Just Desserts by Jan Jones

years?’
    You cheer me up , thought Leo. You don’t stand for any nonsense. And then, shaken, You’ve given me a reason to change direction. ‘Oh, I don’t know. You’re coming out of your shell nicely,’ he said aloud. ‘You wait until you see the plane. That’ll make you think twice about parachute jumps.’
    And it did. Leo watched her as she looked in horror at the tiny metal shell similar to those in which countless young men had hurtled through the sky in order to bring about today’s commercial aviation.
    â€˜I think I need tea,’ she said faintly. She looked at it again. ‘Your crashed plane can’t be in Long Tarn. I don’t believe it.’
    Leo didn’t believe it either. He was about to say so when Penny swayed. He glanced at her with concern. ‘Tell you what,’ he said, taking her elbow and steering her towards the café. ‘We’ll have tea and a bun here, then go to my parents’ place. It isn’t far. We’ll tell them you need a lie down before facing the third degree on how I’m fitting into Salthaven society.’
    â€˜Did you find out if you can see Daniel while you’re down here?’
    Leo heard his voice hardening. ‘No point even asking. I saw him last week, so Kayleigh won’t let me. It’s the only way she can hurt me now, and I refuse to give her the pleasure of refusing my requests.’
    All the same, the subject niggled at him and came up again at dinner. Leo had issued his parents with strict instructions about not cross-examining Penny, and was grateful to them for treating her simply as a friend. Unfortunately, this meant his mother needed to fill in the conversational gaps left by her not asking how long they had known each other and please was anything going to come of it?
    Â â€˜It’s a shame,’ she said chattily to Penny. ‘Daniel is desperate to see Leo’s boat, but Kayleigh won’t allow it. Says Leo isn’t fit and would let him drown or something. She only lets Daniel stay over here because we are with them. Perfectly ridiculous. It’s only Leo’s leg, and that’s getting easier all the time. He was fit enough to provide for them while they were a family, wasn’t he?’
    Leo winced. He loved his mother but she was as voluble as she was partisan. He looked apologetically at Penny. She was frowning with concentration in the way he had learnt to recognise.
    â€˜What about a holiday?’ she said slowly. ‘Leo told me you’d all had a week on a farm last year. I’m going to be renting out my late mother’s bungalow soon. Why shouldn’t you book it for a fortnight and bring Daniel with you? I wouldn’t charge, of course.’
    There was a silence round the table. Leo’s eyes locked with Penny’s. ‘You mean it?’
    â€˜Of course. It’s childproof. There’s a fenced garden and space for a car. And it’s in the same town as your boat. There’s plenty to do in Salthaven. It’s a really obvious solution. Just pick the dates.’
    His mother exclaimed at what a good idea it was. She loved Salthaven’s small shops and they could visit Great-uncle Charles at the same time and check that the residential home was treating him well. Leo barely heard her. He was still looking at Penny.
    â€˜Thank you,’ he said quietly.
    On the way back to Salthaven the next day, Leo flipped constantly between his laptop and his phone. Aware of him out of the corner of her eye, Penny marvelled at how he was simultaneously writing his article on Henrietta Ingle and tracking down the details of someone who might just have access to the original records on Andrew Collins’s crashed aeroplane.
    His phone rang for the umpteenth time. ‘Hi, mate,’ said Leo after a quick glance at the display. ‘Got anything for me? Really?’ His free hand flew over the number pad of the