Page 40 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

‘I’d like that.’ Without a word to the others, Lucas and Thalia headed towards his car and Danni balled her hands into such tight fists that her fingernails dug into her palms. Even if someone had stolen Lucas’s identity for the dating site, he clearly had no intention of forsaking all others for Esther’s benefit. In fact, Danni was almost certain he’d arranged to meet another woman in the very place where he’d asked Esther to share his home and his life. There was no choice now. If Lucas didn’t tell Esther what was going on, then she was going to have to, whatever the cost.

21

Danni had barely slept since Glen’s accident. There’d been no evidence of compartment syndrome when he’d undergone further tests at the hospital, and she hadn’t seen Lucas or Thalia again. They’d probably gone somewhere else to be together and it would kill Esther if she ever found out. Just weeks ago, the only way she’d been able to cope with his relationship with Esther was to think of the Lucas who was engaged to her best friend as being someone completely different to the Lucas she’d fallen in love with. Now it seemed that neither of those men existed. The fact she was meeting Charlie was the only thing that cheered her up. As soon as she spotted him walking towards her on the beach, with Maggie following on close behind, it was like the sun coming out.

‘Morning, gorgeous girl.’ He bent down and stroked Brenda’s head, making the dog immediately roll onto her back with her legs in the air.

‘Do you have that effect on all the females in your life?’ Danni grinned.

‘Only the four-legged variety.’ Charlie slipped an arm around her waist. ‘And I can’t believe my luck that there’s a beautiful woman who actually seems to want to hang out with me.’

‘Where is she?’ Danni pretended to look over his shoulder and he pulled her even closer to him.

‘Why do you do that?’

‘What?’

‘Try and duck out of every compliment I give you.’

‘Maybe I’m not used to them.’ Danni forced herself to look at him. ‘Or maybe I don’t want to get too used to them, because you’re not going to be around for long.’

‘All the more reason to make the most of the time we’ve got.’ Charlie kissed her and guilt snaked its way up her spine. She shouldn’t be feeling like this, or letting herself enjoy the time she had with Charlie, when her best friend was being cheated on and she wasn’t doing a damn thing about it.

‘Hey, are you okay?’ Charlie looked at her as she pulled away, and she nodded.

‘Just a lot of work stuff, but I don’t want to talk about that.’ Slipping her hand into his, she leant against him. ‘So where are we off to today?’

‘I thought we ought to go and see how Trevor is doing.’ The dimple that appeared whenever Charlie smiled was another thing she was going to miss when he was gone. If Danni ever decided to go back to online dating, she was going to have put that down as the feature she found most appealing. ‘I’ve been resisting going back, because I didn’t want to risk disturbing him. But if we only go down to the lowest point on the coastal path and no closer, it’ll just be a matter of luck if we do see him.’

Danni had an almost overwhelming urge to kiss him again as they started walking towards where the coastal path almost dipped down to the water, and where a series of rocks formed the plateau where they’d spotted Trevor the first time. Charlie’s thoughtfulness about the wellbeing of the seal pup was just another item to add to the list of the things she liked about him. She could see how this level of liking someone could easily become something deeper, but they’d known from the outset that this could only go one way. ‘How can you be sure it’s Trevor, even if we do spot a seal pup?’

‘Are you telling me you wouldn’t recognise our baby?’ Charlie pretended to look appalled and they both started to laugh.

‘I mean, I like to think so, but…’ Danni shrugged, still laughing as Charlie turned her to face him.

‘I’ll remember everything about the way you look for the rest of my life.’ He wasn’t laughing any more; in fact, he’d never looked more serious. ‘The way you sometimes try to hide your beautiful face, by looking at me from underneath your fringe. The way your mouth turns up in the corners when you find something funny, but you’re trying not to laugh. The way your eyes light up when you talk about something you’re passionate about. And don’t even get me started on the rest. If I hadn’t been there myself, I’d never have believed that someone like you would have chosen to spend time with me.’

She had no idea what to say. There were so many things she wanted to tell him that she liked about him too, and that no one had ever made her feel the way she felt about herself when she was with him. But she couldn’t. He was leaving, and maybe that was her punishment for the secret hopes she’d been harbouring about Lucas and Esther for years. All she could do was try and make a joke of it, the way she always did. ‘I saw a meme the other day, about finding someone who tells you you’re beautiful, even when you look like a potato.’

‘I know this is how you deal with compliments, but I’m glad I said it anyway and, one day, I hope you’ll finally realise that it’s true.’ Charlie looked out towards the sea and shouted, ‘You’re beautiful, Danni Carter, and you’re the only one who doesn’t see it.’

‘You’re going to scare Trevor away.’ She knitted her fingers through his and squeezed his hand, hoping that would somehow convey all the things she wanted to say.

‘No, I’m not. Our Trevor is a brave little pup and I’ve got a good feeling he’s going to be there.’

‘I hope so.’ It was weird how Danni seemed to be making these little bets with herself just lately: if Trevor was there, everything would somehow work out okay. And if he wasn’t…

By the time they reached the lowest point in the path, Danni had built up the significance of Trevor being there so much, she couldn’t even bear to look. ‘Can you see him?’

‘There’s an adult seal on the rock, but I can’t see a baby.’ Charlie’s words weren’t unexpected, so it was crazy that a hard lump seemed to have formed in her throat.

‘How long do seal pups stay with their mothers?’

‘Only about three weeks, I think.’

‘That seems so soon for him to be all on his own.’ Tears sprang into Danni’s eyes at the thought of little Trevor facing the world alone. Her emotions were all over the place.

‘Oh, wait a minute, that looks like…’ Charlie paused for a second. ‘Yes, I think that’s him, getting out of the water on the far side of the rocks.’

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