ToBeQuiteFrank

'Tony,’ Beverley began. ‘I’ve been thinking, about the holiday…’ ‘Mm?’ Tony glanced over his newspaper (or, as their daughter would call it, his toilet paper), faintly disgruntled at the interruption. Beverley put the tea tray down and took a breath. ‘Well, I’ve looked at the figures, and I think we can afford two this year.’ ‘Two?’ This had Tony’s attention. The last time his wife suggested two of anything it had been children, which backfired when they both turned out to be a lot like her mother and nothing like Tony’s friends. ‘Yes. And I was thinking, as well as Benidorm, we could try—this.’ Beverley produced a glossy brochure from her sewing basket and put it next to the tea tray. ‘“Reinvigorate your mind and body at the Ambrosia Spa and Hotel. Enjoy out of this world treatments, connect with your inner self and leave more in tune with your soul… No surgery, no fad diets, no timetable. We take your lead—because you know what’s right for you!” Beverley, why?’ ‘Well, we go to

Bethanie had been meaning to visit Bezzina’s Emporium of Magical Artefacts and Antiquities her entire year at university. Typically, she only managed it on her final day in Southend, when her bags were packed and she knew it was now or never. The trip was a little gift to herself, a ‘congratulations for surviving this far’ kind of a thing. There was no chance of her coming back, so she knew that if she didn’t get down there now, she never would. There was no way she’d make the two-hundred-mile trip just to visit a crumbling antiques shop, not between the funeral and the probate and her maxed out overdraft. Besides, she’d heard a rumour that Bezzina’s always had what you were looking for, and she was looking for… a miracle? Not a miracle, she corrected herself as she made her way down the high street. She wasn’t that naïve. Maybe just… something else to think about. Once outside, her first impression was of disappointment. Was this it? The boutique you were told to visit from the