Page 20 of Wishes & Waves at the Cornish Bakery
Catching his gaze again, Tilly nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Umm, honestly? Probably since the moment you ran my foot over.’ He chuckled.
‘Seriously? That’s what a girl’s got to do to get your attention?’
‘It seems so. Yes.’ He chuckled as he held out his hand towards her.
Reaching across the small space between them, Tilly let him take her hand as they began walking again. She grinned. This was really happening. ‘Are you still able to come to the farm with me tomorrow?’
‘Too right I am.’ He glanced at her and smiled. ‘My aunt and uncle have recently moved back to the bay, so they’ll be on hand to pop in and visit my dad, so we can take all day to find out what we can, if you like?’
‘Great. Thank you.’ All day together to research, to find out what they could about her dad’s life. Perfect. And she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather spend the time with. As they approached the bakery, she looked out across the ocean in front of them and took a deep breath in. Yes, this trip was proving to be more special than she’d ever dared to imagine.
Stopping outside the bakery, Isaac held out his arms towards her, waiting until she’d stepped towards him before embracing her. Kissing her on the forehead, he spoke, his breath tickling her skin. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’
‘Yes, see you.’ Tilly turned and headed to the bakery door before glancing over her shoulder and smiling. ‘Thank you for a lovely evening.’
‘You too.’ Holding up his hand in a wave, he turned and walked across the cobbles and down the street.
Pulling the door open, Tilly stepped inside, closed it again and stood at the window watching as he turned and disappeared down the street. Running the pad of her finger over her lips, she smiled. The phrase‘like mother, like daughter’came to mind. Her mum had fallen in love with the bay and with the man she’d met here; would that be her, too?
Chapter Fourteen
‘Are you sure about this? You don’t think they’ll mind a random stranger just knocking on their door?’ Tilly paused outside the large metal gate leading to the farmyard. Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with this. What if she showed them the photograph and asked if they’d known her dad, and they hadn’t? What if they didn’t recognise him in the picture?
‘Mr and Mrs Groves are lovely. And they’ve been running the farm for years. Well, now that they’re older, their children have taken on a lot of the physical work for them, but they’re both still very much involved with the running of it. They won’t mind us knocking at all.’ Isaac grinned as he stepped through the gate, holding it open for her.
Reluctantly she walked through, shutting it quickly behind her as a brood of hens clustered around her feet, pecking at the ground in the hopes they were bringing them corn. She looked up at the large farmhouse set at the side of the farmyard. There were more hens busying themselves on the slabs as they pecked and clucked their way around a large trailer sitting in front of the house. She stopped and held her hand up, palm forward. ‘No, I can’t do this.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘This. I can’t do any of this.’ She waved her hand towards the farmhouse as fear rooted in her stomach. ‘I can’t speak to them. I can’t show them the photograph of my parents. If I do and they haven’t got a clue who he is, what then? This is the only connection I have to him. I’d rather not know and keep the beliefthat I could find out who he was if I wanted to. If I don’t ask, I can’t be told there’s no hope in finding anything out.’
Walking back to her, Isaac tilted his head, his forehead creased with concern. ‘But they might know of him. They might be able to tell you who he was, what he was like as a person.’
‘I know.’ She wrung her hands together, her eyes focused on the farmhouse in front of them. ‘But what if they can’t?’
Stepping forward, he took her hands in his, his clasp gentle but firm. ‘But what if they can?’
‘I don’t know if I’m ready to take that chance.’ She looked at him and drew in breath after breath. She could feel herself panicking. This was her life. She had no family left, and this was her only chance to find out who the other half of her was, where she got her eyes from, where she got her love of music from, where she...
‘Shall we go and get some lunch? We can always come back here after.’
‘Yes. No. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.’ She looked at him. She knew he didn’t hold the answer. She knew she was the one who had to make the final decision, who had to decide to take the leap or to walk away with all her questions unanswered. What was she supposed to do?
‘If the Groves can’t help, there are other options. There are other people in the bay who have been here just as long, who have lived their whole lives here and who might remember him.’ He shifted on his feet.
Taking a deep breath in, she nodded. That was true. She’d been so focused on the farm being the link between her and finding out information about her dad that she hadn’t given much else any thought. But yes, there were bound to be other people in the bay - or even further afield - who had known her dad. He hadn’t lived in isolation. He’d have had family, friends,and employers. ‘Yes, this isn’t the end of the road if they don’t remember him.’
‘No, it’s not, and we’ve got all day to figure out our next step.’
‘Our next step?’
‘Yes, if you’ll let me help, I’m in it for the long haul. I want to help.’
‘Thank you.’ She sucked in her bottom lip and looked again at the farmhouse. ‘Okay, let’s do this.’
‘Are you sure?’ He tilted his head as he looked at her.
