The Waffle House on the Pier: A gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy

by Tilly Tennant

  ‘So…’ he said, looking at her as he took a sip of his juice. ‘Does seeing you today mean I don’t get to see you this evening?’

  ‘I don’t see why we can’t do both,’ Sadie said carelessly, though her heart was thumping and she didn’t really understand why. She only knew that today was going to change their relationship somehow. She didn’t know why she felt that either, but something was telling her it was true. Was it that old, scary psychic ability again? Or was this going to be something of her own doing? Either way, it almost seemed inevitable. ‘In fact, I don’t have anywhere to be today. I know you have things to do but… I don’t know… maybe you feel like taking a day off?’

  ‘I do now,’ he said with a smile. ‘You’re a bad influence.’

  ‘I do my best.’

  ‘OK,’ he said slowly, drinking from his glass again, ‘what do you want to do? I could show you around my house but it wouldn’t take long.’

  ‘I don’t mind that. I’d like to see. You can explain your plans to me.’

  ‘I’m sure it would bore you stiff.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  He paused for a minute, regarding her carefully. Finally, he spoke. ‘You haven’t told me how it went last night.’

  ‘I thought you’d be bored hearing about it. Even I’m bored of hearing about it and I’m involved.’

  ‘I’m involved with you so that makes me involved too and I’m all ears if there’s anything you need to get off your chest. I just want to know that you’re OK.’

  ‘Oh, it wasn’t great,’ she said. ‘Gammy hates me.’

  ‘She’ll come round, won’t she?’

  ‘Yes… I don’t know. Maybe, in time. You know what really scares me, though? Given enough time she would forgive me, but what if she doesn’t have that? What if she dies suddenly and I never get that forgiveness and I have to live for the rest of my days knowing she died angry with me? I don’t think I could deal with that.’

  He was thoughtful again for a moment. ‘I wish I could do something to help.’

  ‘You are helping, just by listening.’

  He put his drink on the floor and came over to her. Lifting a lock of hair with a light touch, he smoothed it behind her ear and bent to place a soft kiss on her lips.

  ‘I can see you’ve been crying,’ he whispered. ‘I wish I could make that better.’

  ‘Oh God, it’s still that obvious? I spent most of last night crying over it, but what will crying do to fix anything? It’s over and done now,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to think about it.’

  ‘Never?’

  ‘Not now. Kiss me again.’

  He did as she asked, and she was seized again by that strange, unnameable premonition that something huge was about to happen, that something was about to shake her world and turn it upside down. But she wasn’t scared; she was excited, and she wanted it to come.

  He pulled away and took her glass from her, placing it on the floor. And then he offered his hand. She rose from the chair and took it.

  ‘Where are we going?’ she asked, nerve ends tingling, veins full of fire.

  ‘To start the grand tour,’ he said. ‘Where do you want to go first?’

  ‘Where would you suggest?’

  ‘Well,’ he said with a smile that made her molten, ‘the bedroom’s rather nice at this time of day.’

  She almost squealed with excitement, but she held it in and did her best to look sultry. ‘Then show me the bedroom, and don’t worry about rushing it – I’ve got all the time in the world.’

  * * *

  Sadie was sleepy, but she didn’t want to sleep. She didn’t want to miss a moment of this day, of being here in Luke’s arms, in his bed for the first time. Scenes replayed in her head, of him lifting her onto the bed, of him ripping off his shirt, him taking her face in his hands and kissing her. His scent and his touch were all over her and she never wanted to lose it. She’d had sex since Declan, of course, but it had always been drunken, or rushed, or plain boring. It had been functional, at the end of the day, to fulfil a need. Even with Declan, even though it had always been good, it had become routine by the end of their relationship. Luke was something else, something that Sadie quickly recognised could become addictive if she let it. Already she wanted him again, but it seemed he wanted to talk and so, for now, she’d have to let him.

  ‘Tell me about your life before I came to the bay,’ he said as she nestled into the crook of his arm.

  ‘There’s not that much to tell. I was born, went to school, went to university – outside the town – came back, started teacher training and then quit teacher training. All pretty dull and most of it you know already. Never mind that – tell me about you. I don’t know anything at all, Mr Enigma. Come on – spill the beans.’

  ‘You really want to know? It’s such a tale of tragedy you might regret asking.’

  Sadie laughed lazily. ‘Well, I’ve asked now so it will serve me right. I do want to know. Why did you really come to the bay? Tell me about your family, your childhood, all your near-misses.’ Her smile faded as she recalled something darker that had been hinted but never explained. ‘Back in the Listing Ship on our first date you said you’d had your heart broken but you never said what happened.’

  ‘As I recall you told me not to tell you about it.’

  ‘I did, but that was because it didn’t seem as if you wanted to talk about it. But now…’

  ‘You really want to know?’

  ‘Yes; I do. I think we’re at that point now, don’t you?’

  He let out a sigh and shifted slightly next to her. ‘Maybe you’re right. Her name is Christa.’

  ‘Right. So where is she now? What happened?’

  ‘She’s living with my brother in Kensington.’

  ‘They’re together?’ Sadie leaned up on her elbow to look at him. He nodded.

  ‘I was engaged to her, but she decided that the other Goldman boy looked like a more attractive prospect. I don’t mind telling you it tore my life apart. Everything changed, not just that. The business that I had renovating and selling properties – I was in partnership with Jacob; that’s my brother – and so you can see that had to end; I could hardly work with him after that. I can’t see him now because I can’t see him with her and I don’t want to see her at all. So one day I remembered this little place where I was happy for a few summers and I decided to chuck it all in and move away from London. I was going to have a quiet life, do up a house, swim in the sea every morning, go out on a boat, learn to fish and maybe surf… I wasn’t intending to meet someone and certainly not as quickly as I did. But you just… well, you know how it went.’

  ‘Yes, you should be careful fishing in these waters; you never know what you might catch.’

  He chuckled softly.

  ‘What about your mum? Is she in London? Was she upset about all this, because didn’t your dad…?’

  ‘Exactly. She was. I’d always vowed never to do that to someone because I saw first-hand what my dad’s infidelity did to my mum. Maybe it had the opposite effect on Jacob – maybe those events somehow normalised it all for him. Or maybe he just didn’t have the strength to resist the temptation.’

  ‘She must have really thrown herself at him.’

  ‘I don’t know about that. I don’t know any of the details and I don’t want to. It’s enough that it happened and now I’m separated from half my family and the life I used to know.’

  ‘Are you sad that you’ve lost all that – the big glamorous life in London and the girl?’

  ‘I’m mostly sad about Jacob. I can make a life anywhere but I hate that he’s no longer in it.’

  ‘And there’s no way you could make up?’

  He shook his head. ‘Not right now; it’s still too raw.’

  ‘What if you moved on enough? Found someone new, fell in love again?’

  ‘Maybe then. It would never be the same as it was before, though, because she’d always be there to remind me of tha
t pain.’

  ‘But you must think it would be nice to speak to your brother again. I can’t imagine what life would be like without Ewan or Lucy.’

  ‘Lucy? I’d almost forgotten you had a sister.’

  ‘She’s this big-shot theatre agent in New York; she doesn’t come home that often. It sounds mean, but it’s easy for people to forget her because she’s never here. I think sometimes people who’ve lived their whole lives in the bay and watched her grow up here forget she exists now that she’s gone.’

  ‘Is she like you?’

  ‘God no! When she plans to do something she makes a success of it. She’d never be suddenly unemployed with no money and living with her parents at the age of twenty-six.’

  ‘But you could go back to teaching?’

  ‘Everyone keeps saying that. Honestly? Probably. But I’m not sure I want to. There’s a reason I gave it up so willingly, even if that reason isn’t completely clear to me, and I think it’s because, really, teaching’s not what I’m meant for. And I say that with a heavy heart because I gave up a lot to try for something that ultimately turned out to be a complete waste of time.’

  She settled back into his arms and contemplated the old plaster on his ceiling. It was cracked in many places, discoloured and crumbling, and she supposed that it was another thing he’d be replacing, but she kind of liked it the way it was. How many people had prayed and sang and found their peace beneath it during the years it had been a working chapel? And today, maybe, Sadie had found peace beneath it too. It felt that way right now, and even hearing Luke’s story at last didn’t put her off. If anything, it attracted her more strongly to him. He had a past, just like her – a complicated, messy past that would never fully be resolved, one where reminders would lurk around every corner. That made them the same, didn’t it?

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ he said.

  ‘Ask away.’

  ‘When I came to the waffle house yesterday – the second time – and you were with—’

  ‘Declan. Yes, we did used to be together and yes, I did once love him very much. Is that what you were going to ask me?’

  Sadie rolled up to look at him again. There was no point in covering any of it up because even she knew that it was obvious to anyone who cared to look hard enough that she and Declan still had a connection too strong to deny. And even if she did deny it, the whole town knew their history – sooner or later Luke would get to hear it and then it would look much worse that she hadn’t set him straight when he’d asked.

  ‘Do you love him now?’

  She flopped down again, her gaze going to the ceiling once more. ‘That’s a more complicated question than you might imagine.’

  ‘Is it?’

  ‘I love him, but it’s not like it was. We’re friends, best friends, and we care about each other. If he ever needed me I’d be there for him, and if I ever needed him he’d do the same. We’re on a different wavelength from the rest of the world, a special one just for us two; at least, that’s how it’s always felt for me.’

  ‘That sounds intense. I feel like the other man already.’

  ‘It’s not like that, not now. I can’t explain it. You can’t have the kind of connection we once had and not have any of that left behind when it ends. But he’s with Melissa now and they’re happy. They’re going to buy a house together and then I expect marriage will follow, and kids. He’s very traditional in that way – wants the whole set. Partly, that was what finished it for me and him in the end. He wanted to settle down but I didn’t.’

  ‘Do you regret that now?’

  ‘I didn’t at first; I was having too much fun – at least I thought I was. And then I did. But I decided I couldn’t change it so there was no point in regretting it.’

  ‘Sadie… I don’t know if I dare ask this. Where are we at now? It’s just, I promised myself I wouldn’t get too close, not after what happened with Jacob and Christa, and I tried, I really did. But then today happened and I feel I’m already in too deep. And then you go and tell me about this other guy that you never really got over and—’

  ‘Don’t you think we’re at a good place? I don’t want to be with Declan now; maybe I didn’t explain it very well. He means a lot to me – I can’t deny that – but I don’t want to be with him. Right now, I want to be with you. Is that enough? Can you live with that for now?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  She paused. ‘Do you want me to go?’

  ‘No – no I don’t. I want you here and that’s what scares me. I don’t know if I can deal with you and this other guy being so close. I’ve been hurt once and I don’t think I can take it again. But I want you here so badly right now that I can’t think straight.’

  ‘Then don’t think at all. Just be here now with me and we’ll take it a minute at a time.’

  ‘I need to be able to trust that you won’t hurt me like Christa did.’

  ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’

  ‘I don’t believe for a minute that Christa meant to hurt me; it just happened. You might not mean it either but you might still do it.’

  ‘You have to trust someone eventually. Or are you planning to spend the rest of your life alone just in case?’

  ‘I’d hate that, of course I would. But it’s so hard to do otherwise. I can have fun with you and I can enjoy your company, but to let you into my heart that way, knowing what I know about you and Declan—’

  Sadie put a finger to his lips.

  ‘Please don’t. I wouldn’t be here if I planned to mess you around like that.’

  ‘That’s just it – nobody plans it. I can’t have that waiting in my future again, planned or not.’

  ‘You’re right – nobody does plan these things, and perhaps it’s a good thing that we don’t see what’s at the finishing line; maybe it’s better just to make the most of the journey. I sometimes think that’s where I’ve always gone wrong. I’ve always been racing towards something, so fast that I’ve missed what was under my nose – and often those things have been more important and valuable than what I was running towards. If nothing else, the last few weeks have shown me that life has a way of tripping you up, but the successes might just be in the way you get up and dust yourself down.’

  ‘Hmm.’

  ‘You have absolutely no idea what any of that just meant, do you?’

  ‘Not really.’

  Sadie giggled and leaned in to kiss him. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ve had enough talking for now anyway.’

  He broke off and held her gaze for a moment, his expression intense, searching, even a little scared, as if he was standing on a cliff edge and pondering the wisdom of diving into the sea below.

  ‘But I do worry about it. I can’t go on with this if I can’t be sure I won’t get hurt again. Christa and Jacob… I never thought I’d get over their betrayal and I can’t go through something like that again – it would break me.’

  ‘I promise I would never do that to you.’

  ‘But how can I know that for sure?’

  Sadie was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ she said finally. ‘I don’t suppose there is any way I can prove it to you. Maybe you’ll just have to take a leap of faith.’

  ‘That’s easy for you to say.’

  ‘Not as easy as you might think.’

  He ran a hand down the length of her hair, his eyes locked onto hers, and she saw his uncertainty, the battle with his own doubts. He wanted to believe her, to believe in her – she could see that. And she could see how much he wanted her. She wanted him too, and she wanted to be able to show him how much, but she couldn’t do anything to settle his doubts or undo the events in his past that would perhaps always make him doubt. But then his expression cleared and, for now at least, his desire to be with her seemed to have melted the doubts away.

  ‘Am I going to regret this?’ he asked as his hand trailed down to her back to pull her closer.

  ‘No,’ she said, kissing him again. ‘Neither o
f us is.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sadie might have been in a rebellious mood by the time she was walking back after spending the afternoon with Luke, but she did realise that she would have to show her face at home, regardless of how much she didn’t want to. There was still much to discuss and a fractured relationship with her grandma to fix, and she wanted to do that as soon as she could. The idea of Gammy holding a grudge against her, of being hated by her, was more than Sadie could bear. And she felt braver now, buoyed by the time she’d spent with Luke, which had made her feel more special and wanted than she had in a long time.

  On the way back she stopped at a florist to pick up a bouquet of summer flowers. She’d give them to April with an apology and beg for forgiveness, and maybe her grandmother, having slept on things, would be in more of a mood to forgive. It didn’t matter whether any of it was Sadie’s fault or not; it only mattered that she and Gammy got back to where they’d been before all of this blew up.

  * * *

  Nobody was home when she got there, so Sadie set about cleaning (not that the place needed it because Henny kept everything spotless) and making a start on a fish pie for everyone. Her grandmother, in particular, loved a pie full of juicy salmon, fat prawns and chunks of fluffy cod and creamy mashed potato – she called it food for the soul, God’s gift from the sea – and Henny had all the ingredients in, clearly planning to make one herself at some point. And by the time everything was bubbling away, the kitchen smelt so good that Sadie was beginning to think that Gammy might be right about God’s gift from the sea – it was certainly a heavenly scent, and her mouth was watering already.

  An hour later Henny, Graham and April returned. Sadie’s parents had cut down their trips so they could finish early, and it had turned out to be a wise decision because the sea was getting frisky, or so her dad said, and there would be a storm before the night was out. That was OK, because before she’d left Sadie had told Luke that she probably ought to be with her family tonight in the hope of sorting out the mess they seemed to be in. As they’d spent the afternoon together he’d been OK with that. He had a house to build anyway, he’d said, and he was hardly going to do that with the sexiest woman alive distracting him. That had made her want to jump back into bed and show him just how sexy she could be, but she’d done a remarkable job of resisting the urge and here she was, ready to make peace with Gammy. Or, at least, she hoped so, because Henny wasn’t the only woman in the Schwartz family with a stubborn streak.