‘Ah, no. Not at all. Well, I don’t know about my mum but my dad was cross. Proper cross. He felt let down because I’d left the business. When I picked my degree, he saw it as something that would equip me for when I took over from him and then he couldn’t understand how I could walk away from what he had built up. The fact that that was the point – it was whathehad built, not me – still doesn’t seem to register to this day. I think he thinks I’m being idle and feckless. And now that I’m in Cornwall, still surfing but without a permanent job, it reinforces his opinion.’
‘But you’re working with us.’ Pippa looked perplexed and he wanted to wrap her up and keep her close. He supposed she had probably never disappointed her mum and dad so it made no sense to her.
‘Yup, but it’s not permanent. I kinda have this… no, don’t worry about it.’
‘No, go on. Tell me. You can’t start and then stop. That’s not fair!’
‘It’s a bit dull.’
‘I doubt it. You haven’t got a dull bone in your body. Admittedly you haven’t cracked a joke and pulled a silly face today yet but I can forgive you. I get enough of those in the week.’ She winked. ‘I want to know more. Tell me!’
As he looked at her, he found he wanted to talk, to see what she thought. ‘Okay, I have this five-year plan. It’s important to me and this job at Penmenna is an important step. I guess I feel I’ve wasted so much time, not getting to university until I was twenty-two and then not doing my teaching training until last year, that I want to catch up. So, I need to keep my head down and focus on my career for the next few years. Everything else comes second. This temporary position in Penmenna is great. Hopefully Rosy will give me a good reference, which will help me get a position here in Cornwall. Then once I’ve got a full-time permanent post, while still being able to surf at weekends, I’ll be living my dream. I’m giving myself five years to get established in this life, and by then hopefully I won’t need to go back to the plumbing business with my tail between my legs. Once that’s done, I can worry about all the other things in life – kids, mortgages and stuff – and make my parents see that my decision to leave the business wasn’t a mistake, but a good move, and definitely the right one for me.’
He looked a little shamefaced, ‘Does it make me sound like a kid, still looking for approval from Mum and Dad?’
‘It all sounds very reasonable to me, although I’d say going to Uni at twenty-two doesn’t exactly make you a late starter, but I know what you mean. I really do. You need to do what’s right for you and you feel you need to prove that to your mum and dad. Planning is the best way to guarantee it happens. I think most of us want our parents’ approval throughout our lives. It doesn’t stop because we’ve left home and having a knowledge of that doesn’t make us childish. Quite the opposite. It makes us self-aware and respectful of the people who have dedicated decades of their lives to us. So no, not a kid, but a decent, switched-on human being. How’s the quest for a permanent position going?’
Kam grinned. Of course she understood. He should have known she wouldn’t judge him harshly; it wasn’t in her make-up to be mean. ‘Pretty well actually. I asked Rosy if I could put her down as a reference and she agreed. I’ve applied for five, no, six jobs now, across Cornwall, although one is in Devon, but I could live with that and it’s just a matter of hearing whether I’m called to interview. It’s early days yet.’ He glanced around. Somehow, they had already reached the entrance to Penmenna beach and were pretty close to her flat. Time had whizzed by!
‘And don’t forget: you might get Sarah’s job and then you could stay at Penmenna and everything would be perfect.’
‘Everythingwouldbe perfect.’ He smiled, knowing how much he would like that.
‘Right, I’d better leave you now. I promised Lottie I’d help her with the stock inventory. Lucky, lucky me. Enjoy football!’
‘I will.’
‘And Kam, don’t stress it. Your parents will come around. I think you’re practically perfect. Any school would be lucky to have you. I just hope it’s ours that gets to keep you.’ And as she turned to head back to her flat she gave him a great big grin and he knew he really hoped it too.
Hey, was nice to see you today. How did football go?
Yeah, good. I had a great time actually. Really like Dan, he’s pretty cool for a vicar.
He’s def an improvement on the last one. I like him too. I know Sylvie said he was great when her mum died.
Don’t doubt it.
I wanted to say thank you. I appreciate you opening up to me today. It’s not always easy talking about the non-surface stuff. I felt honoured that you confided in me.
I was happy to. You’re a good friend, Miss P.
And that was the way he was going to keep it! Even if you took the boyfriend out of the equation, and his own career plan, he really liked Pippa, he wasn’t going to mess with this friendship.
You are too. See you Friday.
Looking forward to it. Night!
Night.
Chapter Nineteen
‘Oh my god, you’re about to get Marion at her worst. I don’t know what’s happened to her, and I never thought she could get any more intense or evil but she’s extra snappy at the moment. She’s timetabled a meeting in for all of us staff at lunchtime and has allocated Sylvie and Amanda on playground duty and given them two members of her committee each to help, so we can’t even cry lunch duty to get out of it. Which is a bit of a bummer because that’s how I’ve escaped every year so far. I know they’re saying she has trouble in her marriage, but dear god, that woman needs to get laid. Coffee?’ Pippa held out a mug to Kam, who looked a little shell shocked. ‘Are you alright?’
‘Yep, that was just a lot to process thirty seconds through the door. Good morning though.’
‘Ha! Good morning. Sorry about that, but trust me, you need to be on full form,now. I’m helping you, consider this on-the-job training. I know you laugh at me but honestly, she is insane this week. And we’ve got swimming with her first thing, so drink up, and I really hope you’ve got padlocks for your teacher trunks, I’m scared for you.’
‘I thought it was my job to stand on the side and oversee the pool. I didn’t realise I’d have to get in the water.’
