She turned away from the pub and headed back along the harbour, Jake following. The sound of every-one else trying to decide if they should order fish and chips carried on the air. Effie’s stomach grumbled. Chips sounded good, but clearing the air with Jake was more important.
Effie made her way down onto the beach, and perched on the bottom step. Jake dropped down beside her. The sun was setting in a slow, gentle, golden way. The cool evening air was laced with the briny scent of the sea. Effie inhaled it, allowing it to ground her. Here was where she was happiest, but what about Jake?
‘I missed this view,’ Jake admitted, breaking through the moment.
‘What? Even when you were on a tropical island?’ Effie asked, her words coming out harsher than she had meant them to.
Jake flinched at them. ‘I missed it more when I was on a tropical island. All that white sand, turquoise sea, yeah, it’s good, it might be paradise, but it’s not as good as growing up with this on your doorstep. It took me too long to realise that.’
‘I agree. Well, about this being on the doorstep. I’ve never been to a tropical island.’
‘You’re not missing much.’
Effie turned to him. ‘Really? You’d pick this over the Maldives? I’ve seen the photos, Jake.’
He swallowed at this. ‘Right, the photos. Effie, I’m sorry, I should never have gone. The second I got into Tara’s car I knew I was doing the wrong thing. I made a mess of everything. I didn’t explain it very well to you before I went. I thought you’d understand that Tara and I had an obligation, that I’d tried to be honest with you, but I didn’t do it very well. I think needed to go away again to see what I really wanted.’
‘And were you undecided about Tara the whole time?’ Effie asked, even though she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.
Jake hesitated.
‘You were?’ She swallowed.
‘We’d been together a long time. I had once thought we’d be together forever and I didn’t want to throw that away so easily. Maybe we got engaged because it was what was expected more than because we really were still in love with each other,’ Jake admitted.
Effie nodded. ‘And when you were away?’
‘It was nice to slip into the familiarity of being with her. We had a lot to talk about, figure out and unwind between us. After she’d spent the flight going on and on about the contracts she was bringing in, all clothes and makeup and boutique hotel stays, I realised I wanted more from life than jumping from place to place. The same boredom that had made me leave her set in again.’
‘You didn’t look bored in the photos.’
‘It wasn’t real, none of it. You have to believe me, Effie . . .’ he paused before saying ‘. . . Eff, look at me, please, don’t shut me out.’
The desperate tone in Jake’s voice made her turn towards him. Effie’s eyes flickered over his face but she remained silent. There was nothing for her to say. Jake reached out and took her hand. Effie tried to resist the way her fingers curled into his, the link between them that felt so safe, so right. She swallowed. The lowering sun flicked golden across his face, lighting him up, softening all the sharp edges she’d got herself caught on.
‘I missed this. I missed this view, but mostly I missed you. Meeting you, Effie, changed my life for the better. I spent so long running away from village life, thinking I was living a better, more exciting life than everyone else. Yeah, maybe I was a bit smug about it. It was a huge shock when things ended with Tara. We’d both invested too much to call it quits, hence the break,’ he scoffed. ‘Either way, I never expected that someone who had spent her entire life devoted to Cornwall would help me see that it has more charms than anywhere else I’ve been.’
Effie stared at him, heart hammering, hardly daring to believe what he was telling her. ‘What’s happened with Tara?’
‘You didn’t see the latest post?’
Effie shook her head and admitted, ‘I blocked your profiles.’
If Jake thought this was an overreaction, he didn’t say. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Effie watched as he clicked on the app and brought up a video that had tens of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. He pressed play.
Effie wasn’t sure she wanted to look but she leaned over anyway and saw Tara perched on the edge of a very luxurious-looking hotel bed, Jake beside her looking as if he wanted to be anywhere else but there.
‘Hi, everyone.’ Tara waggled her fingers at the camera. ‘This is just a little, long-overdue life update from Jakey and me. I know, I know you’ve been asking where he’s been. Well, he’s been back home in Cornwall. You’ve all been such wonderful supporters of us together that we were both very nervous to tell you that we’ve parted ways. Professionally and romantically. I’m sorry! I know you thought we were true love and all that. Maybe we were once. But everyone grows and changes, that’s what life is about and sadly after many happy years together, we’ve grown apart. But we’re both happy, honestly, and hope you’ll continue to support both of us in our new ventures, you guys literally mean the world to us.’ She blew a kiss and the video ended.
Effie stared at the blank screen, then at Jake.Could this mean . . . ?
‘I got home this morning to find that bully in the shop. I went to Lola and she told me what had happened. Within minutes, Sue was bundling us into her car. I couldn’t believe I’d been so careless with you. For a split second I thought I’d lost you, that’d you’d left because of me.’
‘It wasn’t because of you,’ Effie said, ‘but I did wonder if it was for the best. I didn’t know if I could stay here if you were with Tara.’ She turned to him. ‘Jake, what is your plan?’
He entwined their fingers tighter and tugged Effie towards him. ‘I’m staying here. In Polcarrow. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.’
Effie stared up into his eyes, melting under the intensity of his feelings shining back at her, hardly daring to trust the edge they were teetering on.
