie saw the excitement in Gaynor’s eye, the ribbing that came from a place of affection.
‘He’s called Sebastian Farquhar,’ Connie interrupted.
‘He’s not, Gay, ignore her. He’s called Edgar, Ed, and I don’t know his surname.’
‘Don’t know his surname? A man of mystery! That’s exciting!’ Gaynor winked at her.
‘I wish I’d never told you, Con.’
‘Yeah, and I wish you weren’t still standing here dilly-dallying and all of a dither, instead of taking bloody orders!’
She took the hint and made her way to the tables where impatient customers waved and tapped menus, as if this might make her hurry up. Not that their impatience could dull her mood – nothing could, not with the prospect of an evening spent with Sebastian Farquhar looming large in her thoughts.
The day passed quickly and her feet barely touched the ground, not only due to the fact the café was busy, but also because her excitement meant that, instead of her usual thudding gait, she felt as if she were hovering on bubbles of possibility. They carried her, lightening her load, so that instead of being dogged by weariness when Connie turned the sign to ‘Closed’ and another day came to an end at the Café on the Corner, she was still raring to go. It was only as she hung up her apron that nerves edged ahead of excitement.
‘Bit scared.’ She pulled a face at her cousin.
‘Course you are. Because it’s scary.’
‘You’re not helping!’ She had hoped for more encouragement.
