Page 10 (1/2)

Chapter 1

People could say what they liked about Welsh seaside towns, but in Mia Page’s opinion, there weren’tbarefoot on the beach

Shoes in hand, she wriggled her toes against the dry sand and stared out over the glistening waves, cheerfully ignoring the line of dead jellyfish left behind by the retreating tide Even at eight thirty in thewith the faary rock

Mia turned slowly around, surveying her doler gang were said to have hidden, back in the day The lighthouse on the cliff above, and beside it the tu as a child The Esplanade, with its dated hotels and faded guesthouses, spanning the length of the beach

Her boss, attacking the postman on the Esplanade

Mia gave her toes one last wriggle, put her shoes on and dashed up the stone steps from the beach to the town above Ahead of her, Ditsy Levine, seventy-six and still spectacular, dressed in a shocking pink and green floral tea dress, had Jacques’ ar to prise a selection of envelopes fro in easily

“Ditsy, what on earth are you doing?” Mia grabbed the much older woman around the waist, more to steady her than stop her, since Ditsy looked about to topple over

“Getting our post,” Ditsy said through gritted teeth, succeeding at last in peeling one of Jacques’ fingers out of the way

Jacques, who’d arrived in Aberarian froo, and still complained about the weather, was not the world’s most efficient postman But he did have a system He started his deliveries on the outer streets of the small seaside town and spiraled his way in to the center until he reached the post office again Ditsy’s A to Z shop, being next door to the post office-cuents on the main street, was his last stop Quite often, the workday had effectively ended by the time he handed Mia her mail

“If somebody would employ a sensible delivery systeer from the letters, “I wouldn’t have to resort to such actions”

“Fine, fine!” Jacques finally released the post, and the sudden action caused Ditsy to jerk backward, pushing Mia against the railing separating the Esplanade fro down to the sandy beach By the ti her skinny frah heraround in his inside pocket and pulling out another envelope Ditsy runtled noise from the bench, obviously personally offended he’d kept any mail hidden from her

“Since we’re ignoring any sense of order today, you ht as well have this too” Jacques shoved the letter into her hands “It was addressed to your ht it over to you” He sounded hurt at the accusations thrown at hi his job in an orderly manner, and for a moment Mia wondered if he was h

anging around for an apology from Ditsy, in which case she suspected everyone’s post would still be waiting to be delivered tomorrow

Then she glanced down at the envelope Written across the reverse flap was a return address: G E Page, 15 Cottle Way, Cottlethorpe, East Yorkshire Well, at least she knehere dear old Dad had got to now And it had only taken him fourteen years to write Suddenly it was very clear why Jacques was still hanging around

Mia pushed the letter into the corner of her handbag She wasn’t giving Jacques, and by extension everyone on his post round, the satisfaction of knohat her father had to say to her She wasn’t even sure she wanted to know herself

“Thank you” She turned away and grabbed Ditsy’s arot a shop to open” Ditsy followed, after returning to Jacques all the letters addressed to other people They left hi system

“You really shouldn’t attack people in broad daylight, you know,” Mia said, once Jacques was out of earshot and they were safely headed up Water Street “It’s not going to make these people like us any more”

Ditsy bristled “They like me just fine, thank you very much They just preferred my sister”

“They think you’re ornery,” Mia corrected, peeking through theof StarFish seafood restaurant to see if Charlie was at work yet He wasn’t

“I’ument for that As far as she was concerned, Ditsy had earned the right to do whatever the hell she liked It was just a sharee

Passing the cru yellow paintwork and faded movie posters three years out of date, Mia waved to Walt Ha up for another day of classic movies and stale popcorn Walt raised a hand to wave back, but lowered it when his wife, Susan, glared first at him then at Mia

Susan thought Mia was ht she was a disgrace

“So, who’s the letter fro like she didn’t care, as they turned onto Main Street and the tarnished brass sign above the A to Z shop came into view

Mia rolled her eyes “Don’t pretend Jacques didn’t tell you I’le person on his rounds thisAnd I don’t for a second believe you were actually attacking hiet the phone bill and a Fish Festival flyer”

“I just can’t believe he was hiding it in his pocket,” Ditsy gruoing to need a nap today You et your afternoon off, after all”

Ditsy’s A to Z shop was an institution in Aberarian It had been there all of Mia’s life, and before, and any visitor to the toays reotten the jellyfish and the boat trips Usually because they’d spent twenty-fiveevery item in the shop was stored alphabetically on the twenty-six antique wooden shelves, each with a gilt letter resting atop them It wasn’t practical, or particularly profitable, but it was certainly memorable

“Speaking of the Fish Festival,” Ditsy said, pushing the door open, “they’re in trouble again”

Ditsy struggled out of her calory of the floral fantasia of fabric draped over her skinny body and tied with a pink and yellow beaded necklace for a belt around the waist ‘The only person who ever cared what I looked like died a decade ago,’ Ditsy always said ‘Besides, I like flowers’ The ca behind the counter, next to Mia’s apron, and Ditsy dropped onto the stool by the till

Mia pulled off her jacket to reveal her more sedate tea dress As uniforms went, she supposed it wasn’t a bad one Ditsy claiave the shop a retro feel Mia secretly believed the tea dress choice hadover the last few decades than any business motivation

She pulled her attention back to the Fish Festival “Again?”