by Holly Martin
Bea nodded and ran off down the path.
He turned back to Skye. ‘Ten o’clock.’
She smiled and nodded and then walked off down the path in Bea’s wake.
Skye walked into Aria’s office to find it was empty, which was a bit disappointing. She wouldn’t have minded having a chat to her this morning. She couldn’t help feeling a little deflated after the beautiful night she’d spent with Jesse the night before, only to find him gone that morning when she’d woken up.
She turned on Aria’s computer and logged in, found the file with the leaflets about the parade and sent another fifty to the printer.
Just then Aria walked in.
‘Oh hello,’ her sister said, plonking some papers down on her desk.
‘Don’t worry, I wasn’t looking at any top-secret hotel stuff on your computer,’ Skye said.
‘I don’t have any top-secret hotel stuff, you know everything there is to know about the hotel, so feel free to rummage around to your heart’s content. There are no skeletons in there.’
Skye smiled. Although Aria was the hotel manager, ever since Skye and Clover had come back to the hotel, it had always been an equal partnership between them, rather than the twins being employees.
Aria sat down opposite her. ‘How did it go last night?’
‘Seeing Jesse again? Wonderful, as it always is,’ Skye said. ‘We actually had this lovely talk. We were in bed last night, cuddling, and I told him all about the miscarriages. It’s not something we’ve ever talked about before and he was just so bloody lovely and supportive about it, it made me fall in love with him all over again.’
‘And did you tell him that?’ Aria said.
Skye sighed and shook her head.
Aria smiled and rolled her eyes.
‘I know. I will tell him. I just need the right moment.’
‘I think last night when you were holding each other in bed sounds like the perfect time,’ Aria said.
‘It’s not that easy. I’m worried he won’t feel the same. Part of me feels like I’d rather stick with what we have now than lose him forever.’
‘I know you’re scared, but if you are ever going to get what you want, a proper relationship, then you have to be the one that makes the change. You know I love Jesse, but he has no motivation to change right now. He gets to see you a few times a year, have sex whenever you meet up without the commitment of a proper relationship. He doesn’t have to step outside his comfort zone. Everything can stay as it is and he still gets to have his cake and eat it.’
‘I know,’ Skye said, quietly.
‘And you don’t want to carry on with how things are for the rest of your life, do you?’
‘No, I want to get married again, be a family. That’s not too much to ask, is it?’
‘No, it isn’t. And you also deserve to know the truth about how he feels about you.’
Skye nodded. ‘I will tell him. It’s just going to take a bit of courage because after I do, everything changes and I can only hope that change will be for the better.’
Skye left the chemist and headed over to Kendra’s bakery, The Vanilla Bean. The reaction to the pudding parade had so far been… mixed. There had been a lot of people who had been really excited about the prospect of some kind of fair but when they’d found out it was in two weeks had suddenly lost the enthusiasm for it. She knew that two weeks wasn’t a lot of time to plan a festival, but she was doing most of the organising. All they had to do was either show up with a pudding or dessert or just turn out to watch, so she wasn’t sure what all the fuss was about.
She pushed the door open on the bakery and Kendra looked up from making something heavenly in the open kitchen out the back and smiled. Kendra was technically her godmother, although they didn’t have that kind of relationship. Kendra had left the island when Skye was only five and by the time she had come back a few years before, Skye had long since left herself. Skye had fond memories of her though; she remembered sitting here in this very kitchen helping her to make chocolate-chip cookies and other delights.
‘Hey,’ Skye said, sitting down at the kitchen table.
Kendra held out a tray of what looked like strawberry cookies. Skye chose one and took a big bite.
‘I’ll be right with you, I’m just going to turn my rhubarb gin,’ Kendra said.
She opened up a cupboard to reveal around thirty bottles of pink gin, all with chunky stalks inside. Skye ate the cookie as she watched Kendra roll each bottle over so the contents sloshed inside.
‘Why are you doing that?’
‘Apparently the gin needs to be moved regularly to percolate the flavours, like stirring a tea bag in a cup of tea. I don’t know how true it is but it’s what my nan always did. So I do it every day at ten o’clock.’
‘What will you do with all that gin?’
‘Oh, I’ll give a few bottles away, keep a few, but mostly it’s my secret ingredient when I cook – just a few teaspoons here and there add this wonderful flavour to most recipes.’ Kendra studied her for a moment. ‘What’s up? You look a bit fed up?’
‘Well, I’m hoping you’re going to react a bit more positively when I tell you, since all of this was your idea. But I’ve decided to bring the pudding parade back. Seamus thinks it’s a great idea, and even Aria and Noah are on board, but not everyone is as enthusiastic.’
‘Why ever not? I think it’s a wonderful idea. I love all these events the hotel is holding to bring the community together. I thought all the villagers were enjoying them too.’
‘Yes they are but, well, I wanted to keep the parade historically accurate and traditionally the parade was always held on the third Saturday of April so…’ Skye trailed off, almost holding her breath as she waited for Kendra to connect the dots.
‘That’s two weeks away.’
‘Yes, but it doesn’t need to be a big deal, people don’t have to join in,’ Skye said, hurriedly. ‘It can just be about the rhubarb pie and people can come and watch and come up to Cones at the Cove after and we’ll be selling some special desserts and puddings. We’ll have some little events up there like cookery demonstrations or games, maybe some other stalls from the villagers, if they want to do that. We can make it quite small.’
Kendra nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yes, I don’t see why it can’t work. And as long as I’m not the only one, I’d like to join in the parade with one of my puddings.’
‘That would be great, you’d be very welcome, the more the merrier. Oh, I’m so relieved. What are you thinking of making?’
‘Well something sturdy, that won’t melt or slide off the plate when I’m carrying it around the island. Maybe something meringue-based or a cake of some kind. I’ll have a think. Do you need to know?’
‘No, just turn up with your wonderful creation and follow the pie around the route.’
‘I can do that and let me know if there is anything else you want me to do,’ Kendra said.
‘Well, I think you already know that we’re going to have to use your ovens. The pie tray is huge and I don’t know anyone else who has ovens big enough to accommodate it.’
‘It was always made here, so if you’re keeping things traditional, then it should be made here this time. I’m very happy to donate the use of my kitchen and ovens to the parade. Actually, I found something you might be interested in.’ Kendra dusted her hands down her apron and moved over to a cupboard. ‘After we’d talked about the pudding parade the other day, I remembered my mum talking about this.’
She pulled out a brown leather notebook, tied together with a piece of string. Pages were falling out and had been haphazardly stuffed back in.
‘What is that?’
‘It’s Walter’s old recipe book, his recipes. It’s all handwritten. He and my nan used to cook the rhubarb pie together. The recipe for the famous rhubarb pie is in here.’
‘Oh wow, really, that’s amazing,’ Skye said. ‘I thought we’d have to make up our own recipe.’ She eagerly took the book
and gingerly opened it in case any more pages fell out. She could see pages filled with notes, ingredients and methods for a whole host of different foods and desserts, all written in beautiful, slanted writing. ‘Wow, I wonder if we could use some of these old recipes in Cones at the Cove. Jesse will get such a big kick out of this. He loves finding old recipes and then adapting them. He will love this. He’s the one who will be making the pie…’ Skye trailed off as Kendra started smirking.
‘Ah, the real reason you wanted to hold the parade.’
‘What?’
‘You wanted Jesse to come over under the pretext of helping you with the pudding parade.’
Skye tried to look outraged but she couldn’t do it. ‘I wanted to do something for Cones at the Cove. All the events so far have been about the hotel or held here in the village. I wanted to do something to put Cones at the Cove at the centre.’ She smiled slightly. ‘But having Jesse here to help was definitely going to be a bonus.’
She thought about last night, the way he’d made love to her, the way he had held her after she had told him about the miscarriages. Then she felt the smile fall off her face a little.
She had been disappointed to wake up and find the bed empty that morning, although she’d known straightaway that he’d gone so Bea wouldn’t find them in bed together. But she’d felt… vulnerable after telling Jesse about her past the night before. She had ripped off the plaster and surprisingly the wound was still raw. It wasn’t just the miscarriages, painful as they were to recall, it was her whole relationship with Oliver which had ended so horribly, the way he’d made her feel so worthless. Jesse was right, she’d needed love and support at that time and she hadn’t had any. And, waking up this morning and thinking of it all over again, she’d really needed a cuddle.
He’d known that too, that was why he’d rushed out the house to kiss her. He’d felt bad, although not bad enough to do something about it, like actually tell his daughter about their weird relationship so they wouldn’t need to hide it any more.
In some ways, this secret friends-with-benefits relationship was worse than having a clean break from him completely after they divorced. It was like one of those eighties game shows where the host says something like, ‘And here’s what you could have won.’ Being with him for snatched liaisons and secret kisses just wasn’t as fun as it sounded. She wanted the real deal, not this half-life, and she was torturing herself with these glimpses of what could have been. It wasn’t enough and even Jesse had said that the night before.
Kendra’s face creased in concern as she no doubt saw the myriad of emotions playing across Skye’s face. ‘Wait, did something happen between you two?’
Skye sighed, not really wanting to get into it. ‘I think we’re just finding our long-distance relationship a bit hard.’
Kendra nodded. ‘I totally get that. Philippe and I had a long-distance relationship for years before he finally moved here. It was hard but if you have something special, then it’s worth fighting for.’
‘Tell Jesse that,’ Skye muttered and then stood up. ‘Thanks for the cookie. I’ll be emailing everyone in the village with more details of the parade shortly, I’m just trying to gauge a feel for it today. Although I’m not having a ton of luck.’
Kendra looked like she might try to push the subject of her and Jesse a bit more but clearly changed her mind. ‘Try the cafés and restaurants, they have more to gain from being in the parade than Madge from the fruit shop or Belinda in the opticians.’
‘OK, will do. And I’m hoping there will be some people that will want to take part personally. I know we have a lot of keen bakers on the island. Jesse and Bea are doing leaflet drops to many of the houses today as well.’
‘I’ll speak to a few of my regular baking customers, see if I can get them on board too,’ Kendra said.
‘That would be great, thank you.’
Skye waved goodbye and hurried out before Kendra could bring up Jesse again.
Out on the cobbled street, she looked around the village at the little brightly coloured shops. The sunlight was scattered across the sea like a golden mosaic, little sail boats bobbing around in a gentle, warm breeze, the clouds in the sky no more than wisps on a pale blue canvas. People moved around the village, chatting and laughing as they went in and out of the shops.
She loved this little village and its people, and it was funny that it had taken leaving and coming back to realise that. This was her home now. Regardless of what happened with Jesse, she didn’t want to leave. Her sisters were raising families and she wanted to be there for them for that, not miss out on seeing her nieces, and possibly nephews, growing up. If she was going to stay she wanted to be a part of the community. She had to make a success of the pudding parade. The café was thriving but she felt like she needed to do something to contribute towards the island too.
Chapter Seven
Skye hurried along towards the Golden Lagoon. It was already a few minutes past ten but chatting to the villagers about the parade had taken longer than she’d expected and she still had a few people she needed to talk to. Although it seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was late as, a little way ahead of her, Jesse was hurrying towards the hidden cove as well.
She ran to catch up with him and then overtook him. ‘You’re late,’ Skye said as she raced on towards the cove.
‘Hey!’ Jesse said, indignantly, chasing after her.
He caught up with her as she reached the cliff face where the gate to the tunnel that led to the lagoon was hidden by a wall of ivy and moss. He pinned her to the wall, standing behind her as he kissed her neck, running his hand across her stomach. ‘You promised you’d be naked by now.’
She leaned into him, relishing his touch. ‘I’m sure we can rectify that.’
She reached through the ivy, hauling open the gate, and he let her go as she ran giggling down the old tunnel to the tiny secluded cove. No one from the island really knew the tunnel was there, but she and her sisters had found the abandoned tunnel when they were children and had played on the beach throughout their childhood. There was a natural seawater pool on one side that filled up during high tide. Skye had always been fascinated by the sea life that had washed up in there: little starfish, fish of all colours that darted about and hid under the rocks, tiny hermit crabs and iridescent jellyfish. She could watch them all day long.
But not today.
She ran into one of the caves at the back of the tiny beach and backed up against the cave wall as Jesse walked in, taking off his shirt. God, he was a spectacular sight. He tossed his shirt across the cave and she watched his strong tanned arms as they moved.
He pulled a blanket out of the bag he was carrying and spread it across the sandy floor of the cave. She smiled at his thoughtfulness.
‘You’re still wearing clothes,’ Jesse said, taking off his jeans. She let her eyes wander over his glorious body before she realised he was waiting for an answer.
‘Why don’t you come and do something about that,’ Skye said.
He moved towards her like a lion stalking his prey and it filled her with a delicious thrill.
Suddenly he was on her, kissing her hard, his hands sliding up her body, dragging her dress with it. He pulled it over her head and threw it across the cave, his hands all over her, possessing her as he continued to kiss her.
He pulled away, bent and threw her over his shoulder and she let out a squeal of delight as he carried her over to the blanket and gently lowered her to it. He leaned over her and kissed her again. He reached over to his bag and grabbed a condom, tossing it onto the blanket next to her before starting to trail his hot mouth across her body, removing her underwear slowly until she was completely naked. She pushed his shorts off his hips and he wiggled out of them.
Her whole body was humming with a desperate need for him but he didn’t seem in any great rush, he was too busy kissing and touching across her arms, legs and stomach. This was heaven.
Suddenly there was a b
ark nearby which made Jesse freeze, his mouth still pressed to her shoulder as he listened. It sounded very close. Chew Barker suddenly bounded into the cave, shook cold water all over them, wiped his head against Jesse’s back, grabbed the condom and ran out the cave.
‘Shit, no!’ Jesse said, making a fruitless grab at the wayward dog.
‘Chew Barker, what do you have there?’ shouted Seamus from just outside the cave.
‘Oh my god,’ Skye said, making a grab for the blanket. But, as Jesse had all his weight on it, she could only manage to pull a tiny corner over her before Chew Barker bounded back into the cave still holding the condom, quickly followed by Seamus.
‘Chewy, come here, GAHH!’ Seamus said, as he spotted the porn show and immediately covered his eyes.
Jesse leapt off Skye, flinging the blanket over her before grabbing the bag to hide his own modesty.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Seamus said, his hand clamped over his eyes. He briefly peeped through his fingers. ‘Oh Jesse, Skye, it’s you,’ he said, covering his eyes again. ‘Jesse, lovely to see you again, although perhaps I didn’t need to see quite so much. Not that I saw anything, I covered my eyes as soon as I saw your bum, I mean, I didn’t really see it at all, just… you know, your back and feet, that’s all.’
Skye looked at Jesse and saw he was staring at Seamus incredulously because he quite clearly wasn’t leaving. She couldn’t help a little giggle escaping her lips as she fastened the blanket tighter around her.
Chew Barker was obviously having the best time ever as he bounced around the cave in joy at finding some new friends to play with. He flopped down over Jesse’s lap and started trying to chew his new toy.
Jesse wrestled the condom from his mouth but when he finally got it out it was quite clear it wouldn’t be any use for anything.
‘Chewy, here, now,’ Seamus said, looking everywhere but at them, and Skye laughed as Chew Barker quite happily started licking Jesse’s knee, not paying Seamus any attention at all. ‘I’m so sorry, I’ve never seen this tunnel open before, I had no idea it was here, so when I saw the gate open I thought I’d come and investigate.’ He moved over slowly towards Chew Barker, showing an inordinate amount of interest in the cave wall and ceiling.
