An A To Z Of Love. Sophie Pembroke

led Tony along Main Street, towards the Esplanade, and stared at the town she’d lived in all her life with new eyes. It looked shabbier than she remembered, more rundown. And when had so many shops closed? One at a time, she supposed, and it was always sad when they did, but then two weeks later she’d forget about them. She always saw Aberarian as a picture in her head, a magical place that drew you back in, however far you strayed. Until she had to find a way to make the town interesting to an outsider, and realised the whole place looked abandoned.

      Maybe she should tell him the tragic life of Mia Page, so he’d run screaming for the hills now, saving her the bother of scaring him off slowly, over time.

      Instead, she guided him down Water Street, past the bright blue and gold sign of StarFish, and drew his attention to the beautiful holiday homes on the other side of the street, rather than the charity shop and the bucket and spade stall. She glanced into StarFish’s window, but it didn’t look like Charlie was there anyway, so there was no point stopping.

      On the corner of the Esplanade, she directed him to the window of Treasures, Kim Williams’s tourist trap, selling overpriced slate objects and Celtic-designed jewellery made overseas. That was what people wanted from a seaside town these days, wasn’t it?

      Although, if she was honest, Tony didn’t seem particularly interested in the town anyway.

      ‘So, you work in the A to Z shop?’ Tony asked, turning away from Kim’s overly sentimental window display to point at a plaque beside it declaring the smuggler A to Z Jones had once stayed there. ‘Named for the man himself, I assume?’

      Mia shrugged. ‘Probably. Story goes he could get you anything from A to Z. A bit like an illegal Harrods. But it’s mainly because everything in the shop is arranged alphabetically.’

      ‘Really?’ Tony paused in the middle of the pavement. ‘How the hell does that work?’

      ‘Badly, most of the time,’ Mia admitted.

      ‘Huh.’ Tony smiled. ‘Well, you did say she was crazy.’

      Mia didn’t reply, just took his arm and carried on in the direction of the beach. Maybe the sea views would win Tony over.

      But somehow, with Tony beside her, even the beach had lost some of its appeal.

      ‘Are those… jellyfish?’ He stared, horrified, at the shoreline.

      Mia winced. ‘Yeah. They… We tend to get a lot of them, this time of year. They wash up with the tide and wash out again later. Usually.’ Tony still looked horrified. ‘You’re not really seeing it at its best.’

      ‘What if you step on them?’

      ‘They sting,’ she replied. Perhaps it was time to take Tony away from the jellyfish.

      ‘Well, you wanted the coast,’ Mia said, leading him up to the Esplanade. Aberarian wasn’t the most exciting place on the planet, but it was her home and she loved it. And for some reason, it was important to her that Tony should like it too. ‘This is it.’

      Tony turned to her and smiled again, and Mia felt some of her worries fade away. ‘It most certainly is.’

      Not feeling she was making any progress, Mia started along the Esplanade, saying, ‘Well, there’s more to see, still.’

      They passed the Grand Hotel, a hulking old-fashioned building that dominated the Esplanade and still served high tea for its guests every afternoon. Then up King Street, past the bakery and more holiday flats, describing everything they passed. ‘And this is Joe’s, and…’

      But Tony was transfixed by Joe’s. ‘What is it?’

      Mia glanced up at the sign. Seemed self-explanatory to her. ‘Well, this half’s a butcher’s shop and the other is a fishmonger’s. It’s just Joe runs them both. Saving people time when they’re shopping.’

      ‘Sort of a primitive supermarket, then?’ Tony asked, grinning.

      ‘Not exactly.’ She shrugged. ‘Aberarian’s not big enough to support both separate shops. So Joe’s father amalgamated them.’ She didn’t mention that at the rate the local housing was becoming holiday homes, occupied for just a few months a year, soon the town wouldn’t even be able to support Joe’s.

      Tony shook his head. ‘Baffling. Only in Wales. What’s next?’

      Something in Mia’s middle clenched at his tone, but she couldn’t think why. After all, it wasn’t anything Joe himself hadn’t said from time to time.

      She looked around her, wondering what on earth to show him next, and spotted, past the A to Z shop, the old Coliseum cinema. Perfect. Surely Tony would appreciate the site of a proper old movie theatre, not one of those modern superplexes that charged more for popcorn than a ticket.

      But Tony, apparently, was more of a modern cinema man than an appreciator of the classics.

      ‘But that came out months ago!’ He pointed at the poster jammed crookedly into the rusting frame on the front of the building. ‘And what’s a wet weather matinee?’

      Mia shrugged. ‘Makes it cheaper if we wait a bit for the films. Helps Walt keep the place going, and it doesn’t make a lot of difference, really. And the wet weather matinees are just for the school holidays. Walt opens up earlier in the day when it’s raining. Gives the kids something to do.’ She smiled at the thought of the last one she’d attended, with Charlie the summer before. ‘It’s fun. He puts on some classic kids’ movies and hands out big bowls of popcorn, included in the ticket price.’

      Still staring at the faded and peeling yellow paint on the brickwork, Tony didn’t look convinced. Mia didn’t bother telling him about Walt’s Festive Film Festival, running from October to December, showing all his favourite Christmas movies. ‘Come on,’ she said instead. ‘Come in and meet Walt. He’s brilliant. You’ll see.’ Upsetting Walt might have been her number one regret about breaking things off with Dan, except her almost father-in-law had made it very clear that he still counted her as part of the family, even if she wasn’t going to marry his son.

      Inside the Coliseum, the lights were dimmed and the popcorn machine turned off. ‘Walt?’ Mia called out, watching Tony taking a tour of the small lobby, fingering the grubby red and white ropes set up to keep non-existent queues in order.

      Walt Hamilton stuck his head out from behind the box office door, and Mia could see Tony taking in his balding head, and butter-stained red and white shirt. ‘Mia? There’s no film this afternoon. Not until…’ His voice trailed off as he eyed up Tony. ‘What are you doing here?’

      ‘Walt, this is Tony.’ Mia took Tony’s hand again and led him to the box office. ‘He’s in town on business, and I’m giving him a bit of a tour.’

      ‘Right.’ Walt stuck out a hand. ‘Well, hello, then.’

      Tony took the proffered hand, and Mia saw Walt wince at the force of his handshake. ‘Interesting place you’ve got here,’ Tony said, running a hand down the dusty frame of a black and white forties starlet’s photo.

      Walt shrugged. ‘I like it.’

      Obviously Walt wasn’t going to help her sell the Coliseum as a reason to love Aberarian. ‘We all love it,’ she said with more enthusiasm. ‘Always packed out on a Saturday night, and the kids think it’s the best thing in town!’

      Tony’s face was full of disbelief, and Walt cringed at the lie, so Mia decided it might be time to call it quits and move onto the pub instead. Surely Tony would have to like the pub.

      ‘What are you doing here?’ Susan Hamilton’s voice behind her made Mia more determined to make a run for it. Dan’s mother’s reaction to their break up had been far less understanding. In fact, Mia was pretty sure that Susan blamed her completely for her beloved son marrying a holidaying student and moving three hundred miles away to start a family with her. ‘Walt?’

      ‘Just leaving, Susan,’ Mia