Page 26

There was no reason for Susie and Temperance to drink their coffee ‘in’ at the Piglet Café, seeing as it had a shared wall with Try Again, apart from the fact that it made it easier to plot their magical shenanigans without Stevie overhearing.

‘Hooked!’ Susie cackled happily, taking a slurp of her chai latte and revelling in Mark’s reply.

Temperance scratched her scalp. ‘So are you going to just barrel up to him, rip his jacket off his arms and run for it?’

Susie frowned. ‘No. Because I need to get it back to him again, without him twigging anything is weird.’

‘Sure. You don’t want him to suspect you’re going to be dipping his leathers in organic poison. Sure.’

She flicked her long, red hair behind her shoulders. ‘I’m doing it Mata Hari style. On the surface I’ll be a smooth and sexy double agent, but underneath: the cold heart of a killer.’

‘How much caffeine have you had this morning?’

‘Enough to keep me sharp. I’ve got to keep my head in the game if I’m going to get through a drink with him and not detach his head from his body.

Bloody mega-rich thinking they can come here and squeeze the life force from our village, just so they can make a quick buck to add to their mountains of gold guarded by dragons, or whatever . . .’

Temperance put her hand over the top of Susie’s mug. ‘I’m cutting you off.’

Susie wrestled it free again.

‘But are you really OK doing this?’ Temperance asked. ‘We could think of another way. It feels pretty . . . icky that you’re going to have to pretend to like him, on a date. What if he tries to kiss you again?’

A blush swept over Susie, but she pulled her mouth into a grimace. ‘I’m not even going to get close enough for him to try. He’s completely shallow, when you think about it. Using his lips and body like that . . .’ she trailed off, her eyes clouding with a memory.

‘Hello? Suse?’

‘Hmm? Yes. Exactly. One on one would be too intense. But I was thinking.’ She shuffled her chair closer to her big sister.

‘Yes?’

‘Double date?’ Susie’s voice squeaked.

‘Ha ha. Wait, let me just ask Invisible Boyfriend. Hey,’ she turned to the empty chair at their table, ‘do you fancy The Fort tonight with Suse and Salcombe’s version of Lex Luthor? No? You’re washing your invisible hair. Fair enough.’

‘I wasn’t thinking of a real date for you, just someone to up the numbers so I’m not trapped in a corner with Mark,’ she said his name like she was retching up bad sushi.

‘Let’s bring Stevie.’

‘I did think of that, but she’s bound to notice that we’re heading home with a nice bit of vintage leather, and being all sweet she’d get it back to him on the double. Before we have time to tinker.’

Temperance swirled her half full mug of builder’s tea.

‘It’s a bit late for me to ask any of my old college friends – no one’s that local to Salcombe, and it’s a bugger getting the bus home.

It would look pretty suss if I tagged along like a third wheel – he might abandon ship before we get a chance to get the jacket. ’

Susie went quiet, drumming her fingers against the table to a jittery beat only she could hear.

‘There! There he is!’ She pointed through the café window.

Walking up the path from the beach, his wetsuit rolled down to his hip bones and a surfboard under one arm, his hair dripping, was Abel.

‘I bet Abel fancies a drink in Salcombe. For old times’ sake. ’

‘What?! He can’t stand me, remember? He even got mad because I stopped him grabbing a handful of broken glass. He’d rather bleed to death than let me near him. I’m telling you, Abel has no interest in old times’ sake, not when it involves me. It’s not going to fly and I don’t want to—’

Susie yanked open the café door and yelled across the green. ‘Miagi! Good surf?’

He froze on the spot as he clocked Susie and Temperance through the window. His eyes ricocheted around the landscape in front of him.

‘Nowhere to hide this time, buddy,’ Temperance muttered through almost-closed lips.

Susie beckoned and, after a beat, Abel started to walk slowly towards them.

‘Come on.’ Susie scooped her sister up, hooking her arm in hers and pulling her outside.

It would be awkward enough in any situation to be presented with a bare, unadulterated, ripped male torso, but the cherry on top for Temperance was that Abel’s discomfort obviously ran deeper than her own.

He leant his board on a nearby garden wall and rested one hand on the opposite shoulder, as if to cover himself as much as possible.

Perhaps he was worried she’d make another lunge for his biceps again.

Abel couldn’t meet her eye even for a moment.

And that was hard, because Temperance was adamant that she should hold eye contact and not be tempted to intensely inspect just how much chest hair Abel had grown since he was eighteen (a lot), or how it held onto the seawater and kind of glistened, or how it trailed down his six-pack, circling his belly button and then down . . .

Eye contact, for God’s sake. Eye contact!

‘Alright, Abel?’ Temperance forced her voice to be level.

‘Yup,’ he grunted, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

‘Cold out this morning?’ Susie asked.

‘Yup. But I just can’t resist the surf here. I’ve missed it.’

‘And did you have a lovely long walk again before you hit the water?’ Temperance’s snort of derision slipped out before she realised she was even capable of such an annoyed little piggy noise.

Abel flashed a look at her, quickly, before studying the stones of the bus shelter closely. ‘Not today, no. Have you been playing hide and seek again? In a sack ?’

‘Umm.’ Susie looked between them in confusion.

‘I have, actually. But none of the kids wanted to ask the big, mean, grumpy Bad Fairy to play.’

‘Oh, I’m gutted,’ he deadpanned, his hand gripping his heart.

‘Right.’ Susie frowned. ‘You know what else you’ve been missing, Abe?’ Susie flipped into her biggest smile. ‘A pint in The Fort, maybe throw a few darts too, for old times’ sake. With us. Tonight.’ She waggled her eyebrows.

‘With you both ?’ he asked, his voice controlled.

Temperance found herself clenching her fingers together tightly.

She wouldn’t let this get to her. She’d been an idiot, on the night of the festival, to let the magic of her costume hypnotise her into thinking there was something – scratch that – anything between her and Abel Gulliver still.

She’d let nostalgia in the strawberry field make her think that a shred of their old friendship still existed, somewhere.

Clearly nothing had changed from the feeling Abel had left woven in his teenage hoody: he was disgusted by Temperance, he could barely tolerate her presence.

But she’d meet him there – she’d tolerate him for long enough to sort this cloud of doom she’d conjured up and then she’d let him scoot back to his real life.

Done. Over. The only thing she should expect from Abel was that he’d run away again.

At least this time it wouldn’t be such a gut-wrenching shock.

She forced herself to not roll her eyes and look away, and that was when she saw the tattoo on his shoulder: three simple wave lines stacked in a row. He really had missed the sea, then.

‘Suse is right. You should come,’ Temperance said flatly. ‘There’ll be other people there too, don’t panic.’ She chewed her bottom lip.

Abel shook out a little more water from his hair, almost raining seawater on her in the process. ‘OK. I’m in. Anything to get out of the village for a night. I’ll meet you there.’

Abel was taking his sweet time getting their drinks, evidently in a long rambling chat with the man behind the bar.

Temperance was trying not to be the weird third wheel, but it turned out that things were plenty weird enough between Mark and Susie without her interference.

Susie might have been aiming for Mata Hari, but what she was delivering was pure Emily Maitlis: firing off direct questions, one after the other, without letting her date catch half a breath, though still with an air of confident ‘don’t fuck with me’ sex appeal.

‘I bumped into Will the other day. He said your parents have a place here. That true?’

Mark rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘Yes, but . . .’

‘Yet you’ve been staying at the campsite in East Prawle. That’s odd. Care to explain?’

His eyes flicked to the beams running along the low ceiling.

On any other evening they might have added to the intimate, welcoming vibe.

But tonight it was as if these great big oak beams were pressing down on the three of them, forcing them into the sticky old carpet and making the atmosphere altogether claustrophobic.

‘I like hanging out with those guys, and they offered me a spare sleeping bag. It also meant I got to spend more time with the charming staff at The Witch’s Nose.’ Mark’s eyes twinkled but Susie’s barely blinked in response.

‘Hmm. Oh, here’s Abe with the drinks.’ Susie snatched up her half of cider and took a grateful gulp.

‘Cheers, then.’ Mark held out his pint a moment too late, but Abel came in to meet it with his own. ‘Cheers. Nice to meet you properly, Abel. ’

‘You too.’

‘Susie says you’re another local?’

‘Once upon a time,’ Abel replied, licking the foam from his top lip. ‘Not anymore. I live in Bath now.’

‘Lovely,’ Mark replied politely, all the time looking at Susie. ‘But what a place to grow up – East Prawle. Must have been idyllic when you were a kid. The sunshine, the sea. It’s such a jewel of a place.’

Abel nodded. ‘Being on the beach every day is hard to beat.’

Mark nodded along with him, as if they were sharing the same memory. ‘Shell-hunting, sandcastles, beach cricket with your whole family. Though my dad could never resist smashing it way out into the water, so he’d have a quiet twenty minutes while we went to find the ball.’

Abel stilled and stared into his pint. ‘If you say so. My dad wasn’t around for that kind of thing. Barely one nappy, in fact.’