The Damaged Hearts Bargain (Tetherington Hearts #2)

Chapter Nine

T he weather really was beautiful. If it kept up like this, the tourists would be flocking down to the beaches in a couple of weeks. A good tourist season was important for the town. Lucy hadn’t been around long, but she knew that.

Which was probably why she was practically skipping down the small beach path toward the pub. Yes, definitely the thought of tourist revenue and not at all anything to do with the person she was about to meet.

She bit her lip to stop herself smiling so wide.

Billy had been right. She needed to be more open minded about things. Maybe the reason she hadn’t found her person yet was that she’d been too busy looking for the wrong person. Not that Cal was necessarily going to be the right person.

But she was a person, and a good start, Lucy told herself. And she was nice. And not a shoplifter. All things in her favor.

Okay, so she seemed a wee bit mysterious, but Lucy could work with that. Also, she’d said she was only staying a few days. But she’d grown up here, she must have ties, family even, so maybe she came back regularly, that could work, couldn’t it?

She was so busy getting ahead of herself that she almost tripped over the threshold into the pub. She recovered herself nicely though and was pretty sure no one had noticed until old Doris Renton by the bar lifted her half pint.

“Not born with grace, were ye?” she said .

“Thanks for noticing,” said Lucy.

The pub was busy at this time of the evening, plenty of people chattering and drinking. So seeing a clear corner of the room was so out of place that Lucy almost didn’t notice Cal sitting there quietly surrounded by empty tables.

Frowning, she made her way over.

“Hey, you’ve already got a drink in,” she said. “I was supposed to be buying you one, remember?”

“Thought Rosalee might throw me out if I didn’t order one,” Cal said gruffly. “But feel free to buy me another.”

“What’ll it be then?”

“Just a half,” Cal said.

“Just a half,” repeated Lucy. But she was looking into those china blue eyes again and wondering how on earth she could ever have thought that Cal was a man.

“Bar’s that way.”

“Right.” She collected herself and walked over to the bar.

“You want to be staying away from that young madame,” Doris said, nodding toward Cal. “Nothing but trouble, that one.”

“Trouble?” Lucy asked. “In what way?”

But before Doris could answer, Jim had come around the bar and was taking her order. When Lucy looked back, Doris was gone, her empty glass sitting on the bar.

Weird.

Not quite as weird as Cal sitting in a little bubble of loneliness like she was some kind of plague victim, but still weird. Lucy lifted her glasses and went back to Cal.

“So,” she said, putting the glasses down.

“You don’t have to stay,” Cal said. “I’m sure you’ve heard it all by now and you’re not under any obligation. Feel free to just take your drink and sit elsewhere.”

Lucy froze. “What? Why? I mean…” She took a breath. “Alright, I’m not going to play games here. It’s weird that you’re sitting here alone, why isn’t anyone else sitting close?”

“I’ve got a bit of a reputation around these parts,” Cal said, lifting her old glass and draining it. “You mean you haven’t heard?”

“Not much for gossip,” said Lucy.

Cal’s mouth twitched and a dimple danced briefly in her cheek. “You’d be a first around here then. Fit in, do you?”

“I do alright,” Lucy said. She pulled out a chair. The fact that Cal was giving her permission to leave just made her want to stick around.

Cal sighed. “Listen, not to be a bitch, but it’s been a long day and not a great one. If you’re just here to… I don’t know, to make fun of me or tell me to get out of town or whatever else, save your breath. I’m here to clean out the house, that’s all, then I’ll be going.”

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Lucy asked. “And clean out what house?”

Slowly, Cal reached for her new glass and Lucy slid it gently toward her. “My mother’s house,” she said shortly. “She died.”

Lucy considered this. “Well, I’d offer my sympathy, but if your mum was anything like mine then it might not be in order. So I’m either sorry she died or sorry you have to deal with it, whichever is more appropriate.”

Cal did smile now, a real one that made Lucy’s heart beat a little faster. “Thanks,” she said, raising her glass.

Lucy clinked her own glass against Cal’s. “And, um, sorry about the whole rugby tackle thing.”

“Not the worst thing that happened to me today, believe it or not,” said Cal, drinking from her beer.

“Eh, Lucy!”

Lucy looked over to where Moira Hadley’s husband Mikey was drinking at the bar. “What?”

“You don’t want to be drinking over there. Come here and I’ll buy you a pint.”

Lucy squinted at him. “Fuck off, Mikey.”

The bar went quiet.

“Language, Lucy,” Mikey said.

“Don’t lecture me, I’m not one of your kids.”

“Shame, because you’d learn a few things. Like not drinking with thieves, for example,” Mikey said, eyes firmly locked on Cal.

“What did she take from you then?” asked Lucy, standing up.

Mikey blushed red.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Maybe you should learn a few things about listening to gossip,” said Lucy, suddenly very aware that everyone in the pub was listening to her.

“Alright, alright,” Jim said, coming around the bar. “Don’t make me bar anyone.”

Lucy glared at Mikey, but sat down.

“You didn’t have to defend my honor,” Cal said.

Lucy shrugged. “I don’t like people being picked on. Besides, you said you had a bad day. And if me tackling you wasn’t the worst part, what was?”

Cal’s eyes were clear and blue. “Probably walking into my mum’s house knowing that I’ll have to sort through everything by myself. Only child and all that.”

“Jesus, yeah, I could see that not being a high point.”

“My ex, Syd, she said I should get help in. But to be honest, I can’t really afford a company to do it.”

Lucy looked around the pub. “Are you really a thief?”

Cal narrowed her eyes.

“No, I’m just asking,” said Lucy. “Just answer me truthfully and that’ll be the end of that.”

“Beyond lifting a few sweets from the Guptas when I was a kid, no.”

“So, when do we start?”

“Start doing what?”

Lucy grinned at her. She had no idea why she was doing this other than the fact that Cal was very obviously someone in need. “Cleaning out your mum’s house.”

“No, no,” Cal said, drinking a large mouthful of beer. “You don’t have to—”

“I don’t have to do anything.” Lucy put her hands on the table. “I was homeless when I came here. Full on living on the streets and everything. Someone gave me a hand. She had no reason to, other than that she was kind. She just did it and it changed my life. So… I’ve got a lot of debts to repay.”

“I’m not your debt,” Cal said.

Lucy sniffed and could smell a citrusy, musky scent that smelled like men’s aftershave. The smell made her stomach flip over a little. Alright, she wasn’t being completely honest. She did know why she was doing this. Partly it was because Pen had helped her. But it was also because… spending a few enforced hours with Cal didn’t seem like a hardship.

“Fine, then I’ll help you with your mother’s house and you’ll do something for me in return.”

Cal’s eyes glittered a little at this and Lucy felt her stomach flip again. She really did like her.

“Got anything in mind?” asked Cal, eyebrow lifting suggestively.

Lucy had a flashback to straddling Cal on the street and her insides turned molten. Then she heard Mikey laugh at the bar and an idea came to her.

Whatever was going on here, Cal needed to be a part of a community. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but if Cal said she wasn’t a thief then she wasn’t a thief. And someone should put that right. No one deserved a reputation for something they hadn’t done.

Maybe all Cal needed was an in, someone to stick up for her, a chance to prove herself.

“My friends are getting married this weekend,” Lucy said, leaning her elbows on the table. “I could use a date.”

Cal laughed until she realized that Lucy wasn’t laughing. “You’re serious?”

Lucy shrugged. “A couple of hours at a nice wedding balanced against a zillion hours helping you clean out your mum’s house seems like not too much to ask.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But you don’t want to spend time with me?” Lucy asked, biting her lip and looking up at Cal from under her eyelashes.

“Oh, Jesus, the things I do for a pretty face,” Cal groaned.

“So you think I’m pretty?” Lucy beamed .

Cal sighed. “I think… I think there’s a million things you don’t understand here, Lucy.”

Lucy wasn’t so sure. She understood loneliness. She understood complicated families. She understood that Cal was as attracted to her as she was to Cal. That seemed like a lot of understanding to her.

“Come on, it’s a good deal,” she said. “And at least you’ll get to see one friendly face a day. I promise that I won’t mistake you for a shoplifter again.”

Mikey laughed at the bar again and Cal looked over at him, her eyes clouding a little. “There might be people at this wedding that aren’t exactly pleased to see me.”

“These people are my friends. Trust me. You’ll be fine. And I can always defend your honor.”

Cal laughed.

“So, do we have a deal?” Lucy asked, sticking out her hand.

It was a full second before Cal moved. But then she grasped Lucy’s hand firmly and shook it so hard that sparks flew up her arm and her pulse started to race.