Page 81 of Broken Beyond Repair

“Oh, wonderful. Now you’ve infected my child with your—”

“My…?” Sydney raised her eyebrows at Beatrice, daring her to finish her sentence.

Beatrice’s lips contorted, restraining a smile. Instead of replying she limped towards the workshop.

“Good to see you, girl,” Sydney said, giving Gertie a light pat as she passed her.

She left Alex and Beatrice outside the workshop and wandered in to find Sam inside a small boat in the dry dock.

“Hey.”

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you arrive,” Sam said as he jumped off the boat.

“Gertie looks to be in one piece.”

“As good as new.”

“Thank you. What’s the damage? I’ll transfer it now.”

Sam pulled a folded-up piece of paper from his back pocket. “Here’s your invoice, though it’s already been settled.”

“What? By whom?”

Sam’s eyes drifted to Beatrice outside. Sydney’s followed.

“When?”

“When you dropped Gertie off. She insisted she was covering all costs.”

What on earth had Beatrice been thinking to do that? And at a time when they’d only just made up after their falling-out.

“And you let her? Sam!”

“She’s pretty scary. I can’t imagine anyone saying no to her.”

“I can. I can’t accept that. It’s thousands of pounds.”

Sam shrugged. “I’d take it; it’s not like she’ll miss it. She obviously thinks you deserve it. Who’s the kid?”

“Alex. Come, I’ll introduce you.” Sydney slipped the invoice into her pocket. That would be a conversation for when they were alone.

“Alex, this is Sam. An old friend of mine.”

“Hi, great place you have here,” Alex said. “Can we go out on a boat?”

Beatrice scowled at Alex. “I’m sure Sam is very busy and needs to get back to work.”

“It’s fine, Beatrice. I finished some repairs on that yacht this morning,” Sam replied, pointing to a yacht moored along the jetty. “Fancy taking her out for a test run?”

Alex’s face lit up. “Yes, please. Can I, Mum?”

“Sure.”

“You two coming?” Sam asked.

Sydney waited for Beatrice to answer first.

“I won’t, thanks. I’ll sit a while and watch the world go by.”