Happy Endings at Mermaids Point, page 1
HAPPY ENDINGS AT MERMAIDS POINT
SARAH BENNETT
This book is for my editor, Sarah Ritherdon, who has helped me rediscover my writing mojo x
CONTENTS
Mermaids Point Character List
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
More from Sarah Bennett
About the Author
About Boldwood Books
MERMAIDS POINT CHARACTER LIST
Alex Nelson. Tom’s half-brother, Emily and Max’s uncle, son of Archie and Philippa Nelson. Former accountant, now runs Mermaid Tails and Treasures, the village bookshop. Author of the bestselling novel The Marriage Roller Coaster. Hero of Love Blooms at Mermaids Point.
Ali Mackey. Runs the late-night diner at Cleopatra’s hotel in Las Vegas with her husband, Gus.
Alun Wise. Local estate agent.
Andrew Morgan. Married to Sylvia, Laurie and Nick’ father. Owner of The Mermaids Cave, a large gift shop on the seafront.
Anna Nelson. Tom’s late wife and mother to Emily and Max.
Archie Nelson. Tom and Alex’s father. Married to Philippa, grandfather of Emily and Max. Known in the family as ‘Pop’.
Audrey. A nosy neighbour of Aurora’s parents.
Augustus ‘Gus’ Mackey. Runs the late-night diner at Cleopatra’s hotel in Las Vegas with his wife, Ali.
Aurora Storm. Pop star who staged a number of mermaid sightings around the Point as part of a viral campaign for her comeback album. Had a very brief fling with Nick Morgan while she was in the village. Heroine of Happy Endings at Mermaids Point.
Barbara Mitchell. Part of the local knitting circle. Lives with Malcolm Gadd.
Bev. Part of the local knitting circle, known to have a sharp tongue.
Blaze Reynolds. Founder of ATG (All the Goss). A scurrilous gossip website.
Bud Callaghan. On honeymoon in Las Vegas with his wife, Helen.
Carly King. Tabloid showbiz reporter.
Carlotta. Barbara Mitchell’s cat.
Chad Logan. Hollywood legend. Married to Melissa Howard.
Damian. A young boy who lives in Mermaids Point.
Dennis Rouse. Head of DR Talent Agency. Aurora Storm’s agent. Married to Hetty.
Emily Nelson. Tom and Anna’s teenage daughter.
Gabriel. A cairn terrier.
Gareth Beckett. Nerissa’s late fiancé. Died in a road accident whilst on a military deployment twenty-five years before the books are set.
Helen Callaghan. On honeymoon in Las Vegas with her husband, Bud.
Hetty Rouse. Married to Dennis, helps him run DR Talent Agency.
Ivy Fisher. Runs her own design, repair and alterations service which is located within the village bookshop. Laurie’s best friend. Heroine of Love Blooms at Mermaids Point.
Jake Smith. Investigative journalist currently working on a non-fiction book about county lines drug smuggling. Hero of Summer Kisses at Mermaids Point.
Janey. Mermaids Point resident. Talented singer.
Jen Fisher. Ivy’s mother, passed away in January after a long illness.
Julian Knox-Cavendish. Ex-boyfriend of Aurora Storm.
Kayleigh. Backstage assistant for the Divas show in Las Vegas.
Kim Powell. Aurora Storm’s mother. Married to Ross.
Kitty Duke. Part of the local knitting circle. A darling.
Leonard Cavendish. Former owner of the local bookshop which now belongs to Alex and Ivy.
Liam. Local architect who works with Nick Morgan.
Linda Smith. Jake’s mother and a close friend of Nerissa’s.
Lorelai ‘Laurie’ Morgan. Runs a café next door to her parent’s gift shop. Heroine of Summer Kisses at Mermaids Point.
Louise. A resident of Mermaids Point. She and her husband are in the process of purchasing one of the warehouse apartments recently redeveloped by Nick Morgan.
Luca. Owns and runs the local delicatessen. Married to Maria.
Lucifer. Alex and Ivy’s black cat.
Mac. Newspaper editor. Jake Smith’s former boss.
Malcolm Gadd. Mermaids Point former doctor, known to everyone as ‘Doc’. Mostly retired. Lives with Barbara Mitchell.
Marcy Johnson. Singing superstar and the headline act of the Divas show in Las Vegas.
Margot Beckett. Gareth’s mother.
Maria. Runs the local delicatessen with her husband, Luca.
Max Nelson. Tom and Anna’s teenage son.
Melissa Howard. Former Hollywood actor, now a celebrity talk show host. Married to Chad Logan.
Mrs Bailey. A regular customer at the bookshop.
Nerissa Morgan. Andrew’s younger sister, paternal aunt of Laurie and Nick. Manages the doctor’s surgery. Heroine of Second Chances at Mermaids Point.
Nick Morgan. Runs a tourist boat business from the Point’s commercial harbour with his and Laurie’s uncle, Tony. Still pining after a brief fling with Aurora Storm. Hero of Happy Endings at Mermaids Point.
Nicholas. A miserable toddler at a service station motel.
Pete Bray. Landlord of The Sailor’s Rest, a popular pub on the seafront. Owns the Penny Arcade a few doors down from the pub.
Philippa Nelson. Archie’s wife, Alex’s mother and Tom’s stepmother. Step-grandmother to Emily and Max. Known in the family as ‘Mimi’.
Reverend Steele. Mermaids Point’s vicar.
Rob. Local contractor who works for Nick Morgan.
Ross Powell. Aurora Storm’s father. Married to Kim.
Ruby. A school friend of Emily Nelson.
Sophia. A young girl who lives in Mermaids Point.
Sylvia Morgan. Married to Andrew, Laurie and Nick’s mother. Runs The Mermaids Cave with her husband as well as working part-time at the village school as classroom assistant.
Toby. Tom and Nerissa’s golden retriever.
Tom Nelson. Widower of Anna, and father to Emily and Max. The village doctor. Hero of Second Chances at Mermaids Point.
Tony Evans. Sylvia’s brother and maternal uncle of Laurie and Nick. Owner of Mermaid Boat Tours, a pleasure boat business which takes tourists on trips around the area and out to the Seven Sisters, a group of nearby islands.
Wendy Hancock. Ex-girlfriend of Ivy’s estranged father. Works in the local greengrocer’s.
PROLOGUE
‘Grab that end, will you?’ Nick’s father, Andrew Morgan, gestured to the opposite end of the brightly striped windbreak he was wrestling with. It wasn’t that breezy, but the taut piece of fabric would help their ever-expanding family group to stake a claim on the beach and provide a visual guide back to the right spot as the narrow stretch of sand filled up. There was plenty of space on the pebbles behind them, but it was one of the few days over the summer when no one was working, and his father was determined to grab a prime spot, which was why the two of them were out on the beach before 7.30 a.m. setting up. With the late August bank holiday weekend behind them, the Point was rapidly emptying of tourists and the Morgans and the Nelsons wouldn’t be the only local families taking advantage of the glorious weather before they fell back into the routines of school and work.
Nick held the wooden pole in place while his father hammered it into the sand with a rubber mallet and tried not to think about the million and one tasks waiting for him back at the warehouse. His parents didn’t ask much of him so when they’d gone to all the effort of coordinating a family day, it was the least he could do to show up with a smile on his face. Apart from his aunt, Nerissa, who worked at the local doctor’s surgery supporting her partner, Tom Nelson, who’d arrived just about a year ago to take over the practice, their entire extended family relied on the tourist season to keep their heads above water. Everyone had worked flat-out through what had been an incredibly successful season thanks to a prolonged period of high pressure over the UK, which had led to a particularly warm summer. His parents ran a gift shop on the seafront, his sister the adjoining café. Alex, Tom’s brother and a good friend of Nick’s, had taken over the village bookshop in the spring. Although everyone still referred to it as the bookshop, it had grown into so much more thanks to Ivy’s innovative fashion and homeware designs which occupied one half of the shop. Nick himself helped his uncle run a pleasure boat business out of the old harbour. Juggling his commitment to Uncle Tony while trying to project manage his new venture to turn an old warehouse into four modern apartments had been a struggle. Nick had leaned heavily on Rob, his lead contractor, to keep things running smoothly. From the enthusiastic way Rob had greeted the prospect of a day off site, Nick fully expected he would see him, his wife and their three small children making the most of the sunshine. Hopefully it would earn Nick some goodwill when things got down to the wire with the warehouse conversion and the inevitable late nights needed to get things done on time. Now summer was almost done, Nick would have more free time away from the boats, and he intended to throw every hour he could into getting the flats completed before the weather turned.
Leaving his father to roll out the straw mats that would keep the worst of the sand off their towels, Nick raised a hand to shield his eyes and stared out across the calm expanse of blue ocean. Mornings like this made it easy to believe they would enjoy sunshine forever, but like all residents of the Point, he knew better. Come the winter, that blue blanket would be a seething mass of dark grey topped with white rollers crashing in to swallow the sand and halfway up the pebbles too.
‘We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day,’ his father observed as he came to stand beside Nick. ‘I know there’s as many hard times as there are good, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.’
Nick swallowed a frustrated sigh. Though his dad probably thought his comment was the height of subtlety, it was one of many similar observations various members of the family had made to him in the past few months. They sensed the restlessness inside him, and he knew they were worried about it. He was worried about it. His project to convert the old warehouse overlooking the harbour into four apartments was supposed to have given him a new focus, as well as providing him with a home of his own because he was too damn old to still be holed up in the back bedroom at his parents’ house. As he’d started looking at the sample books, he’d found himself choosing the same neutral kitchen units and bathroom tiles for all four of the flats, rather than his original plan of designing one to his own specific tastes. Best to keep his options open, the small voice in the back of his head had said, in case he decided to rent, or even sell the place at a later date. He should’ve been brimming with excitement at the prospect of finally having a home of his own; instead, he just felt… flat.
A group of bobbing pink swimming caps caught his eye, evidence of the local open-water swimming club making the most of the peace and quiet before the body boarders and pleasure bathers took over the water. Grabbing at the chance to steer his father away from any more well-intentioned pep talks, Nick pointed them out. ‘I wonder which one is Linda.’ After a shy start while she’d found her feet, Linda had thrown herself into all sorts of surprising activities since she’d followed her son, Jake, to the Point. They were both such a part of the family, it felt like much more than a year since Jake had come to the village to investigate a rash of mermaid sightings that had gone viral and fallen in love with Nick’s younger sister, Laurie.
‘Probably the one near the back who’s waving at us,’ his dad said with a laugh as he raised his hand to return the greeting. Soon half the swimmers were waving and calling out ‘good morning’ as they breast-stroked past. There were a few in the group who took things more seriously and were ploughing through the gently rolling waves like one of the Brownlee brothers trying to win Olympic gold in the triathlon, but most were happy to go at a pace where they could chat as well as keep an eye on each other. Nick’s gaze wandered beyond the swimmers to the scattered islands on the horizon, known locally as the Seven Sisters. After his years taking tourists and bird-watchers out to view them, he knew all the secret landing spots… Nick turned away, cursing himself for thinking about Linda, which had led to thinking about Jake, those stupid mermaid stunts and therefore… No. He would not let his brain spiral around that hopeless loop yet again. Shaking himself like a dog emerging from the ocean, as though she could be shaken off as easily as droplets of salt water, Nick marched back up to the spot they’d staked out and began laying out towels over the mats. The others would be here soon – Laurie had promised them bacon rolls in return for their early morning efforts – and Nick would not let anything spoil the day. Even his pathetic yearning for what could never be.
Nick’s mum, Sylvia, arrived a little over half an hour later with Laurie and Jake in tow. His sister waved when she spotted them, holding up an insulated bag that Nick fervently hoped carried the promised bacon rolls. Jake trailed a few steps behind, his brow creased from the effort of lugging a pair of enormous cold boxes, which were no doubt packed with other tasty treats Laurie had prepared to sustain them. With the cold boxes tucked deep in the shade of an oversized sun umbrella, Nick settled on his towel and began to unwrap the silver foil that was keeping his roll warm. The smell of crispy bacon made his mouth water and he half-closed his eyes in anticipation of the first bite as he raised it to his lips… Splat! A dollop of something cold hit him on the back of the neck and he ducked reflexively from the shock of the unexpected sensation. He turned his head, only for his mother to grasp it from behind and force him to face the front. ‘Keep still while I rub this in,’ she scolded him as her fingers began to rub at the sun cream she’d squirted from a large bottle.
‘I can do it myself,’ Nick grumbled, trying to shift away so he could eat his breakfast. ‘I’m twenty-eight, not eight.’
‘Oh hush, you big baby, I’ll be done in a minute,’ his mum admonished before leaning around to plant a kiss on his cheek that made Nick want to roll his eyes and smile at the same time. Sylvia Morgan was a force of nature and it was pointless trying to change her – not that Nick wanted to, for all her fussing.
Nick shot an imploring look towards his father, who was grinning around his own half-eaten roll. ‘Best do as your mum says, lad, you know she’ll get her way in the end.’
So much for moral support! Nick stared glumly at his roll for a moment before wrapping it up with a sigh and setting it on the towel beside him. Leaning back slightly, he let his mother finish rubbing in the sun cream, only protesting when she yanked at the neck of his T-shirt to reach down inside the neckline and almost cut off his air supply in the process. ‘Enough, Mum, seriously.’ With a click of her tongue, Sylvia Morgan shuffled on her knees towards her husband, who only let his grin slip for a second when he realised he was next in line for the same treatment. Letting his own smug smile stretch his lips, Nick retrieved his breakfast and wolfed it down before anything else could spoil his enjoyment.
He’d just finished the last bite and handed his scrunched-up bit of silver foil to Laurie, when a chorus of greetings – including an enthusiastic bark – announced the arrival of the Nelson family group. As well as Tom, Nerissa and Tom’s two teenage children, Emily and Max, the party included Alex and his girlfriend and business partner, Ivy, and his parents, Archie and Philippa. Last but by no means least was Linda, rosy-cheeked from her swimming exertions. She’d moved into the upstairs flat at the surgery on a temporary basis back in the spring, but no one seemed in a hurry for her to move out.
Although they still lived in London, Archie and Philippa were currently staying with their eldest son while Archie recuperated from a broken leg after an ill-advised attempt to prune the wisteria without someone to hold his ladder. Nick noticed he was having to use a stick to negotiate his way over the slippery pebbles, but at least he was up and about, which would be a relief to everyone. Alex had told him he was avoiding the surgery because his father’s temper seemed to grow shorter as his convalescence continued. The scowl Archie cast at his eldest son when Tom dared to offer him a hand spoke volumes. Oblivious to any tensions in the new arrivals, Toby, the family’s boisterous golden retriever, was beside himself with excitement as to who he should greet first. Nick managed to fend off an enthusiastic lick, but his dad wasn’t so lucky and received a full face-washing. Toby had belonged to the previous doctor and somehow wound up staying on at the surgery after he retired. It had worked out all around as Max had bonded with the soft-hearted dog and it was plain for all to see the pair were now inseparable. Doc had moved in with his long-term partner, Barbara, who not only lived in a cottage too small to comfortably contain a large dog, but also owned a very fussy cat named Carlotta. Carlotta had a lot to answer for when it came to people adopting unexpected pets, as Alex and Ivy had ended up being caretakers for an enormous black cat – aptly named Lucifer. Barbara had promised to take Lucifer in when old Mr Cavendish had sold up his bookshop and moved to Cornwall. Carlotta, however, had other ideas so Lucifer had kept showing up at the bookshop until the new owners had caved in and let him stay. Alex and Lucifer shared something of a tolerate-hate relationship, although the old bruiser was starting to soften towards his new owner and only clawed him every other day.
