Scarlett flung her arms out and jogged on the spot. ‘It’s really not that b-bad. Jude says that the water is the same t-temperature as in early M-May.’
‘Then why are your teeth chattering? Why can’t I feel my toes? Or my fingers? Why the hell didn’t I wear a wetsuit?’ Ellie said.
‘Because you don’t own one and because you think they make you look f-fat. Which they d-don’t.’
‘It’s better than looking like a plucked turkey!’ Ellie declared, feeling goosebumps pop out on top of goosebumps.
‘You don’t. But the whole idea is to do it in a normal swimsuit. It’s ch-cheating to wear anything else. You’re lucky, you still have a lingering glow from working on the boat over the summer. I had to use a whole tube of self-tan and it’s streaked down the back of my legs.’
It wasn’t the cold that was making Ellie tremble, it was the prospect of seeing Aaron. She’d already spotted Troy and Evie taking people’s names on a clipboard but Ellie and Scarlett had registered online before Christmas. Well, it had seemed like a good idea at the time …
Jude jogged over. He was wearing one of the fleece-lined surf ponchos favoured by surfers and wild swimmers. With his tousled blond hair and tanned limbs, he owned it and she could see why Scarlett was drooling.
‘Morning! How are you? Ready for a dip?’ He kissed Scarlett’s cheek and beamed at Ellie.
‘I’ve been brighter. I blame your cherry brandy.’ She delivered her joke with a smile. Jude was annoyingly Tigger-ish but she couldn’t fault his enthusiasm or the fact he’d made her sister smile again.
‘I like the vintage look,’ he said, flipping one of the flowers on Scarlett’s swimming cap.
She touched the lurid pink cap and pulled a face. ‘We almost got changed out of them, didn’t we, Ellie? Mum found these caps in the loft. They were Auntie Joan’s. I think she wore them in St Tropez.’
‘I’m amazed they haven’t perished after all this time,’ Ellie said through gritted teeth. Wearing the yolk-yellow cap with its rubber daisies had probably been the second worst decision of her life.
Jude was obviously trying not to laugh too much, thought Ellie. ‘You both look great. Lots of people are in vintage costumes. The hats will keep you warm and it’s part of the spirit of the event.’
‘Why aren’t you wearing one, then?’ Ellie shot back.
Jude raised his eyebrows. ‘Couldn’t find mine.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Fibber.’
Jude laughed. ‘You don’t know what I’ve got under my poncho,’ he said in a cheesy voice.
‘Yes, what have you got under there?’ Scarlett lifted the hem.
‘Laters, baby,’ said Jude.
Ellie groaned. ‘Oh, for God’s sake. Will you two just skip the swim and get a room?’
‘Sorry,’ Scarlett said sheepishly.
Jude looked embarrassed. ‘I’ll see you in the water then. I’m meant to go in first to set an example.’
‘Excuse me, I need the loo,’ Ellie said, shaking her head, desperate to leave them to it, whatever it was. Being a spectator at a love match was excruciating, no matter how much she wanted Scarlett to be happy.
Scarlett’s face fell. ‘Oi! Don’t run off now!’
‘In this outfit? I’m hardly going far.’ Ellie headed for the public toilet, waving a hand behind her. Mind you, she could go home, apart from the fact that she’d have to walk in a dressing gown and flip-flops. Their parents had dropped them off at the beach, which had seemed like a good idea at the time …
On her route to the loo block, she scanned the crowds of bathers for Aaron. There was no sign of him, so perhaps he’d decided to stay out of the way after all. A queue snaked its way out of the block, so Ellie waited. She would have felt ridiculous but there was a woman ahead of her with a yellow duck ring around her waist and a man queuing for the gents in a striped Edwardian costume and a hoodie.
When Ellie came out of the toilets, she heard Evie Carman’s Cornish burr purring through a loudspeaker.
‘Happy Boxing Day, my lovers! I hope you’re all ready to take the plunge for the fifty-fifth Porthmellow Boxing Day swim. I’d like to thank the RNLI and St John ambulance for attending and hope none of you need their services. Now, before you all take off your clothes, I’d like to run through a few safety procedures.’
Ellie was about to move back to the beach when a willowy blonde woman in a scarlet coat made a beeline for her.
‘Oh, Jesus.’ That was all she needed: Liza Carman starting a catfight in front of hundreds of locals.
Liza stared at her. ‘Wow, like the outfit.’
‘I don’t have time for this now,’ Ellie said, walking away. ‘Or ever.’
‘Wait. Please. I’m not here to start a fight. The opposite in fact.’
Liza trotted up to her.
‘I need to get ready for the swim. You have five minutes.’
‘OK. I can see that.’ Liza smirked and Ellie almost turned her back and walked. ‘This is important. I owe you an apology for what happened in the café the other day. I’m a passionate person and I speak my mind.’
Ellie gasped. ‘You can say that again and I saw you with Aaron in town on Christmas Eve. You looked very cosy.’
‘We’d only been shopping. Or rather, I’d been shopping and Aaron agreed to meet me to talk about the divorce.’
Ellie almost punched the air with relief. She’d convinced herself that Liza might work her way back into Aaron’s life.
‘How can I believe you?’ she asked.
‘You’ll have to. I was out of order, but I’m happy to admit when I’m wrong. I was steaming angry and upset that morning – Aaron says he’s told you I’ve just split up with Damian, my lying git of a boyfriend.’ Liza stuck out her tongue. ‘We were planning on settling down together and I decided I wanted a clean break with Aaron while I finally had some time off between contracts.
‘I meant to contact him again and arrange to do it then I found out that Damian had changed his mind so I came racing down here, hoping for a shoulder to cry on.’
‘Aaron’s shoulder? Did you hope you’d get back together, then?’ Ellie’s hackles were up, fearing she’d been partly right to have her suspicions about Liza and Aaron.
‘Not really. He’d wanted me to come down after Christmas anyway so we could finalise the divorce but I’ll admit, I also needed someone to comfort me, a kind face. Someone who used to care for me, which he did. I’m not the most logical of people at the best of times and once I had the idea, I forged down here. I arrived during the festival, asked at the hotel and of course, the receptionist mentioned he was doing the security. Small place like this is as bad as a cruise ship for gossip … so I went straight from the hotel into the whole bloody shebang, hoping to see him.’
‘You bought a drink from me on the boat.’
‘Yes, but that was before I saw you together. I needed some Dutch courage. Not long after, I spotted you canoodling on that boat. I was jealous, I’ll admit it. It all seemed so unfair: you two all loved up, while I’d been dumped and left with no contract and no bloke. I spent the night nursing my wrath, as they say, and then I took it out on you at work.’
‘I’m very sorry about that, but it was hardly my fault,’ Ellie said, trying to keep her temper in check. She partly understood what had driven Liza to act so vindictively at the café but she was very wary of her unpredictable moods.
‘Course it wasn’t and I shouldn’t have been so spiteful even in the heat of the moment. If it’s any consolation, Aaron’s gutted that you’ve chucked him.’
‘That’s none of your business,’ Ellie shot back, feeling that shivering in her bathing suit in a crowd of people was the worst possible time to have this conversation.
‘It is though. I caused it by turning up here.’
‘No. Aaron caused it by lying about you.’ The loudspeaker purred into life again: Evie summoning everyone to the beach.
‘I have to go.’
‘
Hang on! Much as I want a clean break from Aaron, it was as much my fault as his that we never sorted it out. I carried on with my life, same as him, meaning to sort it until we both lost contact. I could have got in touch with him before somehow, I’m sure, but it never seemed important enough until I met Damian.’
‘Great,’ Ellie said clinging onto her civility by a thread.
‘I really won’t want to name you in the divorce, I was only being a bitch. Aaron says you’re a nice person.’
‘Gee, thanks.’
‘Yeah well … I wanted you to know that I’m not going to make life difficult. I’ve told Aaron that I’m happy for us to get a quick divorce on five years’ separation. I’m off to see my folks in a couple of days’ time and then, if I can get another cruise contract, I’ll be gone for months, but we’re going to sort it anyway.’
‘What does that have to do with me?’ Ellie asked.
‘It means Aaron will be free. So you two have no reason not to get together if you want to.’
Ellie shook her head. ‘There’s no chance of that,’ she said, unwilling to hint to Liza that she’d even entertained the possibility of forgiving Aaron one day.
‘You could have fooled me. He’s in bits that you’ve dumped him. He’s mad about you. Far more so than he ever was about me. I’m a bit jealous, to be honest.’ Liza grinned but Ellie wasn’t amused.
‘Why did you get married in the first place?’
‘We were young and stupid.’ Liza’s eyes bored into Ellie. ‘I suppose you never did anything you regretted when you were young?’
‘Erm …’ Ellie shut her mouth.
‘There you are then. But you’re missing the most important thing. Give Aaron a second chance. I thought I was in love with him. He’s a lovely, gorgeous bloke and a lot of fun. We first met when he’d had a shit time on tour. He likes everything to be perfect, thinks he should have it under control – so hard on himself, so used to dealing with stuff on his own.’
Everyone around Ellie was peeling off layers and doing star jumps ready for the swim, but Liza had her hooked. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I met him in Cyprus after he’d come back from Afghan. I heard what happened from some of his mates and from him. He had a really shit time that he’s never even shared with anyone at home. Don’t be fooled by that laid back, “I can handle it” facade, Aaron was a mess after his tour.’
‘What happened?’ Ellie shivered and pulled her robe tighter.
‘He’ll tell you if you ask him. I only know some of the details; but he was a junior officer and it was one of his first patrols, supporting a bomb disposal team. Out of the blue his mate was blown up by an IED right in front of him. Aaron was supposed to be in that spot but for some reason, he wasn’t. It should have been him.’
Ellie immediately saw Aaron leaping to his feet when the stones had hit the window of the cottage. ‘Oh God. I’d no idea. He hinted he’d had some awful times but I didn’t know how badly he was affected.’
‘His unit was on some rest and relaxation soon after and we met in a bar. I was young, up for fun, and he was a handsome junior officer. I thought he was the life and soul, really chilled out and right up my street, but one night in bed he woke up screaming and he poured it all out. The horror of it all.’ Liza shuddered. ‘I don’t want to go into the details. I’ve had trouble getting them out of my own head, so God knows how he gets them out of his.’
Liza heaved a sigh and went on. ‘Anyway, he told me that it had shown him how fragile life was and that everything could end in a heartbeat. He was based on the island for a while and a week later, we were married in Vegas. It seemed romantic and I thought I was in love, and hey, life’s too short – so why not.’
‘God …’ Ellie could finally understand how they’d met and married after a whirlwind romance. She thought of Aaron and all the stuff he must have kept hidden, for all these years, never wanting to worry his family or open up the memories of those dark times.
‘It didn’t last,’ Liza said. ‘It wasn’t founded on anything real, but that doesn’t mean you and he won’t last.’
Evie’s voice came over the loudspeaker. ‘Five minutes to the swim, my lovers. Please assemble on the beach!’
‘If you don’t believe me, ask him, but I’d hate to think I’d fucked everything up between you. Please give him another chance,’ Liza said.
‘I – I’ll think about it. But I have to go.’
‘Yeah.’ Liza pulled a face. ‘Good luck. Personally, I think you’re all out of your freaking minds, but each to their own. I’m off to my hotel for a large G&T by the fire.’ She glanced around her in distaste. ‘This town’s barking mad.’
Leaving Liza tottering off to the town, Ellie stumbled back to the crowd of bathers, who reminded her of chattering birds. She scanned the flock for Aaron but he was nowhere to be seen. Even if he was here, there was no time to talk now. She’d have to find him after the swim.
‘Ellieeeeee!’
Scarlett’s screech cut through the general hubbub, and Ellie waved. It was hard to jog in flip-flops, but she did her best. She reached Scarlett and to her amazement found her parents there too. Her father was taking off his jeans to reveal a pair of tatty trunks and her mum had just pulled off a sweater, uncovering a violet and orange fifties swimsuit.
‘Where’ve you been?’ Scarlett demanded.
Ellie was out of breath after her dash to the beach. ‘Tell you later.’
‘Mum? Dad? What are you doing here?’
‘We couldn’t miss the swim.’
Ellie gawped at her father, who had a pair of goggles on his head. His tanned arms and neck contrasted with his lilywhite torso. ‘You said you’d come and watch, not take part.’
Her mum smirked. ‘Well, I’ve always hankered after trying it and your dad offered to join me. So how could I resist?’
‘Is this a public show of family unity?’ Ellie asked.
‘Something like that,’ her father muttered. ‘Though I never agreed to freeze my bollocks off here.’
Anna slid him a look. ‘You’re not even in the water yet, Roger.’
‘That’s what worries me, that I’ll have no balls left at all.’
‘Roger!’ Anna exclaimed. ‘People can hear. Maybe we can get Marcus and co. in there next year so we have a full house.’
Their father snorted. ‘There won’t be a next year. This is a one-off. I’ll be in front of the fire at the manor with a book.’
Scarlett and Ellie shared a look that needed no words. Next year.
A klaxon sounded and the attention switched to Evie once again. She stood on top of the slipway, mic in hand.
Ellie untied her robe as Evie boomed forth.
‘Right, you lovely people. The moment of truth has come! I’m going to start the countdown and when the klaxon sounds again, I want everyone to enter the water. Slow or as quick as you like but personally I prefer to get it over with and dive in!’
Groans and ribald laughter followed.
Evie carried on talking, but Ellie’s attention was elsewhere. Among the throngs of bathers, she saw a man with skinny legs taking off his sweatshirt. His mouth was downturned and his hair blowing in the wind.
Julian … though Ellie had a struggle to recognise him. He thrust the sweatshirt at his wife.
Oh God, had her mother seen him? Had her father?
‘It’s OK. I’m OK. Your dad saw him earlier. He’s not going to throw him off the quay.’ Her mum was by her side, holding her arm. ‘None of us should let him spoil a single moment of our life. This is our day.’
Ellie hugged her mum.
‘You’re the glue that holds this family together,’ Scarlett said. ‘It’s all for one or not at all.’
‘I’ll be starting the final countdown in just a moment,’ Evie warned.
‘What is this? Bloody James Bond?’ her father grumbled, slapping his arms.
Ellie took a deep breath and shrugged off the robe, tossing it onto the picn
ic rug along with the rest of her family’s clothes.
‘Ten …’
Around her, everyone was jumping up and down, slapping thighs and arms, whooping and chattering. Julian was arguing with his wife …
‘Nine. Eight …’
Scarlett was jogging on the spot. Jude was at the head of the bathers.
‘Seven, six …’
‘Jesus Christ. Why did I agree to this?’ her dad muttered.
‘Five, four …’
‘Oh!’ Aaron’s head had appeared in the middle of the masses, staring at her, mouthing something she couldn’t make out.
‘Three.’
Ellie froze.
‘Two, one!’
‘Braaaapppppp!’
The klaxon blared.
Screams rang out and Jude led the way, splashing then diving through the waves. Scores of bathers followed, shrieking, cheering and swearing. Their father was already knee-deep, groaning as waves slapped against him.
Julian Mallory dithered at the edge, poking his lily-white toes into the water and pulling a face.
Ellie froze, stuck on the beach with Scarlett and her mother a few yards away, moving towards the water. Aaron was already out of his depth but treading water and looking at her. He raised a hand, beckoning her, but Ellie couldn’t move.
‘Ellie!’ Scarlett ran back and took her hand.
Her mum joined them.
‘Aren’t you going in, darling?’
‘I don’t think I can.’ She was transfixed by Mallory standing in the wavelets between her and Aaron.
Standing either side of her, they grabbed her hands. ‘Ellie, come on! It’s now or never. Don’t chicken out!’
‘Ready?’ said Scarlett.
Aaron was wading back to shore towards her. He called but she couldn’t hear what he said, yet somehow she felt it deep in her soul.
Ellie decided. ‘As I’ll ever be.’
‘One. Two. Three, Goooooo!’ With a warrior cry, the three of them ran forward. Ellie ignored the pain from the pebbles, then the icy shock of the water, holding on tighter to the hands of the women she loved most in the world.
A Perfect Cornish Christmas Page 30
