The Little Shop in Cornwall: A heartwarming and feel good beach read

by Helen Pollard

  Stop it, Jason.

  ‘What do you think about asking Claudia for dinner some time?’ he asked Millie as they drove home, keeping his voice as nonchalant as he could. He didn’t want Millie reading anything into it that wasn’t there.

  ‘Claudia? For dinner?’ A pause, then, ‘Why? Do you fancy her?’

  Jason almost snapped out a ‘no’, but that might seem like a case of protesting too much.

  ‘It’s not that,’ he said carefully. ‘Do grow up a bit, Millie.’

  ‘Why, then?’

  ‘You spend a lot of time with her, and now you’re working for her. I thought it might be good for the three of us to spend an evening together. Get to know each other better.’

  ‘Can you get through an evening without arguing about her shop or whatever else you don’t agree with?’

  Jason bit back a sharp rebuke. ‘Claudia and I have come to an understanding. A social evening might build on that.’

  ‘Okay. Do you want me to cook? I could make my veggie Bolognese.’

  ‘No, thanks. Last time you cooked that, it looked like there’d been a tomato massacre in our kitchen.’ He parked in the drive. ‘Can you pop into Healing Waves tomorrow after school and ask her?’

  Millie shook her head. ‘Drama, remember? Then I’m off to Phoebe’s.’ She smirked. ‘You’ll have to do your own dirty work.’

  Having spent her previous Wednesday off making Millie’s oracle cards with rain drumming at the windows, Claudia was pleased to wake to sunshine this time. Salt air in her lungs, the feel of the sand beneath her toes… Mmm. Perhaps a mooch around a few shops and galleries? St Ives could deliver all those requirements. Afterwards, she could drive straight to Falmouth for her evening with Tanya.

  St Ives was one of Claudia’s favourite places. Yes, it was busy and yes, it attracted the tourists – a good reason to visit midweek in May rather than on an August weekend. But there was no denying its beauty. No wonder it had attracted so many artists across the years – the colours were uniquely exquisite.

  Pleased to get a parking spot at the Porthgwidden end of town, Claudia enjoyed a coffee looking out over the beach before wending her way towards the harbour, dropping in at any shops or galleries that took her fancy. So many talented artists, so many things she loved that she had to promise herself she was only window-shopping.

  Maybe I could learn ceramics or how to paint. One day…

  Picking up a sandwich, she walked right to the other end of town and Porthminster beach. Sandals in hand, she had to go quite a way before finding a spot that would give her the peace and quiet she craved – given any decent weather at all, Porthminster was always busy. The view out to perfect blue sea and sky, the feel of the so-pale sand between her toes… Bliss. When she’d finished her sandwich, she rolled her sweatshirt into a pillow and lay back, closing her eyes.

  Yes, bliss…

  Her phone’s ringtone startled her out of a light doze.

  It was Sarah. ‘Claudia, honey, I’m sorry to interrupt your day off…’

  Claudia sat up, squinting against the sun. ‘What’s wrong? Are you alright?’

  ‘Yes, honey, we’re fine, but there’s been a thing…’

  ‘What kind of thing?’

  ‘Evie popped into the General Store, and Libby had the radio on as usual, and the Hester’s women were doing an interview with that Ollie somebody who does the local business news every Wednesday morning, and… It’s not good, honey.’

  Claudia’s heart had sunk so low, it was threatening to be absorbed by the sand beneath her feet. ‘What kind of not good?’

  ‘They were touting their new business – free advertising, I guess – but the interview took a turn, and you were mentioned. You didn’t come out of it well.’

  Claudia’s sandwich threatened to come back up as her stomach churned. ‘What did they say?’

  ‘Evie only heard a snippet. But Libby pointed out that we could listen to it on catch-up, which was what she was planning to do.’

  I bet she was. ‘Is it popular, that show?’

  ‘I don’t know, but businesses in Porthsteren often have the radio on in the background. And I suppose people might spot it later on social media and catch up. And if Libby tells everyone…’

  Claudia tried to even out her breathing. ‘Have you and Evelyn listened?’

  There was a long pause. ‘Yes. You need to listen to it yourself, Claudia, and work out how to deal with it. I didn’t want to spoil your day off, but… Well.’

  Only then did it filter through to Claudia’s brain that it was the Page Turner’s closing day, too. ‘This has spoiled your day off,’ she stated numbly.

  ‘Not as much as yours, honey. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Thank you for letting me know. I’ll head back.’

  Claudia thought about listening to the broadcast on her phone, right there on the beach, but it sounded like it might be best done in the quiet of her home with her feline ally at her side. Sarah wasn’t prone to exaggeration.

  The trek back along the beach and through town took forever, and Claudia no longer drew any pleasure from her surroundings. Walking fast, her breathing laboured, her mind ran through a hundred scenarios.

  As she drove back to Porthsteren, she told herself it might not be as bad as she imagined.

  She was wrong.

  With a pre-emptive soothing herbal tea at her side, Pudding on her lap and her laptop on the sofa, Claudia searched online for the interview, then listened impatiently to the pre-interview chatter and adverts until – finally – the show’s presenter, Ollie Barton, introduced Amber and Raven as the owners of the most exciting thing to happen to Porthsteren for years.

  Hmmph.

  For the first ten minutes, the women chattered about their vision for the shop; how they had planned its décor and layout; the lack of a similar shop in nearby places leading people of all ages to flock to them. Claudia could live with that.

  And then Ollie asked whether they had been welcomed by the other business owners in the village. They had, the women told him, with one exception – the owner of a New Age shop who had visited Hester’s Cauldron once and denounced them to whoever would listen ever since.

  Shocked, Claudia took deep breaths.

  Ollie decided this was an avenue worth exploring. Amber and Raven did a sterling job of sounding affronted and hard done to, saying that all they wanted was to serve the local community…

  What, for just six months of the year?

  …and although they understood that not everyone would like Hester’s Cauldron, they were surprised that someone who purported to be ‘alternative’ themselves would make such vicious attacks on their livelihood, warn teenage customers to steer clear and go so far as to say they were frauds.

  Ollie had obviously been taken in by the two women and made no effort to keep the interview impartial. He could have asked, ‘How do we know you’re not frauds?’ or, at the very least, ‘How would you reassure your customers that you’re not?’ But he didn’t bother – although, perhaps worried that the conversation was becoming one-track, he did stir himself enough to take it back to what they sold, their opening times and so on, before wishing them every success and sincerely hoping the odd naysayer wouldn’t deter them in their new venture.

  Claudia shut her laptop and closed her eyes, listening for the sound of the waves and the windchimes outside. She tried to breathe, long and deep. She couldn’t. Everything she’d worked so hard for was crashing down around her ears, and she had no idea how to stop it.

  She was hyperventilating, she knew, but she couldn’t seem to stop it. Alarmed, Pudding hopped off her lap and sat beside her, staring. The knock at the door barely registered with her.

  Pudding jumped off the sofa, ran to the door, leapt up onto the windowsill beside it and mewed, plaintively and very loudly. The door opened. In six strides, Jason was on his knees in front of her.

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I can’t… can’t breathe.�
�

  He held her by the arms. ‘Yes, you can. You are breathing. You just need to do it slower.’

  Claudia gasped, but it felt like none of the air reached her lungs.

  Jason gripped her harder, his fingers digging in. ‘Claudia, focus on my face. Breathe with me, okay? Slowly. In. Now out. Again. Slow down. With me.’

  Five minutes later, he’d pushed a glass of water into her hands and was kneeling in front of her again, concern etched across his face.

  ‘What the hell was that about?’

  Shakily, Claudia brushed hair from her face. ‘It was stupid. I know not to do that. I know how not to. But I wasn’t expecting…’ She sighed. ‘It’s been a long time. I used to have them, but I learned not to. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Don’t apologise. Millie used to have panic attacks when her mother was ill, and after she died.’ He got to his feet. ‘I’ll make tea, then you can tell me about it.’

  Jason made her chamomile tea. He listened to her incoherent rambling. He listened to the interview with her. He swore volubly and frequently.

  ‘They make it sound like you’ve bad-mouthed them to everyone!’ Jason said. ‘And you spoke to, what, less than half a dozen people? In private.’

  ‘It’s so unfair,’ Claudia complained. ‘I know none of the people I spoke to said anything. How do they get from one overheard comment to everyone in Porthsteren thinking I don’t approve?’

  Jason’s expression was grim. ‘I wonder if mentioning you was planned?’

  ‘Surely not. It’s hardly to their advantage to have it broadcast that someone says they’re frauds, is it?’

  ‘No… But if they know that people have already heard that, it is to their advantage to shift the focus onto you. They come across as young, innocent victims; they portray you as older, bitter…’

  Unable to sit still, Claudia got up and paced the room. ‘What the hell am I supposed to do now? Porthsteren is my whole world, Jason. I worked so hard to build up my business, my place in the community. I can’t watch that slide away. I just can’t!’ Her breathing quickened again.

  ‘Stop that!’ Jason waited while she slowed it down, then said, ‘You need to work out how to respond.’

  ‘But all I can do is reassure people that I meant no harm, that I do wish those women well, that I’m not saying they are frauds…’

  ‘That’s my fault,’ Jason said quietly.

  She shook her head. ‘The choice of word was unfortunate, but they could’ve picked up on so much more of what I’ve said.’

  ‘Claudia, what Ollie said about you warning off teenagers… You don’t think that was Millie?’

  ‘No.’ That, at least, was something Claudia felt confident about. ‘But she told Phoebe and Jessica what I said. They could’ve passed it on.’

  ‘I’m sorry. You were only trying to do me a favour.’

  ‘Not just you. Millie, too.’ Claudia jumped as her mobile rang and looked at the caller ID. ‘Tanya. Oh no! What time is it? I’m supposed to go over there this evening. But not yet. I…’

  ‘Just breathe, for crying out loud, and give me the phone.’

  Jason took it from her, answered it and stepped outside. Claudia heard him murmuring. She couldn’t feel mad at his high-handedness – she was too drained to care.

  It was five minutes before he came back in. ‘Under no circumstances are you driving to Falmouth tonight. Tanya will come here. She heard some of the interview on her car radio, but she couldn’t listen to the whole thing until she got home. She was ringing to see if you knew about it. I filled her in. She’s setting off now. She’ll be with you as soon as she can.’

  Claudia smiled, grateful that he’d sorted it out for her. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome. Well, I’ll leave you to it. You need to get your equilibrium back before Tanya gets here. Maybe you could have a rest or a shower. Use some of those aromatherapy thingies.’

  Claudia couldn’t help but smile. ‘I’ll do that.’ Following him to the door, she asked, ‘Jason, why did you come? Don’t tell me you’re psychic and knew I was having a panic attack?’

  ‘Ha. No. It was Pudding that alerted me to that. Good job, too. I would’ve assumed you were out and left.’ He bent to stroke the cat winding around Claudia’s ankles. ‘I would have a go at you for leaving your door unlocked all the time, but I have a feeling that breaking through a solid door isn’t as easy as the movies would have us think.’ He smiled. ‘It doesn’t matter why I popped by. You’re in no fit state. I’ll catch you another time.’

  She laid a hand on his arm. ‘No. Tell me.’

  ‘Okay, well, I came about the oracle cards you gave to Millie.’

  Here we go again. Claudia steeled herself for a lashing of disapproval.

  But Jason said, ‘I came to thank you. They’re beautiful and thoughtful. And time-consuming, I imagine.’

  Claudia smiled with relief at being on the receiving end of his praise instead of his temper. ‘We can always find time for something, if it’s important to us.’

  ‘Millie’s important to you?’

  Claudia hesitated. Jason worried about her influence over his daughter; about the amount of time they spent together. She didn’t want him to think that she was trying to usurp him in Millie’s affections. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  Carefully, she said, ‘Millie’s welfare and happiness are on my priority list, yes.’

  ‘That’s good to know. And I… Millie and I were wondering if you’d like to come to dinner some time?’

  Claudia’s mind raced. A meal, a planned evening, instead of an impromptu bumping-into? ‘Er. That would be lovely. Thank you.’

  ‘Would Sunday be okay? Say, six thirty? You finish earlier, so you won’t have to rush.’

  ‘I’ll be there. Should I bring anything?’

  He gave her a reassuring smile. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t serve you raw steak. Just bring yourself. No cat.’

  With a smile, he turned and left, leaving Claudia with more questions than answers.

  Jason had only dropped by Claudia’s to issue his dinner invitation. He’d forgotten that Healing Waves closed on Wednesdays and had felt awkward about trying her flat – which was ridiculous, since he’d been there before. He would have left after he had knocked, if it hadn’t been for the cat frightening him half to death by leaping onto the windowsill, a look of concern – was that possible? – in his amber eyes.

  Claudia’s panic attack hadn’t worried Jason. What had worried him was that the Claudia he knew was usually calm, positive and occasionally steely. He didn’t like that this thing with Hester’s Cauldron had got to her so badly.

  When Phoebe’s mother dropped Millie home after dinner, Jason was hoping for a quiet evening with his daughter, maybe some TV. But Millie was in a difficult mood. Again. Her maths teacher was an idiot; Jessica had said something about her to Phoebe that she shouldn’t have; school uniform rules were stupid… His brain hurt from listening to it all. By the time he’d battled his way through a desultory cup of tea with her, he needed air, and the fact that it was dark out made no difference to him.

  Leaving Millie to sulk or muck about on her phone to well past an acceptable bedtime, Jason strolled down to the harbour, its lights twinkling on the dark water, then along the beach towards Healing Waves. He was still worried about Claudia.

  Walking around to the road side of the building, he saw Tanya’s car. Good. Claudia had support. Back on the beach side, he glanced up to see candlelight. Indistinct murmuring drifted through the open window, combining with the light jangle of the windchimes outside to create an unworldly kind of sound. For all he knew, those two were doing all sorts of weird spells up there.

  Ah, well. As long as Claudia sticks to making just soap with Millie in that cauldron of hers.

  Sarah and Evelyn were solicitous and kind over coffee the following morning. When Claudia had texted them after Jason left to say she’d listened to the interview, they’d offered to driv
e over, but she’d told them that Tanya was on the way.

  ‘I couldn’t believe it!’ Sarah huffed as she handed Claudia her decaff latte. ‘The nerve!’

  Claudia shrugged. ‘They were asked if they’d been welcomed in Porthsteren and they answered.’

  ‘Yeah, in a totally loaded way. You’re being very calm about it, I must say.’

  ‘I wasn’t yesterday. I had a panic attack,’ Claudia admitted. ‘The first in a long time. It was… disappointing.’

  ‘Was Tanya with you?’

  ‘No. She came by later. Jason happened to pop by. He was a godsend – he did all the right things.’

  At this, Sarah and Evelyn both raised eyebrows. But when Evelyn opened her mouth, Sarah placed a quieting hand on her arm.

  ‘That’s good, honey. I’m glad someone was there. So, what are you going to do by way of a comeback? You have a right to reply. Those women have cast aspersions about you.’

  ‘And so have I about them. I don’t want to dig myself deeper. Best to let it lie and hope it goes away. People will get bored, soon enough.’

  But none of them looked convinced about that.

  Business was quiet at Healing Waves that day – and the next. Too quiet to be a coincidence. Oh, she had tourists browsing, but locals were sparse on the ground, and those that came only wanted to talk about the radio interview.

  Claudia did her best to pour oil on troubled waters – it was a private conversation, overheard; it had been taken out of context; she welcomed new businesses to Porthsteren; she wished Amber and Raven every success. Bla bla bla.

  But people wouldn’t let it be. What did she think of what they sold at Hester’s Cauldron? What did she think of Amber and Raven? Why did she think they were frauds?

  What on earth was Claudia supposed to say? She tried saying that the shop looked great; she explained that she was pro-Wicca and her best friend was a Wiccan. But whenever someone pushed her on the ‘fraud’ comment – a strong word she would never have come up with if Jason hadn’t – all she could say was that she felt they were a tad inexperienced. If that fanned the flames, then so be it. She really couldn’t bring herself to say they were experts about everything they sold.