The Boardwalk by the Sea Read online

  Summer Sundaes

  The Boardwalk by the Sea

  Book One

  Georgina Troy

  Published by Green Shutter Books Ltd 2017

  ASIN B071DCW79L

  Copyright © Georgina Troy 2017

  The right of Georgina Troy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Green Shutter Books Ltd, Greenacres, St Ouen, Jersey, JE3 2DA

  Contents

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Recipes

  Summer Sundaes is the first in a new series of four books. This series is set in a fictional seaside village on the island of Jersey known as, The Boardwalk by the Sea. Each book is set during a season and focuses on one of four friends. I hope you enjoy getting to know them.

  Dedication

  To my daughter Saskia, with love.

  Before you visit the Summer Sundaes Café…

  Did you know that Georgina has a newsletter?

  She loves to share updates about forthcoming releases and regularly holds competitions for bookish goodies?

  You can sign up to her Newsletter by clicking here.

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to Rebecca Baudains who entered a competition to name one of the characters in this book. My character, Milo was named after her son, Milo Ray Baudains and Mrs Joliff’s name was borrowed from her mum.

  To Fee Roberts and Natalie Pallot Smith for their delicious recipes that you’ll find at the back of the book – there are more in a free download when you sign up to my newsletter. To Kirsty Greenwood, Karen Clarke and Rachael Troy, for edits and suggestions for Summer Sundaes, and to Yvonne Betancourt for the formatting.

  Love and thanks to my husband, Rob, who ensures our three rescue dogs, Jarvis, Claude and Rudi never miss their daily walk on the beach, and my children, James and Saskia for their support.

  Lastly, but importantly, to the Blonde Plotters and the wonderful bloggers, readers, and my friends on social media for their reviews and for sharing news about my books, I couldn’t do this without you.

  To discover more about Georgina Troy and the next books in The Boardwalk by the Sea series:

  Sign up to her mailing list

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  Chapter One

  Late June – Rome

  “You’ve what?” Sacha asked, only half listening to her aunt. She stared out at the terracotta rooftops from her balcony. Sacha struggled to believe that only eight hours ago she’d been mesmerised by the gentle waves breaking on the golden sand below her bedroom window, hundreds of miles from here.

  Right now, she longed to be there, breathing in the warm, salty sea air and preparing to begin another day in her Summer Sundaes Café. She loved living on the boardwalk, overlooking the small sandy bay enclosed on both sides by cliffs and rocks. A cosy feeling rushed through her. She missed her café. It was noisy at times and often busy, but its beach location always had a calming effect, which was more than she could say about being on holiday with her Aunt Rosie.

  “It hurts to raise my voice,” her aunt said, her voice straining as if she was about to expire. “Come inside.”

  Sacha did as she was asked and went back into the cool of her aunt’s room. “You were saying?” She hoped her tone gave away the depth of her annoyance, as she almost dared her aunt to repeat her earlier announcement.

  “I’ve arranged for someone to show you around Rome. It’s a glorious city and you can’t sit inside with me for the next couple of days.” Her aunt whimpered. Resting a perfectly manicured hand over the cooling eye mask covering her eyes, she reclined on the large hotel bed.

  “I don’t need a tour guide.” Sacha’s reaction sounded harsh, even to her own ears. She took a deep breath to try and calm down.

  Her aunt lifted one side of the eye mask and gave her niece a steely look that Sacha recognised only too well.

  “I know from experience how this damn migraine works,” Aunt Rosie said, lowering her eye mask. “I’m going to be incapacitated for the next couple of days. I don’t want to have to fret about you.” Before Sacha could argue, her aunt added, “It’s a big city and rather a complicated one. How will I know where to find you if you get lost?”

  Sacha could see her aunt was in pain and didn’t want to add to it by arguing. She gave it one last try. “I’m twenty-nine, Aunt Rosie, and I’ve travelled all over the world, usually by myself.” She hesitated for emphasis, to let her aunt absorb her comment. “I think I can find my way around a European city. I really don’t need an annoying boy joining me while I go sight-seeing.”

  “I never said he was a boy, did I? Anyway, you must go,” her aunt said, sounding more determined. “He’s expecting you.” She gave a pained sigh. “If nothing else, you can take the opportunity to visit some of the gelaterias. Maybe you’ll pick up a few tips for your ice cream café back in Jersey?”

  Sacha had to admit, her aunt did have a point. Taking over the running of her dad’s smallest café, almost two years ago, had been more challenging than she’d imagined. She was always looking for ways to improve the business and keep ahead of other local cafés.

  “That is a good idea,” she said, relenting slightly.

  Aunt Rosie lifted the eye mask again. “You look very pretty.” She raised an eyebrow as she spoke. “It never ceases to amaze me how fair you and your brother are, when your mother is so dark.”

  Sacha could tell she was trying to distract her from being annoyed. She had grown up hearing how like their father Jack was, being tall and muscular, and how she took after their petite mother.

  “I always yearned for sun-kissed blonde hair and blue eyes, like you and Jack.”

  Irritated, Sacha snapped, “I don’t see what that’s got to do with what you’ve planned for me today.”

  “Indulge me, just this once,” Aunt Rosie said. “Go with Alessandro. You never know, you might agree with me that he’s rather dishy.”

  Sacha suspected her mother and aunt were in cahoots. Neither understood why she was reluctant to date anyone. Not since her ex had got together with a woman he had met during a friend’s stag weekend two years before. No, she was happily single and the last thing on her mind was flirting with someone she didn’t know and would probably never see again. She picked up her sunglasses, straw Panama hat and small bag, checking her purse was inside. Sacha felt a little guilty for being annoyed by her aunt’s interference, but knew how Aunt Rosie took over any situation given half a chance. Sacha’s life was finally how she liked it and she had no intention of changing anything. She opened her mouth to speak when there was a sharp knock on their bedroom door.

  “That’ll be him now,” her aunt said, sitting up gingerly and smoothing her hair.

  Sacha couldn’t miss her aunt’s self-satisfied smile as she marched p
ast her to the bedroom door.

  “I won’t forget this, you know,” Sacha grumbled, her irritation refuelled by her aunt’s reaction. She pushed down the handle and pulled back the heavy wooden door, only vaguely aware of her aunt saying, “I don’t expect you will,” as she came face to face with a quizzical look from a deliciously handsome man.

  “I am too early?” he asked, in a beautifully musical accent. He peered over Sacha’s shoulder at her aunt and gave a forced smile. “I believe I am to be your tour guide of the city.” He looked from Sacha, to Aunt Rosie and back again.

  Sacha stared at the tanned, muscular Adonis, who looked to be at least six feet two in height. She thought she recognised him from somewhere, although she couldn’t place him. She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. Sacha didn’t like to admit defeat and couldn’t remember the last time she had, but maybe this tour guide business her aunt had arranged behind her back wasn’t going to be nearly as tiresome as she’d expected.

  Sacha cleared her throat. “I’m Sacha Collins, pleased to meet you.”

  “I am Alessandro Salvatore,” he said, smiling at her as he shook her proffered hand. “You are ready to leave now?”

  “Yes, all ready.” She turned to her aunt to say goodbye and saw the hint of a smile.

  “Have fun,” her aunt said.

  Switching her gaze back, she saw that Alessandro’s smile had slipped. He didn’t look much happier than she suspected she did. She assumed he must have been forced into taking her out and wondered if his relatives were as bossy as her own.

  As she stepped out to join him in the hallway, he pulled a black peaked cap onto his head. “Are there any places you wish to see, or would you rather I choose where we go first?”

  Sacha thought of the list she’d written back in her room, trying to recall the places she had looked up on the Internet. “The Trevi Fountain has to be one of the places I’d like to see, also the Spanish Steps,” she said. “That is, if you don’t mind?”

  He shook his head. “No, they are perfect places to see.”

  They took the lift and then walked out of the air-conditioned hotel foyer and into the harsh bright sunshine. Sacha quickly put on her sunglasses and shoved her hat down on her head. The humidity had already made her hair revert to its natural waves. She wondered why she’d bothered straightening it earlier. At least the hat would hide how messy it now looked.

  “The Trevi Fountain, it is this way,” Alessandro said, indicating that they turn left.

  He hadn’t smiled once, she noticed. She wondered whether he was bored already.

  “This really is very kind of you,” she said as they walked along the pavement, and when he didn’t answer, she couldn’t help feeling irritated. “This wasn’t my idea, Alessandro. My aunt arranged this tour without me knowing, I’m afraid. If you’d rather be somewhere else, I’m perfectly capable of wandering around Rome without your help.”

  She stopped walking, leaving him to continue for a couple of steps before he realised she wasn’t next to him.

  He turned and frowned at her. “You have forgotten something at the hotel?”

  “No,” she said. “But I don’t want you to feel you have to come with me today. You can go and do whatever it was you were planning to do before my aunt poked her nose in.”

  His black eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Poked her nose?”

  “What?” She realised what she’d said. “No, I mean. Um. Poking her nose into business where it’s not wanted.”

  He mused over her words before shaking his head. “This is something in England that you say?”

  She laughed. “Yes, sorry. It means, you know, getting involved in something when no one wants to you.”

  “Ah, like my uncle. They have been talking, I think.” Alessandro’s annoyance appeared to dissipate and he smiled, displaying perfect white teeth. “I am sorry. I have been rude. I am happy to show you the beautiful places here.”

  “If you’re sure you don’t mind.” Now she came to think of it, Sacha did rather like the idea of not wasting time wandering around the labyrinth of streets alone and maybe missing the best bits of the city. And Alessandro seemed nice enough, at least now that he’d cheered up a bit.

  “Please,” he said, a glint in his blue-grey eyes. “I do not mind. Your aunt stays at my uncle’s hotel whenever she is in Rome, they tell me. I have met her also several years ago, when I travelled with my aunt and uncle to the naming ceremony of the ship, Queen Victoria.”

  “But, we’re going on a cruise on that ship in a couple of days,” Sacha said, noticing that the dark grey rings around his irises seemed to make his eyes even more piercing. “It’s why we’re spending a little time in Rome first. I didn’t know my aunt knew your family.”

  “They met at the ceremony, but I have not seen her since.” He laughed. “She is a strong lady, one that enjoys life very much, I think.”

  “You’re not kidding,” Sacha said, picturing her aunt in her red sports car, the roof down as she raced around their home island of Jersey on her way to a lunch, cocktail party, or rendezvous with her latest boyfriend.

  Alessandro narrowed his eyes. “Your mothers are sisters?”

  “They are, but very different to each other.” She stared at him briefly and couldn’t resist asking, “Have we ever met? You seem a little familiar, but I can’t think why.”

  He pulled his cap down slightly, looking uncomfortable under her scrutiny. “I do not think we have met before.”

  They walked on in silence, stopping every so often for Sacha to look in a shop window.

  “I want to buy a few gifts for my parents, brother and three closest girlfriends,” she said, unsure whether to buy the presents now, or wait to see if she came across better items during the cruise.

  He didn’t seem to mind that she kept stopping to take photos of buildings. There was something intriguing about the city’s architecture that fascinated her. Sacha wished she could remember everything about Rome. She savoured the sweet fragrances of the flowers, growing in wooden containers sectioning off the seating area outside one of the trattorias. She was relieved to have remembered her hat and sunglasses to shield her eyes from the brightness of the summer sunshine.

  “This is the Trevi Fountain,” he said a while later. He was stating the obvious, but it was impressive enough to deserve the announcement. Sacha gazed in awe at the display of elaborately carved marble she’d seen many times in photographs over the years. “It is named after this district and was designed by Nicola Salvi and completed by Pietro Bracci.” He frowned briefly, rubbing his chin. “They began building it in 1732, but it wasn’t opened until thirty years later.”

  She was impressed with the fountain and Alessandro’s knowledge. She had to move slightly to get a good view, due to the crowd of people milling around them, trying to take photos with their selfie-sticks. “Did you know those dates already, or did you have to look them up?”

  “I looked them up.” He took her left hand. “Hold your bag with the other hand,” he said, drawing her through the throngs of people until she’d reached the edge of the pool of water, glistening between them and the magnificent statues of the fountain. “There are many pickpockets here and you must be careful with your belongings.”

  The pushing and jostling was a little tiring, but it was worth walking through the heat to see it and she decided to come back to view the fountain at night when it was lit up.

  “You wish me to take a photo of you?” Alessandro asked.

  She handed him her mobile. “It’s the button on the front there.” As soon as she’d shown him, she could tell he was being polite and doing his best to hide his amusement. How stupid of her, of course he knew how to work her phone.

  He waved for her to step back and, bending his knees slightly, took a few pictures of her smiling like a typical tourist. Thanking him, she took back her phone and fanned herself with her hat.

  “Phew, how do you stand this heat?”
r />   “Not as easily as you might think,” he laughed. “It’s especially hot for June this year.”

  An excited voice called out his name and Alessandro and Sacha turned to see who it was. “Your friends?” she asked, spotting two beaming girls Sacha assumed to be about sixteen or seventeen hurrying towards them.

  “Shall we go for an iced coffee?” he said, taking hold of her hand and pulling her along with him without waiting to see if she wanted to go. “There is a café over there, I have been there many times and they serve the best coffees.”

  She glanced over her shoulder to see the two girls disappearing into the throng of tourists, as she let him take her towards the white-fronted café he’d indicated.

  Ordering two iced coffees, they found a spare table just inside the building to make the most of the air-conditioning blowing down from the unit over the door.

  “Thank heavens for that,” she said, forgetting about her hair and taking off her hat, placing it over her bag on the vacant seat beside her. “Did you know those girls?”

  He puffed out his cheeks and shook his head slowly. “No. I am sorry, it was rude of me to pull you away.”

  She looked out to see if she could spot the girls, but they were nowhere. “Why were they chasing you?”

  He waved the waitress over. “They think they know me,” he said.

  She didn’t like to add that she’d thought the same as them. “Why would they?” she asked, hoping it would help her to try and place where she knew him from.

  “I do not know,” he hesitated. “I did a little modelling, maybe they recognise me from those pictures,” he said, as if it was something he didn’t want to discuss.

  Taking the hint, Sacha changed the subject, but unable to come up with anything more original said, “I’m used to British summers and I don’t think they ever get as hot as this.”