Page 40 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
He grinned. ‘I couldn’t let you miss out, could I? There were no rules about only cooking enough for the judges, and I had some extra space and ingredients, so …’ He pulled paper plates out of his rucksack, moved the ribs to the chopping board on his table and began portioning them up.
‘You absolute legend,’ Finn said, rubbing his hands together.
‘My mouth is watering,’ Meredith added, and Scooter, who had stayed so politely by Thea’s side for the whole event, sprang up and put his front paws on the table. She just managed to pull him down before he got his nose in the food.
‘Sorry!’ she gasped, as Ben blinked in surprise. ‘I didn’t—’
‘It’s not you,’ he said, his eyes trained on his dog. ‘Scooter, what the hell? Was that really necessary?’
The dog dipped his head and put his paw over his nose in a comically repentant gesture. Thea laughed and crouched down to hug him.
‘He’s usually so well-behaved,’ Ben said.
‘Your hot sauce must be irresistible.’ Finn gripped Ben’s shoulder. ‘Your dog hasn’t been possessed by a demon, he’s just after a bit of barbecue.’
Ben nodded, and Thea saw his chest rise and fall in a sigh. She stroked Scooter and whispered nonsensical things into his ear, and when Ben had served the food, he came around the table and crouched in front of them both.
‘Hey,’ he said, in the low, soothing voice Thea had come to recognise. ‘Scooter.’ The dog looked up. ‘I’m sorry, OK? It was a surprise, that’s all. I love you, dude, don’t worry.’ He ran his hand over the dog’s head and down his back, and after a moment Scooter padded forward and pressed his nose into Ben’s neck.
As Thea watched the exchange, her pulse quickened, and she thought her heart might be in danger of exploding because it was, hands down, the most adorable thing she’d ever seen. She stood up and stepped back, and Meredith gently nudged her ribs.
‘Imagine if he’d done that with his T-shirt off,’ she whispered. ‘Mind you, black looks good on him, don’t you think?’
Thea gave her what she hoped was a serene smile, and picked up her plate.
Anisha and Nick returned briefly to say goodbye, then went to collect their kids, and Thea joined Meredith, Finn and Ben on a patch of sand close to the gentle, froth-trimmed waves. They ate Ben’s award-winning food, throwing plaudits at him between mouthfuls until he raised his hands and told them to ‘stop now, please,’ and Thea realised that there was nowhere else in the world she would rather be.
Then Finn shattered her happiness with one, simple sentence that made her question whether it had been a good idea to hook up with these people, after all.
‘I hope this has put you all in a competitive frame of mind,’ he said, around a mouthful of potato, ‘because I’ve entered us as a team for the sand sculpture competition on Sunday.’
