Page 110 of Be More Octopus

'Unfortunately, Carol, I'm away at my second home in Sardinia for the rest of the year.'

Matt piped up. 'Perhaps Emily could give us some advice instead? She's well qualified.'

Em smiled at him. He'd given her an opportunity for the perfect reply. Bless him. 'I'm afraid I won't be here next time either. I'll be in London. One of my portraits has been shortlisted for the Unity prize, and I'll be at the exhibition's opening night.'

A hush settled over the rest of the group. Jerry stormed over to his easel and tidied away his things in furious silence.

Matt followed Em out to the car park. 'Was that true?'

'One hundred per cent. I wouldn't have crowed about it normally, but Jerry wound me up.'

'You're entitled to crow about it. Who did you paint?'

'Professor Jack Carver.'

'The historian? That's brilliant. I'm in the presence of a genius.' He bowed to her.

'Thank you, but that's overstating it a bit,' she laughed.

'It's way better than the lovely Jerry's North Devon art show! It's been worth all those £5 weekly fees to see him taken down a peg or two. Do you think you'll come back to the group in future?'

Em pulled a face. Apart from having a laugh with Matt, she hadn't enjoyed it. 'I need to think about it.'

'Would you fancy helping me set up a rival group?'

'Are we going to fight this lot in the car park?'

'Oh yes. Paintbrushes at dawn! Fastest drawer wins.' He mimed waving a sword around. 'Seriously though, there were a couple of people who came to a session in October. They didn't enjoy it either. But I've kept in touch with them. We've been talking about organising our own group together. Would you like to join us?'

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

'Time to put your clothes back on,' Em told Ben, giving him a cheeky wink.

'Are you sure? I thought you preferred me naked?' Ben grinned.

It had all started a couple of days previously when Ben and Em had walked into the kitchen of Dashford Grange after Em's latest workout. Ben's training regime was working. Em had finally been able to run up the last part of the hill without collapsing at the top in a breathless heap.

'I'm not sure you need me any more,' Ben said.

Em enjoyed Ben's company. She didn't want to stop training with him yet. 'There's still room for improvement. I might struggle to stick with it in the winter if we haven't got our weekly session.'

'Ah, good. You're back.' Nancy sounded pleased to see them as she looked up from the laptop. 'I've had an idea that I want to run past you. I've been thinking about how to increase our low-season bookings.'

Ben picked up his kit bag. 'Time I wasn't here. I'll leave you to discuss business.'

'Please stay for a little longer if you can, Ben. You're key to all this.' Nancy said to him.

Ben looked bemused. He sat down on one of the high stools.

Nancy turned to Em. 'Ben was talking about the surfing lessons he offers when we were training last week.'

Em raised her eyebrows. 'Are you going to take up surfing now?'

'No, not for me,' Nancy laughed. 'I already know how to surf. '

Of course she did. How could Em have thought otherwise?

'I've noticed some of the holiday lets further down the coast offer surfing holidays. I think we should give it a try.'