Trip’s mouth fell open. ‘You’re not! But Ivy, it was just one bad term. If art has been your dream your whole life …’
‘It’s still my dream,’ said Ivy hastily. ‘I haven’t given up on anything. But maybe I was so focused on studying fine art thatI didn’t consider all the possibilities. Jess thinks illustration will be right up my street. But there’s another course to think about too …’ She drew out the pause, grinning. ‘Set design.’
Trip burst out laughing. ‘That fish piewaspretty special.’
Ivy giggled. ‘I’m joking. I’ve had enough papier-mâché to last me a long time. They need to review my application and confirm. But Jess sounded positive. She said the illustration tutor really liked my sketches.’
‘Those scrappy little drawings?’ Trip teased.
‘Those scrappy little drawings.’No serious subtext or meaning, Ivy thought,but real and human.And maybe capturing what was under your nose was just as important, like people kept telling her. Like Trip kept telling her.
‘I forgot, I got you something,’ Trip said, ‘in London. Something crass and commercial, like I promised.’
He held out a small paper bag withWELCOME TO THE UKstamped across the front. Ivy took it cautiously and peered inside.
‘Oh my God. It’s so …’
‘Hideous?’
Ivy drew the item out and held it on her palm. It was a plastic snow globe. Inside was a luridly painted castle, complete with tiny plastic seagulls, glitter and a beach below.
Ivy stared at it. Itwasobjectively hideous. She loved it immediately.
‘It’s like the show,’ she said. ‘The castle and the beach.’
‘Yeah. I was going to get you something serious from theNational Gallery or the Tate, but then I saw that and it just … I don’t know. I thought it might remind you of the show.’
Ivy snorted. ‘There is a serious amount of glitter going on.’
‘I know. But when it settles, it looks like snow.’
She turned it over, watching the sparkles catch in the moonlight. Her throat felt tight. She would keep the snow globe and remember this winter, she thought, long after Trip had headed back to America.
‘It’s perfect,’ she said quietly. ‘Thank you.’ She glanced at her phone. ‘I should get back,’ she said. ‘Mum will be wondering where I am.’
Trip gave her the warm smile she would miss so much and held out his hand to her. ‘Come on. It’s not that late. There’s time for one more walk on the beach.’
The evening was still. In the town hall, Fox Bay would be celebrating and tucking into the biggest Cornish pasty ever made (ornearlythe biggest). It felt very far away to Ivy as they strolled slowly across the sand.
‘I can’t believe we pulled it off,’ Ivy said. ‘The props held up to some pretty strenuous sword-play. No one cried. Except Mr Hargreaves, but healwayscries.’
‘I’m sorry about London and Madison,’ Trip said suddenly. ‘I didn’t want to give you the wrong impression—’
‘It’s fine,’ Ivy said.In a few weeks he would be gone anyway, she thought. ‘I mean, I didn’t really care.’
‘Right,’ Trip said, his caramel eyes meeting hers in the moonlight. ‘Is that why you painted the set with snow? Because you didn’t really care?’
Ivy shrugged, flushing. ‘I wanted to do something nice for you, that’s all,’ she said. ‘Let’s not make a thing of it.’
‘I’mabsolutelymaking a thing of it,’ Trip said. ‘It was really special. It’s one of the nicest things anyone has done for me.’
‘I just felt inspired. You’d been talking about snow on thebeach and I knew how impossible that was. And then I thought that art is all about impossible things and it gave me the idea.’
Trip nodded thoughtfully. ‘Got it. So, what you’re saying is … I’m yourmuse.’
She groaned. ‘Oh no. I’ve created a monster. This is where your ego gets out of control.’
Trip stopped and traced a shape in the sand with his foot. ‘You know Brooke will be here all next year, filming,’ he said tentatively. ‘We could hang out.’
