Page 29 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
Chapter Nine
The following day Thea was woken by voices outside the open bedroom window. She was startled into sitting, thinking for a second that they were angry, heated words, until she heard a woman laughing and what sounded like, ‘No, Crumble!’ though it couldn’t possibly have been that.
She got out of the – now very sturdy – bed and tiptoed to the window. Her eyes were drawn, as they always were, to the sea. Today it was a deeper blue, and there were clouds overhead: white, no hint of grey anywhere, but they were racing across the sky, the wind giving the sun’s heat a run for its money. It felt like a more serious day, somehow.
Down below her, she could see Ben and Finn standing with their arms crossed, and there was a woman, too. About Thea’s age, she thought, with mid-brown hair in waves over her shoulders, wearing a summery green dress. The three of them were watching Scooter and another dog – a beagle – dance around each other, the beagle’s high-pitched barks peppering the quiet morning air.
‘Crumble will never be outdone,’ Finn said.
‘Scooter’s not trying to outdo him,’ Ben replied. ‘He’s just being friendly, and Crumble’s hysteria is confusing him. My dog likes the simple things in life.’
‘Just like his owner, eh?’ Finn nudged Ben with his elbow.
‘Like that’s a bad thing,’ Ben said.
‘How’s prep for Friday going?’ the woman asked. She was very pretty, Thea noticed, with freckles across her nose and an interested, open face. She remembered Finn mentioning his girlfriend the first time they’d met, and that eased something inside her; some ache she hadn’t been aware of until it dissolved into nothing.
‘I’ve got my menu sorted,’ Ben said. ‘Thea thought the beef ribs and hot sauce would give me the best chance.’
‘Thea?’ the woman asked.
‘I mentioned her the other day,’ Finn said. ‘She’s staying at Sunfish Cottage. Have you been fraternising, Ben?’ Thea could hear the curiosity in his voice.
‘She invited me on a walk with her,’ Ben said, and Thea had the urge to shout out of the window that it wasn’t true, that he was the one who had offered. ‘We had fun.’
Finn raised an eyebrow, and the woman turned away from them, saying something to the dogs while she hid a grin.
This, Thea realised, was ridiculous. Moping about Jamie Scable and his lack of faith in her, eavesdropping on her neighbour’s conversation with his friends. She pulled the curtain across very slowly, hoping they wouldn’t notice the movement, and went to have a shower.
When she got down to the kitchen, the three of them were still outside, sitting in brightly coloured deckchairsand drinking mugs of tea, the dogs lying contentedly between them.
Thea made herself a coffee, and took it, and her book, outside. She was wearing a spaghetti-strapped green top, denim shorts, and pink flip-flops. Her dark hair was still wet from the shower and she’d tied it up in a haphazard bun, loving the way the softer water here made it feel. She would take it down later, when it had dried into messy waves in the sun.
‘Thea,’ Finn said brightly. ‘How are you?’
‘Good thanks,’ she replied, her eyes drifting to Ben.
‘Hey,’ he said.
‘Hi.’
‘This is Meredith,’ Finn said, standing up. ‘My girlfriend.’
Meredith stood and held out her hand, offering Thea a full, warm smile. ‘It’s lovely to meet you, Thea. I’ve been hearing a lot about you.’
‘A lot?’ Her gaze returned to Ben, and he rolled his eyes.
‘I told them about our walk, and that you helped me decide which dish to go for on Friday.’
‘Which, coming from Ben, is close to a monologue,’ Finn said, ‘so I don’t know what he’s eye-rolling about.’
‘It was nice of you to take pity on him,’ Meredith added. ‘Get him out of the house, so he doesn’t suffocate in all that sawdust.’
‘All I’ve been doing recently is getting out of the house,’ Ben protested. ‘I need to actually get on with something, or I’ll never be finished.’
‘And yet here we are,’ Finn said, ‘distracting you all over again.’
‘Don’t you have a masterpiece to paint, or something?’ Ben narrowed his eyes.
