Page 44 of Christmas at the Little Cornish Bakery
Tristan’s face was aghast. ‘What? Never. Although she might take a bit of convincing.’
‘Where is she now?’ Lola prayed he wasn’t going to say at the vicarage.
‘She’s just gone back to her sister’s. She tried to stay.’ He fell back against the cushions, exhausted.
‘Will she be back?’
Tristan let out an exasperated exhale. ‘Who knows? I hope not.’
‘Did you give her any reason to believe she’d be welcomed back?’
Tristan hesitated.
‘Did you?’ Lola’s voice was like ice.
‘Erm, the thing with Anna is,’ he floundered, ‘that she doesn’t take no for an answer. If she’s got her mind made up about something then it’s hard to dissuade her. It’s one of the reasons I moved so far away, so she’d get the hint.’
‘Get the hint?’ Lola almost exploded. ‘She was your girlfriend, you told me she wanted to settle down with you! It’s more than her just getting the hint, it’s about you manning up and being brutally honest with her.’
‘I don’t want to hurt her feelings, Lola, she doesn’t take bad news well.’
‘Her feelings? What about my feelings, Tristan?’ Lola flung at him. ‘We had plans this evening. What about them? You dropped me for her! You gave her my flowers!’ Lola fought back the tears. After Jared she’d vowed never to let a man see her cry.
‘Oh Lola, I know, I’m sorry, we could still . . .’ He checked his watch. It was gone nine. ‘I’m sorry, I tried to get her to go, but she wanted to talk about old times and . . . time just . . . It’s hard, very hard, to get her to listen.’
‘What are you going to do? Just marry her now because she doesn’t like bad news?’ Lola scoffed.
Tristan opened his mouth and closed it, as if that hadn’t dawned on him.
‘Well, would you?’
‘No, of course not,’ he rushed to reassure her, ‘of course I wouldn’t. But it’s going to take a bit of effort to extract her again.’
Standing up, Lola shook her head. ‘It shouldn’t take any effort. I thought what we had was something special, that you’d moved on, but what I’m seeing, what you’re saying is that keeping Anna happy is more important than keeping me happy, more important than us, more important than even yourself.’
‘Lola, no, that’s really not it.’
‘Tell me, is she never going to set foot in Polcarrow again? Honest, Tristan. Did you tell her never to come back? That you’re with someone else now?’
Tristan shook his head slowly as he followed her out into the hallway.
‘I see.’ Lola opened the front door and folded her arms. ‘I think you’d better leave and decide who you really want.’
Tristan tried to protest some more, but Lola steeled herself, unable to tell who she was most angry with. Tristan, Anna or herself for believing this time everything would be different.
Chapter Thirty-Two
December twenty-first, the day of the solstice, dawned clear and bright, as if the world was presenting Lola with a clean slate. She stood on the still dark seafront, bundled up under her scarf, and inhaled, then exhaled, pulling the soft magic of the morning into her body, allowing it to spread through her on what she always felt was one of the most sacred days. The winter solstice, the shortest day, the time when the veil between worlds was at its thinnest. The day after which the light would slowly return as the world rolled towards another spring.
Lola briefly wondered what spring would bring. Everything this year had been brand new, her life totally reborn in Polcarrow. She’d spent the spring decorating her café and setting up the boundaries of her new life. Lola cast her mind back to those first few mornings, the sun warm with promise as it streamed through the café windows, Alf shuffling along to see how she was doing and checking up how long it’d be until he could sit with a cup of tea and watch the world go by. Then there was Tristan, doing his local vicar duty, popping in to say hello as she painted her new chairs. There was no denying now that something had been starting to brew between them even then. Lola had convinced herself that she looked forward to him popping in because he was easy company, now she knew it was something more. Tristan had always made her feel safe, equal, all the things she had struggled to find in her life. For the first time she felt someone had her back.
Or at least she had until Anna had made her appearance. That had only been two nights ago and Lola was rather frustrated by Tristan’s Mr Nice Guy approach to putting Anna off. Why on earth Tristan couldn’t just tell her he had a new girlfriend, Lola didn’t know. Unless, of course, they’d got their wires crossed somewhere. Lola swallowed down the fear that they’d never had the exclusivity chat. Could Tristan be seeing how things might pan out with Anna? Was Anna going to slowly wear him down until he had no choice but to get back together with her? Her little red Fiat had been pulled up along the seafront both days and Lola had had to bite her lip and smile through the pain as Anna came into the café for more extra-sugary treats.
‘I’m trying, Lola,’ Tristan said as he paid for his breakfast that morning, reaching out to take her hands in his. Lola pulled hers back. Shock flashed across his face.
‘She’s just not listening. She never listened in fact. I now think I got swept up in her enthusiasm and it was easier just to go with it. Oh gosh, does that make me sound bad? It does, doesn’t it? She means well . . .’
‘Stop apologising for her,’ Lola hissed, biting her tongue so as not to snap at him to just tell Anna where to go. Tristan’s sweet side had always been a balm after the scoundrels she’d previously dated but now she was finding it slightly irritating.
