‘Of course. You must go and do what you need to do.’
‘Brilliant, and if you could keep these three in check for me, Mum, I’d appreciate it. I really like it here.’
‘Yes, of course. Now girls, your brother is a teacher and we are in his place of work. You must respect your brother and his position or you will pay the price.’ Geeta looked terrifyingly stern as she delivered these words, and Pippa realised even she was gulping and deciding to behave.
‘Brilliant, although if you could tone down the whole flay-you-alive discipline, that would probably be helpful,’ said Kam. ‘Right, what do we need, Pippa?’
‘Just you and me, I think, at the moment. Everything else should be there.’
‘Just you and me? Sounds pretty perfect, let’s go.’ And Kam and Pippa headed out of the big old wooden door, knowing that five pairs of keen female eyes were watching them go and drawing all sorts of conclusions.
Chapter Twenty-four
The two hours of the May Fayre whizzed by, although Kam had forgotten how draining the extra-curricular school events could be, especially after a full day teaching. However, in this instance he didn’t mind. He hadn’t had as much fun in ages.
He and Pippa had giggled non-stop on the space hoppers, guiding the children and shouting ‘bounce, bounce, bounce’ in an encouraging way, both adopting kids to support and then racing them against each other. People had fallen off, and others had bounced their way to victory but everyone had giggled. After a while even the der-der-der-der-der-der of the fairground music blaring out across the field faded into familiarity, and Kam swore Pippa’s laugh when they took their turns on the space hoppers – she beat him four to two – was even louder. He had had to wipe the odd tear away as he raced her, the children all shouting to spur them on. So much fun. Although he was quite pleased his mother was far away in the hall, he knew she would have very firm views on the appropriate behaviour of teachers and he was fairly sure laughing riotously whilst racing on inflatable rubber balls with silly faces was not one of them.
When he had mentioned the fairground music to Pippa, she had confided that the PTA invested in the fairground organ because it could be operated without too much human intervention and still create a carnival atmosphere. It turned out that Penmenna used to have a DJ at their fayres, but a couple of years ago he had done nothing but repeatedly play ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and sob into the microphone, exhorting the children to never love and never entrust their heart to anyone. There had been a stand-off with Marion cutting the power and hauling him out, and ever since then only allowed a carefully curated soundtrack, as compiled by Marion, was allowed to play in the school hall, and the sounds of a Wurlitzer in the school field to create some party spirit.
True to school fayre form, there was still a fair amount of troubleshooting amongst the hilarity. The ponies had accidents all over the field, and Kam, unused to the country and its blasé attitudes to poo, spent a fair amount of time picking it up and binning it so no small children could fall into it. Davinia didn’t seem at all fussed, just barking phrases like ‘Only natural, eh?’ as she ignored the heaps piling up around her, and Pippa sat on a space hopper giggling at his face as he wrinkled his nose. She had the cheek to suggest it was a good thing he was a teacher because she didn’t think he’d be much good as a vet or a farmer.
There had been fisticuffs over the hook the duck where Pippa had weighed in and saved Harmony from a parent convinced they should have won a huge purple teddy and who wondered why they didn’t get a goldfish in a bag any more. Pippa had positively sprinted to the stall as she heard that, to try and stop a full-on raging debate between Harmony and the family, who had now gathered to see why she wasn’t unhooking the purple bear.
Then there was a fallout over a penalty shoot-out, which one of the fathers was managing in a slightly aggressive fashion, but none of these things could spoil the fun of the evening. Kam and Pippa had taken it in turns to go and get Pimm’s from the cocktail tent and, as the evening progressed, both got a little swooshy. Kam was not sure that he should be drinking whilst at work but Pippa pointed out that what he shouldn’t be doing was breaking with Penmenna tradition: everyone was expected to be half cut by six. Besides, it was only Pimm’s, not absinthe or Special Brew. How wrong could it go?
The second half of the evening had been far less frenetic. The stalls began to wind down a little, everyone’s money had been spent and people were milling about, chatting. The children, realising they had no chance of getting more pennies out of their beleaguered parents, had given up and were playing on the playground equipment or kicking a ball about on the other side of the field.
Pippa and Kam had taken the chance to sink to the ground, where they both lay down, feeling the softness of the grass and clover on their backs, and staring up at the light evening sky. Pippa started picking daisies to make herself a daisy chain as they recalled the events of the night. The alcohol had made them relaxed and Pippa gave him the biggest grin as she rolled over onto her front, her calves swinging in the air as she spoke.
‘I think our mums might get on alright, you know.’ She gave him a hazy half-lidded look that summed up the languor of a summer night, and he wanted so much to roll himself over as well, capture her lips with his and see where this evening took them. He knew he couldn’t, not on the school field, and he knew he wouldn’t because until he had completed his five-year plan he was in no position to start any kind of relationship and the way he felt about Pippa indicated it could get very serious very quickly.
‘I think so too. But then they would, wouldn’t they?’ Kam replied, smiling but holding his body back, not allowing the distance between them to be closed in the way he would have liked.
‘Do you think? Apart from their obsessive baking I’m not sure they have much in common.’
‘You’re bonkers. We have everything in common so why wouldn’t they? Our world views are pretty similar, don’t you think?’ Kam’s eyebrows raised. Did she really not think so?
‘I hadn’t thought about that. I guess they are. Family is really important to me, and community, but then so is my freedom to be who I want to be and have fun. That’s still high on my list and now I’m thinking it I’m realising that um… yes… maybe we are a bit?’ Pippa’s tone was one of gradual realisation and he could not believe that it was only in this moment she was joining the dots to something he had found so obvious from fairly early on.
‘I am. I’m with you on all the solid things, the building blocks that make up for a good life. And we both love the sea…’
‘We do.’
‘And music, and dancing.’
‘True, but we haven’t done that yet. We will though. Soon.’ Her certainty cheered him.
‘Only difference is that your mother isn’t trying to ferociously marry you off,’ Kam sighed.
‘Are you joking?’
‘Eh?’
‘My mum is an absolute nightmare. She’s doing exactly that. It seems to be her favourite thing at the moment.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh yes,’ Pippa nodded ferociously. ‘Relentless.’
