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Flora reached her arm across to take Susie’s hand. ‘Ready when you are.’
‘Absolutely.’ Tilda topped up Susie’s cup. ‘Here, you’d better have this.’
Susie dropped her head, took in a deep breath and looked up at the clear blue sky above them. ‘I know it doesn’t have to be like this. I just don’t know how to get out of it.’ Fat tears fell from the corners of her eyes, rolling slowly down her face.
‘Is there anything we can do? I mean…’ Flora stopped herself, not wanting to push her friend too hard.
‘Honestly, it’s fine. Well, it’s not fine, but… we’re just two people who don’t really like each other any more. And we haven’t for a very long time. I just need to find the right moment to do something about it.’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I know he could make life difficult if he wanted to.’
‘Are the children OK? I mean, do they know?’ Tilda glanced across at them, doing a quick headcount as she did.
‘I don’t think so. They might have picked up on something, I suppose. To be honest, there’s no real communication, but then there hasn’t been for such a long time, I’m not sure they know any different.’ Susie picked up a pebble, turning it slowly in her hand. ‘I guess I just need to hang on in there for a bit longer, until the kids are a bit older perhaps.’
‘But if you’re unhappy…’ Tilda ventured.
Susie turned to Tilda, shaking her head. ‘It’s not that simple. But I promise I’m fine; the children are good. Honestly, if I need help, I will ask.’
‘Well, we’re here whenever you need us. Aren’t we?’ Flora looked at Tilda.
‘Absolutely. And anytime you need us to polish off another bottle of his very expensive champagne you just let us know.’ Tilda raised her glass and an eyebrow.
‘Thank you.’ Susie couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
Having bribed the children out of the water with the promise of biscuits, they left them wrapped in towels on the rug and walked together down to the edge of the water to wriggle their toes in the shallows, the movement of the water constantly shifting the sand beneath their feet. Susie tossed the pebble she held in her hand into the sea. Together they watched the ripples it left behind as it sank to the floor.
* * *
When they had made their way home, Flora walked into the house, following the trail of wet towels and swimming costumes dropped by the children, like a line of soggy breadcrumbs leading to their whereabouts. Picking them up as she went, she headed to the kitchen. Johnny sat at the table, the top of it covered with paper.
‘How was it?’ He smiled up at her.
‘Glorious, actually. Susie sweetly brought – well, stole – a bottle of very lovely champagne to toast finishing my exams. And the kids all went in the sea.’ She dropped the towels by the washing machine. ‘How was your day?’
‘Well, I think we’ve done as much as we can. This…’ he gestured at the papers surrounding him, ‘is my best guess at how we can maximise sales from the range we’ve got. We haven’t got much to go on, given that Mack didn’t have an online shop before now – God knows how he’s managed to keep it going for so long without it – but having gone through the last few years’ transactions I reckon we’ve got a small number of loyal customers with a pretty high spend.’ Johnny tapped at the keyboard as he spoke. ‘What we need to do is work on getting more engaged new customers, ones who’ll be willing to spend a bit more. Basically, we’re always going to have some customers who, I reckon, want nothing more than a cheap bottle of Pinot Grigio in their fridge door or a cheap bottle of Spanish red on the side in the kitchen. And that’s fine; we’ve got wines for them. But if we’re going to grow the business, we need to focus on building up this middle bit,’ he pointed at a coloured pyramid on the screen, ‘and in time, move them into our loyal customer group.’ He reached for a piece of paper, holding it out to Flora. ‘See this?’
She took it and tried to figure out what she was looking at. ‘Give me a clue.’
‘Projections. On the left is what will happen if we carry on as we are. We’ve got six months before our cash flow dries up. But on the right…’ Johnny pointed to a column of numbers, ‘… is what could happen if we really work at it. I mean, we won’t be retiring anytime soon, but it does mean we’ll be making more than enough for the shop to wash its face and some left over to invest and grow the business. Perhaps eventually open a café at the back of the shop and roll out the events side.’ He looked up at her.
Flora took a deep breath. ‘Are we completely mad, doing this?’ She couldn’t help but voice her doubts out loud.
Johnny stared back at the screen. ‘Possibly, yes. But, what do they say? You never know if you don’t try. And I’m all for giving it a go.’ He looked up at her, his eyebrows raised, a smile on his lips. ‘How about you?’
She slid herself between the table and his chair, sitting on his lap facing him, arms wrapped around his neck. ‘Count me in.’ She kissed him.
‘Ew, really?’ Pip walked into the kitchen, a book in her hand.
‘I am allowed to kiss him, you know.’ Flora climbed off Johnny’s lap.
‘I know but still, gross.’ Pip pulled a face.
‘Hey, Pip, I hear the beach was good fun.’ Johnny started collecting up the papers.
‘Yeah, it was good. Water was cold but Tilda gave us a whole packet of Jammie Dodgers to share.’ Pip picked up an apple from the fruit bowl on the table and wandered off again.
‘Ooh, that reminds me.’ Flora went to the cupboard, taking out a packet of pasta and a tin of chopped tomatoes. ‘I did have a thought at the beach. How about we get some proper music for the party? You know, a small band or something?’
‘I think a band might be pushing it. We haven’t really got the budget for that.’ Johnny shut the laptop.
