Page 17 of Wishes & Waves at the Cornish Bakery
As everyone nodded in agreement, Tilly watched as Isaac took a sip of his drink. She suddenly felt a desperate need to find out more about this man. She couldn’t explain it, or the reasons behind what she was feeling, but she knew, in that moment, she wanted to spend as much time with him as she possibly could before she left the bay.
‘You okay, Tilly? You look like you’re a million miles away.’ Brooke tilted her head and looked at her.
Shaking herself from her thoughts, Tilly nodded. ‘I was. I was just thinking about my life after Penworth Bay when the volunteering finishes.’
‘Ah.’ Brooke grimaced. ‘Speaking from experience, try not to. A lot can happen in a few weeks, and you never know where you might end up.’
‘True.’ Tilly nodded. Brooke was right. She didn’t know where she’d end up. Literally. But whilst she was here, surrounded by all these people she was beginning to view as her friends, and Isaac, she needed to just try to enjoy herself. What was going to happen would, and she knew whatever it was, she’d figure it out when she got there. She had to. But for now, for the next few weeks she would be living and volunteering at Elsie’s bakery and she needed to let herself enjoy it because what was to come after would be a whole lot harder than what she had now.
Leaning in closer to her, Brooke lowered her voice and swept her hand in front of her, encompassing the group. ‘Those of us here who volunteered at Elsie’s only came for a few weeks too, but Penworth Bay played its magic and, look, we’re all here to stay. So when I say, you never know what’s around the corner, it’s true. Or it was for us.’
Tilly looked around at the smiling faces as people chatted and laughed now that the quiz was over. How had people managed to just up and leave their old lives behind and build a new life here in the bay? Although, she supposed, she didn’t even have a life to go back to, no home, no job, nothing to pull her back to where she’d come from, so maybe the same had been true for others? Or some of them at least.
‘Honestly, enjoy your time here. Worry about the future another day.’ Brooke picked up her glass and downed the rest of her drink before standing up and picking up the jug. ‘I’m going to grab some more drinks.’
Tilly looked across to Isaac, who was deep in conversation with Jude. She watched as he gestured with his hands about whatever their topic of conversation was before throwing his head back and laughing. Of course, he must know most of the people here. He’d been living in the bay for twenty-five years or she assumed he had. But the others hadn’t — the people who had volunteered for Elsie. There must be people here who hadn’tvisited until a few months ago. Lynsey, for instance, had said she’d only volunteered at the bakery a month or so ago, and yet she was chatting and smiling along with everyone else. She looked as though she’d already made the bay her home.
She shook her head. There was no way she could stay in Penworth Bay. She had nowhere to live, for a start. And no income or money in order to find somewhere.
But what if shedidfind a job? Here in the bay or a few miles away. She already knew it was a thriving tourist destination and, being in Cornwall, elsewhere would be too. She could look for jobs in the tourism sector. And now that she was getting up-to-date experience of working, she stood a better chance of finding a job than she had previously.
Isaac glanced across at her, raising his eyebrow as if to check she was okay.
Nodding, she smiled. She was more than okay. She had the beginning of an idea forming in her mind. She was, for once, beginning to look forward to the future, to feel as though there might just be a glimmer of hope in her life after all.
There was nothing stopping her from looking for a job, from applying for roles and, if she was lucky enough to get an interview, from attending. And if it didn’t work, if she still couldn’t find anything, then at least she’d tried. Then she might just have to move on somewhere else, start over once again. But it was worth a go, wasn’t it?
‘Here we go.’ Brooke sat back down in her chair, placing the jug on the table in front of her before looking around the group. ‘Anyone for another drink?’
‘Aw, yes, please. I need to make the most of my night out.’ Daisy laughed as she pushed her glass towards her.
‘You do!’ Brooke refilled Daisy’s glass before looking across at Tilly. ‘Do you want another?’
‘Please.’ Tilly nodded.
After pouring the orange-based cocktail into the glasses closest to her, Brooke then pushed the half-full jug into the middle of the table before turning to Tilly and raising her eyebrows. ‘So, you and Isaac?’
Widening her eyes, Tilly glanced across at Isaac, relieved he was still deep in conversation with Molly and Jude and hadn’t overheard Brooke’s question. ‘Nothing like that. He was just fixing the till at the bakery, and so we came here after.’
‘Okay.’ Brooke nodded slowly as she elongated the word.
Tilly laughed. ‘It’s true.’
‘I thought he was coming straight after closing? You didn’t get here until gone nine. What happened?’ Brooke grinned at her.
‘He did, but then we got chatting about Penworth Bay and his dad.’ Twisting her glass in her hands, Tilly tried to keep her face from giving her true feelings away. She was telling the truth; nothing had happened. They were just friends, even if Tilly felt an undeniable spark between them. Not that it mattered one iota how she was beginning to feel for him - people didn’t date the person who ran them over.
Leaning into her, Brooke nudged her shoulder. ‘Right. I believe you. But I also think you’re developing feelings for him if the expression on your face is anything to go by.’
‘What do you mean?’ Tilly took a large gulp of her cocktail. Isaac had only just agreed to help her try to find something out about her dad, she didn’t want to ruin the opportunity by scaring him away. Whatever she was feeling about him.
‘Don’t worry. No one else has noticed.’ Brooke shrugged. ‘It’s only your bright red cheeks giving you away.’
Gasping, Tilly put her glass down with a thud and held her hands against her cheeks. Sure enough, she felt the cooling effect of her palms against her skin. Was it visible in this light? To anyone but Brooke?
‘Careful, you don’t want to waste a good drink.’ Turning in his seat, Isaac chuckled as he pulled a serviette from the middle of the table and mopped up the drink pooling beneath Tilly’s glass.
‘Thanks. No, I don’t.’ She gulped as she tried to avoid eye contact, failing at the last moment. As they locked eyes, she felt as though the other people on their table fell away until it was just the two of them in the pub. She couldn’t explain it but she knew he felt it too as he gave a little frown before breaking into one of his huge smiles.
