A Perfect Cornish Escape

by Phillipa Ashley

  He held out a handkerchief.

  ‘Thanks,’ Tiff said, wiping herself down with it. ‘I’m afraid you won’t want it back.’

  ‘It’s fine. Can I get you another ice-cream?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m not sure me and that cone are meant to be.’

  ‘Go on. I need cooling down myself. I’m not used to the heat, you know, coming from the Highlands,’ he added.

  She laughed, and a thought occurred to her. They hadn’t chatted much, so it would be nice to have the opportunity – as well as suss out why he was holding back from Marina. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘As long as you act as seagull bouncer.’

  They queued again, chatting about how busy the town had become in the past few weeks. Once they had the ice-creams, Lachlan suggested they stand under the porch of the Institute to eat them.

  ‘If you stand with your back to a wall, they can’t attack from behind,’ he said. ‘Although there’s always the possibility of a frontal assault.’

  She laughed. ‘Thank you for the security tip. How’s business, by the way?’

  ‘Not bad. We’re building up bookings. In fact, we signed a contract at a big visitor attraction only this morning and we’re recruiting more freelance staff. That should keep us busy for the next year.’

  ‘You’re planning on staying in Porthmellow, then?’ she said, before licking her ice-cream innocently.

  ‘I’d like to give it a go, yes. What about you?’ he said.

  His directness reminded Tiff that he’d been a military policeman. ‘My plans aren’t as fixed as that. The honest answer is I don’t know …’

  He nodded and she took the plunge. ‘I can think of at least one person who’ll be pleased you’re staying longer,’ she said, hoping she hadn’t gone too far. Marina would probably kill her but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

  Lachlan didn’t pretend not to know that she meant Marina. He didn’t look at her, but said quietly, ‘You think so?’

  ‘I do. She’s had a very tough time, but I think you know that already.’

  He nodded. ‘We have spoken of it. It’s hard to lose someone you care about … someone you loved. It must be even harder when you’ve been left in limbo as Marina has. We had a guy go missing from the base once, for weeks. We found his body eventually, on a remote part of Ben Daurrig. I was part of the mountain rescue team who recovered the body. Seems as if he fell, but we’ll never know the full story. Marina hasn’t even had a body to bury, no closure of any kind.’

  ‘Yes, it’s been very hard for her, although she did accept Nate was dead a long time ago,’ Tiff said.

  ‘She must still miss him keenly.’

  ‘She did – does – but … I don’t want to be disloyal to her or Nate but he wasn’t a saint. Far from it,’ Tiff ventured, hoping she hadn’t crossed a line.

  ‘I gathered that and yet … he was her first love, her husband, and to have him so cruelly taken from her …’

  ‘Of course, she grieved for him but … it was a long time ago.’

  Lachlan turned to her. ‘Even so the memories must be raw, especially at this time.’

  Tiff thought he was almost daring her to contradict him and play Devil’s advocate, which must mean he’d been holding back because he thought Marina was still in love with Nate. ‘Marina’s strong and even stronger after what she’s been through,’ she said, before adding, ‘She deserves a new shot at life, at every aspect of it.’

  Lachlan’s lips twisted as if he was framing a reply.

  ‘Aye …’ he murmured. The clock tower struck three. ‘I’d best be on my way to the office again. I told Aaron I’d only popped out for a breath of air.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Tiff. ‘Thanks for the ice-cream and the seagull security advice.’

  ‘Thanks for your advice too,’ Lachlan said.

  ‘I hadn’t realised I’d dished any out,’ she said lightly.

  He gave a wry smile. ‘Either way, you’ve helped me.’

  ‘I hope so. I only want Marina to be happy and step into the light again. She’s lived in Nate’s shadow, in so many ways, for far too long.’

  Lachlan answered with a brief incline of the head before stepping from under the porch into the sunshine.

  As she headed back to the office by way of the cottage to change her dress, Tiff hoped she hadn’t gone too far with her comments, although she doubted Marina would ever hear about their conversation because Lachlan struck her as nothing if not discreet. She was self-aware enough to realise that she might also take some of her own advice. She’d implied to Lachlan that he should waste no time in letting Marina know how he really felt.

  Did the same apply to her? Should she admit that she was falling for Dirk far more than she’d ever expected?

  She pulled out her phone to text him, and realised he’d beaten her to it.

  Can you call me asap?

  She could do better than that, she thought, making a detour to the lifeboat station. He was sitting at the desk in the crew room, a tabloid newspaper spread in front of him.

  ‘You’ve seen this, of course,’ he said, the moment she got through the door.

  ‘Seen what?’ She put her bag on the table and closed the door behind her.

  He tapped the paper. ‘This.’ He passed it to her and frowned at her. ‘What happened to your dress?’ he said.

  ‘Seagull versus ice-cream,’ she muttered, realising she still hadn’t changed, though it was now hardly the main focus of her attention. ‘I haven’t seen this,’ she said, glancing at the newspaper with a prickle of foreboding. ‘Why?’

  He folded his arms. ‘Read it.’

  Tiff picked up the paper, and read the piece with an increasing sense of horror.

  Amira had given a feature to the Herald about her new relationship with another actor from the medical soap she was starring in.

  She scanned the copy, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself.

  RESCUED BY LOVE

  My heart has finally healed, says Amira

  A Herald exclusive by Esther Francois

  Soap superstar, Amira Choudhury, has finally broken her silence about her ‘agonising journey back to love’ after her split with partner, Dirk Meadows.

  After enduring ‘months of misery’, she’s found love again.

  And it’s her hunky Medics co-star Marc Rayburn who’s helping to heal the wounds.

  Amira says she was left ‘in pieces’ after the end of her marriage to lifeboat mechanic Dirk, adding that while devoted to his job, he suffered from mood swings and ‘jealous sulks’ that strained their relationship to breaking point.

  ‘Things between Dirk and me had been going downhill for a long time. He said he supported my career but he wasn’t willing to compromise. In the end I made the terrible choice: Dirk or my future. I chose to be free.’

  Amira claims that Dirk became ‘consumed’ by his job as a mechanic at a Thames lifeboat station.

  ‘Obviously I was proud of the good work he did there, but it affected him badly. He made it clear that our lives came second. When I landed the role in Medics and started to be recognised in the street, he’d try to hurry us away and then retreat into his shell.’

  Amira struggles to hold back tears when she talks about those painful times.

  ‘It was clear Dirk didn’t like people wanting to talk to me,’ she said. ‘We were spending more time apart and things came to a head when I offered to support him so he could give up his job. He walked out and that was the night I decided to make a clean break.

  ‘I was devastated, but I had to do it for both our sakes. I felt like I’d cut off a limb, but it was essential to my recovery. It’s taken months to get over the split from Dirk, but Marc has made me see that there’s love out there for me.’

  Judging by the happiness radiating from Amira when she talks about Marc, Amira clearly thinks she might finally have turned a corner … Has she found the best cure for her heartbreak?

  ‘God, give me strength!’ Tif
f said, with a snort of contempt. ‘I can’t take much more. This is even worse than I expected.’

  ‘You could say that,’ Dirk murmured darkly.

  She read on, groaning in derision and muttering. It was typical of Esther’s style, loaded with cheesy clichés, and littered with typos that the sub hadn’t picked up on – which suggested the story had been slotted into the first edition with indecent haste. Tiff might have done a happy dance of glee at the terrible writing and errors, if she hadn’t been annoyed on Dirk’s behalf.

  She threw down the tabloid. ‘You do know that Amira might not even have said any of this? It could have been cooked up by her publicist or her words were taken out of context. There’s even a possibility Esther paraphrased them or made them up herself. She’s done it before.’

  Dirk sighed. ‘Thanks for trying to soften the blow but we both know she did say this – or something like it.’

  ‘I’m sorry it’s upset you. It’s a shitty piece of journalism. The Herald is going further downhill.’

  ‘Is that all you care about? The quality of the prose?’

  ‘Are you implying I don’t care about the effect on you?’

  ‘I think you should read to the end,’ he said.

  ‘I don’t know if I can bear to. It’s such rubbish.’

  He folded his arms. ‘Read the rest.’

  There was something in his tone, a downbeat edge almost of defeat, that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She picked up the paper again and read the next few paragraphs to herself.

  ‘Dirk and I went our separate ways and I can accept that but I must admit I was heartbroken when I heard he was seeing someone else in Cornwall.

  ‘I cried for a whole night, but then I thought: this is the wake-up call I need. I deserved love too. I realised I’d been holding back from opening up to Marc because I was clinging to the past. Finding out my ex had moved on so quickly made my decision and I phoned Marc there and then and poured out my heart. We started dating a week later and I know it sounds like such a cliché, but now we’re blissfully happy.’

  Tiff swallowed hard. Oh God, no …

  ‘Well?’ he asked.

  ‘I – I am a little lost for words. The woman they mention you’re with—’

  ‘Who do you think they mean?’ he murmured.

  ‘I’ve only been here a couple of months. How can they know we’re—’

  ‘Yes. How? Did you tell Esther we were seeing each other?’ he said ominously.

  She gasped. ‘What? No, I bloody didn’t! How could you think that?’

  ‘I can think anything lately. Anything at all, where the press is concerned.’

  ‘Well, I didn’t tell her. She could have found out from anyone in Porthmellow with a few calls. I don’t want to be in vile Esther’s tawdry pieces of crap. I’d never reveal anything to her – least of all about someone I cared about.’

  ‘Cared about?’

  Tiff bit back an angry reply. ‘Yes. Cared about.’

  He gawped. ‘I thought you only wanted to sleep with me until you got a better offer in London.’

  Stinging from his comment, she unleashed both barrels. It was so unjust. She cared about him more than he ever imagined. ‘That is so far beneath you, Dirk. So far below the man I thought I was getting to know.’ She dropped the newspaper on the desk table. ‘If that’s what you really believe then there’s no point in me staying here or seeing you again.’

  He shook his head. ‘You know how well we get on. You know how much I liked – like – you but I can’t take that leap of faith. Not after what happened to Amira, not with someone – someone I …’

  ‘Someone you what?’ Her eyes blazed at him.

  Rachel popped her head around the door. ‘Tiff? Dirk? Everything OK?’

  ‘Yes, thanks, Rachel. Everything’s perfect! I was just going.’

  Without a backward glance, Tiff marched onto the quayside and along the harbour, not quite sure where she was going. For the first time since she’d left London, she was on the verge of tears. Dirk was hurt and upset, she knew that – she didn’t blame him – but there was no reason to take it out on her, or assume she’d betrayed his trust by telling Esther about their private life.

  She was angry at the injustice of his comments, but that wasn’t what had made her want to cry. It was the way he’d lashed out so strongly. Despite saying he was over Amira he was clearly still raw at losing her and that had cut Tiff to the bone. She’d let herself be vulnerable again in a way she’d vowed she never would. Her and Dirk were never going to work – it was an impossible romantic fantasy and she had to crush it and face reality. People like her weren’t cut out for ‘true love’ – if it existed at all.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  In memory of Nathan Hudson

  Forever in our hearts

  From his loving wife, Marina,

  and the people of Porthmellow

  Marina frowned at the plaque on the outside of the station and rubbed at it with her sleeve. There were few materials it could have been made of that would survive the elements so they’d raised the extra cash for a bronze one, but even that was spattered with mud and salt.

  She’d fetched a stool to stand on and was rubbing hard at the grime but the plaque really needed unscrewing and taking down for a proper clean. She’d ask Trevor if he’d do it when he came on shift. He was a kind soul and Marina didn’t feel she could bear to see it come down.

  Marina heard whistling.

  ‘Hi, it’s me,’ Lachlan called cheerfully, then added, ‘Oh. I’m sorry.’

  Heart sinking, Marina stepped down, the cloth still in her hand. ‘It’s weathered …’ she said. Why did he have to come across her at this moment?

  ‘I’m intruding. I’ll leave.’

  ‘Lachlan! Wait!’ She grabbed his arm and he swung round. ‘You’re not intruding. Please don’t walk away.’

  He glanced at the plaque and at her. ‘I don’t want to go.’

  ‘Then stay … come inside?’

  He followed her into the lookout. ‘I came to ask you something … after we talked at the beach night, I’ve been thinking about you – about us.’

  The cloth was still in her hands. ‘I think about us too. Please don’t think I don’t just because you found me here, with Nate’s plaque. Because that’s all it is; a sign on a wall – a memorial to him – but not a shrine. You understand me? Please don’t let it hold you back from saying what you feel.’

  ‘How I feel? I—’ He didn’t finish his sentence but reached for her and drew her closer to his body. She went more than willingly and a moment later, they were kissing each other. It was gentle and warm; the first kiss she’d had in however long. Kissing Lachlan felt as natural as breathing.

  Yet it was strange, touching another man, skin on skin, his mouth on hers as they explored each other. She’d stepped into a new world – a strange and wonderful land – that was as thrilling as it was unknown.

  The kiss ended but they stayed entwined, her head against his shoulder, cheek against the soft cotton of his T-shirt. She was enjoying the moment, enjoying the scent of freshly washed clothes, the touch of his hands resting lightly on her waist. She felt that sunshine had broken through into her world of semi-shadows, and it was the sunshine of a new morning when the day stretches ahead, ready to be filled with good things … happy things.

  Lachlan pulled back. ‘Wow, that was a surprise,’ he murmured. ‘To both of us. I didn’t plan for it to happen … perhaps it shouldn’t have?’

  ‘No, it absolutely should have. I wanted it to happen. Lachlan, that comment you made about us being friends after the picnic … It was a lovely thing to say but I have to admit that I’d been wondering – hoping – that lately, we might be something more?’

  ‘I want that too. I’ve wanted to kiss you for weeks but I don’t want to push you. I’ve held back because of Nate, especially as this is a sensitive time for you and you’ve so much on your plate with the lega
l stuff. I don’t want to come blundering in and make life even harder.’

  ‘You haven’t blundered in.’ She smiled. ‘And it is a tough time, but it’s a turning point too. That’s why I didn’t want to spoil our evening at the beach picnic by telling you. But Craig had to stomp in …’

  ‘It was a shock to find out that night was the anniversary, I’ll admit.’ He picked up her hand. ‘Marina, you must know I care about you. You’ve brought me out of my shell, even when I didn’t want to be dragged out of it.’

  She winced. ‘I haven’t meant to bully you.’

  ‘I needed a kick up the arse.’ He rubbed her hand. ‘And I can’t think of anyone I’d rather did the kicking.’

  ‘That’s nice!’ she said, through laughter. ‘I’ve had to come out of my shell since Nate died, so perhaps I go over the top.’

  ‘No. No you’re just what I needed,’ he said. ‘I wish I’d said this sooner and not spent so many nights fretting about whether I should tell you how I feel.’

  ‘I’m really glad you did,’ she said, before adding, a little shyly, ‘And about what just happened …’

  His eyes lit up in pleasure. ‘Then let’s do it again. Properly.’ He leaned in to kiss her.

  ‘Yoo hoo!’

  They sprang apart.

  ‘It’s Trevor and Doreen!’ Marina hissed. Lachlan turned away and picked up the binoculars but his shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. Marina wasn’t so blasé; the last thing she wanted was to be caught in a passionate kiss while on duty.

  ‘Hello!’ she said, far too blithely. ‘Lachlan was just visiting.’

  ‘Hi there,’ said Lachlan, nodding a hello to the couple who exchanged knowing glances, much to Marina’s horror. Had they guessed they’d interrupted something? Even if Lachlan was poker-faced, Marina’s fiery cheeks might have given them a clue.

  Lachlan said his goodbyes and Marina did the handover to the couple. When she went outside, she found him waiting for her on the path above the station.