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Frankie looked at her watch to check the time. ‘I need to go soon. First stop is Toffee. She’s on the early walk today. I wonder if Jay still has house guests.’

‘House guests?’

‘There’s been a bit of an impromptu band reunion at Jay’s.’

‘What? The whole band have turned up. Here? In Drumkeldy?’ Valentina was no longer speaking quietly, in fact her voice had gone quite shrill.

Frankie laughed. Although her sister acted cool, Frankie suspected Valentina was secretly a massive admirer of Drive With Care, especially as she seemed to know a lot about the band and its members.

‘Calm down, fan girl. It wasn’t quite all of them. It was just Cole and Si that turned up.’

‘So, um, will the other one, the drummer, be joining them?’ Valentina asked.

‘I don’t know. Seems no one has spoken to him recently.’

There was a long stretch of silence as Valentina stared off into the distance.

‘Tina? You okay?’

Her head whipped round to Frankie again. ‘Yes, sorry. Bubba’s kicking me in the ribs.’ Valentina exhaled shakily. ‘Youch. I’d better go. Keep me up to date on all the band shenanigans, yeah?’

‘Of course. You know, if you want to meet them, come on one of the dog walks with me and I’ll see if we can accidentally bump into them.’

‘No! I can’t do that! Oh, promise me you won’t do that.’ Valentina looked horrified at the notion.

‘Don’t worry, I’m only teasing.’

‘Well, don’t,’ Valentina grumbled as she left.

Frankie stood in her kitchen and watched as a tiny glint of light split the clouds. She nursed her mug of coffee and watched as the little glint became a bigger splinter.

A moment later her mobile pinged at her with a text message.

It was Ben asking if she’d like to meet tomorrow night, at eight, for a drink.

A Saturday night definitely broached into date-night territory. Frankie couldn’t see any real future with Ben… But, it was just a drink and Ben was good company. It also meant Frankie might be less likely to think about Jay, as it seemed he was a permanent fixture in her thoughts lately, especially with nostalgic memories popping up like those unwanted adverts on an internet site.

Frankie wasn’t sure so much reminiscing was healthy.

Frankie fired back an affirmative reply, then signed off with a smiley face emoji. It was still too soon to be putting an “X”.

CHAPTER 27

FRANKIE

Frankie loved the flow of working in the trattoria. It was like a well-rehearsed dance, the way she moved seamlessly from the kitchens to front of house, smiling and making small talk with the diners, whilst keeping an eye on all the food ready to be carried out to the waiting tables. Frankie filled glasses that were almost empty, materialised with fresh cutlery if a fork was accidentally dropped, had all the knowledge of ingredients if a diner looked unsure over an item on the menu.

Paul, the barman, caught Frankie’s eye.

‘The receipt roll needs changed,’ he said, when Frankie went over. ‘And we could do with some more change. I’d go but I’ve got a selection of cocktails to make for some very thirsty customers.’ He winked at the group of women at the other end of the bar.

‘No worries, I’ll grab everything.’

Frankie went out through the kitchen, passing sous chef Chris who was plating up the risotto for table three, beyond the cold storage toward the cellar and the little office where the safe was housed.

She could hear her nonno talking on his mobile outside as she keyed in the combination.

‘Yeah, oh and I’ve an appointment with Fraser later… yes… he seems to think it will be quite straightforward getting my affairs in order, with all the necessary legalities.’