Page 19 of Whispers from the Past

Rose wanted to ask more, but their conversation was cut short when the postman arrived with a letter for Eleanor. She excused herself to go and read it in the annex. Rose didn’t see her for the rest of the day after that.

So instead of delving into Eleanor’s family history, she threw herself into her first window display. And before she knew it, the day was done and it was time to get ready for her date. Reaching for her phone she quickly sent a message to Luke asking how he was doing. His response was short but reassuring so it put her mind at ease. The sharp tinkle of the bells on the door caught her attention.

‘Nice window,’ Holly complimented Rose as she stepped into the shop with clothes draped over her arm.

‘Thanks. Oh and thanks for the pastries earlier. Much appreciated!’

‘Well I thought you might be in need of them after the drama you got yourself into yesterday.’

‘You heard about that? Of course you did, I got your brother injured. I should have told you, but I was so embarrassed.’

‘Yep Luke mentioned it. I’m not worried about you injuring him, I’ve caused him a few A&E visits over the years. We can discuss you hiding things from me another time though.’ She switched into her Mum voice for that last bit. ‘But I do need to know how he was afterwards?’

Rose started to explain about the damage to his arm, but Holly interrupted. ‘I don’t mean physically. How was he?’

Rose frowned as she thought back. ‘Quite angry at first, then just annoyed about his arm I guess. Why?’

‘He didn’t tell you then?’ Holly was nervously fiddling with the cuff of her sleeve and it was making Rose worry.

‘Didn’t tell me what?’

‘About Hannah?’

Rose was totally confused now. ‘No. Who is Hannah?’

‘Not is, was. Hannah died, Rose. Swept out during a storm whilst at the beach. It was about six years ago. They’d been together since secondary school; total sweethearts. It had been a stormy few days and their dog had got spooked, escaped from the garden and headed down to the water. She followed and waded into the shallows to get him. They found her a few days later, a mile down the coastline. Luke has been holed up in the garage since. More in common with machines than man now.’

‘That’s awful. Oh God. It must have brought it all back.’

‘Maybe it helped? He’s rarely down on the beach these days, but he must have faced a fair few demons helping you.’ Holly squeezed her knee sympathetically.

‘Maybe…’ but she wasn’t convinced. She shook her head to clear it.

‘Sorry, I thought he would have said something.’ Looking at her watch, Holly’s face fell. ‘Oh crap. Tony will be here any minute. You need to go and get ready. I’ll stall for you,’ she said as she pushed the outfit she’d brought with her into Rose’s hands and started nudging her towards the stairs.

Smoothing down the fabric of her dress, ten minutes later, she made her way down the narrow wooden steps, feeling far too nervous for someone who had done this many times before. Tony’s warm face greeted her as she eased the door open. ‘Looking lovely tonight,’ he beamed as he produced a flower from behind his back. ‘A rose for a Rose…too cheesy?’ he added, clearly noticing her wince. It wasn’t so much the cheesiness of his gift (although it was cheesy), it was Holly’s muffled guffaw behind him that had made her wince. But she laughed it off and after grabbing her bag, pulled the door shut behind them. ‘Can you ask Eleanor to lock up please Holly?’ she called back as she got into Tony’s car. She was ashamed to realise that she was extremely disappointed in his choice of car. Out of all the possible cars for him to own, he drove a bottle green Daewoo. She thought these had all ended up on the scrap heap years ago. It was, in her eyes, the equivalent of him turning up in an anorak and battered faux leather briefcase that was most likely empty. Luckily he wasn’t in an anorak and there was no briefcase in sight. Instead, Tony was wearing a blue fitted shirt which complemented his dark grey tailored trousers. Objectively, she had to admit he looked good.

‘So have things been busy in the cafe today?’

‘We had a decent amount of customers today, so I can’t complain.’

‘Anyone ask about the book of the month deal?’

‘Not yet, it’s only been a few days.’

Rose couldn’t hide her disappointment. ‘I was kind of hoping someone would have bought one by now though.’

‘Patience Rose, you know it’s a virtue.’

‘Not one I’m great at, as you can probably see.’ Rose shrugged and looked down at her lap.

‘Ok, let’s see if I can cheer you up from the crushing disappointment of your new idea not creating a whirlwind of foot traffic between both our businesses immediately.’

‘You can try Tony, but I am pretty disappointed,’ she pouted and looked at him with her best ‘sad eyes’. Which only made Tony laugh.

‘I’ve been told that I’m pretty good at cheering people up. OK, let’s see…’ He pursed his lips and put a finger to them as he looked up dramatically.

‘A rabbit went into a butcher’s shop and asked the man behind the counter if he had any lettuce.’ Tony’s voice went up a couple of octaves as he pretended to be a speaking rabbit, also using his hands as rabbit ears at the same time.