by Holly Martin
‘You want me to go and have lunch at Eden’s after I left her to struggle?’
‘Yes. She’s your friend, she understands that you need to work your notice before you can leave. No offence to Eden’s shop but she can get anyone to help her serve coffee and teas, the kind of job you are doing here requires a very special skill and months or even years of training. And if you hadn’t stormed out and left me the other night, then you would still be working here and Eden would still be struggling, as you put it. But as I’ve already said, Dougie is more than happy to help out so I don’t think you’re going to be on Eden’s barred list just yet.’
Freya stood up. ‘Fine. But I want a slice of that white chocolate and strawberry cake.’
He relaxed a little. ‘Of course.’
He waited for her to walk out onto the street then followed her out and locked the door behind them.
‘So we’re going to Penzance tomorrow to help with the setting up of the Hope Island float. Are you going to be angry with me the whole time we are there, or are you just not going to talk to me?’
Freya sighed. ‘No, I’ll talk to you.’
‘Good.’ He snagged her arm and pulled her to face him. ‘Look, I’m sorry for forcing you to work with me when you clearly don’t want to but… but I can’t lose you and I’m going to do everything I can to get you to stay. And I don’t mean your work, which is incredible by the way, I mean you.’
She stared up at him, her whisky-caramel eyes wide with surprise.
She swallowed and when she spoke her voice was croaky. ‘When you talk like that it makes me think you want something more from me than just friendship.’
Did he want something more than friendship? Did he want to fall in love again, to lay himself open to getting hurt all over again? Did he want to push his relationship with Freya into the something more category and risk his wonderful friendship with his best friend if it all went wrong? He was too scared to take that step. Over the last few days he’d seen how tentative their friendship actually was, how easily he could lose her over something that was entirely out of his control, just like the rollercoaster accident that took Paige’s life. He just wanted his friend back and he wasn’t going to risk losing her completely, no matter how tempting it was to kiss her or make love to her.
He took a step back from her and saw the briefest flash of hurt wash across her face before she turned away and started walking towards Eden’s pottery café.
Is that what she wanted? She had hinted at that the night before when she’d had a few drinks but he’d put that down to drunken ramblings.
God, he really was rubbish with women, he had no idea what they were thinking and whereas before it hadn’t mattered with Freya, he could just be himself, suddenly it mattered more than anything. He had to get this right.
They walked into Eden’s pottery café and immediately Freya went over to hug Eden.
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for,’ Eden said. Pulling back slightly from Freya, she fixed Rome with a teasing glare. ‘You, on the other hand.’
He laughed, knowing that Eden didn’t mind.
‘Honestly, Freya, it’s fine. Clare will be back tomorrow and as you can see Dougie is earning his keep.’ Eden gestured over to Dougie who was wearing a pink cupcake apron as he served teas and cakes behind the counter. ‘Rome is right, he needs you. He would be lost without you.’
Rome nodded. In more ways than one.
They moved to the counter and Dougie looked up at them and grinned as they approached.
‘Nice apron,’ Rome said.
Dougie pointedly ignored him. ‘Freya, you’re looking beautiful today, Rome… still ugly as ever. What are you still looking grumpy for anyway, you got Freya back?’
‘Temporarily.’ He willed Dougie to stop talking but his friend took no notice.
‘You should have seen him, Freya, he looked like he’d had his heart ripped out after your row. I still don’t know what you two fell out over?’ He looked between them, obviously hoping they would enlighten him. But Rome had no idea either.
‘Nothing,’ Freya muttered.
‘Well if it was nothing, then it’s high time you two kissed and made up.’
Rome was just trying to decide if it would be bad for Eden’s business if he reached across the counter and throttled Dougie when a voice piped up behind them.
‘Go on Rome, give her a kiss.’
Rome turned round to see Barbara from the chemist with her friend Mary, both of them smiling at him hopefully.
Mary nodded encouragingly.
‘Go on,’ Barbara urged. ‘Poor Freya bought condoms from me for your big date on Friday evening, such a shame for the poor love that she never got to use them.’
Rome turned to look at Freya who was looking at Barbara in horror.
‘It doesn’t always have to be the man that makes the first move,’ Dorothy Pippin chimed in from a nearby table. ‘Freya honey, if you want to kiss him, you go right ahead and do it, don’t wait around for him to do it. Life is too short for what ifs and maybes. Kiss him, then you’ll soon find out if he feels the same way.’
Good lord. All he wanted was a sandwich and a cappuccino.
Freya cleared her throat. ‘Thank you all for your encouragement, but Rome and I are just friends and that is never going to change.’
His words from the night before came back to haunt him. Was that what she had meant when she asked him whether they would always be friends? Had she been asking him whether he saw a future where that friendship would change?
‘Just kiss her,’ Mary urged.
He glanced back at Dougie, who had a big grin on his face at this turn of events. He passed him a glare that he hoped was suitably scathing enough and then bent down and kissed Freya on the cheek. He lingered for a second or two too long, relishing in the feel of her soft skin on his lips, the scent of her wrapping itself around him before he pulled away. She blinked in surprise, her cheeks flushing pink.
‘Freya, I’m sorry, I truly am for whatever it was I said or did that upset you, will you find it in your heart to forgive me?’
‘On the lips,’ Barbara insisted.
Freya giggled at the absurdness of the situation.
‘Now I know why you wanted to leave the island,’ Rome muttered. ‘In fact, let me get my bag and I’ll come with you.’
Eden finally came over to rescue the situation, a little too late for Rome’s liking.
‘Thank you ladies, I think you’ve humiliated them quite enough.’
Grumbling at having their fun thwarted, they begrudgingly returned to their own conversations.
‘Let me get you some lunch, I presume you’ll want it to take away now,’ Eden said, slipping behind the counter and cuffing Dougie round the back of the head.
‘Ow. What was that for?’ Dougie laughed.
‘You know what.’
‘I’ll take the ham, please,’ Freya said.
‘I’ll take the tuna,’ Rome said. ‘And a slice of white chocolate and strawberry cake please. And yes, we’ll have them to take away.’
Eden dished up the food into containers and paper bags and handed them over, waving away Rome’s attempts to pay.
‘Why does he get free food and I have to pay?’ Dougie protested.
‘Because I like him,’ Eden said.
Dougie grabbed her and pulled her into his arms and she half-heartedly tried to escape. ‘Ah but you love me really, deep down, I know there’s love in there somewhere.’
‘Never,’ Eden giggled.
‘Hey, get your hands off my sister, she can do a lot better than you,’ Rome said and Dougie reluctantly let her go.
‘So you’re going to miss our dinner tomorrow night?’ Eden said, referring to their siblings’ dinner he, Eden and Bella had every week at Rosa’s restaurant. He always brought Freya along and Dougie would of course invite himself and lately Isaac had started coming to a few of them too.
/> ‘Sadly, yes, we’re getting the early ferry tomorrow and trying to get into Penzance as early as we can. We were supposed to go this morning but Cal, who is helping to build the float, said he and his team have it all under control. But we’ll get there tomorrow morning and help with any last-minute bits – the parade doesn’t start until four so we’ll still have plenty of time. All the work, from our side of things, was done weeks ago, so for the most part we get to just enjoy the parade.’
‘Well, why don’t we shift dinner to Wednesday night instead? It won’t be the same without you two there. You’ll be back by then, won’t you?’
‘Good idea. Yes, we’ll be back Wednesday morning. We’re only staying at the Bay View Hotel for one night.’
‘In the same room?’ Dougie asked, innocently.
Annoyingly the hotel had only had a twin room available and all the other hotels in the area were fully booked because of the carnival. Freya had insisted it would be fine but Rome was wondering whether it would be awkward. Dougie already knew their sleeping arrangements as Rome had mentioned it to him the other night. Dougie had insisted it would be the night when things would finally change between the two of them, though Rome had told him it wasn’t going to happen.
Rome cleared his throat and passed Dougie another glare. ‘Yes, a twin room, that was all they had available.’
‘Oh, romantic.’ Dougie waggled his eyebrows obtrusively and, as he turned away to make a coffee for another customer, he started singing, ‘2 Become 1’ by the Spice Girls.
‘Oh maybe Freya will have use for those condoms after all,’ Barbara piped up from behind them.
Rome rolled his eyes.
‘Thanks for lunch, we’ll see you Wednesday,’ Rome said. Waving goodbye to Eden, he ushered Freya out onto the street.
As soon as the shop door closed behind them, Freya burst out laughing.
‘They don’t give up, do they? The love lives of the young folk, or the lack of one, seem to be the most interesting thing that goes on around here. And I didn’t buy condoms, before you ask. She must have me confused with someone else,’ Freya said, awkwardly, even though Rome knew that Barbara was very unlikely to make mistakes and get confused. ‘And I appreciated the kiss, even if you were coerced into it.’
‘Believe me, it was no hardship.’
She stopped and stared at him and he immediately regretted that statement.
‘What does that mean?’
He sighed. ‘You seem to think I’m not attracted to you, but nothing could be further from the truth.’
‘But… But it’s been two years and nothing has ever happened between us.’
‘And that’s because of a ton of different reasons, none of which have anything to do with me not wanting to. Come on, we have a load of work to do today before we take a day off tomorrow.’
He walked away before she could question him any further. Dougie was right, it was going to come to a head between them sometime soon. He just wasn’t sure he would be happy about the end result.
Chapter Fourteen
The sun had barely broken above the horizon the next day when there was a soft knock on Freya’s front door. Freya was already up, dressed, packed and ready to go. She was nervous about this trip and had spent the night playing out different scenarios in her head.
After returning to the glass studio after lunch the day before, she and Rome had fallen back into how they always were with each other, laughing, chatting and working well alongside each other. She liked Rome too much to stay angry at him and Eden was clearly very happy to be working alongside Dougie, so there didn’t seem much point in being upset about Rome pulling rank any more.
She hadn’t brought up his cryptic comment about being attracted to her again and he hadn’t mentioned it either. But tonight they were going to share a room, albeit not a bed, but the room had wonderful romantic views over the sea so maybe, just maybe, something might happen between them. It was wrong to hope, she knew that. It would only end up hurting again if nothing happened but if she really was going to leave the island then it didn’t hurt to try one last time. And Dorothy was right, this time she wasn’t going to wait for him to make a move, she was going to instigate it herself. Maybe she wouldn’t be brave enough to kiss him or tempt him into bed, but she would tell him how she felt. If she was going to leave then he deserved to know why. After everything he had done for her, she owed him that much.
She opened the door and Rome was standing there with a cup of takeaway coffee from Rosa’s in his hand. He was looking sexy in his long woollen coat, his dark curly hair peeping out from the beanie hat he was wearing. He looked like a celebrity.
He smiled. ‘I didn’t expect to see you up and dressed. I expected to have to drag you out of bed. I brought coffee and pastries to make up for the early start, I know you’re not really a morning person.’
‘I’m not.’ Freya took the coffee and sipped at it, smiling to herself that he had got the hazelnut coffee for her which she loved so much. ‘But I’m excited about our trip. I haven’t been to Penzance in years and I’m excited to see our hard work come to life in the Hope Island float. And to see the rest of the parade too.’
‘The weather is supposed to be glorious so there’ll be a lot of people there to see it.’
‘Any clue what the other towns and islands have done for their floats?’
‘No, but Cal said he’s seen a lot of them and ours is by far the best.’
Freya laughed. ‘Cal would say that.’
‘The man has got some talent when it comes to pneumatics and animatronics. Last year was his first year making the Hope Island float. Obviously we didn’t have any part in it last year, but it was brilliant. He probably would have won the parade if he’d had more time but he ended up stepping in at the last minute to do it when the man who normally does it fell ill. Cal wants to bring the trophy home this year so I know he’s pulling out all the stops.’
‘Has Hope Island ever won it before?’
‘Never, but then before Cal came along we never did anything inspiring with it. We stand a really good chance this year.’
‘I can’t wait to see it.’ She quickly glanced at her watch. ‘Oh, we’d better go, what time does the ferry leave St Mary’s for Penzance?’
‘We’re not taking the ferry, we’re flying from St Mary’s,’ Rome said.
Her heart leapt. ‘We are?’
‘Is that OK? You said you’ve never flown before and I thought you might enjoy it.’
Her heart filled with love for him at that wonderful generous gesture. ‘Oh my god, that’s fantastic. Thank you so much. Oh god, I’m so excited. We need to go then, we can’t be late for the plane.’
He smiled at her and offered her the paper bag. ‘We have time. Eat your pastry first and then we’ll leave.’
She took the bag and saw it was her favourite, an apple and pecan puff.
‘Wow, I feel thoroughly spoiled today, hazelnut coffee, apple puff pastry and a flight to Penzance. Anyone would think you’re trying to butter me up.’
‘That’s exactly what I’m trying to do, Freya. I want you to know how important you are to me. I want you to stay and I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.’
Her heart melted and she put her hand up to touch his face. She was gratified when he didn’t pull away. ‘There’s only one thing you can give me to stop me leaving.’
‘Name it, it’s yours.’
She sighed and let her hand briefly trail down to his heart. ‘It’s not something that you can buy.’
He stared at her in confusion. ‘Tell me, whatever it is, I’ll get it somehow.’
She bit her lip as she thought. Now was not the time to tell him. It’d be awkward for the whole day when she really wanted to enjoy the parade. ‘I promise, I’ll tell you tonight, after the parade. I’ll explain everything then.’
He nodded, seemingly satisfied that he was finally going to get some answers. She could only hope the answers he got were t
he ones he wanted.
She took a bite of her pastry, closing her eyes at the wonderful sweetness. ‘Do we need to get some tools?’
Rome patted the rucksack he was carrying. ‘I have some glass cutters, pliers, soldering irons, solder and copper foiling, along with a few pieces of blue and green glass just in case we need any spare bits, though I don’t think we’ll need them.’
Freya nodded and took another bite of her pastry.
‘Let’s go then. I don’t want to be late.’
She grabbed her rucksack, turned off all the lights and followed Rome down the stairs. They stepped out onto the street and she closed and locked the door just as the postman walked up the road towards them.
‘Morning,’ Andrew said, handing Rome an envelope.
‘Hi Andrew, looks like it’ll be a nice day later,’ Rome said, shoving the letter in his coat pocket.
‘Let’s hope so, I’ve got some vegetables that need digging out at the allotment.’
He waved goodbye and moved onto the next shop and Rome and Freya set off towards the harbour.
‘I can’t believe we’re doing this, I can’t believe I’m sitting on a plane about to take off,’ Freya said, almost bouncing up and down in her seat as she looked out of the window onto the small runway.
Rome smiled at her fondly. He loved being able to do this for her. He wanted to make her dreams come true, and while there were a few things on her list that might be a bit tricky to make a reality, he was working on the others.
He took her hand. ‘You’re not nervous?’
‘No, I’m so excited.’
The noise of the engines suddenly intensified and the plane started hurtling down the runway, picking up speed, and they were momentarily forced back into their seats. The nose of the plane started to lift and Freya let out a little scream of joy followed by a laugh that was pure adrenaline-filled excitement.
Rome looked around. The plane had six other passengers sitting behind them, some locals popping over to enjoy the parade, a few tourists. Some of them were amused by Freya’s squeals of delight, some less so. Rome didn’t care. The squeals and laughter continued until the plane levelled out in the sky and Freya didn’t take her eyes from the view out of the window the whole time as the islands disappeared from view and were replaced with the turquoise and gold of the sea.
