Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop: The heart-warming, romantic read we all need right now

by Ali McNamara

  ‘Neither you nor your worries are a burden. I’m glad you shared all that with me – it somehow makes you more … human.’

  Jack laughs, ‘More human? What did you see me as before then? A superhero in a wheelchair?’

  ‘No, but you do have a certain invincibility about you.’

  ‘Really? Even in this?’

  ‘Definitely. Most of the time I forget you’re even in it. Remember when we first met I had no idea until you went to buy a drink.’

  ‘That was funny – your face was a picture.’

  ‘That’s what I mean. I just thought you were an awkward, obstinate, pig-headed bloke full of himself and his own importance.’

  Jack laughs again. ‘That does sound like me – but what do you think now?’

  ‘Pretty much the same really …’ I smile.

  ‘Hilarious,’ Jack says sourly. ‘No, really, what do you honestly think?’

  ‘Fishing for compliments again, are we?’ I ask lightly, but Jack’s face is serious. ‘I think you’re a highly complex man,’ I add, desperately trying to think of the right words. ‘Your tough exterior doesn’t suggest at all your more sensitive side I know you try to keep hidden.’

  ‘How do you know I have a sensitive side?’

  ‘Because I’ve seen it – when you’re with Ben, or my Barney, or when we’re watching Clara and Arty. That’s the real you, Jack, not the Jack you want people to think you are.’

  ‘Seems like you know me pretty well already.’

  ‘Nope, I think there’s much more to discover.’

  ‘I really want to kiss you right now,’ Jack says in a low voice, his eyes not moving from mine.

  ‘I really want you to as well …’

  ‘Let’s get out of here then,’ Jack suggests. ‘And find somewhere a lot quieter.’

  I nod, and I’m about to stand up when someone comes over to our table.

  ‘Kate, I thought that was you,’ Julian says, beaming at me. He glances at Jack. ‘Hi! Jack, isn’t it?’

  Jack nods.

  ‘Sorry to disturb you both, but I wanted to give you this, Kate.’ He hands me a small carrier bag. ‘It’s your vest top. You left it at mine the other day when you got dressed in a hurry.’ He glances at Jack again to make sure he’s following this.

  I look at Jack too, and I’m in no doubt whatsoever that he has understood Julian’s meaning completely.

  Thirty

  ‘Jack!’ I say, leaping up as he begins to reverse back from the table as if he’s going to leave. ‘It’s not what you think!’

  ‘What do I think, Kate?’ Jack asks, a stony expression clouding his face.

  I stare at Julian. ‘I thought we were supposed to be friends?’ I say. ‘And yet you do this.’

  ‘I don’t understand?’ Julian asks in confusion. ‘What’s going on?’ He looks between Jack and me, and then at the bag lying on the table between us all. ‘Oh! I see how this looks. No, Jack, nothing inappropriate took place that day … nothing at all. You have my word.’

  ‘I bet you’d have liked it to though, wouldn’t you?’ Jack asks accusingly. ‘I’m not stupid. I didn’t get what you meant that day, as you know I had other things I was dealing with at the time, but you were desperate for me to know that Kate was at your cottage in a state of undress. I didn’t pick up on your crude clues as I thought you were simply fetching coffee.’

  ‘Wait, you bumped into Jack when you went to fetch our hot chocolate?’ I ask, puzzled. ‘I didn’t know that. Why didn’t you say when you came back, Julian?’

  Julian shrugs.

  ‘My point exactly,’ Jack says, folding his arms in such a way that his biceps become even more prominent.

  Julian looks sulkily at Jack. ‘You were the one who said I shouldn’t mention it to Kate.’

  ‘I didn’t know you were going to see her in a matter of minutes, did I?’

  ‘Stop it, you two!’ I demand. ‘And lower your voices, people have noticed us. Let’s try to discuss this quietly like the civilised adults I’m sure we can be. Take a seat, Julian.’

  Only a couple of people had actually glanced our way, but I needed to calm this situation down fast. Jack was right, Julian pretty certainly had had other things on his mind that day, but he didn’t need to know I thought that too.

  Jack unfolds his arms and reaches for his pint again, while Julian sits down on a spare seat opposite mine with his hands clasped loosely together on the table.

  ‘Right,’ I say, as calmly as I can. ‘Now we’ve established that nothing went on between Julian and me,’ I look pointedly at Jack, ‘may I ask why you didn’t want Julian to say anything about bumping into you that afternoon? It strikes me as a bit odd.’

  Julian glances nervously at Jack, while Jack stares challengingly at Julian.

  Julian swallows hard.

  ‘Julian?’ I ask, thinking he might be the easier of the two to crack. ‘What’s going on?’

  Julian looks at Jack again, but Jack shakes his head.

  ‘Right then,’ I say, getting exasperated by all this. ‘Jack, you tell me why. Remember,’ I add, ‘we promised tonight to answer any question we were asked honestly … Your rules.’

  Jack shakes his head again, but this time in defeat. ‘The reason I didn’t want Julian to say he’d seen me was I was dealing with a bit of bother at the time, and I didn’t think it was in your best interests to know about it, that’s why.’ Jack toys with his now empty pint glass.

  ‘Bother?’ I ask staring at him. ‘What sort of bother? Was someone hassling you?’ I glance at Jack’s wheelchair.

  ‘No, not me,’ Jack says, looking annoyed. ‘Anita.’

  ‘Anita!’ I cry, then I quickly lower my voice. ‘Anita?’ I ask again. ‘Who would want to do that?’

  Jack glances at Julian again. This time Julian nods his encouragement.

  Jack sighs heavily. ‘It was your ex … Joel.’

  I suck my breath in sharply at his name. ‘Joel was here?’

  Jack nods. ‘At the shop. I was passing by on my way back from getting some fish and chips for Ben and me – if you remember his lunch had been rained off that day – when I heard raised voices coming from your shop. I stopped and popped my head around the door to see if everything was okay.’

  ‘And Joel was there?’

  Jack nods again. ‘Anita, to be fair, was doing a great job of trying to get rid of him. I didn’t know why at the time – I just thought he was an awkward customer. She was staying very calm. It was this Joel who was doing all the shouting.’

  That sounded about right.

  ‘So what did you do?’ I ask quietly.

  ‘Not a lot I could do,’ Jack says, sounding almost ashamed. ‘Not in this thing. I tried talking to him to calm him down, which seemed to work for a bit, and I almost got him out of the shop, but then he started talking about you again and demanding to see you. Anita had to explain to me who he was and why you wouldn’t want to see him, and that’s when he lost it.’

  ‘That’s where I come in,’ Julian says, keen to play his part. ‘I’d just got our drinks and saw Jack talking to someone through the door of your shop, and then I too heard a raised voice and asked if I could be of assistance in any way.’

  ‘You did?’ I ask, most surprised to hear this.

  ‘Yes,’ Julian says, looking perturbed that I should ever doubt he’d willingly enter into conflict on my behalf. ‘I may not have Jack’s army background, but I am trained in the art of negotiation.’

  Julian makes this sound like he’s negotiated hostages to safety from armed situations.

  ‘In what way are you trained?’ I ask sceptically.

  ‘I was on the university debating team for several terms,’ Julian says proudly. ‘We had some very heated and lively discussions in our debating chamber.’

  Surprisingly, I want to giggle at this, but I notice Jack is not even breaking a smile.

  ‘Julian actually came in very handy,’ he says supportively. ‘Wh
ile he was keeping Joel busy talking to him, I made a few quick phone calls and rounded up a bit of muscle.’

  ‘Muscle?’ I repeat. ‘You used physical violence to get rid of Joel?’

  ‘No, it wasn’t needed in the end. When Joel realised a few locals had turned up outside the shop suggesting it might be a good idea for him to leave and never return, he seemed to get the message.’

  ‘But he might still come back,’ I say anxiously, ‘That won’t stop him.’

  ‘No, but what Anita told him will. Like I said to you the other day, she’s a very wise lady.’

  ‘What did she say?’

  ‘It’s a bit more complex than I can explain now, but the gist was that you and Molly had moved on with your lives and, if he cared that much about you, he’d let you go and allow you to be happy.’

  ‘And he listened to that?’

  ‘He seemed to. It was like he suddenly got it. I’m sure the line of lads outside the shop helped drum in the message that little bit harder though.’

  ‘I’m sure,’ I say, trying to take all this in. I couldn’t believe that Joel had been here in St Felix and I hadn’t known about it.

  ‘I guess thanks are in order,’ I say after a few moments. I look at them. They both seem to have visibly relaxed either side of the table now their secret is out. ‘Thank you so much for helping Anita out that day – I’m sure she was very grateful to you. However, you should have told me what happened.’ I turn to Julian. ‘You, Julian, because you’re my friend, and friends don’t lie to each other.’ Julian looks immediately ashamed. ‘And you, Jack.’ I turn to face him now. ‘You should have told me because I think we mean a great deal to each other, and I didn’t think we had any secrets.’

  ‘We don’t,’ Jack says defensively. ‘Not from each other anyway. You know how much you mean to me, Kate. I wanted to protect you, that’s all.’

  ‘Protect me?’ I challenge. ‘Cosset me, more like. You both have no idea what that man put me through. If he’s been anywhere near me again then I have the right to know about it.’

  ‘But—’ Jack begins.

  ‘No, save it, Jack.’ I wave my hand at him. ‘You really don’t understand.’

  ‘Well, I think I—’

  ‘Tell me,’ I say suddenly, ‘what you hate the most about being in your chair, Jack?’

  Jack looks confused.

  ‘You hate it when people treat you like a child, when they patronise you and don’t speak to you like an equal. That’s right, isn’t it?’

  Jack nods, ‘Yes, but that’s different to this.’

  ‘How is it different?’ I demand. ‘How is you two colluding behind my back and keeping secrets from me treating me like an equal? Did you think I wouldn’t cope with the truth? Do you think keeping me safe means lying to me?’

  ‘We didn’t lie, Kate,’ Julian says now. ‘We just didn’t tell you, that’s all.’

  ‘But it’s not all,’ I cry. ‘You don’t understand. I need people around me I can trust. After this, how can I ever trust either of you again?’

  As I storm towards the door of the pub, I feel tears beginning to well up. No, Kate, I order myself. Don’t you dare cry now!

  I glance back at Jack and Julian through the crowded pub and I can see them arguing with each other, most likely about who is going to come after me.

  Jack seems to be winning, so I head quickly through the pub door knowing that pushing through the hordes of people around the bar will be far harder for him than it has been for me. If he is the one in pursuit I don’t need to worry about getting away. Feeling bad about that thought I pause outside, wondering which way to turn. I know I shouldn’t use Jack’s disability against him.

  It’s a pleasant evening in St Felix and people are enjoying gentle strolls along the harbour front, stopping to browse the closed shop windows and taking in the burnt orange glow of the sky as the sun sets across the bay.

  Jack, surprisingly, appears through the pub door much faster than I’d anticipated so I suddenly have to move fast. As usual, I’d forgotten that people automatically jump out of the way when someone comes through in a wheelchair – as if they don’t want to be accused of not helping the disabled person. I’d thought it was just people being nice and helpful to begin with, and some of the time it likely was, but I’d witnessed it too many times with Jack to pretend it didn’t exist.

  It doesn’t take him long to spot me running away along the harbour and he quickly sets off in pursuit.

  ‘Kate!’ I hear him call, when I’ve turned away from the harbour and am heading up a fairly steep cobbled hill. ‘Kate, please wait!’

  I hesitate. I feel bad that Jack is trying to chase after me in his chair. But would you feel bad if he was an able-bodied person running after you? I ask myself. When the answer is no, I keep running, telling myself Jack wouldn’t want me to treat him any other way.

  Eventually, I turn another corner and come to the same steep grassy hill where Jack and I had bumped into each other when I’d been walking Barney, and Jack now slows as we make our way up the central tarmac path. Luckily for him, I also begin to slow down as my lack of fitness catches up with me and I’m left gasping for breath. After a minute or so, Jack’s superior level of fitness finally allows him to pull level with me.

  ‘At last!’ Jack says, coming alongside me. ‘I didn’t think I was ever going to catch you.’

  ‘You might as well … just … wheel yourself … back down the hill again,’ I reply sulkily, still trying to catch my breath. ‘I don’t want to talk about this … You’ve wasted your time.’

  ‘No way,’ Jack says. ‘I’ve not gone to all this effort for you to get away with storming off like that.’

  ‘I think I had every right to leave the pub when I did.’

  ‘Explain to me how having two friends – actually, make that three – care enough about you that they want to protect you gives you the right to a childish tantrum?’

  ‘Well, if you hadn’t treated me like a child maybe I wouldn’t have to behave like one.’

  ‘I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about Joel. Anita and I had a long discussion about whether to or not after Julian left us. We thought it was best. You trust Anita’s judgement, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘I think she was thinking of Molly as much as anything. I understand she was the reason why Joel knew your whereabouts. I think Anita was protecting her too. Molly would have felt terrible if she knew she was the reason Joel showed up.’

  Jack was right, of course. Molly would feel awful. Especially now she knows the real reason why Joel and I broke up.

  ‘You still could have told me though,’ I reply, not giving in. ‘I had the right to know.’

  ‘Yes, I agree. In hindsight perhaps I should have been a little stronger with Anita, but sometimes we make decisions on the spur of the moment that aren’t always the right ones.’

  We’ve reached the brow of the hill now. I could take the narrow dirt footpath up to the little chapel that stands at the very top, but Jack wouldn’t be able to make it in his chair so this is as far as we’re going.

  ‘I’m sorry again, Kate,’ Jack says, as I stop at the edge of the hill and look out over the sea. ‘I only wanted to protect you.’

  ‘Yes, you’ve said that, but I don’t need protecting.’

  Jack is silent for a moment as we both look out at the vast ocean in front of us.

  ‘Have you ever stopped to think that maybe I didn’t just do this for you, I did it for me too,’ Jack says quietly.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I ask, turning to him.

  ‘How do you think I felt when I saw Joel in your shop and saw a visibly upset Anita trying to deal with him? The old me would have gone in there and marched him straight out, whether he wanted to go or not. Instead I had to call for back-up to do something I should have been able to do myself.’

  I hadn’t thought about it like that.

  ‘So perhaps protecting you and Moll
y from hearing about what had happened might have been a selfish, if stupid, move on my part to make myself feel a little better about once again finding myself lacking.’

  ‘You’re not lacking in anything, Jack,’ I tell him. ‘Really, you’re not. I keep trying to tell you.’

  ‘Why were you at Julian’s house?’ Jack asks suddenly, trying to make it sound like it’s a casual question.

  This again.

  ‘Don’t be coy, Jack,’ I tell him, feeling myself getting annoyed again moments after I’ve calmed down. ‘Just come right out and say it. What you mean is: Why were you at Julian’s house undressed? I thought we explained all that in the pub, but you still don’t trust me, do you?’

  ‘There are very few reasons why a woman would get undressed in a man’s house in my experience. I may be disabled in the body, but I’m not in my head.’

  Jack stares out to sea again, irritatingly avoiding my gaze.

  ‘Don’t you dare pull the disabled card twice on me!’ I tell him, stomping around in front of his wheelchair so he has to look at me properly. ‘Not after all the times you’ve moaned at me for mentioning it.’

  ‘You’re in my way,’ he says. ‘I can’t see the view.’

  ‘Why are you so obsessed with the view today? I’m not moving until you listen. Whatever you choose to think of me, Jack, I do not cheat when I’m in a relationship. I do not sleep around and I never lie.’

  ‘Is that last part a dig at me again?’ Jack asks.

  ‘The only reason I left my vest top in Julian’s tumble-drier was because I got wet in the rain after I left your shop that day. I went to look at Freddie’s old house – the one we’d seen in the pictures together. I didn’t know then that was the house Julian owned in St Felix or that he was staying there. He saw me outside soaking wet and invited me in, and then he offered to dry my clothes. I wore a dressing gown while my clothes were in the drier, we had hot chocolate and we talked about his dad. That is all, and then I left. I must have missed my vest in the drier and just worn my shirt and jeans back to the shop. I did leave in a bit of a hurry.’

  ‘Why did you leave in a hurry?’ Jack asks, keen to know the answer.