Free The Turnaround Treasure Shop by Jennie Jones Page B

frustration. He’d avoided old friends for this reason, unsure what it meant.
    He’d monitored himself for 12 months. In the end he’d searched for a hideout. Somewhere he could begin life again on a quiet, personal level. Swallow’s Fall had offered the ideal.
    He pushed through the swing door of Kookaburra’s and looked around, unclenching his hands which had curled into fists with his thoughts. Quiet. Two or three hotel residents at the bar, the reception desk unattended. No Lily, but Charlotte smiled at him from inside the restaurant. She waved, so Nick walked through.
    â€˜How’d it go with Mrs Tam?’ Charlotte asked as she folded white cotton serviettes into fancy conical shapes and stuck them into champagne flutes. She nodded down at her task. ‘We’ve got an afternoon champagne tea party for a group of tourists. Business is good.’
    â€˜Great to hear.’ He motioned for her to stand aside as she moved to pick up the heavy-looking silver tray filled with the champagne flutes. ‘Let me.’ He picked it up and followed her to one of the larger tables by the front windows which had been set with cutlery, tea plates and vases full of autumn branches and greenery.
    â€˜Thanks,’ she said as she began emptying the tray and placing the flutes in alignment alongside the place settings. ‘So how’d it go?
    â€˜Good,’ Nick answered. ‘I’ve asked if I can do something for the Support to Survive program. I suggested internet connection at the library. I’ve got an old PC they can have.’
    Charlotte paused. ‘Thank you, Nick. That’s brilliant.’
    Nick looked down at a vase of yellow, russet and green leaves. ‘And I’ve been given my task,’ he said, studying the silver vase. ‘I’m sure you know what it’s all about, since Junior Morelly is asking the same thing of me.’
    â€˜They’re in need of your muscles.’
    Nick glanced up. ‘So it seems.’ He tilted his head. ‘Quite a lot of heavy lifting needed suddenly.’
    â€˜Looks that way.’
    She wasn’t going to give, so Nick pushed it a step further. ‘Funny how Lily’s involved too.’
    â€˜Coincidence,’ Charlotte said in an off-hand manner totally unlike her usual up-front self.
    â€˜Yeah, well.’ Nick looked over his shoulder. The restaurant was empty, reception still unattended and the few people in the bar far away enough for his liking.
    He took a step towards the table. ‘There’s something I’d like to ask you.’
    â€˜Sure.’ Charlotte emptied the tray of its last two glasses.
    â€˜It’s a touchy subject and none of my business.’
    â€˜Go for it,’ Charlotte said, picking up the tray. ‘If it’s personal and confidential, I won’t talk about it.’
    â€˜Fair enough.’ Nick gathered his thoughts. ‘Lily,’ he said. ‘What happened to her husband?’
    Charlotte’s eyes widened and her mouth tilted in consideration. She didn’t take her eyes off Nick and Nick felt the scrutiny like an open wound on his skin but he didn’t expound on why he was asking. He waited for the answer, knowing Charlotte would give it because Charlotte had just sussed out that Nick liked Lily, and by the sly little smile sliding across her face, Charlotte appeared to be happy about this.
    â€˜He was a bad deal,’ she told him, her expression serious. ‘She doesn’t talk about him, neither do the children. I think they’re happy to forget him.’
    â€˜Was he a hitter?’ Nick’s belly summersaulted at the thought.
    â€˜I believe he hit Lily, at least once. I don’t know about the children. Don’t think so.’
    Cowardly bastard .
    â€˜He’s a gambler,’ Charlotte said. ‘Spent all their money at the track. Horses, dogs — anything that raced, legal or not. I think Lily must