Sam dropped into the chair opposite his dad and gazed at him, his eyes brimming with tears. ‘Don’t talk like that, please.’
‘It’s the truth.’ His dad shrugged. ‘No big deal. I’ve had my life.’
‘Dad, you’re only sixty-two!’
‘Like I said. I’ve had my life.’
‘That’s rubbish! Look at Mac. He’s the same age as you. He was in your class at school. So was Alison, come to that! Are they talking like that? Do you see them giving up on life and saying they’re just waiting to die? They’re starting a new venture – a new business!’
‘They’ve got each other. It’s different for them. What have I got?’
‘What haveyougot? You’ve gotme. You’ve got a business. You’re fit and healthy and bloody lucky, and I can’t believe you’re giving up like this. Mum would be furious with you!’
His dad paused in his eating and stared at him. ‘What gives you the right to say that to me? How dare you?’
Sam rubbed his forehead. ‘Maybe I just don’t know what else to say, Dad. I’m at my wits’ end with you, if you must know.’
His dad shrugged. ‘Well, I’ve said allI’vegot to say.’
Sam leaned back in his chair and took a steadying breath. ‘Okay. Right. Well, maybe it’s time you listened then. I’ve had an offer of work from Luke.’
There was a flicker of something in his dad’s eyes, but no comment.
‘He wants me to go back to the building trade. He’s won a contract at the new estate in Millensea – you know the old Starlings site? Well, there’s going to be a lot of work, and he wants me to join him.’
His dad continued eating.
‘I told him I couldn’t, but now I’m thinking, why not? Let’s face it, you’re not going to return to pub work, are you? You’ve just made your feelings perfectly clear, and I realise now I was fooling myself. So, you win.’
A raised eyebrow. ‘Win? Win what?’
Sam took a deep breath before plunging on. ‘I’m holding up my hands. I quit. I can see now that I’m wasting my time. You were right. Youshouldput the pub up for sale. I’ll stay on to help until it’s sold, but by January I’ll be back working for Luke and that’s all there is to it. I suggest you start thinking about where you want to live after the sale goes through.’
He got up and left Seb sitting at the table, a fork held aloft in the air as his dad absorbed what he’d just told him.
As he headed back downstairs to the bar, Sam thought about Briar and Kenny and Cathy and the other members of staff who worked there.
He thought about the regulars who considered The North Star to be like a second home, with the Hughes family almost as part of their own families.
He thought about those incredible views over the Humber, and sunny summer days, and hungry hikers, and excited nature lovers and birdwatchers, and the days when his grandparents were alive and there’d been shanty nights and singalongs and Christmas parties and Easter egg hunts for the local children.
They’d extended it, painted it, and transformed it from the small, basic red brick pub their own grandparents had started into something beautiful and special. A home from home for the residents of Kelsea Sands.
He thought about his mum, and how much she’d loved the pub. How, as a little boy, he’d watched her putting on her make-up and styling her hair every morning, because she said the customers deserved to see their landlady looking her best.
How she’d chat to everyone who walked through the door, and enquire after their families, and commiserate and sympathise and cheer and celebrate with them.
He remembered his dad, proud as punch to see his name over the door, and the sound of his parents’ laughter and the buzz of conversation in the bar and the smell of cooking coming from the kitchen and the packets of crisps he’d sneak out of the boxes in the back to his eager school pals who were waiting outside.
His stomach twisted and his throat filled with emotion at the thought of all he would be losing. What the village might lose.
But he couldn’t carry on like this any longer. He was lonely, that was the truth of it, and no amount of running around after the neighbours and friendly chats with his customers could fill that aching gap in his heart.
There was no future for him in Kelsea Sands. He just wished he’d realised that sooner.
6
The first week of the holidays had been hell for Jenna. Trying to pretend to the twins that all was well hadn’t worked, and in the end, she’d had to fake a stomach bug to stop them nagging her.
