The Beekeeper's Daughter by Santa Montefiore

weekend.’ His voice was injected with enthusiasm as he turned the conversation around to work. Grace took the pie out of the oven. She had no choice but to listen. There was no place in Freddie’s life for sentimentality; somehow the war had taken that, too.
    Trixie ran down to the beach. The party had already begun. A crowd of people were standing around a huge fire on the beach in front of the club wearing summer dresses and open-neck shirts, drinking sangria, their animated faces illuminated by the orange glow of the flames. She looked around for Jasper, but caught the energetic waving of her friend Suzie instead. ‘So how much trouble were you in?’ Suzie asked when Trixie joined her.
    ‘I thought it would be worse. That Lucy Durlacher’s a snitch!’
    Suzie grinned triumphantly. ‘But guess who chatted her up this morning in the diner?’
    ‘George,’ Trixie replied, grinning.
    ‘Correct. I suggest we encourage that as much as we can.’
    ‘Mrs Durlacher would have a fit if she knew.’
    ‘Let’s hope the relationship is given a chance to blossom before she finds out. That way the impact will be all the more horrible.’
    ‘You’re terrible, Suzie.’
    ‘Don’t pretend you don’t want to inflict the greatest pain on Evelyn Durlacher!’
    ‘My mom is a great believer in karma.’
    ‘What goes around, comes around. Well, I’m just helping it along.’
    ‘She’ll reap what she’s sowed, whether we help it along or not. Where are they anyway?’ She scanned her eyes over the faces of people she had known all her life.
    ‘They’re coming. They promised they would. Oh, I’m totally mad for Ben. If he doesn’t throw me up against a wall and kiss me soon, I think I’ll die!’ She tossed her sun-bleached hair and sighed melodramatically. ‘English boys are so reserved, it’s driving me crazy!’
    ‘There’s nothing reserved about Jasper,’ said Trixie. ‘In fact, he’s voracious.’
    ‘Don’t make me jealous.’
    ‘Then I won’t tell you,’ Trixie teased.
    ‘OK, so how far have you gone?’
    Trixie’s eyes gleamed with jubilation. ‘The whole way.’ She took Suzie’s hands and sprang up and down on the sand. ‘He’s amazing!’
    ‘Calm down. I want details. How was it?’
    Trixie stopped bouncing. ‘He makes me feel like a woman,’ she said seriously.
    ‘That sounds like a bad song.’
    Trixie shrugged. ‘There’s truth even in bad songs.’
    ‘Was he better than Richard?’ Suzie asked, referring to the lover Trixie had had the summer before.
    ‘Oh, forget Richard, Suzie. He was part of my experimental phase. This is love.’ She lowered her voice. ‘Don’t breathe a word to anyone. I’m going to go on tour with them in the fall.’
    ‘Has he asked you?’
    ‘No, but he will.’
    ‘Then I’ll come too, with Ben,’ Suzie suggested.
    ‘That’s a great idea!’ Trixie exclaimed happily. ‘We can go together.’
    ‘Oh, Ben! Where are you?’ Both girls looked out over the growing number of people. Suddenly, Suzie pointed to a small group walking towards them up the beach. ‘There!’ she exclaimed. ‘At last!’
    ‘Play it cool, Suzie. Play it real cool!’
    Suzie flicked her hair and pinched her cheeks. ‘How do I look?’
    ‘Irresistible.’ Trixie giggled.
    ‘Just think: you, Jasper, me and Ben, travelling around America in a tour bus. It’s just too wonderful.’
    ‘With Lucy and George?’ Trixie raised an eyebrow.
    ‘Oh, George will have tired of her by then!’ said Suzie, wiggling her denim hot pants and striding off down the beach. ‘Or her mother will have sent her to a convent!’
    Jasper’s face lit up when he saw Trixie. ‘Hi, beautiful,’ he said, hooking his arm around her neck and pulling her face close so he could kiss her. His guitar hung over his other shoulder, promising a rendition or two, and a cigarette smoked between his fingers. She pressed her lips to his and savoured the taste of beer and tobacco. Suzie walked alongside Ben,