The Cottage on Sunshine Beach: An utterly gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy

by Holly Martin

  Melody smiled and Isla visibly softened. ‘That’s a very sweet thing to do, but maybe next time, just leave the flowers in the lounge or kitchen, don’t go somewhere you’re not supposed to go.’

  Elliot nodded, solemnly, and returned his attention to the jewellery.

  Melody turned back to Isla. ‘Oh my.’

  ‘Well, there you have it. The secret to her happiness isn’t Elliot or Trevor at all. It’s something much more… exciting.’

  ‘Unless Trevor is using it on her.’

  Isla put her hands over her ears. ‘I don’t want to picture that. I mean, if she’s having S E X again, that’s great, but I don’t want to picture it.’

  ‘I’m having sex lessons in school,’ Elliot said.

  Isla’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Um, you are?’

  ‘Yes, for a few weeks now.’

  ‘That’s very early, isn’t it?’ Melody said to Isla.

  ‘What are you learning about it?’ Isla asked, faintly.

  ‘How to use your tongue mostly,’ Elliot said. ‘And which fingers to use.’

  Isla sat down on a nearby stool.

  Sex education had changed a lot from when Melody was at school. She had learned about putting a Tampax inside a milk bottle filled with water and then watched it expand, certainly nothing as graphic as this.

  ‘And, um, which fingers do you use?’ Isla asked.

  ‘This one is B, this one is A, this one is G,’ Elliot said, counting down from his index finger.

  Isla stared at him for a moment. ‘Oh, thank god. Saxophone lessons?’

  ‘Yes, sax lessons, that’s what I said.’

  Melody sighed with relief.

  ‘Is Trevor teaching Nanny how to use the saxophone too?’ Elliot asked.

  Melody giggled. ‘Maybe he is?’

  ‘I’ll have to ask her about using her tongue,’ Elliot said. ‘I find that part the trickiest part of all.’

  Melody looked away so Elliot wouldn’t see her smile.

  ‘Using the tongue is very tricky,’ Isla agreed and Melody could feel her shoulders shaking with laughter. ‘Maybe when you talk to Nanny, you should make it clear that you’re talking about the saxophone.’

  ‘What else would I be talking about?’ Elliot said, innocently.

  ‘Well, tongues can be used for lots of different things,’ Isla said, lamely.

  Melody snorted but turned it into a cough.

  ‘Like what?’ Elliot asked.

  ‘Well…’ Isla clearly tried to think of some child-friendly examples.

  ‘I can touch my nose with my tongue,’ Melody said, trying to rescue the situation and then demonstrated this feat.

  Elliot tried and failed to do the same.

  ‘And some people can lick their elbows, can you do that?’ Melody said.

  She watched Elliot try and fail to do that too. And then he set about trying to lick other body parts, his knees, his belly, his toes, giggling as he was doing it.

  Since he was suitably distracted, Melody turned back to Isla.

  ‘I didn’t realise I was coming for dinner tomorrow?’

  ‘Ah go on, what else are you going to be doing, sitting in your little cottage talking to Rocky?’

  ‘Harsh. And you wouldn’t be trying to set me up with Jamie, would you?’

  ‘Of course not. I want dinner with my two favourite girls and Leo is always hanging around my house so of course he’ll be there, so it makes sense to invite Aidan and Jamie too.’

  ‘Subtlety is not your strong point,’ Melody said. ‘And who says I need your help? Maybe I’m brave enough to ask him out myself.’

  Though she wasn’t entirely sure she’d done that.

  ‘And when are you going to do that?’ Isla asked, watching Elliot fondly.

  ‘I sort of did it this morning.’

  Isla gave her all of her attention, staring at her in shock. Melody wasn’t surprised by that reaction. Her feelings for Jamie had been ongoing for over a year now, probably a lot longer if she was honest with herself. It had started as a bit of a crush on one of her brother’s friends. But every time she came down to Sandcastle Bay to visit Matthew she had fallen for Jamie that little bit more. Then, after Matthew died and Jamie had looked after her, and she’d moved down here to help Isla look after Elliot, her love for him had deepened even more. She had been promising Tori and Isla that she would ask him out for the last few months but had never plucked up the courage. And now she’d done it. Sort of.

  ‘What exactly does sort of mean?’ Isla asked.

  ‘Well I asked him round to my house tonight for dinner and he said yes,’ Melody said.

  Isla broke into a huge smile. ‘So that sounds promising.’

  ‘I think he thought I meant, just as friends.’

  ‘Ah, I see,’ Isla said, pulling a face.

  ‘I’m not sure what to do to rectify it,’ Melody said. She looked over at Elliot and he had stopped trying to lick his knees now and was focussed on trying on every item of jewellery at the same time again. She moved closer to Isla anyway and decided to whisper the next part. ‘Do I go over to the shop and say, “You know our dinner tonight, you do realise that what I actually want is for you to sweep our plates on the floor and take me on the dining table”?’

  Isla laughed so loudly that Elliot looked over to see what they were talking about.

  ‘I hope you’re going to remember where each of those pieces of jewellery came from, Elliot Rosewood,’ Isla said, trying to distract him. ‘Because you will need to carefully put them all back before we leave.’

  ‘I know exactly where they all go,’ Elliot said, and Melody knew that he probably did. He was always good at remembering little facts and whenever she played Pairs with him, he had crazy skills at remembering where all the cards were and always beat her.

  They waited until Elliot was immersed in the jewellery again before they carried on talking.

  ‘I would love it if you did that,’ Isla whispered.

  Melody sighed, knowing she could never do that. It had taken her weeks to ask Jamie out and she hadn’t even managed that properly.

  ‘I guess you wait to see how he turns up tonight,’ Isla said. ‘If he makes some kind of effort with his clothes and not what he just normally wears, then I’d say he definitely considers it to be a date too. If he brings flowers, then that’s also a positive sign. You don’t bring flowers to a night where you just hang out with friends.’

  ‘OK, take his cue, I can do that. And if he turns up in jeans and a stained t-shirt and brings a four-pack of beer, what do I do then?’ The beer was probably unlikely, but the stained clothes were the norm. As an artist, he always seemed to have clay or paint on his jeans and t-shirts. It never bothered her, that was just Jamie’s style, but she suddenly wanted him to turn up in a shirt or something semi-smart to show he wanted this to be a date as much as she did.

  ‘You bring it up over dinner, you say something like, “We’ve been really good friends for a while now and I really, really like you. How would you feel if we were to take our friendship to the next level? Would you like to go out on a date with me?”’

  ‘And then there can be no confusion,’ Melody said.

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘And if he says no?’

  ‘Then the boy is an idiot and not worth your tears, but at least you’d know, once and for all.’

  ‘But it would ruin our friendship.’

  ‘It’s not really a friendship if one of the friends is desperately hoping and waiting for the day that the other person will fall in love with them too. It’s just a very painful, prolonged unrequited love and it really is better to put a stop to that now rather than letting it drag on and on for years.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Melody said, sadly.

  So tonight, she would know the truth. And it could end with her having hot sex on her dining table or losing her friend forever.

  4

  Melody was just locking the shop door at the end of the day,
when Jamie popped out of his art studio, his t-shirt and hands splattered in wet clay. He’d evidently just finished working on the potter’s wheel.

  ‘Hey,’ Jamie said, stepping the short distance between their shops.

  ‘Hey yourself,’ Melody said as Rocky strained on the lead to see if Sirius was with Jamie.

  They were silent for a moment and Jamie focussed his attention on wiping his hands on a damp cloth.

  God, she didn’t want this to be awkward between them. When she had first moved down here it had been awkward as hell every time they’d met, and she knew that was in part due to that one amazing kiss they’d shared and never spoken about since. It also wasn’t helped by Jamie’s aunt, Agatha, who was desperately trying to get them together every time she saw them. What would she make of this sort-of date they had tonight?

  Above them, the sun was just starting its descent across the sky, painting the clouds a beautiful raspberry pink. The fairy lights strewn across the courtyard were twinkling already, casting little golden orbs of light on the cobbles. Any other time, this moment could be romantic – the sound of the waves on the shore nearby, just the two of them in this secluded little spot – but the silence had gone on too long for it to be anything but weird now.

  ‘I, um… I’m…’ Jamie tried. ‘I’m looking forward to tonight.’

  He glanced up, watching her closely as if searching her face for her emotions.

  ‘I am too,’ Melody said, not entirely sure where this was leading.

  ‘It’ll be fun,’ Jamie said.

  Her heart sank a little because, while she wanted the evening to be enjoyable, fun didn’t sound like it was going to be the romantic evening she had planned. She noticed he had a splatter of clay on his cheek and without thinking she reached up to wipe it off. He blinked in surprise at her touch and then his grey eyes darkened slightly.

  ‘We can have fun,’ she said, softly, taking her time to gently remove the clay.

  His eyebrows shot up.

  Christ, had she just insinuated a completely different kind of fun? She was so rubbish at this dating malarkey.

  ‘I mean, it will be fun to… hang out,’ Melody said, but her voice was so breathy now with nerves that she even managed to make ‘hanging out’ sound sexy. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea of what the night held. As often as she had imagined what making love to Jamie would be like, she didn’t know if she was brave enough to jump into bed with him on the first date. And, in reality, she didn’t want the kind of relationship with him that was led by sex. She wanted love and happy ever afters.

  She quickly stepped back away from him.

  ‘Um, Melody.’ He pushed his hand through his hair, leaving speckles of clay. ‘About tonight…’

  Oh god, he was going to cancel, she couldn’t let him do that.

  ‘We’re not having sex,’ she blurted out and then had to stop herself from running away and hiding from complete mortification. What the hell was wrong with her?

  He stared at her and then his mouth twitched at the corners as he tried to suppress a smile.

  She let out a laugh of relief and he laughed too. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that. I was wiping the clay off your face and talking about having fun and I thought you might take that the wrong way and think I was offering a different kind of fun and I wasn’t. That’s not what tonight is about.’

  Her hands were flapping around as she babbled nervously and then he reached forward and gently caught one of them in his, stilling her frantic movements.

  ‘What is tonight about? Let’s be clear so there is no misunderstanding between us. I don’t want you thinking it’s one thing and I turn up thinking it’s something completely different. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you.’

  She swallowed because this was the moment to say those things that Isla had told her to say earlier. Except, right now, with his thumb ever so slightly stroking the back of her hand, she couldn’t think of a single word of it.

  ‘Well, I’ll be there,’ Melody said, lamely. ‘And you will be too.’

  He smiled. ‘OK, that’s a good start.’

  ‘And I’m going to cook dinner for you.’

  ‘OK. That’s definitely cleared up what you meant by inviting me round for dinner tonight,’ Jamie said.

  ‘Has it?’

  ‘It’s as clear as mud.’

  Melody laughed.

  ‘Will there be candles?’ Jamie asked.

  Oh crap.

  ‘I like candles,’ Melody said, her voice strained. There was nothing casual about dinner with candles. ‘So there’ll probably be a few dotted around. If you’re OK with that?’

  He paused for the longest time before answering. ‘I’m OK with candles.’

  ‘OK,’ Melody said.

  ‘OK.’

  Silence.

  ‘So me, you, dinner, candles, no sex,’ Jamie said.

  ‘Yes, are you still looking forward to it?’

  He watched her, his eyes intent on hers. He smiled, one corner of his mouth tugging up. ‘Very much.’

  Her heart filled with hope. ‘OK then, I’ll see you later.’

  He stepped back and released her hand. ‘Seven o’clock.’

  She nodded and gave him a little wave as she left Starfish Court, but as she crossed the road and stepped out onto the beach, she knew that Jamie was watching her go.

  Jamie walked back into his art studio and Klaus turned from his sculpture, eyebrow quirked.

  ‘Well, was tonight supposed to be a date?’

  ‘Oh yes, it was definitely a date.’

  There was no doubt about that. Melody wouldn’t have got that nervous about two friends hanging out together. When he’d held her hand, he’d felt her pulse skip. When she wiped the splash of clay from his cheeks, he’d seen her eyes darken. She liked him. But then he shouldn’t be surprised by that.

  That kiss. That one amazing kiss the year before. It hadn’t been the kiss of someone seeking comfort from anyone in her grief. It had been the kiss of lust and desire and maybe even love. And he’d kissed her back. He rubbed his eyes, trying to dispel the image of her in his arms, her lips against his, his tongue in her mouth, tasting her, holding her against him. Because he should never have kissed her.

  She had been a complete mess the day of her brother’s funeral. She’d spent most of the night crying into her bottle of wine as he had tried to ply her with water and then made sure she got back to the hotel safely. When she had wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, for a few seconds he’d forgotten chivalry and taken advantage, kissing her back the way he’d wanted to do for so long. That was before he remembered that she was in no fit state to make any kind of rational decision about what she was doing. It had only lasted a few moments, but it had been seared on his brain ever since. He’d escorted her into the hotel, helped her into bed and then sat in a darkened corner of the room watching over her to make sure she wasn’t sick in the night, creeping out only when the sunlight had dusted the room.

  There had been no mention of it since and he had convinced himself that perhaps those feelings were never really there. Yet here they were, a year later, and he was going on a date with her.

  ‘And did you put her straight, tell her you’re not interested?’

  ‘Nope, I have a date tonight,’ Jamie said, throwing himself down at his desk.

  ‘And you’re not happy about this?’ Klaus said.

  Jamie thought about this. He adored Melody. The thought of dating her, of being with her in that way made his heart soar. He wanted to recreate that kiss. He wanted this.

  ‘I’m happy.’

  ‘Well try telling your face that.’

  Jamie sighed. ‘I really do want to go on this date with her but… I can’t hurt her…’

  ‘Is this really about her or is this still a self-preservation thing?’

  Jamie guessed it was a bit of that too.

  ‘Look, it doesn’t have to be anything serious betw
een you. Just have some fun.’

  ‘It was never going to be anything but serious with Melody Rosewood,’ Jamie said, not entirely sure he really could do serious again.

  ‘Surely, it is better to give this thing a try between the two of you than pining after her for the next few years. Being friends, which means being close but never taking that next step, has got to be torture and so will watching her go off with someone else because you’re not brave enough to take that risk with her.’

  Jamie knew Klaus was right.

  ‘Finding the one is hard. You fall in love and they don’t love you back, they fall in love with you and you don’t return those feelings. It’s hard to find the perfect match but when you do, believe me, it’s worth all that heartache. Go on this date tonight, give it a chance.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘And for god’s sake, try to enjoy it.’

  Jamie knew he would enjoy his evening. Any time spent with Melody was always a good thing, even if they had suddenly taken their relationship to the next level.

  Melody looked around at the candles that dotted the surface. Had she gone too far? Was it too romantic?

  Gentle classical music was playing on the stereo and she screwed up her nose as she listened to the soft harp music. She had only downloaded that music half an hour ago to try to find something fitting for the evening, but it definitely wasn’t this. This wasn’t her at all. She picked up the remote and scanned through to her Westlife music, which was romantic without being clichéd. That would have to do.

  The food was ready: three delicious courses were either warming or cooking in the oven, or in the fridge ready to be eaten.

  Tonight was going to be perfect.

  As long as they were on the same page and she wasn’t entirely sure they were. He said he was OK with candles. Did that mean he was OK with the night being a romantic one or did it simply mean that he was OK with candles? God, why was she overthinking everything? This was Jamie, her friend. It was going to be fine, regardless what happened.

  There was a knock on the door, sending a sleeping Rocky into a tizzy as he yapped and leapt around.