Finding Home by Kate Field (read book .txt) 📗

will still buy it. I didn’t get where I am by giving away easy profit like that.’

In the thirty minute break she was allowed for lunch, Mim wandered down to the beach and let the sea breeze blow away the clouds of frustration that hung over her shoulders. The job was straightforward and she was enjoying meeting more of the villagers, but Janet was testing her patience already. Unfortunately, she needed the money too desperately to do anything but nod and bite back a sigh as Janet picked her up on some other spurious pretext or insisted on checking the change she was giving a customer for the umpteenth time. Mim couldn’t wait to make it through her probation period and lose her chaperone.

In the middle of the afternoon, a man in his early thirties came into the shop, browsed around and then dumped a pile of biscuit packets on the counter next to the till. He was wearing muddy trousers and, despite the cold weather, a T-shirt which showed off the huge muscles in his arms. Blond hair framed an attractive face that still boasted a slight tan.

‘Hello,’ he said, giving Mim a friendly smile. ‘You’re not Janet.’

‘Well spotted.’ Janet was on a bathroom break; she was apparently allowed more than three each day but Mim wasn’t complaining as it gave her at least ten minutes without scrutiny. ‘Do you want her? She’ll be back in a minute.’

‘No.’ He shuddered. ‘Are you Mim?’

‘Yes. How do you know that?’

‘The accent. We don’t hear many northern ones down here, not out of holiday season. I’m Bobby. You met my sister Heather yesterday.’

‘Heather the swimmer? Yes, I did.’ Mim smiled and then realised that Bobby was likely to have heard the story about her disastrous swimming attempt if he’d spoken about her with Heather. ‘It’s all a bit embarrassing. I was lucky she arrived with Karen when she did.’

‘It hasn’t put you off the sea, has it?’

‘Not at all. I’m not giving up after one go. I was fine until I got a cramp.’

‘Try warming up before you go in,’ he said. ‘You’ll soon get used to it.’

Mim smiled and rang the biscuits through the till. Why couldn’t Corin have been so relaxed instead of barging in with his ‘I told you so’ attitude and his offer of charity? Sometimes kind words were needed more than actions.

‘You’ll let me know if you have a favourite veg, won’t you?’ Bobby continued. He held out a crumpled ten pound note to Mim.

‘Veg?’ Mim was confused by the abrupt turn in the conversation. ‘You’ve walked past it.’ She pointed to the baskets of over-priced fresh produce. Bobby pulled his face.

‘You’ve not bought any of that, have you? I’ll be bringing you a box tomorrow. I thought Bea would have mentioned it.’

‘Bea? Oh – you’re Bobby the gardener?’ That explained not only the muscles, but also the roughened hands that were ingrained with earth. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’

‘No, there’s loads to go round and it’s better quality than anything you’ll find here. More variety too. You’ll probably get some cabbage, carrots, sprouts, parsnips and Jerusalem artichoke tomorrow.’

‘Jerusalem artichoke?’ Mim laughed. ‘I wouldn’t have a clue what to do with it. You can leave that one out.’

‘All the more for Lia then. It’s her favourite.’

A faint colour crept over Bobby’s cheeks as he said this. That was interesting.

‘Lia’s away at the moment,’ she told him. ‘Didn’t you know?’

‘No. Where’s she gone?’

‘The Maldives. I don’t even know where that is.’

‘It’s outside my price bracket,’ Bobby said. ‘That’s all I need to know.’

He said this with such a glum air that Mim’s suspicions were heightened even further. Did he like Lia? She wondered if he would stand any chance if he did. Bill had given the impression that her love life was like a constantly revolving door, with a new man entering as soon as the old one was on his way out. And would Bill and Bea approve if Lia did show an interest in their gardener? He probably ranked higher than Mim on the social ladder, but they were both well below the Howards. There was quite a leap from letting someone like her stay in an unused caravan to welcoming them as a member of the family.

‘What’s all this, Bobby Knight?’ Janet asked, shuffling back into the shop and clearly catching only the tail end of the conversation. ‘If you’ve not got the money for those biscuits, you can put them back.’

‘He’s already paid for them,’ Mim said, and while Janet checked the till Bobby made a cowardly escape and dashed out of the shop.

‘What are you doing here so early?’ the large, gruff man behind the bar asked, when Mim turned up at the Boat half an hour early for her first shift later that night. ‘You won’t get paid until seven, so you don’t want to be working a minute before that.’

‘Don’t I need training?’ Mim asked.

‘Have you pulled a pint before?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you work a till?’

‘Yes.’

‘Can you carry a tray of empty glasses?’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s good enough for me.’ The man held out his hand. ‘I’m Howie. Pleased to meet you. You’ve been in the shop all day, haven’t you? How’d you find that?’

‘It was busy,’ Mim replied. She had no idea who Howie was and whether he was related to Janet, so she decided to be careful. He guffawed at her response.

‘I’ll bet. Janet worked you until you were ready to drop, I expect. You’ll find we operate differently here. Have you eaten?’

‘I had an apple.’ There hadn’t been time for much else.

‘That’ll never do,’ he said. ‘You’re no use to me if you faint away. Go to the kitchen and get a bowl of soup down you.’

‘I can’t afford to buy soup.’

Howie laughed again.

‘Who said anything about buying it? I’m the boss here. It’s a perk of the job as far as I’m concerned.’

Mim headed in the direction he pointed, through the kitchen door, thinking she was definitely going to