Page 77 of The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove

In the distance there was definitely something bobbing around in the water, which we couldn’t quite work out. But then when the blob raised a bare arm and waved, we realised that it was a person.

‘Well I never…’ Vi exclaimed loudly. ‘The silly daft boy.’

‘Who is it, Vi?’ Dan asked. ‘Who’s stupid enough to swim in the sea on Christmas Day?’

Realising what he’d just said rather loudly, he turned sheepishly towards the group of women stood behind him draped with towels thinking that they might be offended, but luckily they didn’t appear to have heard him.

Those strong forearms looked mighty familiar to me, even from this distance. I started to wander nearer to the shoreline, frowning to make sure I was right.

I snorted as the voice that shouted out confirmed it was Dennie, who was now waving at me from the sea.

‘Are you coming in?’ he yelled.

‘The hell I am.’ I laughed.

‘Well, if you don’t come in then I’ll have to come out and embarrass myself in front of the whole of Driftwood Bay and I have to tell you that I am totally naked and it’s not a pretty sight. You wouldn’t do that to me, now, would you?’ He was shouting from his position and started to wade towards me, his shoulders now above the water level.

‘I amnotcoming in, Dennie.’

‘Well, in that case, I’ll just shout to you from here.’

He waded a little further towards the shore, the water level now just above his belly button. I threw back my head and laughed.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

‘You once told me that a boy at school wouldn’t prove his love to you by swimming in the sea on Christmas Day.’

I remembered telling him about my schoolboy crush.

‘It’s true! He wouldn’t.’

The water was now just above his hips. He was close enough for me to see the line of dark hair which trailed downwards.

‘Well, I will. I love you, Nancy. And I don’t care who hears this. The whole of Driftwood Bay can hear for all I care. The whole of Cornwall even. I love you, I love you, I love you.’

I threw my head back and laughed.

‘Dennie, you are mental.’

‘Am I? I honestly can’t feel my brain right now, let alone anything else. I think my whole body is numb with cold. I’m trying to work out if I’m a boy or a girl right now because I think something might have dropped off in there.’

I looked back towards the beach where it seemed like the whole of Driftwood Bay was watching and waiting for me to say the right thing.

I grinned and started to take off my trainers and roll up my trouser legs.

Then, throwing my coat off onto the sand behind me, I ran full pelt into the sea.

‘I must be bloody mad!’ I mumbled to myself.

The smile on Dennie’s face as I approached was as wide as the sea itself. When I got to around two metres away, I slowed down, finally coming to a halt. He stepped towards me and closed the gap, and when I could feel his breath on my face, he reached up to tuck a wayward strand of my hair behind my ear. He ran his finger down my cheek.

‘Is this really you?’ he asked.

I nodded and shivered, not sure whether it was from the temperature of the water or the fact that I was stood in front of the man that I now knew, without a shadow of a doubt, was the person I wanted to share the rest of my life with. I tilted my head up until there wasn’t a millimetre between us and finally our lips met. I ran my hands all over his torso and finally lowered them under the water.

I felt my eyebrows nearly leave my face.

‘Oh hello! You reallyarenaked.’

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