Extract Two from Chapter One, pp 5-6
‘Another day in paradise, eh? You are so lucky to live
here.’
It was almost lunchtime and Maisie’s customer-friendly smile
was firmly in place as she handed a large G&T to the customer waiting at
the bar. Maisie guessed the woman was in her early fifties, but her designer
skinny jeans, Converses and butter-soft leather jacket made her look ten years
younger. With her carefully downplayed cut-glass accent and expensive ‘off-duty’
outfit, Maisie could guess where she was staying.
‘Tell me about it,’ she said, pulling a pint of bitter for
the woman’s partner, who, she assumed, was enjoying the midday warmth on the
Driftwood’s terrace.
The woman let out a sigh of pleasure. ‘Look at that amazing
sky, and the colours in the sea are just to die for. Harry and I were only just
saying how much Scilly reminds us of Sardinia or Antigua. Honestly, you could
absolutely be in the Grenadines and who would possibly believe it was only eight
weeks to Christmas?’
‘It is hard to believe,’ said Maisie, stopping the tap at
just the right moment when the glass was full and topped with a thin layer of
froth.
‘Although I expect it can get terribly claustrophobic if you
have to live here full-time.’ The woman lowered her voice. ‘I expect you all
know each other’s business.’
Maisie placed the beer on the drip mat next to the G&T
and adopted the same conspiratorial tone. ‘That’s so true. There are no secrets
on Gull Island, no matter how much we’d like to keep them.’ The posh woman was
right: nothing and no one escaped notice in such a small and tight-knit
community. People tended to know if you went to the loo before you’d even
locked the bathroom door, but Maisie had had this conversation a hundred times
before.
With a knowing smile, the woman nodded as if she’d been let
in on a secret too and tapped the side of her nose. Maisie deposited notes in
the till and handed over some change.
‘Oh, no, keep that,’ the customer protested, waving her
G&T airily.
‘Thank
you. I’ll add it to the staff tips box. How are you enjoying your break on
Petroc?’ Maisie asked.
‘How
clever of you to guess we’re on Petroc. Yes, we are enjoying it. It’s half term
and we’ve rented the sweetest cottage for our daughter and the grandchildren.
Well, I say it’s a cottage but there are five bedrooms.’ She laughed. ‘Hubby
and I are on babysitting duty tonight while Phoebe and her husband have dinner
in the pub.’ The woman laughed. ‘Not that the Rose and Crab is just a pub these
days of course, now it’s been awarded its Michelin star. My husband and I tried
it last night. Gosh, it was a-mazing. The turbot was incredible and don’t get
me started on that brill. Of course, I don’t mind sharing cheesy pasta with the
little ones tonight. It’s just so lovely to spend some quality time together
with Saffron and baby Tom. They live so far away.’
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