‘Nice.’
‘In front of the whole class…’
Ben shouted with laughter.
‘…and as the headteacher walked in.’
‘Oh mate!’
‘It was unfortunate.’
‘I’d say. But not really your fault?’
‘No, not really. But it’s a small village and…’
‘Oh, you don’t need to tell me. I know Cornwall. So, people are talking, but what specifically are they talking about? It was just the one incident, surely.’
‘You’re right. There isn’t anything to talk about really, it’s just that Pippa…’
‘Isn’t Pippa the name of the girl you met for a drink last week?’
‘Um…’
‘Woah, so you’ve taken your colleague for a drink in the village, and now she’s flinging her arms around you in school?’
‘Oh, that’s not fair. You make it sound like she’s a bit weird and has a huge crush, and she isn’t, she doesn’t and that’s just not how it is.’
‘Nah, that’s not what I was doing. But I know you, so I imagine it was the two pints of Rattler…’
‘Korev.’
‘Good choice, so it was the two pints ofKorevthat made you send me that emoji with the heart eyes when I asked how your first evening in the new flat was going. Heart-eye emoji, Kam! You’ve gone and got a crush on your teaching assistant, haven’t you?’
‘She’s notmyteaching assistant. She’s a professional in her own right.’ Kam firmly made his point and knew that whether he had a crush or not there was nothing in this world that would make him endanger the security of a full-time teaching job in Cornwall.
‘Hahaha, Pippa doesn’t sound particularly Indian. Your mum is gonna have something to say!’ Ben laughed and laughed. He wasn’t far wrong.; Kam’s mum had been chucking him under the chin from the age of six and bragging to everyone how they were going to get him married to a nice Hindu girl. Ben had been witnessing it since primary school and their friendship spanning over two decades gave him the right to tease.
It also gave Kam the right to tip him off his board.
Chapter Eighteen
May had always been Kam’s favourite month. Spring was turning into summer and everywhere you looked there were signs that it was going to be a glorious year. Lambs were frolicking on fields; flowers were out in force and the vegetables in Penmenna Hall had been rioting. All was right with the world.
Today was the first bank holiday of May and he was walking through Treporth Bay along to Penmenna to meet up with Dan, who had invited him to come and join in with a kickabout this afternoon. He had loved football when he was growing up. He hadn’t played in an age but was looking forward to it.
The smell of garlic and seafood wafted across the Marina as he approached the stretch of chi-chi restaurants that peppered Treporth Bay, a very different scent from the deep spicing of a decent dahl that floated out onto the street when he was at home. He decided he’d have to eat at one of them one night soon, when he thought he spied Pippa, her back to him, as she sat at one of the tables outside the swankiest of all the eateries.
He got closer, a chuckle burbling from his mouth as he saw that it had to be her, no one else in the world – surely – would have the courage to wear such an outfit!
The woman had tightly curled hair practically bouncing on top of her head and her body was clad, shoulder to ankle in what appeared to be canary yellow spandex. Her confidence meant she got away with it beautifully rather than looking like she had escaped from a time machine and was looking for her way back to the exercise segment on Eighties breakfast television. As he got closer he could see the man with her appeared to be the idiot who had picked Pippa up from school last Friday.
His heart dipped a little as he realised this meant she had probably spent the whole weekend with him, no doubt getting ready for her new wealthy life that would whisk her away from Penmenna. He gave himself a quick telling off and pasted a smile on his face as his path took him past the table. He couldn’t be with Pippa anyhow, not without it messing his own life plans up, and he certainly wasn’t going to do that now, not when success could be so close to hand. Despite what Ben may have to say he couldn’t – didn’t – assume she fancied him like he did her, especially when you looked at the alpha male she was dating. Getting jealous was a pointless, selfish waste of time.
‘Hey, hey. Kam! Wait up!’ He hadn’t wanted to interrupt her date but it seemed as he walked by that Pippa had no such qualms, calling after him as he passed. He felt the smile broaden across his face as he heard her voice, turning on his heel to face her.
‘Hi, how are you?’
‘Good, good, thanks. Have you had a nice weekend?’ She beamed back at him, the canary yellow of her clothing a good match for the sunshine that radiated around her, although it was so tight that it left little to the imagination.
