“Are you lost?” Noreen demanded abruptly. “Where are you looking for?”
“It’s okay,” Josh announced. “We’ve just come to give Tula a lift home.”
Tula’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“She ent finished yet. Fill this ’un up, girl.” Melvyn thrust his glass under Tula’s nose.
“Listen.” Josh moved toward the bar. “I’m really sorry about before.”
Tula flushed and said cautiously, “Okay.”
Noreen, swaying on her bar stool, was still eyeing him with suspicion. “Who is ’e? Is ’e the law?”
Having handed Melvyn his pint, Tula said to Noreen, “No, he’s not the law. It’s gone eleven o’clock. Okay if I finish now?”
Noreen heaved a sigh of annoyance, because this meant she had to get off her stool and take over behind the bar. Clearly still bothered by Josh, the only man in the place wearing leather shoes rather than shabby sneakers, she said, “Go on then.”
Outside, they intercepted the bunch of hoodies just before they had a chance to set off the Audi’s alarm system. Sophie climbed into the backseat, indicating that Tula should sit in the front alongside Josh.
“Okay,” said Tula once they’d exited the parking lot. “This is all kinds of weird. What’s going on?”
“We took on a barman.” Josh got straight to the point. “He’s let us down. We’d like to offer you the job.”
There was a moment of silence. From the backseat, Sophie reached forward and tapped Tula on the shoulder. When Tula glanced around, she shot her a broad you-win grin.
Catching Sophie’s eye in the rearview mirror, Josh said levelly, “I saw that.”
“Right,” said Tula. “So let’s get this straight. All of a sudden I’m good enough after all? Or are you just completely desperate?”
“Your friend here tells me you’re a hard worker. Maybe I overreacted before.”
“So you’re desperate,” Tula prompted.
“Not completely. But Dot’s keen for you to join us.” He paused. “And I am too.”
“Do me a favor,” said Tula. “Could you just say sorry again?”
Another pause. “Sorry.”
“Really sorry?”
“Don’t push your luck.” Josh’s mouth twitched. “I’m offering you a better job than the one you’ve got now. And accommodation too.”
“Maybe I like staying at Sophie’s.”
Sophie gave the back of Tula’s seat a swift kick; there was such a thing as pushing your luck.
Evidently thinking the same, Josh shook his head. “If you’re not interested, just say so. I’ll find someone else.”
“I’m interested,” Tula said quickly.
“Good. Can you start tomorrow?”
“I don’t know about that. I can’t let Melvyn and Noreen down.”
He smiled slightly. “Touché.”
“Then again,” said Tula, “if you’re really desperate…”
She took out her cell phone, called the Melnor, and told Noreen she wouldn’t be back. Luckily they were used to members of staff doing a bunk, so the news wasn’t as traumatic as it might have been. “Fine. Who gives a toss? Plenty more where you came from,” Noreen slurred down the phone. “Just don’t expect to get paid for the last two nights.”
“Sorted,” Tula announced when the call was over.
“Good.”
“Shall I move in tonight? Oh.” Her face fell. “My car’s being fixed. I won’t be able to move my stuff.”
“No problem,” said Josh. “We can use mine.” He glanced over his shoulder at Sophie in the backseat. “Is that okay with you? Taking your friend away from you?”
“Oh, you’re welcome to her,” said Sophie. “She snores.”
***
“I don’t, by the way.” On her knees in Sophie’s living room, Tula was busy cramming her worldly goods back into two cases.
“Don’t what?”
“Snore.”
Josh looked amused. “Doesn’t matter to me whether you do or not.”
“I know. But I’m just saying.” She couldn’t help herself; maybe he wasn’t interested in her right now, but she had no intention of giving up yet. It could still happen. And there was definitely more chance of it happening if he didn’t think she snored like an old warthog every time she fell asleep.
But anyway, no need to worry about that now; she was going to be moving into Mariscombe House and working for Josh. Hooray. They could get to know each other gradually, and in time she would win him over with her wit, her sparkling personality, and her vivacious charm…
Oops, although he might not be quite so entranced by her tangled socks and tights; hastily she shoveled them into the case under a pair of jeans.
Had Josh spotted them?
Dammit, of course he had. Story of her life.
***
Josh watched idly as Tula buried the armful of underwear in the case before reaching for the rest of her clothes. He turned his attention to the photographs on the geranium-red wall above the sofa Tula had spent the last couple nights sleeping on. The plainly framed photos were excellent, as you’d expect.
“That one’s my favorite,” he told Sophie when she emerged from the kitchen with a plate of toast.
Following the direction of his gaze, she smiled. “Mine too. Vacation heaven.”
It wasn’t a scene that had been carefully designed and set up, which made the resulting composition all the more miraculous. Sophie had taken the photograph on St. Carys beach. The sun was high in the sky, small waves were eddying up the beach, and people were swimming in the sea. In the foreground, a serious-looking baby sat with his fat legs outstretched while he carefully poked at a sand castle with a stick. To the left of him was a small girl, presumably his sister, in an oversized white T-shirt. Her hair was a glinting mass of marmalade ringlets and her face an absolute picture of suppressed glee as, having crept up behind him, she prepared to carefully balance a long strand of seaweed on the baby’s head.
Finally, to top it all, Sophie had managed to capture the exact moment a Jack Russell terrier with a naughty look in his eye was helping himself to the last sandwich on the picnic plate in the bottom right of the picture.
“I didn’t know it was all going to turn out so perfectly,” she said. “If I had, I’d have taken the parents’ details and sent them a copy. They were over there”—Sophie gestured to the right of the photo—“just out of shot. But I had no idea. It wasn’t until I checked the frames on the computer later that night that I realized what I’d gotten.” Smiling at the memory, she added, “This is what’s so fantastic about photography; you never know when you’re going to create a bit of…magic.”
Josh watched her hands dance and her eyes light up as she spoke. The way her evident love for her work shone through was oddly touching.
“You have to be good at it too,” he pointed out.
“I know.” Sophie glanced at him. “I am. But you already know that.”
There was just something about her. She wasn’t like other girls. Hiding a smile, Josh said, “I do.”
***
Ten minutes later, they were in the car on their way to the hotel. Tula realized she’d sprayed too much scent over herself when she saw Josh inhale, then slowly exhale and lower the driver’s window.
“I’ll meet you in reception at nine tomorrow,” he said. “And tell you everything you need to know.”
She beamed. “Don’t worry. I’m a fast learner.”
“Good.”
“And thanks for giving me another chance.”
“We needed someone. It works both ways. But I meant it when I said you mustn’t let us down. If I ever catch you doing what you did last week…”
“You won’t,” Tula assured him hurriedly. “I told you I wouldn’t.”
“Yes, well. If you ever miss a shift, you’d better make sure you really are sick.” He gave her a stern look of warning. “And hangovers don’t count.”
“I know that. You just wait.” With a mischievous grin Tula said, “I’m going to be the best employee you ever had!” Whoops, the double entendre had been unintentional, but it gave him the opportunity to raise an eyebrow and make a wry, jokey comment. Because if he was changing his mind about taking her on, surely this meant there was a chance he might fancy her just a little bit?
Was it really so unreasonable to think that?
Instead, after a pause Josh said, “Can I ask you a question about Sophie?”
Okay, evidently it was unreasonable.
“What do you want to know?”
“According to Riley, she doesn’t have boyfriends. He’s never seen her with anyone. All she does is work.”
“And that’s a problem?”
He shrugged. “No, but it’s unusual.”
“You mean you can’t get over the fact that you asked her out and she turned you down?”
“Not at all,” Josh protested. “I’m just curious.”
“Maybe she’s a lesbian.”
His eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Is she?”
Entertaining though it would be to pretend this was true, Tula couldn’t bring herself to do it. She shook her head and said, “No.”
“So what’s the situation?”
“Why don’t you ask her?”
“I’m asking you first.”
And there was certainly no way she was going to tell him. Tula said, “I think she’s just concentrating on building up the business. That’s her number one priority right now.”
They’d reached Mariscombe House. Josh pulled into the parking lot, switched off the ignition, and turned to look at her. “Which means you know, but you’re not going to tell me.”
Which in turn would probably only succeed in intensifying his curiosity. But what other choice did she have?
“Maybe it just hasn’t occurred to you that you might not be as irresistible as you think,” she said.
His half smile indicated that he was aware that as far as she was concerned, he was. Opening the driver’s door, he said, “Come on then. Let’s get your stuff up to your room.”
Oh well. The fact remained that he wasn’t going to be getting anywhere with Sophie.
Tula discreetly admired Josh Strachan’s athletic body as he swung the cases out of the trunk of the car. She might still be able to win him over; you never knew.