Page 67 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
‘It’s been great. Most of the events have been sold out, and we’ve had excellent footfall for the walk-in sessions. Just a couple more to go, and then … freedom!’ She sighed. ‘How are you, anyway? Thanks for the photos of Trebah – it looked beautiful. What else have you been up to?’
‘Avoiding coasteering,’ Thea said, and Esme laughed.
‘I don’t blame you. Even I wasn’t entirely sure about it when we added it to the list. Whathaveyou done?’
‘I’m at the Eden Project. You’d love it here, Es. There’s so much going on, and it’s all so well organised.’ They both laughed this time. ‘And something rather … unusual happened.’
‘Oh?’
‘I got stranded in a deserted lighthouse. Only for a few hours, but—’
‘All by yourself?’ Esme squealed.
‘No! Not by myself. With Ben.’
‘Ben?’ She sounded confused, then said, ‘Oh my God! Mr Irascible Hash Browns? You got stranded in a desertedlighthouse withMr Irascible Hash Browns?Holy hell, Thea!’
‘It was OK actually.’
‘You … you …’ Esme was spluttering now. ‘You had a thing, didn’t you? You’re having athing? Romance is in the Cornish air, and I’m missing it. Tell me everything!’
‘Don’t you have a festival to finish?’ Now she had her friend’s undivided attention, she found she didn’t want it.
‘No festival is as important as this. You like him?’
‘We’ve been getting on well,’ Thea said carefully. ‘We’re starting to be friends. But then, you know … forced proximity, and the sense of danger, being trapped there, surrounded by the ocean. It’s not a whole thing. It was one kiss. Two, possibly.’And the second one lasted a really long time, she didn’t add. ‘Anyway, it wouldn’t have happened if you’d been here. I never would have gone looking for other people.’
‘Are you blamingme for your holiday romance?’ Esme asked. ‘Or crediting me with it? You’re so confusing sometimes.’
‘How’s Alex?’ Thea asked.
There was a slight pause, then Esme said, ‘He’s Alex, same as always. Stop changing the subject.’
‘I’ve come to the end of the subject.’ Thea shifted on her bench as a man wearing a beige flat cap and carrying a bag of birdseed sat on the other end. She was wearing Ben’sLakes for Lifecap again. She’d felt a small thrill when she put it on; it had made her think of those scenes in books when girlfriends wore their boyfriend’s shirt after spending the night together, even though her thing with Ben was nothing like that.
‘No you haven’t,’ Esme said. ‘Are you going to see him again?’
‘He’s in the cottage next door, so it seems likely.’
Esme made an exasperated noise. ‘Are youplanningto see him again?’
Thea chewed her lip. They had one week left together, and after that, she would be going back to Bristol. She was no further on with her bookshop premises, hadn’t done anything to explore any options beyond Jamie Scable’s shop on Main Street. It had been the most important aspect of this trip for her, and she’d achieved nothing.
‘I’m just going to see how it goes,’ she said to Esme. ‘But this is a holiday, isn’t it? If anything happens between us, it’s only a bit of fun. Anyway, he’s as cool as they come; not my type at all. It could never be anything long term.’ It was a total lie, one that made her feel uncomfortable all the way to her core. If her future in Cornwall was assured, then she would be viewing him as a significant part of it, all her caveats about why it couldn’t work between them suddenly gone. But she couldn’t tell Esme that, because Esme didn’t know about her plans to move here, and she didn’t want to say anything that might arouse suspicion. ‘Listen, I have to go. I’m on this tour and it’s about to start.’
‘Fine, but call me later, OK? There’s something I want to ask you. Love you lots.’
‘Love you back,’ Thea said absentmindedly, and hung up.
‘What tour’s this you’re on?’ the old man asked, proving that he’d been listening to her side of the conversation. ‘Any good?’
‘There’s no tour,’ she admitted. ‘I made it up so I could end the call.’
‘Ah.’ The old man tapped the peak of his cap. There was a robin standing on the path in front of him, head cocked, clearly waiting for him to throw more seed. ‘Good thinking. I tell my neighbour I’ve got a pie in the oven, but I can’t cook for toffee and I’m worried one day she’ll ask for a slice.’
Thea smiled. ‘Make sure you always have an apple pie in your freezer, then if you need to you can cook it and pretend you made it.’
The man chuckled. ‘You’ve got a plan for everything.’
‘Not really,’ she said, because she had no plan for the things that mattered: what to do next about her bookshop, the fact that Esme didn’t know anything about it, her and Ben. ‘Enjoy the rest of your day,’ she added, getting up and walking away, leaving him to his eager robin.
Except, she thought, as she strolled back to her car, shecoulddo something about the bookshop. She could stop avoiding the difficulties, and be proactive. She took her phone out again, scrolled through the contacts to a name that gave her a little shock of revulsion, and pressed the ‘call’ button. He answered after one ring.
‘Jamie Scable.’ He sounded jaunty and confident. Those were the things Thea would have to be if she wanted to succeed.
‘Hi Jamie,’ she said, glancing back at the transparent domes and deciding she could be as bold as the flowers she’d seen inside them. ‘It’s Thea Rushwood. I want to come and have another look at your commercial property in Port Karadow. When are you available?’
