'Good. Okay, so you'd like a basket? Yep?'
Tilly had no idea what a basket involved, but like the bowls, she could see white wicker baskets on nearly every single table. 'Umm, silly question, butwhatis a basket?'
'Ahh, another Darling thing. We do lunch baskets, breakfast baskets or morning tea baskets, which actually have nothing todo with morning tea, oh and dinner too. You get a selection of whatever we've made.' Evie flicked her hand around. 'Earlier we had homemade doughnuts, and we've just taken out a batch of scones.'
Tilly wasn't too keen on scones; there was no way she was going to say that, though. She got the feeling that you got what you were given. 'Perfect.'
'I've just worked it out, you must be in Bill and Margery's shed on the jetty there by the oysters. Am I right? You said Fiji and I put two and two together.'
Tilly nodded. 'Yup, does my reputation go before me?'
'For sure. You can't move to Darling without people knowing everything. You’ll get used to it. We make baskets for the ferry crew, so I think we knew you were here before you’d set foot in the place.' Evie winked and laughed. 'You'll get used to it. Welcome to Darling. The basket's on us.'
Before Tilly could say anything, Evie was gone, threading back through the tables at speed. Tilly picked up the bowl of coffee with both hands, the way the woman beside her had done, and took a sip, not expecting to be razzle-dazzled by a cup of coffee. Oh, that was good. Rich, dark, slightly nutty, served at exactly the right temperature, like nothing she’d ever really tasted, and she’d had coffee all over the world. The basket, wicker, lined with a blue and white gingham napkin knotted at the top, arrived as quick as a flash. Inside held a little glass jar of jam, a folded napkin, two fluted mini scones and a small dish of clotted cream.
Tucking in, Tilly suddenly got what all the fuss was about. The contents of the basket were simple, clearly handmade and absolutely delicious. Just as she was cutting into the scone and slathering it with cream and then jam, the door a few tables in front of her opened. Three men walked in, one in a wetsuit with the top rolled down, a towel around his shoulders, goggles ontop of his head and one in a hoodie, towelling shorts and wet hair. Squinting, Tilly recognised the third man, who in a wetsuit top with a towel around his waist and sunglasses tucked into his hair appeared to be a lot more jovial than the last time she’d seen him.Well, hello there.
The first man called out in the direction of Evie. With a distinct Australian twang, whoever had made him had done a very good job of it. Perfection sprang to mind. Tilly blinked and earwigged to high heaven.
'How are ya?'
Evie was at the door in a flash. 'Good. You?'
'She'll be right.'
'How was the water?'
The Australian made a face. 'Yeah, nah, pretty cold out there.'
'You would go and put yourselves through it.' Evie turned to the other man. 'How was it, Otto?'
Otto. Tilly put two and two together and remembered Otto on her deck with his dog. He looked a darn sight happier than when she’d first set eyes on him. 'Freezing. We wanted to get one in before the storm hits.'
'Mad, the lot of you.' Evie chuckled and rolled her eyes. 'Two secs.'
From her squashed-in spot in the corner, Tilly continued to watch as the three men stood at the door and chatted to an old man who was sitting with a bowl of coffee. In a flash, Evie was back with three white wicker baskets with blue and white gingham fabric knotted at the top and cups of coffee in branded keep cups. The Australian took the baskets. 'Cheers. Did you do us doubles? We’re starving.'
Sitting and listening to every word, Tilly couldn’t tear her eyes away from the man she’d now learnt was called Otto. All she could think about was that she would very much need to be bumping into him again.
16
Eventually ending up having another bowl of the delicious coffee, Tilly was on her way home. Walking along a road near the estuary, she looked at the Boat Shed in the distance and shook her head, wondering what on earth she'd thought she'd been playing at moving to a fairly remote island completely on her tod. Talk about doing something in the heat of the moment. Certainly, Darling Island was more than lovely, and it seemed like a nice place to live, but reality hit hard. She had no job, knew no one, and she was, to be frank, already lonely. So much for being independent. There were some good things about living on cruise ships and in five-star hotels: one, you were almost always surrounded by live-in work colleagues, and two, there were humans absolutely everywhere. People darted in and out of your life here, there and everywhere. Not only did it feel very different on Darling, but it also seemed as if everyone else around her had known each other since the day dot. Overall, Tilly had never felt more alone.
However, as she’d got her feet under the table a little bit, it had to be said that her surroundings were sublime. The famous Darling haze surrounded her in a mist of blue, white-clad buildings perched here and there by the sea, and she could seethe old chain ferry in the distance going on its journey over to the other side. Just as she was approaching the Boat Shed, a woman in dark grey leggings, a white long-sleeved t-shirt, trainers, her hair up in a bun and sunglasses came the other way. Smiling, Tilly went to walk past, but the woman stopped.
'Oh, hey, sorry.' She turned and pointed to the Boat Shed. 'You must be Tilly?'
Tilly nodded.Here we go. Another one of these nosy locals.'Hello, yes, that's me. How are you?'
The woman beamed and pushed her sunglasses from her nose to the top of her head. 'Hi, I'm Lucie.' She gestured in the direction of the ferry. ‘I live down thataway.’
Tilly wondered what the woman wanted. To be frank, with the state of the Boat Shed and her actual brain, she wasn't really in the mood for small talk. Attempting to be friendly, she raised her eyebrows. 'Lovely to meet you.'
Lucie looked a tiny bit uncomfortable. 'Likewise. I, umm, I’ve just dropped something off. Have you heard about the baskets?'
Tilly stopped herself from tutting and slapped a really friendly smile on her face. 'The baskets? Oh, yes, actually, I had one in Darlings. Very nice.'
'Ahh, yes, no, notthosebaskets. We do baskets on Darling, for you know, things.'
