Page 44 of The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove

‘Knew what?’

‘That you’d get together. I can tell that you had some sizzling chemistry going on under all that disagreeing with each other. I know you had your moments when you didn’t really like the way he was telling you to run your business, but I think even under all of that, you still liked him. Give him a chance, love. That’s all I’ll say. You should give you both a chance. Who knows what will happen? None of us can ever say what the future holds, but if you don’t give love a chance, then you’ll be missing out.’

‘But what if it ends up like Dan and Sabrina? They were madly in love at first and everything was fabulous and then things changed.’

‘That doesn’t happen to everyone though, love. Look at me and your dad.’

‘Yep, but love like that doesn’t come along very often either, does it?’

‘No, but it’s not always been plain sailing for us either. You have to work at things. We’re very lucky though, I know that much. Just relax tonight and get to know each other. You don’t need to plan the rest of your lives tonight. You just need to spend some time together. And you don’t have to jump into bed with each other either if you don’t want to.’

‘Muuuum!’

‘Darling, you are twenty-seven years old. We don’t need to have the sex conversation, do we?’

I put my hands over my ears and sang ‘la la la!’, blocking out what she was saying. When she finished talking, I removed them.

‘But if you do want to roger him senseless then go for it, I say.’

‘Muuuum! Enough! Get out!’ I threw a towel that had been lying on the floor at her and she ducked and laughed.

‘Just saying, it’s perfect when it’s with the right person.’

I slammed the door behind her and could hear her laughing all the way down the stairs.

If that wasn’t enough to get me wondering about how the evening might end up, when Dennie turned up on my doorstep looking as hot as hell, my head was all over the place and I was a dithering wreck. When he winked at me as he put his arm over the back of my seat, to see better to reverse the car, and I got a whiff of his expensive aftershave, I shuddered. God, if this is how I felt when we were fully clothed, imagine how I’d feel if we were…

‘Ready?’ he asked as we drove out of Driftwood Bay.

I just nodded and he laughed.

‘Don’t know about you, Nance, but I feel a bit nervous.’

‘God, me too!’ Thank goodness he was honest enough to admit it.

He held my hand all the way there and it was really rather lovely. Our nervousness melted away within minutes. Dennis asked lots of questions about my dreams and ambitions in life and what my passions were even though he already knew about them. He was quite cagey when I asked him similar questions, and a lot of his answers were routed in ambition and being the best at what he did and how much money he made. Even though we were very different, I felt now that our opposing personalities complemented each other. He was clearly an excellent listener, and communicator in general, making me feel like he was really interested in everything I said.

We talked loads about the open day. It didn’t seem to matter that we were mixing business with pleasure. Maybe when people were working together on things they were both passionate about, it all blended into one and it didn’t matter whether it was work or passions. We decided on a date which was only two weeks away and even though we knew it would be tight, we knew that we’d work together to make it happen. I showed him the social media profiles I’d set up while he’d been away and he showed me a projection plan he’d put together for the next year ahead to keep on track. I was staggered by what an amazing team we made, once we put our differences aside and had a joint goal. We set a further date, one year from the launch party, where we’d look at things again and discuss my successful bookshop and think about the plans for another year after that. At least we were talking about a year ahead and still being in contact. That was a positive sign.

Before we knew it, the restaurant staff were dimming the lights and coughing politely, to alert us to the fact they were ready to go home.

We then spent hours in the car outside my house, kissing and talking. And kissing. Much as I didn’t want to tear myself away, I didn’t want to ask him in, as I didn’t know if Mum and Dadwould still be up and I certainly didn’t want Dan to be giving us the Spanish Inquisition. So we said our goodbyes and I said that I’d see him in the morning at the shop.

It had been one of the loveliest nights – and days, for that matter – of my life, and I went to sleep that night with a smile on my face as wide as Driftwood Bay itself.

26

The eve of launch day soon came around. We’d been really busy over the last couple of weeks. The guest list was huge. There was no way that everyone who had been invited would fit in if they all turned up. I’d spent hours trawling social media, inviting influencers who might not have the biggest followings, but those who looked like they really did love books. A number of Cornish authors had also agreed to come, along with Pep the Poet, who did a lot with local schools and was totally awesome.

Mum and Dad were staying away on the night before the launch event. I think maybe on purpose. They never went anywhere, but they said that they were going up to the lodge to see Dan, making a point of saying they would be staying overnight. While Mum didn’t give away any more than that when she told Dennie to look after me that night and make sure I got home safely, I was pretty sure she was insinuating there would be no one else in the house.

Dennie and I had been struggling to keep our hands off each other, necking in the car or in the back of the shop like teenagers every chance we got. Ridiculous really. I was twenty-seven and he was a good ten years older.

We’d been rushed off our feet all day so I said I’d cook for us at mine. I’d showered and curled my hair, put on some light make-up, and hoped he would notice the change from the tatty old dungarees I’d been wearing all day. I uncorked a nice bottle of red wine and was nervously cleaning the already perfectly clean wine glasses when there was a knock at the door.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and Dennis thrust a bouquet of flowers at me.

‘These are just to say good luck for tomorrow.’

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