An A To Z Of Love. Sophie Pembroke

      ‘Exactly!’ Shaking her head, Ditsy said, ‘You always complain the people in this town don’t trust you, that they won’t move past what your father did, or you dumping the town golden boy and breaking his heart. But the truth is, it’s you who won’t move on. You don’t trust them. You don’t want to have to rely on anyone, don’t want to let them let you down. Not even Charlie. And I understand why, Mia, really I do. But at some point…’

      She trailed off and was silent for a long moment. Then she said, ‘Be honest. Which bothers you more – the fact that Becky’s here to try to change Aberarian or the possibility that she’s come back for Charlie?’

      Mia shuddered. ‘They’re both pretty horrendous.’

      ‘Seriously, Mia.’ Ditsy gave her a stern look. ‘Which upsets you more?’

      ‘The first, of course.’ Mia ignored the small, squirming feeling in her stomach suggesting otherwise. ‘I mean, I think it would be a disaster if Charlie got together with her again, but it’s his life. His mistake to make.’

      Ditsy looked at her for so long Mia was almost afraid she was going to reach in and pluck the truth from her head. Then, finally glancing away, she said, ‘Did I ever tell you why Henry and I called this place the A to Z shop? Why we set it up the way we did?’

      Now Mia was intrigued and more than a little relieved at the change of subject. ‘No. Never.’ The A to Z shop had always been a fact of Aberarian life. Like jellyfish on the beach at low tide, and Ditsy’s floral dresses. ‘I just assumed it was after A to Z Jones.’

      Before Mia could stop her, Ditsy had clambered up to stand on top of her stool and was reaching above her head to the shelf running along the length of the wall, just below the ceiling. ‘Ditsy! What are you… Let me do that…’

      But by then Ditsy had climbed down again, clutching a dusty hardback book to her bony chest. ‘When we got married,’ she explained, settling onto her stool, ‘Henry’s great aunt gave us this book.’ She pushed it across the counter, enabling Mia to read the title – An A to Z of Love.

      ‘It was a bit of a joke, really,’ Ditsy went on, ‘or at least, we treated it as such. We used to read out entries to each other in bed at night, before we went to sleep. Even if we’d had the most awful day or if we were fighting, one of us would pick up the book, choose a letter and we’d soon be laughing again.’ Mia flicked through the pages, smiling at the decorated letters at the start of every chapter. ‘It’s not overstating things to say this book saved our marriage, more than once.

      ‘When we decided to open this place, Henry insisted it should be called the A to Z shop. He said the entirety of human existence and need could be fitted into an alphabet. He said people liked knowing where they stood and where things would have to be. The order of the alphabet was comforting.’

      ‘And he was right,’ Mia murmured. After all, the shop was still going, just, thirty years later. They had to be doing something right.

      Ditsy nodded. ‘He was.’ Then, as Mia pushed the book back towards her, she shook her head, giving Mia another glimpse of her wicked smile. ‘You take it. An apology for sending you out with that horrible man. Besides, I think your need is greater.’

       Chapter Four

      Charlie stared at the collection of ingredients in front of him and tried to remember what he’d planned to do with them before Becky had shown up in town and turned his week upside down.

      He wasn’t even sure if Mia would come back for the tasting after the lunch from hell. But on the off chance she did, he was going to have her favourite food ready for her. She deserved it after the afternoon she’d had.

      Besides, tastings with Mia, late in the evening when the rest of StarFish was empty, then a midnight movie at the Coliseum, those were the best parts of his week. He wasn’t going to let Becky ruin it for him.

      In fact, he wasn’t going to let Becky ruin anything for him. Despite all her talk about the casino, and business, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she had other motives for coming home to Aberarian. Which meant he had to be on his guard, just in case any of those motives involved his restaurant, or his best friend. Or himself.

      ‘I have a question,’ Magda said, leaning on the counter beside him, and Charlie wondered when she’d come in and how he hadn’t heard the doors.

      ‘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