I pull the sleeve of my black jumper dress down over my hand before placing it over my nose. I’ve never been great with strong smells, least of all the smell currently coming from the deli bathroom. Sadly, it’s not a very thick dress – it is still summer after all – so it’s not doing much to disguise the pong.
‘It’s the drains,’ Mike insists. ‘Someone flushed the lav today, not knowing about the drain problems we’ve been having.’
‘So when is it getting fixed?’ I ask from behind my hand.
‘Well, that’s the problem, darling. No one wants to fix it.’
‘What do you mean?’ I ask.
Mike, clearly unfazed by the smell, grabs a doughnut from a box on the side and chomps down on it as we chat.
Mike, who is in his forties, has got that rough and ready workman look and charm, only made even friendlier by his jolly apples-and-pears accent. His dimpled cheeks give him this cheeky glimmer than makes you instantly warm to him, even when he’s giving you news you don’t want to hear.
‘We’re having a bit of bother with local tradesmen,’ he explains. ‘None of them want to help us out.’
‘I mean…they know they’ll get paid, right?’
‘’Course,’ Mike replies. ‘Even tried offering them extra.’
‘So they’re turning work down because they protest the deli?’
He nods.
Well, isn’t that just a special kind of stupid? These people are so worried that the deli will harm local businesses, they’re actively turning down business – which is harming local businesses. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.
‘The gaffer thought it might help sweeten up the locals, to hire some of them for work, but they ain’t having it,’ Mike says, reaching for a second doughnut. I suppose doing a job like his burns a lot of calories – maybe that’s where I’m going wrong. Still, I’m not about to go and dabble in the drains.
‘OK, well, I guess you’ll have to hire the tradesmen you need from outside the town,’ I say plainly.
‘Do you think they’ll like that?’ he chuckles.
‘Probably not, but we don’t have much choice. Perhaps it will show them that we’re serious about staying here. And at least it will keep work ticking along until I think of a real way to get everyone on board.’
‘You’re the boss,’ he says with a cheeky smile. ‘I’ll get on it.’
Left alone at the counter I glance at the plans laid out in front of me. It really is a shame the locals are set against this place, it is going to be so amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I feel like it’s my baby.
I can see the doughnuts out of the corner of my eye, but my usual inclination to eat one just isn’t there. It’s this horrible sewage smell, filling the room, that’s proving to be an excellent appetite suppressor. I’m sure we could make a lot of money with it, were this the location of a SkinnyKwick Club meeting, but we’re a deli and we want people to buy food.
‘Lily,’ I hear Mike calling as he heads back in. ‘I’m on with a plumber, he says he can do it, but he wants his travel expenses covering. He’s coming pretty far.’
‘OK, sure,’ I say reluctantly. Well, it’s not exactly my own money I’m throwing around, is it? My bosses have given me an impossible job to do, and I’m doing the best I can. ‘The sooner he can come, the better.’
‘He says he’ll be right over,’ Mike replies.
‘Great,’ I reply, semi-sarcastically. Well, it’s not great that we have to fork out for plumbers from afar, but it will be a lot easier to get some work done here once the smell is gone.
‘I’m going to go outside and scope out the area,’ I say.
‘OK, sure. You get some fresh air,’ Mike laughs. I think he’s onto me, but I can’t think straight around this smell.
I step out of the main door and onto the paved area out front where I finally take in the view for the first time. We might not be on the seafront, but we’re right at the top of the main street that leads down to it, which means that, for the customers who sit outside the deli to eat their lunch, they’ll be able to see the sea. It’s still quite warm and sunny for early September, so I take my oversized sunglasses from my bag and put them on to get a better view.
Before moving here, I knew that there was an island just off the coast but I had no idea just how close it was, or how big. It’s a bizarre and beautiful sight that makes the islands we’re used to seeing on the Thames pale in comparison. I really should take Frankie sometime, maybe at the weekend to celebrate his first week at school.
I set off down the cobbled main street, extra carefully in my heels. While I may be blonde, I’m not ditzy…that said, I’m not sure why it never crossed my mind to swap out my stylish heels for some more sensible ones. I supposed I assumed the north was paved.
The main street is not only cobbled, it’s steep too. If I were to fall, which is something I’m prone to doing from time to time, it would not be one of my more graceful tumbles. Not on this hill, in these shoes, wearing this dress that doesn’t quite reach my knee.
My most graceful fall to date happened two years ago while Frankie and I were ice-skating at the Natural History Museum outdoor ice rink. Frankie was having a blast, zipping around on the ice whereas I carefully clung to the edge and moved just a few inches at a time.
‘Come on, Mum, it’s easy,’ he assured me. He was only six at the time and I figured, if a six-year-old can do it, then so can I. I was wrong. Holding Frankie’s hand, I left the comfort of the outside edge and skated into the middle of the rink, to get a closer look at the big Christmas tree that sits in the centre.
‘You did it, you did it,’ he chirped, bursting with pride, sort of like I did when he took his first steps.
The only problem was, Frankie figured I’d be fine after that, so he skated off on his own again. That’s when the fear kicked in. I think half my problem with ice-skating was a confidence thing, and without Frankie to hold on to, I was too scared to move. Kids and adults were zipping past me with ease so, after psyching myself up for a few minutes, I made my move, skating out, taking it a few inches at a time, and I was doing it, I was really doing it…and then I got too confident, I forgot to be careful, and I lost control. It felt like I was flailing around, completely out of control for a long time, but I don’t suppose it was more than a few seconds. By some miracle I managed to not only stay upright, but glide into the arms of a tall, blond, handsome man, and for someone who struggled to meet men – let alone introduce herself – this was almost too good to be true.
‘Hi,’ I blurted.
‘Hey,’ he replied.
‘Do women always fall at your feet or am I the first?’ I joked awkwardly, like I do.
‘Erm, just my wife,’ he replied, nodding to the leggy brunette to his left.
The flirting might not have been great, but the fall – and the recovery – were excellent.
My least graceful fall to date was six months ago, in Tesco, where I literally slipped on a banana skin and ploughed into a display of toilet rolls. The landing was soft, at least.
The main street has a real mixture of shops, from quirky little gift shops to a shop, hilariously called Fruitopia, that appears to sell nothing but jam.
There’s a shop that sells women’s clothing, but if the mannequins in the window are anything to go by, it’s probably not to my taste. The next shop along, though, is a cool gallery cum bookshop that looks like it might have some interesting stuff inside.
I step inside the large white room to the murmur of a classical music tune that I recognise, but couldn’t name. It feels lovely in here, with the cool air blowing down on me as I browse the photographs and paintings on the walls. It seems like most of them were taken or painted locally, which is cute. The books all seem to be similar in theme too – perhaps I could pick up something to give me an insight into the local area.
‘Hello,’ I say brightly to the man sitting behind a desk in the centre of the room.
‘Hello,’ he replies, taking off his glasses. ‘Can I help you?’
‘I was after a book about the local area.’
‘We have lots of them,’ he replies straight-faced.
‘Yeah.’ I laugh awkwardly. ‘I was hoping you could maybe recommend a specific one. Whichever is your favourite.’
‘Oh, sure,’ he replies.
He casts an eye over a table of books before picking one up and handing it to me.
‘This one should do it. It’s all about the history of the area, places for tourists to visit, local customs, etcetera.’
‘Brilliant,’ I reply. ‘I’ll take it.’
The man, an awkward thirty-something who, for some bizarre reason, is wearing a beanie hat on a sunny day, scans the book.
‘Can I interest you in some postcards featuring stunning local scenes for the folks back home?’ he asks, loosening up a little, as he points to a rack of cards to his left.
I glance at them.
‘No thanks,’ I reply, my smile dropping.
I can’t help but think about the postcard in my bag, the one from someone back home, and if there’s one thing I don’t wish, it’s that he were here.