“Okay, okay – you caught me! I suppose I’ve just been doing my job for so long that my brain is trained to see potential. Are you sure, though? It’d be a great spot for a rural dating show, or one of those life-swap programmes where city slickers learn how to milk cows…”
“No. Absolutely not. Switch that part of your brain off and just enjoy yourself. Do you think you’re capable of doing that?”
“I’ll try my very best,” he says, sliding the phone into his jeans pocket. “I shall attempt a digital detox.”
We continue our walk, and I lead him around the green to the Cove Café. It’s early evening now and the place is closed, but I take him inside so I can get Bear a bowl of water. There’s no sign of Marcy and Sophie, but the place is spotless. I smile as I check the big fridge and find that all the fresh meat products are now correctly stored – looks like they didn’t fall for my cunning booby trap.
Zack stands and looks around, taking in the pale wood and the white walls and the pretty seaside relics on shelves. He holds up a large conch shell and smiles as he puts it to his ear.
“I can hear the sea…” he says, grinning. Something about a shell to the ear tends to bring out the child in all of us.
“That’s because the sea is right outside.”
“I know, but I choose to believe it’s magic! This place is lovely, Connie.”
“Thank you. I think so myself. It might not be a Michelin-starred restaurant, but I love it here.”
He nods and makes his way to the back of the room, where sliding glass doors open onto the terrace. Bear slurps down some water and follows him.
“Wow…” Zack says simply as he looks down at the bay. “It really is perfect.”
It is, I think, looking on as the sun starts to slide towards a horizon made entirely of shining blue sea. Maybe, while he’s here, I’ll show him the caves – no phones allowed.
I get us both some water as well, and we wander down the terrace steps, settling on the very bottom one and gazing out at the view. He seems engrossed, distracted, his eyes narrowed against the sun, deep laughter lines creasing around them as he loses himself in thought. He looks slightly sad, and I wonder what some of those thoughts might be – I know even now, when I encounter something new and wonderful for the first time, I inevitably wish Simon was there to share it with me. Maybe he’s thinking about his wife, and missing her.
I realise as I sneak peeks at him that despite his surface glamour, beneath the veneer of success, he is still a wounded man who needs to heal – and that just happens to be Starshine Cove’s speciality. I feel petty now for the way I resented him coming here, because I am beginning to suspect that he needs to be here. The others laugh at me – especially Ella, with her I’m A Scientist vibe – but I’ve genuinely always thought that this magical place somehow invites the people who need it most.
“You okay?” I ask, briefly touching his arm.
He looks at me as though he’s surprised to find me there, and nods.
“Yeah. Just… stuff on my mind, that’s all.”
“Well, we can’t have that – you’re on holiday! What’s the name of Jake and Ella’s baby?”
“Um… Kitty?”
“Congratulations! You win – come on, let’s go to the pub.”
SIX
Zack is submitted to some pretty intense local scrutiny as we sit in our corner seat in the Starshine Inn. Ella and Jake live here in an apartment at the back, at least for the time being, so she pops out to say hello. Jake himself is serving, and greets him with a drink on-the-house before he checks him in. Archie arrives, with Cally and the little girls in tow, and brings them all over to introduce them.
Cally, it turns out, is a huge reality TV show fan, and she’s a little bit star struck meeting the man who was behind several of her favourites.
Zack handles it all with a calm and friendly manner, but looks a little tired by the time he’s also been introduced to Rose, Archie’s apprentice, and her mum, Lucy.
“Is that it?” he says quietly, as he sinks back into the red-velvet booth. He’s only on cranberry juice, which is a waste of a free drink in my opinion.
“Nope. Plenty left – and one of them is George, my father-in-law. He’s awesome. Don’t worry, nobody actually expects you to remember names – and you’ve already dealt with the nosiest one of the lot.”
“Who’s that?”
“Me. The Inquisitor General of Starshine Cove.”
“Self-appointed?”
“No, we had a ceremony in the woods at midnight. I have a pointy hat and a cloak back at home… the girls have apparently gone to Dorchester for the night, by the way, according to the message that has only just landed, and will be back later.”
