Winter Storms Read Free Page B

but without his fiancée by the look of it. Were they having a last celebration with their own families before they set up home together? She shook her head slightly, it wasn’t an image she wanted to picture. Rapping her knuckles hard on the table, she cleared her throat.
    “Are we all sorted then?” she said.
    “There’s too much to arrange, we haven’t enough time,” Jessie said, holding her hands palm upwards.
    “We hold a Summer Gala every year, it’s not that difficult to change the ice-cream kiosks into hot chestnut sellers and lemonade stalls to hot chocolate. And there isn’t much left to organise, the sailing boats have all got sponsorship from local businesses, the correct authorities have been informed, we’ve got a website set up and posters printed. It’s too late to back out now, we’d be laughed at.”
    “People are going to laugh anyway,” Duncan said. “We’ll be lucky to cover our costs.”
    Carly tightened her jaw. “I’ve worked out the money, we’ll make a profit. And it’s not a few boats whizzing around the harbour, it’s an organised sailing race with some big name participants.”
    “Is Daniel Edwards taking part? He’s a local lad?” Jessie said.
    “Not to my knowledge,” Carly said.
    “Why? Wasn’t he asked?” Duncan said, smiling.
    Without the grin, she would have assumed it an innocent question, but he knew. Of course he knew, they all did.
    “Well,” she said, banging her papers down on the table. “Why doesn’t someone ask him?”
    “He’s back,” Jessie said. “I’ve seen him.”
    “Then it’ll be easy for you to find him. Now what else do we have to discuss?”
    “Do we have to include the local schools? It’s getting difficult to organise,” Ian said. “The teachers are all busy with Christmas plays.”
    “We don’t have to if they’re not interested. We’ve got the junior sailing team race and a Santa’s Grotto, that should be enough for the little ones. If the schools don’t want to join in, then we’ll leave it.”
    It would have been nice to include the children more, but Ian had done his best. It was just certain members, two in particular, who liked to make her life difficult. Jessie had never forgiven her for being voted in as Chairperson and Duncan, well, she didn’t know what his problem was, but he’d been against her from the start.
    “We could still do the annual school trip to the lifeboat station in spring,” Ian said. “Get the kids involved then.”
    She nodded. “We should, it’s important the next generation understand how vital the lifeboat station is here.”
    “Is it that vital?” Duncan said. “Padstow isn’t far away. I still think we could summon a fast lifeboat from there, rather than buying and maintaining a craft ourselves. Haven Bay isn’t that big.”
    Carly inhaled sharply. How many times had they been through this?
    “No,” she said. “Our town is famous for its water sports and attracts thousands of visitors in the summer. If we want holidaymakers to come, we have to make it safe for them and there’s also the fishing trawlers that go out every week to consider. Mick’s had to bring a fair few of their men back in the lifeboat. Go and talk to the other families who have people out on the boats, Duncan, see if they want a lifeboat station here. It’s easy for you to say it’s excessive, when you haven’t got anyone at risk.”
    She snapped her file shut. “And I’m not discussing it any further, it’s been made clear by the police and the coast guard that we must have a lifeboat on standby here. We’ve got dangerous currents and the day-trippers don’t appreciate the danger, no matter how many signs we put up. The question isn’t whether we have a lifeboat station, it’s how we’re going to pay for it. Anyone who disagrees has no place on this committee.”
    Mutterings rose from around the table, but she stared at them, unrepentant. Why volunteer for a fundraising committee, then