Ned opened his wallet and withdrew a five-pound note. ‘Put the change in the lifeboat rescue collection box.’
Pippa lovingly patted the side of his arm. ‘You just can’t stop giving to that job, can you, Ned?’
Ned shrugged. ‘Just because I’m a retired lifeboat rescuer, it doesn’t stop me from caring about the guys still working on the job... Talking of the guys, I’m off to pay them a visit. Give my regards to your Aunt Morgan when you see her will you, Pip?’
This time, Pippa winked. ‘I’m sure you’ll be able to give her your own regards when you see her yourself later on. Do you still call into the pub for your evening pint of Guinness?’
Ned nodded and smiled. ‘Of course I do. It puts iron in my blood. But I’ve told you, your aunt and I arejustvery good friends.’
Pippa noticed Ned glance in Katherine’s direction as he spoke. Ginger barked and started to whine again. Pippa crouched down beside him. ‘Aww, sorry pup. Is your tummy rumbling?’
Ned ruffled the top of Ginger’s head before making his way to the door, his hand raised in a farewell gesture. ‘See you at the pub this evening, Pip.’
Pippa straightened and glanced over her shoulder. ‘Yes. See you later, Ned.’
Katherine leaned her elbows on the countertop and looked down at Ginger then up to Pippa. ‘Right, let’s feed you two. What can I get you?’
Pippa smiled wryly. ‘Got any of those famous herby sausage plaits?’
Katherine threw her head back and laughed.
***
An hour later, Pippawas turning her key in the side entrance door to the pub before quietly slipping inside. She wanted some alone time to say hello to the ghosts that haunted her before she saw her father. Once she’d had some time to herself in the pub, she’d go upstairs to the living quarters above the pub and make her presence known.
In the middle of the pub’s lounge, Pippa unclipped Ginger’s lead. He ran around, sniffing every seat, nook and cranny, his tail wagging frantically with happiness as he explored the residual aromas of the locals. Pippa smiled after him and wondered if he’d remembered any scents from the last time they were here. She set off to do her own exploring, dipping in and out of wonderful memories filled with her mother.
The pub’s lounge room was much the same and Pippa smile shone on her face. The low beams of the ceiling were still stained black, the flagged stone tiles around the bar of the floor still had the same grooves, and the chairs and seats that ran around the edge of the walls were still covered in the deep sea-green velvet covering they’d been re-covered in five years ago—her mother’s favourite colour. The only thing that was different was the drinking mats displaying a guest beer placed strategically on each wooden table top.
A clatter down in the cellar snapped her from her reveries, and Pippa looked around for her pooch. ‘Ginger?’ She quickly looked through the bar into the other room. But Ginger wasn’t in the front bar room of the pub either. ‘That little rascal. Someone must have left the door to the cellar open.’
Pippa walked over to the bar and sighed when she saw someone had indeed left the cellar door open. Her mouth downturned wondering if it was her father’s doing, caused by his dementia. She carefully descended the steep stone steps. Halfway down, the cold of the underground basement room permeated her sweater and seeped into her bones. She shivered.
She’d always hated going into the cellar, and as a child tried her best to get out of it whenever her father had asked her to go down to fetch something. Most of the time she’d successfully bribed her brother with sweets to take her place. Even now the ghost rumours that were whispered by the locals terrified her, and even though she’d never actually witnessed any paranormal activities or apparitions in her entire life living there, her knuckles were still white outside her clenched fists.
Inside the cellar, Pippa crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms. She opened her mouth to call out Ginger’s name again, but she was too frightened to speak. Her eyes bugged out and swept from left to right as she walked further back in the enormous cellar.
She jumped out of her skin and then instantly became rigid with fear when something caught the corner of her eye. A white figure appeared at the back of the cellar in the shadows. Pippa was frozen to the spot—her feet rooted. Her body trembled slightly, but still, her feet wouldn’t budge.
She couldn’t move. But that didn’t mean she had to look at the ghost. She squeezed her eyes together tightly and began to count in her head to distract herself from her terror. When she got to twenty, she forced herself to open them.
‘Aarrrhhhh! Oliver. What on earth are you doing down here?’
Oliver was grinning down at her like a Cheshire cat. Pippa realised he was now wearing a cream padded ski jacket. He had only been wearing a blue pullover and jeans when he left the café earlier—not that she’d been paying his handsome face or his attirethatmuch attention. He must have been the phantom figure she’d seen at the back of the cellar.
‘Changing the barrels.’
Pippa’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What? Why?’
‘I’m helping out at the pub for a bit. Your aunt Morgan asked my mother if I could.’
Pippa exhaled deeply as comprehension washed over her. Oliver was the son of the friend her aunt had mentioned in the letter. Pippa’s stomach clenched with nervous excitement.
Ginger’s bark at the top of the cellar’s door made Pippa jump again. Oliver’s hands curled around the tops of her arms. His touch made her arms tingle. ‘Steady. Anyone would think you’d seen a ghost.’ He finished the statement with a chuckle.
‘Pippa? Is that you down there?’
Oliver released Pippa’s arms, and she was surprised at how empty they instantly felt. She turned around and headed for the stairs. ‘Yes, aunt Morgan. I was searching for Ginger.’ At the bottom of the cellar steps, Pippa looked up and saw Ginger and her aunt looking down at her. Pippa’s face lit up when she saw her aunt’s lovely kind eyes. ‘Aunt Morgan.’ she squealed with delight and ran up the steps.
