Chapter 5

Chapter Five

T he moment the bell had tinkled to signal Mr Daly's retreat, Lindsey was back at the counter and nodded towards the closing door. ‘He brought a lot.'

‘Mr Daly.' Bea grinned. ‘Yes, he's my best customer. Comes in every week.'

‘Ah, I thought I recognised him. Must have seen him around.' Lindsey turned back to her sister and tapped the edge of the counter.

‘Go on then.'

‘Go on, what?' Lindsey widened her eyes, a look of unease clouding her face.

‘You've got something to tell me that you're not sure I want to hear.' Bea looked pointedly at Lindsey's fingers still tapping away at the edge of the counter and laughed. ‘You always fidget when you're nervous.'

‘Oh, I'm not nervous.'

‘Okay.' Bea shrugged. ‘You can tell me, though.'

‘It's nothing. Absolutely nothing.' Lindsey glanced across to the kids and Bea swore she looked disappointed that they were still behaving and not providing her with a distraction.

‘I'll put the kettle on.' Turning slowly, Bea counted the five seconds it usually took for her sister to blurt out whatever she was trying not to say and sure enough, on the count of five…

‘Adam has split with girlfriend.'

Spinning on the spot, Bea faced her sister again. Adam, the man who had finished with her because he had needed his space only to jump straight into a relationship with someone he worked with, had broken up with her? ‘They split up? When? How? Why?'

‘Yes. Ummm, yesterday, I think. That's when Adam came round to speak to Dan, anyway. Dan says he thinks someone else was involved, but Adam didn't want to admit it.'

Bea widened her eyes. Although hm jumping straight into a relationship with Jenny had raised her suspicions, she couldn't believe Adam had actually cheated on her. Been close with Jenny whilst they were still married, yes. Friends even, but not cheated. ‘Adam cheated on her?'

‘No, Dan thinks she was cheating on him.'

Bea frowned. That made more sense. ‘That must be tough for him.'

Lindsey shrugged. ‘Not as tough as a seven-year marriage ending. I think he'll survive.'

‘Yes, I suppose he will.' She nodded. Even after two years of separation, Bea found it strange that Lindsey still saw her ex-husband regularly. He was Rob, her brother-in-law's best mate. That's how they'd met and so she'd accepted Adam would always be a little part of her life and she just had to deal with it.

‘Anyway, I thought the timing was a bit weird, you know, the day before your divorce-iversary.' Lindsey shrugged.

‘Ha, no, not weird. Remember, although it's been a year since we got the divorce through, we'd already been split for longer.' Adam had told her the news that their marriage was over almost two and half years ago now. Yes, the date their divorce had come through had been important, it had signalled the official end to that chapter of her life, but at the end of the day it was just a piece of paper and it had been the easiest thing to deal with – the marriage. Selling the house and splitting the finances had been way more complicated and drawn out. Still, she supposed it had been a big deal at the time, a line drawn.

‘I know.' Lindsey nodded. ‘I just didn't know how you'd take it, that's all. I know you had doubts as to if he'd been faithful to you towards the end of your marriage. I didn't want to upset you by telling you and you thinking the divorce, everything, wasn't worth it in the end. I mean, now that he's not with her still.'

Bea nodded and pointed to the curtain covering the arched opening into the back room behind her. ‘I'll go make the coffees.'

‘Thanks, I'm parched.'

Disappearing behind the heavy burgundy and dark green striped curtain, Bea flicked the kettle on. What had Lindsey meant by whether the divorce had been worth it? Did she mean because Adam was no longer with Jenny? That he'd realised the grass on the other side wasn't greener after all.

She poured the boiling water into two mugs and stirred in the coffee. Well, her grass was. Ever since Gregory had shown her around this little shop of hers, she'd fallen in love with the place, with the shop, the area, the people. Nettleford might only be down the road from where she and Lindsey had grown up in Stratford-Upon-Avon, and Lindsey still lived, but it was a world away from the worry of walking into Adam or the friends they'd shared and she'd lost through the divorce.

Yes, this was where she was meant to be, pottering around in her bookshop, in her happy place. She smiled as she let a dash of milk splash into each mug before taking them back through to the shop floor.

‘Here you go.'

‘Cheers, I didn't get one this morning.' Taking the mug, Lindsey shifted position and leaned her side against the counter. ‘Well, no, that's a lie. Rob made me one as he usually does before he escapes to work, but those two horrors didn't give me a moment to myself to drink it.'

‘Here, have this.' Placing her mug on a coaster, Bea lifted the old wooden bar stool she kept behind the counter and took it around to the other side for her sister.

‘Thank you.' Sinking gratefully to the stool, Lindsey grinned. ‘You're happy here, aren't you?'

‘Here, in Nettleford? You bet.' Leaning her elbows on the counter, Bea breathed in the powerful aroma of coffee. ‘I'm happy with the way my life has turned out.'

‘We just need to find you a man now.'

‘Er, what's everyone's obsession with getting me paired up? First it was Fleur from the flower shop trying to get me together with this new shopkeeper and now you.' Bea shook her head. ‘I don't need a man to be happy. I have everything I need, everything I want, right here.'

Lindsey scrunched up her nose. ‘You know what your problem is?'

‘Go on, enlighten me.'

‘You've forgotten what it feels like to be loved and to love someone. You've forgotten what it feels like to be in love.'

Picking up her mug, Bea took a long slow sip. Lindsey might have a point. The last time she'd been in love had been with Adam, but that giddy, warm feeling hadn't lasted the length of their marriage. No, she'd fallen out of love with him the moment she'd realised he had with her. It had been like a switch and she could pinpoint the exact moment she'd realised. He'd been sitting at the kitchen table scrolling through his mobile whilst she'd been cooking. A stir fry of all things. She'd said something, told him how upset she'd been at work that day and he'd simply shrugged and asked her what she wanted him to do about it.

Time had stood still, just for a few seconds, as she'd realised that he didn't care, that he didn't love her anymore. He'd dismissed her feelings, what she'd been trying to tell, with a shrug of his shoulders and that nonchalant comment and yet his subconscious actions and thoughtless words had spoken reams to her.

They'd lived another two years like that, rubbing along, their lives full of small talk until he'd told her he needed space, that he didn't love her anymore.

She took another mouthful of coffee. She often wondered what their lives would be like today if they'd admitted to themselves, to each other, that their marriage had been over that fateful day, the day she'd been cooking the stir fry. Or on the other side of the coin, if they'd still be together today if they'd decided to fight, if they'd attended relationship counselling sessions or even just made a concerted effort to check in with each other, gone out for a drink together every once in a while.

‘You look miles away. What are you thinking about?' Lindsey rubbed her sister's forearm. ‘Are you about to admit you're ready to find a man?'

‘What? No!' Bea straightened her back and laughed. ‘I was thinking the opposite, in fact. They're not worth it and love is overrated.'

Lindsey tutted as she shook her head sadly. ‘One day, Bea, you'll realise I'm right, that I was always right.'

‘Umm, maybe, maybe not. But one thing I can tell you is that day is categorically not today.' She looked across at her niece and nephew as Isaac pushed his hand through the orange fluffy puppet attached to the book and used it to tickle Peony, her high-pitched giggles ringing through the shop. ‘They can have that book if they like? They've been looking at it for ages now.'

‘Aw thanks, they'd love that.' Lindsey downed the dregs of her coffee before standing up. ‘Right, as much as I love whiling away my day in the sanctuary of Nettleford's charming bookshop, if I don't get those two to run off some energy, I'm going to regret it later.'

‘Haha, fair enough.' Bea indicated the gift and the envelope. ‘And thanks for these.'

‘No problem.' Lindsey picked up her bag before turning to her two children. ‘Peony, Isaac, let's go and find the swings.'

‘And ducks. Ducks. I want ducks.' Rolling off the beanbag and onto the floor, Peony scrambled to standing before running across to her mum.

‘Yes, and ducks. We'll do both. We'll do it all now that Mummy has a good coffee inside her.' Lindsey waited until Isaac had joined them, the book still in hand, before waving towards Bea. ‘Say bye-bye to Auntie Bea.'

‘Bye-bye, you two. Have fun at the swings and seeing the ducks.' Bea waved as the door closed behind them, plunging the shop into a grateful hush, the calm music she played through the shop speakers the only noise.