Page 41 of A Secret Cornish Wish
Eddie shrugs. ‘ ’Tis what it is,’ he says matter-of-factly. ‘Now, tell me all your news, and what’s been going on? Then,’ he looks excitedly at Claire, ‘I want to hear all about the wedding – what you’re wearing, who’s coming, every little detail, darling!’
Eddie and I spend the next hour or so sitting with Claire listening to her talk with enthusiasm about her forthcoming wedding and catching up on all our news.
‘Then we shall be each other’s plus one,’ Eddie says, taking my hand when I tell him about Paul. ‘We definitely won’t let each other down!’
‘I’ve sat you all around the same table,’ Claire says. ‘So you can all have a good catch-up. I’ve called it the mermaid table. Well, in my head I have. It’s actually table three on the plan. I’m quite jealous of you all. I’ll miss out on all the fun sitting at the top table.’
‘Don’t be silly, it’s your wedding day – you’ll have the best time.’ I squeeze her hand. ‘I’m sure nothing exciting will happen and we’ll all just be chatting about old times.’
‘Exactly!’ Claire says. ‘I miss that. I want to be a part of it again.’
‘Couldn’t we all meet up before the wedding?’ Eddie asks. ‘When is everyone else coming?’
‘Mandy should be here Thursday evening,’ Claire says. ‘But Suzy isn’t coming until late Friday, possibly Saturday morning, because she has a gig Friday night.’
‘Ah, I see. And I guess you’ll be wanting an early night on Friday?’
Claire nods.
‘What about Rob?’ Eddie asks, giving me a quick sideways glance.
‘I think Friday,’ Claire says. ‘He wasn’t too sure.’
‘Do we still count him as one of the mermaids?’ Eddie looks at me again.
‘Why do you both keep looking at me when you mention Rob? He’s nothing to do with me any more.’
‘But he was, darling, for a while.’
‘Briefly.Verybriefly one summer, that’s all. If he hadn’t been a part of our Misfit Mermaids performance that night, no one would even be mentioning him now.’
Claire and Eddie exchange a glance.
‘Look, as I was saying to Claire earlier, we were at school then. A lot has changed in the last five years. We’ve all moved on. We only went on a few dates, and after that summer his parents sent him to private school. We hardly saw him.’
‘We did,’ Claire insists. ‘Sometimes at weekends, and in the holidays. He always made the effort to catch up with us, even if he was at another school.’
‘Didn’t do him much harm, did it?’ Eddie says. ‘Going to private school. He ended up at Cambridge University. I bet he’s right hoity-toity now.’
Claire shakes her head. ‘He’s not. I’ve bumped into him a couple of times when he’s been back visiting his parents. He’s still Rob.’
Claire hadn’t told me she’d seen him.
‘If Rob wants to be a mermaid still, then he can be,’ I say airily. ‘It makes no difference to me.’
‘Perhaps we should try to have a little get-together Friday night, then?’ Eddie suggests. ‘Nice and early so that Claire can get her beauty sleep. We’ll have to catch up with Suzy at the wedding. How exciting.’ He lifts his glass of juice in a toast. ‘The mermaids all back together again. Just like the old days!’
Eleven
The next couple of days I spend chilling around St Felix.
The beautiful weather holds and I decide to do some sketching along the harbour and up in the cliffs. I’m overjoyed to find that the little hidden nook I loved so much as a teenager is still accessible, so I sit for a while on Friday afternoon partly sketching seabirds – mainly gulls and cormorants – and partly just gazing out at the never-ending seascape that always manages to calm yet energise me at the same time.
As I’m heading back to my parents’ house down through the town, someone calls my name.
‘Frankie! Hey, Frankie!’
I turn to see Mandy rushing towards me along the narrow street.
