Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

‘ T his one's a good choice.' Bea carefully placed the brightly covered rom-com in the paper bag and slid it across the counter towards Martha. ‘I really enjoyed it when I read it.'

‘Hopefully I will too then. I've agreed to keep Marty company while he fishes on Sunday.' Martha rolled her eyes. ‘Don't ask me why I agreed, but it's too late now to back out, hence the book. I need something to while away the hours.'

‘Ah.' Bea grimaced and looked outside at the rain lashing down against the bookshop window. ‘Make sure you wrap up warm.'

‘Oh, don't worry about that. I'll be taking my sleeping bag to sit in and it's not supposed to be raining on Sunday, not according to the weather app anyway, so I'll make sure I cosy up with a large flask of hot chocolate and this.' Martha patted the bag.

‘I don't blame you. Sounds as though you'll have a lovely time.' Bea smiled.

‘Umm, not sure about lovely but at least with a good book and a hot drink it might just be about bearable.' Martha chuckled before turning and heading towards the door.

Bea smiled after her. According to Fleur, Martha and Marty had run the hardware store for decades and were as much part of the furniture of Nettleford as Gregory was, not that anybody would know it. No, neither Martha or Marty had an interfering bone in their bodies. They were always there to offer support or advice but only when approached. Gregory could learn a lot from them.

‘Hey, Bea. Shall I kick my boots off here? It's really coming down out there.' Lyndsey nudged the bookshop door closed behind her, careful don't to knock the bags she was carrying into anything.

‘No, that's fine. Can you imagine if I asked all my customers to do that?' Bea laughed as she rushed around the counter to help Lyndsey with the bags. Taking a couple, she felt her arm muscles tense. ‘Wow, these are heavy. What on earth did you buy?'

‘Oh, just a few bits to keep us going. I don't want to eat you out of house and home so I popped to the grocery store.' Lyndsey placed the bags at her feet and loosened her scarf. ‘Fortunately, I didn't run into your friend Gregory.'

‘Ah, you were lucky.' Bea glanced towards the door, hoping it didn't mean that he was on his rounds.

‘That's what I thought.' Bending down, Lyndsey picked up her bags again and held her hands out for the ones Bea had taken. ‘I'll just run these upstairs.'

‘Okay.' After helping her with the door up to the flat, Bea returned to the counter and disappeared behind the curtain to make the coffee.

‘Oh, you read my mind.' Lyndsey poked her head around the curtain as Bea poured the water. ‘You know it's going to be difficult going home again after getting used to you shoving a coffee in my hands every five minutes.'

‘Haha.' After adding the milk, Bea passed her sister a mug. ‘You were quick putting all that away.'

‘I didn't. Adam said he will.' Lyndsey lowered her voice as she held the curtain aside for Bea. ‘I didn't realise you'd let him stay working here for the day?'

‘Umm, I hadn't. I'd assumed he'd left whilst I'd been busy this morning.' Bea lowered her coffee to the counter and wrapped her hands around her mug, the hot ceramic a welcome distraction to how she'd felt when she'd realised Adam was still here. ‘I popped up earlier to grab something and realised he hadn't.'

‘Ah, I'm so sorry. I feel so bad. I mean, Rob should never have asked you to put him up last night. And Adam should never have taken your offer.'

‘Don't worry.' Bea took a sip of her drink as she looked at her sister. Judging by the way she was frowning she was obviously blaming herself that Bea had been put in this situation. ‘Besides, I'm a grown woman. If I'd really hated the idea of him staying the night, I would have said so.'

Lyndsey shook her head. ‘No, you wouldn't. You're too kind for your own good sometimes.'

‘No, I'm not.' Bea raised her eyebrows. She could stick up for herself when she needed, she just didn't do it very often. She hated conflict too much.

‘Umm… if you say so.' Holding her mug, Lyndsey moved Bea's notebook. ‘Where's the coaster?'

‘Should be there somewhere.' Bea picked up her laptop, looking underneath.

‘Here, got it.' Grabbing the coaster from where it had been hidden beneath the laptop, Lyndsey placed her mug down before picking up a piece of plastic and holding it aloft. ‘What's this from? It looks like a lid off something.'

Taking it from her, Bea turned it over between her thumb and forefinger. ‘It must be from the memory stick I lent Scott. I'll have to pop it somewhere safe or else I'll just end up losing it.'

‘Go and give to him if you like? I'm happy to look after the shop for a while.'

‘I can't ask you to do that.' Bea shook her head.

‘Sure, you can. You've done enough for us. Besides, it'll do you good getting out of the same building as him up there.' Lyndsey glanced up at the ceiling.

Looking from Lyndsey to the tiny lid of the memory stick and back at her sister again, Bea sighed. It would be nice to have a break. And she didn't normally think like that. She didn't normally want a break from her little business but knowing Adam was up there, making her flat his own for today, well, Lyndsey was right, it would do her good to escape for a few minutes. ‘Okay, if you're positive?'

‘I am. Go on, I've got this under control.' Sliding her coffee across to the other side of the counter, Lyndsey jumped down from the bar stool and walked towards the shop door, pulling Bea's coat from the delicately carved vintage coat stand Bea kept by the door to the shop.

‘What? Now?' Taking her hair from its messy bun, Bea ran her fingers through it and contemplated running upstairs to check herself in the mirror, only to remember Adam was up there working. Going out without checking her makeup or hair in the mirror was preferable to facing Adam again before she had to.

'Yep, now. Go on.' Lyndsey held Bea's coat open almost forcing her to shrug into it. 'Take as long as you want. I need to pick the kids up at three but up until then, I'm happy sitting behind the till.'

'I'll only be five minutes.' Clasping the tiny lid to the memory stick in her hand, she buttoned her coat up. Before rubbing her temples, the headache which had begun to form as soon as she'd stepped into the flat and discovered Adam was there, still showed no sign of shifting.

'I know. Just if the chance arises.' Lyndsey shrugged. 'Besides, the fresh air will do you good.'

'The chance arises?' Bea laughed. 'I'm just dropping this off. There's not much else to do to while away the hours in Nettleford. Not when you live here anyway.'

'Okay. Well, still, the offers there.' Pulling open the door, Lyndsey smiled.

'Thanks, see you later.' Bea mumbled as she stepped outside into the cold. What had Lyndsey been hinting at? That she should stay out of the way because of Adam? Maybe. However much she told herself and told others that it didn't bother her seeing her ex-husband again and again, she couldn't help but feeling a little twinge of... It wasn't sadness, no, their marriage had ended when it had for a reason. Not anger either. Irritation? She shook her head. She couldn't form the words in her mind to describe how she felt, and she knew he'd been Rob's friend before her husband but... he was still there. Always in her life and now he was in her flat, treating the place like his own, no doubt.

Crossing the green towards Scott's electrical repair shop, Bea tried to push all thoughts of Adam from her mind. Whether he was here or not, she was determined to focus on the future. To focus on Scott.

Bea paused and shoved her hands in her pockets. No, she wasn't going to focus on Scott, just on being a good mentor, on welcoming him into Nettleford. Nothing else. Picking up her pace again, she watched as a couple left Scott's shop, a large box in hand, before she crossed the road and pushing the door open.

A gush of warm air escaped as she stepped into his shop. Looking around she saw aisles displaying an assortment of goods from kettles and irons, the staples of any household of the local residents, to travel hairdryers and camping stoves, perfect for the holidaying tourist.

'Bea. Good morning!' Scott grinned at her from behind the counter, his eyes glistening with a welcome she hadn't been expecting.

'Hi.' Bea looked around, checking to make sure she wasn't about to take up his time away from serving but the shop looked empty. 'I hope I'm not interrupting...'

'Nope. It's been pretty quiet all day today.' Scott shrugged. 'What can do for you?'

'Nothing,Ijustfound this...' Bea plunged her hand into her pocket, grateful the smallmemorystick lidhadn'tworkeditsway through a hole in the fabric,somethingshe'd beenmeaningto fix for a long time now. After finding it, sheplacedit on the counterbetweenthem. 'It's the lid to the memory stick I lent you. I didn't want it to get lost, which it would do if I didn't pass it on now.'

'Oh right.' Picking it up, Scott nodded. 'Well, thank you.'

'No worries. I just didn'twantitfallingtothefloor and me hoovering it up or it getting shoved in a bag full of books or something.' She was rambling. Why was she rambling? Looking down, she used her forefinger and thumb to massage her temples. Sheshouldhavegrabbed someparacetamol before she'd left.

'Headache?'

Looking across at him, she smiled. 'Is it that obvious? It's nothing, just one of those annoying stress headaches, that's all. It will go soon enough.'

'I can imagine last night wasn't too pleasant playing house with your ex again?' He grimaced. 'Hopefully now he's gone, the stress will go.'

She glanced towards the window, her eyes drawn to her flat across the green. 'Umm, unfortunately he's working from home today. From my home.'

'Oh, I thought he was only staying one night?' He frowned.

'He was. He is. He's going to a bed-and-breakfast tonight, he just needed somewhere to work today.' Bea shook her head.

A smile slowly replaced Scott's frown. 'Is someone looking after the bookshop now?'

'Yes, my sister. Why?'

'In that case, how do you fancy playing hooky?'

'What?'

'Hooky? Why don't we scarper for a bit? If your sister is happy looking after the shop for a couple of hours or so, of course?'

'Hooky?' Was he really suggesting they skip town for a bit? Abandon their shops? 'What about your customers? I might have my sister to cover, but what about you?'

Scott looked around his shop and shrugged. 'It's not exactly the busiest of days today. Besides, what's a few hours? People will pop back this afternoon or tomorrow if they need something.'

Laughing, Bea shook her head. She felt like a naughty schoolgirl clambering over her secondary school fence again. 'But what about Gregory? If he spots that you're closed...'

Grabbing a piece of paper from the printer to his left, Scott picked up a felt tip pen and scrawled - Closed due to a home repair visit . 'There, this should squash any of his suspicions.'

'A home repair visit? You're doing them?'

'I helped Ruby out so why not?' Scott grinned as he walked around the counter and grabbed his coat before taping the hastily written sign in the door window. 'I hear Stratford-Upon-Avon is a good place to visit?'

Tugging on the collar of her coat, Bea nodded. She was actually going to take a few hours away from her shop. She never did this, had never had the need to. Or felt the inclination, but with Adam working in the flat, she couldn't deny a few hours away from Nettleford sounded the best type of medicine for her headache. And with Scott too. 'Actually, I might know the perfect place to while away a couple of hours in Stratford-Upon-Avon.'