Bel bit back a grin. She couldn’t fault Emma’s logic.
Dean gave a surprised chuckle. ‘It’s okay, I haven’t got anything too interesting to tell you about. Never married. Came close. She was a top sort, but she didn’t want to live on a farm, so that ended that.’
Emma leaned forward slightly in her seat and Bel knew she was about to dig a little deeper into this new information, but just then a fight broke out between Ben and Ivy over the tomato sauce bottle, effectively derailing further questioning as Emma was forced to play referee.
‘What about you, Bel?’ Dean asked after a short pause. ‘How come you’re still here?’
Bel glanced up, surprised to be drawn into the conversation. ‘Where else would I be?’
‘I don’t know, maybeanywhereelse? There can’t be that much to do out here.’
‘Bel took care of her gran for a long time,’ Emma cut in smoothly when Bel didn’t immediately answer.
‘I like it here,’ Bel said, wondering why she felt so defensive all of a sudden.
‘Not that there’s anything wrong with working in a service station, but I always thought you wanted to do more,’ Dean said.
Bel had a memory of her younger self declaring she couldn’t wait to leave this place anddo something amazing. Thinking back on it now, she had a funny feeling she’d actually said that to Dean one time, after he’d said something stupid to her in class. And here they were, years later, andhe’dbeen the one who’d left town and had experiences and come back full of adventures, while she was … working at Dwyers’. ‘Life doesn’t always work out the way we planned,’ Bel mumbled, lowering her eyes from his.
‘So, Dean, have you picked a side?’ Emma asked.
‘Sorry?’ he said, tearing his gaze from Bel.
‘I assume you’ve heard about the current issue that’s dividing the town? Which mascot we want for the town’s statue. Have you voted?’ Emma asked.
‘Voted?’ Dean echoed.
‘On which mascot we’re choosing.’
Dean looked across at Craig and shook his head. ‘I don’t know anything about it.’
‘Are you serious? It’s theonlything people are talking about,’ Emma said.
‘I don’t really stay in town long when I come in.’
‘Well, we need everyone’s input, so next time you’re in town, drop into the tourist information kiosk in the foyer of the pub and vote for which “big thing” you’d prefer.’
‘Big thing?’ he asked, kinking an eyebrow.
‘Yeah. For the mascot. You know—big things that make towns famous. The Big Banana, the Big Pineapple,’ Emma explained. ‘We’ve been raising money to go along with a grant we received to build a statue of ours in town.’
‘What are our choices?’
‘It’s been narrowed down to two. The Big Burger, after the famous line of hamburgers Bob Baxter serves at the truck stop on the road out of town.’
‘Or the Big Cock,’ Craig jumped in with a grin.
‘The big what?’ Dean asked, his eyes widening, which made Bel smirk slightly.
‘Rooster,’ Emma corrected her husband. ‘Elvis Peckley. Clement Rhodes bred him back in the fifties. He’s officially in theGuinness Book of World Recordsas the biggest rooster ever recorded. I think it’s pretty amazing that little old Wessex has a world record.’
‘Seriously?’ Dean said, eyeing the others as though waiting for the joke.
‘Yep. Still unbeaten,’ Craig nodded.
‘Must be some big rooster.’
‘He’s on display in the museum,’ Emma informed him.
