Chapter 26 – Dinner

Ruth had provided good directions, but the satnav in the car was necessary in the spaghetti streets of the village of Portwenn. The place appeared to be a proper village with several shops, and cafes. There was only one pub though, I noticed.

I managed to scrunch my car into a tiny space downhill from her house, then made my way up the steep street. Huffing and puffing I got to her door and pressed the bell.

A smiling Ruth opened the door. "Well hello stranger!" she greeted me with a quick hug. "Let me get my handbag and jacket and we can walk down to the Platt, the harbour." She picked up her things. "Well… how are you?"

"Fine," I told her as we walked from her house. "My goodness is this whole village built on a hill?"

"Uphill both ways it can seem," Ruth chuckled. "Good for the heart and the legs." She looked me up and down. "You seem well."

"I am, I really am. Living out here…"

"Fresh air, sunshine, even the rain can make lift your spirits. As much as I enjoy London," she waved an age-spotted hand at the white house we were walking past and the gray-blue sea beyond, "this place can do a body wonders, as well as the mind."

She pointed out various important places (coffee shop, bakery, pasties, candy, phone store, post office, the bus stop, all the usual) along with a running commentary about historic houses and dates.

"How do you like living in Treligga?" she asked when we reached the Platt at the bottom of the village, just feet from the harbor.

"It's quiet but nice."

"Here we are," she said as the led me into The Crab and Lobster. It was a snug place with typical ceiling-beamed rooms, and rough plastered walls. The place smelled of beer, wine, fried fish, and that old building smell. Ruth led me to the bar. "Hello Jeremy, a red for me, and a?"

"Red wine."

I opened my bag to get out money, but she stopped me. "It's on me."

"Oh, well then dinner is on me."

"Suit yourself." Carrying our wine, I followed Ruth to a table for two. "This will do." She settled herself, then lifted her glass. "Cheers."

"Cheers." I took a sip. It tasted good.

"Hungry?" she asked.

"Not quite."

She turned to look at the menu blackboard. "If you're not crazy about fish then Cornwall isn't for you, but here they do have a nice grilled chicken."

I decided to get to the point. "Ruth, you asked about living here."

"I did, yes." She looked at me expectantly. "But?"

Lord the woman was a mind reader. "I'd hoped to start a good and practical book on psycho-therapeutic procedures…"

"But…" she winked at me, "every time you sit down to do it, you don't - finding it so much easier to walk, or go out for a drive. Or drop down to a beach."

"I haven't done the beach just yet," I told her ruefully.

"And time is starting to weigh heavy."

"Yep." I drank some more wine while Ruth looked away from me.

She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "Have you considered picking up a few patients while you're down here?"

Loud laughter erupted from a few tables over where four men who appeared to be fisherman, based on their ruddy faces and clothing. Three were laughing but one sat there morosely, studying his pint as if looking for the answer to life's great question.

Her head made a tiny nod in their direction. "Not everyone is perfectly happy," she muttered. "Not that is necessary, but I am certain that you could help a number of people, if you wanted to."

"Oh, I suppose I could."

She raised her eyebrows. "There are those nearby who could benefit from a good counseling session or three."

A policeman came inside just then and started talking to the fishermen, who immediately stopped their joshing. The cop put his thumbs over the top of his belt and spoke to them in a self-important manner cautioning them about their MOTs as well as parking a skiff too far up from the water's edge.

Ruth nodded at the cop with a twinkle in her eyes. "There's one."

"The cop?" I whispered. "Who's he?"

A brief nod was returned. "Joe Penhale is the local constable, who has a self-important chip on his shoulder, as well as other body parts, plus a healthy dose of self-worth anxieties. And the sad fisherman over there is Eddie Franklin. Eddie's wife left him and his house is now under foreclosure due to his money troubles; which is why the wife fled."

"And how do you know these things?"

"Years of professional training," Ruth snickered quietly. "Portwenn is a very small village my dear. Not many secrets down here."

"Ah."

Ruth sniffed. "Although there are those deep dark secrets concealed behind closed drapes and bedroom doors." She looked at me warily. "Or in the recesses of our minds."

"There is that," I answered her calmly. "But I can think about it; taking on a few private patients. That would fill some of the hours of my day."

Ruth winked at me. "Good girl. Now dinner?"

I got the hint. "Yes, let's eat."

After our meal and another glass of wine for Ruth, but water for me, I had to drive later, she took me on an impromptu tour of the area round the Platt.

"The local Chemist is just here, and up there," Ruth pointed up the street to the left of the harbour, "is my nephew's surgery; the local GP."

"You had mentioned he worked here."

Ruth crossed her arms and took a few steps away, facing the sea which was coming in slowly between the breakwater walls. "Funny, you know."

"What's that?"

She shook her head. "As I said there are those about who could use you as a counselor."

Just as she said this a silver Lexus came speeding down the street, wound it's way through the odd intersection at the Platt and then roared up the hill and was gone. I got a glimpse of a large man behind the wheel but that was all.

"And there he goes," Ruth sighed.

"Who?"

"My nephew. Off on another mission of mercy no doubt." With her toe she kicked at pebbles on the pavement.

"Is something wrong?" I asked her.

She opened her mouth to speak but stopped. "I ought not to say anything."

Something was going on. "About your nephew?"

She nodded. "Rachel, it's… oh, Martin and his wife, Louisa, are having difficulties."

"Couples go through things like that." Look at me I almost said, but I didn't.

She took my hand so I squeezed it. Her hand felt limp at first but then she returned my grip, and she sighed. "Martin is the only actual family I have. Both my brother and sister are dead, but I have a sister-in-law which I hope to never see again – horrid person. So along with Louisa, Martin's wife, and my great nephew James Henry that is my family" She winced. "Sorry Rachel. Old childless woman syndrome."

It was suddenly very clear that Ruth why had been prodding me to counsel again. "Uhm, Ruth, about seeing private patients…"

She dropped my hand and crossed her arms saying, "Yes?" expectantly.

She was asking for my help. Would I be able to do so? Was I capable of getting back into the grind? I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, practicing what Sarah Campbell had taught me. "Give me a few days to back into that mindset, please?"

Ruth hugged me. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so very much."