‘What are you on about?’ I stared at Beth as Harry crunched the gears.
‘It was when your gran broke her leg and you were at the hospital.’ Her face was sheened with sweat. ‘Oh no, it’s happening again,’ she whimpered.
‘Tell me,’ I ordered, my breathing as shallow as Beth’s.
‘Ooch! OW!’ She attempted to focus. ‘I took in a delivery and Hancock had someone in the van and I asked who it was and he said his nephew and it was him, that man in the shop, I recognise him, he’s got the same hair and eyes and he was wearing a yellow T-shirt with “Blink if You Want Me” on it,’ she said, delivering the words in a frenzied stream. ‘Oh no, oh no, oh, no, oh no, oh no,’ she wailed, as Harry finally found a gear and veered away from the kerb.
‘AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!’ was the last thing I heard as the van roared off, and turned the corner so fast I half-expected it to swing over onto two wheels.
So much for being careful.
I stood for a moment, turning her words in my head.
She’d been out the back the first time Josh came in, and hadn’t had a chance to meet him since. He probably hadn’t noticed her the day Rob Hancock dropped off his delivery.
His nephew.
He’d tried to put me off Kandy Kings, and placed an order with Rob, even though I’d told him he wasn’t my supplier any more. I remembered his reluctance when I said I was thinking of making my own sweets, and how he’d defended Rob.
My heart was racing, while around me life carried on as normal.
The beach was filling with people, visiting for the bank holiday weekend, erecting windbreaks and deckchairs and flapping out towels. An ice-cream van had already parked down the road.
A couple emerged from the guesthouse with a little girl.
‘You can get some bonbons later,’ the woman told her, flashing me a quick smile. ‘You’ve just had a fry-up for breakfast.’
Josh was Rob Hancock’s nephew.
Fury rose, and must have reached my face as the woman grabbed for the girl’s hand and snatched her away.
I marched into the shop and gripped Josh by the arm. ‘Can I have a word?’ Not waiting for a reply, I yanked him away like a wheelie bin, pretending not to notice a look of alarm shoot between Toby and Em.
‘What’s wrong?’ Josh sounded bewildered as I shut the stockroom door behind us, before slamming my palms against his chest and shoving him hard.
‘What the …?’ His calves hit the pallet behind him, causing him to plop down. He stared at me, blank-faced with shock. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Is it true?’ My voice was a strangled croak.
His brow scrunched. ‘Is what true?’
I snapped the light on so I could see him more clearly. ‘Are you Rob Hancock’s nephew?’
He dropped his head. ‘Marnie,’ he began, raising his eyes and looking away again. ‘Fuck.’ He looked as guilty as a murderer.
‘So it is true.’ I’d known it must be, or Beth would never have said it, but the acknowledgement still cut through me.
‘It’s not what you think—’
‘You bastard,’ I butted in. ‘Did he send you here?’
He rose and took a step towards me. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But I can explain.’
I held up a hand. ‘Let me guess. You were meant to persuade me to start buying my sweets from him again?’
He closed his eyes. ‘I was supposed to give you the willies.’
‘He wanted you to scare me as well?’ I blasted. ‘Well, that’s just—’
‘No, no, a box of his liquorice willies.’ His eyes flew open. ‘I was supposed to have ordered some as a “surprise”,’ he made quote marks, ‘because I thought they were an amusing idea, and you wouldn’t have the heart to refuse.’
‘Because of your charm, I suppose.’
He looked at the floor again.
‘Where are they then?’
‘In my campervan,’ he said, hooking his thumbs in the pockets of his surfer shorts. ‘This place is too classy and, anyway, they look more like fingers.’
I digested that for a second. ‘So, basically, he wanted you to do his dirty work.’
Josh scuffed the toe of his shoe on the floor. ‘It’s no excuse, but he’s been losing customers since Kandy Kings opened that new production plant. They’re so much cheaper, the independents can’t compete.’
‘That’s his problem, not mine,’ I snapped. ‘I’m perfectly entitled to change suppliers if I want to.’
‘I know, I know, and I told him,’ he said. His face had paled, throwing his stubble into sharp relief. ‘That night you saw me from the bus, I was telling him I didn’t want to do it, that I liked you too much, it wasn’t fair.’
I tried to control my breathing. ‘Why do it in the first place?’
‘Cos I’m an idiot.’ He looked deeply ashamed. ‘I’m not even close to him,’ he said in a low voice. ‘He’s my mum’s brother, but he moved away from Yorkshire a long time ago.’
‘So how come you ended up working for him?’
‘I wasn’t exactly.’ Josh sank back down on the pallet, fingertips pressed to his forehead. ‘Everything I told you was true, I swear,’ he said. ‘About not knowing what I wanted to do with myself …’
‘You did work in a sweet shop before?’
‘Yes, and I loved it.’ He looked up, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed, and although part of me wanted to kick him in the shins, another wanted him to continue. ‘Rob asked me down to stay for a bit,’ he said. ‘He’d got wind that I was struggling to know what I wanted to do.’ He shrugged. ‘It was OK at first, just driving about with him now and then while he did his deliveries, seeing my cousins, practising my magic.’
‘And then I told him I didn’t want his sweets any more.’
Josh nodded. ‘He was well pissed off.’
‘So he told you to try to change my mind?’
‘He knew you were looking for someone to replace your friend.’ He stared at his feet. ‘He said he’d pay me, not much, and I suppose I thought it would be a breeze.’
My lip did an involuntary curl of disgust. ‘You must have been laughing behind my back.’
‘No!’ he said, so vehemently I jumped. ‘I swear to you, Marnie, that once I met you I really, really liked you. We hit it off, didn’t we?’
His green eyes held an appeal that made me falter.
‘I thought we did.’
‘I didn’t want to go through with it, I hated how upset you were when you realised that sugar-free delivery was from him. I was intending to take it back, even though I knew he’d be furious.’
I pressed the pads of my fingers to my eyelids. ‘Christ, what a mess.’
‘I’m so sorry, Marnie.’
I sighed into the silence that fell. ‘The other morning …’ I cleared my throat. ‘That wasn’t part of the plan?’
Josh’s head snapped up. ‘Christ, no,’ he said. ‘I really fancy you.’
Maybe he was like his uncle, and couldn’t resist trying it on. The thought sent a ripple of confusion through me.
‘Let me make it up to you,’ he said, holding out his hands in a plea. ‘I am on your side, I promise.’
‘I don’t know.’ It felt wrong to let him off.
‘You don’t have to pay me anything.’
There was a rap of knuckles on the door and it swung open. Toby was there, eyes cast down as if to avoid any possible nudity. ‘Paint’s dry, shall we put up those shelves now?’
‘Yes please, that would be marvellous,’ I said, switching to a jolly-teacher voice. ‘Would you like something to drink?’
‘I’m fine, thanks,’ said Toby, smoothing a paint-smeared hand over his tousled hair. ‘Em has brought a Thermos and some of her fruitcake.’
‘Sounds delish,’ I said. ‘Anything I can do?’
‘Is the boss man having his baby today?’ A pair of inquisitive grey eyes met mine. ‘We’re trying, me and the missus.’
‘That’s lovely,’ I said, normality slipping back as I thought of Beth. ‘And yes, I think the boss man may be having his baby today.’
‘Look, if you want to zip off I can project-manage for the rest of the day,’ Josh said, as Toby’s head dipped out. ‘It’s the very least I can do.’
‘How do I know I can trust you?’
‘I suppose you don’t,’ he said, getting to his feet and giving me a steady look. ‘But you have my word.’
Another thought joined all the others, swirling through my head in a dizzying jumble. I wouldn’t be able to make my sweets at Beth’s in-laws; not with her in hospital. And I still hadn’t bought my ingredients. Or found a recipe for Turkish delight and marzipan.
I spun around on the spot. Why was everything happening all at once?
Josh looked on, a flicker of hope in his eyes. ‘Please let me help, Marnie.’
‘OK, you can stay because you owe me, big time,’ I said. His face illuminated with relief. ‘But after tomorrow, you don’t work here any more.’
I left, before I gave in to his stricken expression, and outside the shop I rang the hospital and asked to speak to Harry.
‘It could be ages yet,’ he said breathing hard, as though he was the one in labour. ‘She’s only two centimetres dilated.’
‘How’s she doing?’
‘Screaming for an epidural.’
‘I thought she might be.’
‘I knew she would be.’
A moment of mutual understanding passed between us.
‘Everything OK at the shop?’ he said, as if suddenly remembering the day had started quite differently. ‘Toby and Em are the best, you know, they won’t let you down.’ It was the most heartfelt thing he’d ever said to me.
‘They’re doing a great job.’ No point mentioning Josh’s revelation.
‘Right then,’ he said. ‘I’d better get back.’
‘Keep me updated, if you can.’
‘I will.’
There was nothing else for me to do but go to Tesco’s.