An A To Z Of Love

‘Go on,’ he said, pretending to be preternaturally aware of his surroundings and not just startled.

‘Can you manage without me for the evening on Tuesday? I can get Jenny in to cover for me. She says she could use the work, to be honest.’ Magda’s friend Jenny had regularly saved Charlie from disaster when he needed an extra pair of serving hands at the last moment. If he had the money, he’d put her on salary.

‘Unless a bus of seafood convention delegates breaks down on the Esplanade, I think we’ll probably be okay with Jenny.’ Charlie gave up the pretence and pushed his chopping board away from him. ‘Why? Whatcha doing?’

‘I’ve got a date with Kevin.’ Magda started cleaning up around him in a way he assumed was instinctual. Charlie only knew that, if he couldn’t find something he was still using, it was probably in the dishwasher already. ‘I’ll be here for the lunches, anyway, so it’s only the evening.’

‘That’s fine,’ Charlie said, before thinking it through. ‘Hang on, won’t Kevin need to ask me for time off too?’ He wondered where he’d been when this dating thing happened. There were only three of them in the restaurant, most days. He’d have thought he’d have noticed.

‘No.’ Magda drew the word out, as if to remind him he was rather slow. ‘Because Kevin already has Tuesday off. It’s on the rota. You said it was pointless him coming in, because there were no bookings, and you could manage the kitchen yourself for any walk-ins.’

Joe stuck his head around the door. ‘You two do realise that, if you’re both in here, there’s nobody up front?’

Charlie stepped away from the counter and let Magda in to finish wiping down the surface. ‘That’s right, Joe. But since there are now more people in this kitchen than make it into the restaurant most days, I’m not too concerned.’

‘Things going well, huh?’

Charlie shrugged. ‘Meh. So, what’s up?’

‘That’s what I wanted to ask you.’ Joe boosted himself up to sit on Charlie’s expensive, sanitised surfaces, and just smiled at Magda’s glare. ‘All day I’ve had people in – buying next to nothing, I might add – asking if I’ve heard about Mia’s dad and saying Becky’s back in town. Now, obviously, I’ve been telling them that if the she-devil was in town, my good friend Charlie would have told me immediately. Same if there was any news on Mia’s dad…’

‘Yeah, um, mate…’ Charlie trailed off with an apologetic wince.

Joe waved a hand. ‘Joking, Charles. No, I just figured if I got the gossip, I might get a few more people in, and some of them might actually buy something in appreciation.’

‘Okay, then you can confirm Becky is, indeed, in town.’

‘Unfortunately,’ Magda put in. Charlie gave her a look. ‘What, would you have preferred “for her own nefarious means”?’

Charlie was beginning to regret filling Magda in on his history with Becky over a stiff drink after their lunch guests left.

Joe looked intrigued, but Charlie moved on. ‘Mia…’ He shrugged. ‘Who knows. She got a letter from her dad this morning. Far as anyone knows, she hasn’t opened it.’

‘That’s all anyone knows?’ Joe sounded sceptical.

‘Yup.’ He glanced over at Magda. ‘On that subject, anyway. Did you hear about Magda’s date, though?’

Joe raised his eyebrows. ‘A date?’

Magda turned her glare on Charlie, but he carried on anyway. ‘With Kevin, on Tuesday night.’ Magda rolled her eyes. ‘She doesn’t seem very excited about it, mind.’

‘Kevin? Really?’ Charlie assumed Joe was trying to give the impression that Magda was dating beneath her, but somehow managed to hit the “are you crazy?” note instead.

Magda settled against the counter, hands resting on the stainless steel behind her. ‘I am going to tell you boys something about love,’ she said, in the tone Charlie had come to recognise as her “trust me on this, I’m smarter than you” voice.

‘With love,’ Magda said, her voice settling into a rhythm that made her accent all the stronger, ‘you do not settle. With love, you do not hide. With love, you must search everywhere, hunt and seek and keep your eyes open always. With love, you cannot make assumptions. You have to trust that the right person will find you, eventually, if you are willing to be found.’

‘So dating Kevin,’ Joe said, frowning. ‘That’s you not making assumptions, right?’

‘It’s me still searching,’ Magda corrected.

But Charlie wasn’t really listening. Instead, he was thinking about Becky. Maybe Magda was right. He shouldn’t make assumptions. Maybe Becky’s reasons for coming home were entirely business related. Or maybe she’d just finally decided it was time for her to come home. Either way, it didn’t have to involve him, if he didn’t want it to.

Maybe she’d even want to take over StarFish, let him head home to London.

Charlie frowned. Except the appeal of that idea was fading rapidly.

Joe didn’t look convinced by Magda’s argument. ‘Tell you what, mate. While Cupid’s young dream is off having romantic notions that night, how about you and me hit the pub after you close up?’

If he got any customers. Chances were, StarFish would be closed before ten. ‘Sounds like a plan.’

‘Good,’ Joe said with a grin. ‘Then you can fill me in on the two women in your life, and whether they’ve had a cat fight over you yet. Wouldn’t want to miss that.’

‘Good night, Joe,’ Charlie said meaningfully. The last thing he needed was the whole of Aberarian taking bets on him and Becky getting back together. He knew for a fact Joe was already running a book on him and Mia. Who needed a bloody casino?

Joe jumped down from the counter and held open the doors to the restaurant. ‘Ah, the path of truth love and all that nonsense. I guess it can’t be hearts and flowers in Aberarian all the time.’

Charlie led Joe through the carefully laid wooden tables to the front desk. He really wasn’t in the mood to have this conversation again.

‘This is the point where you pretend not to know what he means,’ Magda prompted helpfully.

‘He knows,’ Joe said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the reception desk. ‘I’ll just pretend he asked.’

‘Can I just pretend you answered?’ Charlie asked.

‘No.’ Joe grinned at Magda, then turned back to Charlie and went into his usual speech. ‘Why, I mean Becky and Mia of course! Personally my vote’s on Mia. Everybody knows it’s only a matter of time. You two were made for each other!’

‘I hate you,’ Charlie said, without any real feeling. His attention had already been drawn away to the beautiful auburn-haired woman on the other side of the street.

Magda saw Becky too, because she pointed and said, ‘I know somebody who doesn’t seem to know it yet.’

Charlie ignored her, and Joe’s resulting chuckle. Because watching Becky, he could see in her walk the way she moved with him, the way she loved. But it didn’t matter any more. He looked at her, and saw his past. When he looked at Mia… he hoped he saw his future.

Maybe Magda was right after all. Maybe he had to be open to love and let it find him again.

And if his head was telling him that was stupid, well, maybe it was time for him to listen to his heart for a change. If only he could persuade Mia to take the risk.

* * * *

The Grand Hotel was just how Becky had left it two years ago – old-fashioned, shabby, and smelling of over-brewed tea. Not exactly the Savoy.

Apart from anything else, she was still lugging her own bags across the lobby.

While Tony flirted with the world’s most unhelpful receptionist, Becky inspected the rack of local attractions leaflets, noting half of them were over a hundred miles away, and the others weren’t particularly attractive. A craft community in the old mill in Felinfach, a dance club for pensioners in some inn outside Coed-y-Capel. Nothing to exactly set the pulse racing. God, this community really needs me.

She looked up, waiting for Tony to finish chatting up the girl behind the desk, wishing she didn’t care so much that he felt it necessary to smile at anything in a skirt. She knew it was just the way he was – and if she called him on it, he’d just shrug and tell her he believed the world needed more friendliness. Or that a little charm reaped big rewards. Whatever today’s excuse, Becky was pretty sure he just liked the attention.

Not that it should make any difference to her. She’d known, from that first night when he gave her that questioning smile over what was supposed to be a business dinner, that Tony wasn’t the sort of guy you looked to for the long haul. He liked the chase, liked the fun, adored a challenge. But when it came to settling down and growing up, Tony would be on the fastest train out of town.