‘Yes, I saw you pinch your sister in the car,’ Pippa giggled. She would have done the same to Pete or Polly.
‘I can’t help it. Put us all in that thing and it’s like being seven again. If she had pigtails I would have pulled those too,’ Hema giggled.
They reached the building, and Pippa gave them time to wander through and read the big information boards that outlined the history, before heading outside to the theatre itself.
Carved into the cliff it was something that couldn’t help but wow you as you stood there. The stage was made entirely of stone as were the benches for the audience. The sea, vast and open and elemental, provided the most breathtaking backdrop, one that Pippa knew from experience could often distract from the play being performed below. She also knew that although the theatre was nothing short of spectacular, bringing a cushion, a blanket and a flask was vital to help keep out the nip of the wind. Romantic it may be, but there was nothing like the bite of a cold sea breeze to kill that romance dead.
Not that cold or wind were present today. Today the sea had a turquoise sheen that made it look tropical, inviting, like it was sitting there for human admiration and perfect photographs.
Pippa sat on a bench at the top, watching Anuja’s face as she took it all in. Her gaze flicked to Kam who was deep in conversation with Ben, a conversation which involved more than the odd look flicked in her direction. She wished she knew what they were saying. She wondered if they were discussing her and, if they were, what they were saying. Would it be along the lines of ‘that Pippa’s a gem, a definite keeper’ rather than ‘that Pippa is a complete freak, run my friend, run now!’
Or maybe they weren’t talking about her at all and she was just making up nonsense because part of her wanted Kam to be saying lovely things about her. Part of her wanted Kam to be thinking of her as she did about him pretty much all of the time and definitely as her head hit the pillow in the evenings. But another part… another part of her was wondering if her friends and her mum were right all along, and she was just terrified: terrified of messing things up, of starting a relationship that may not work, of upsetting her happy life by messing around with someone involved in her work, of harbouring a crush she didn’t think was reciprocated. It was all too confusing, although, as long as she could keep it in her head and not let it overspill into actual life, she had a chance to manage it without upsetting the applecart.
She knew that despite her brave words about not being ready, she wanted to settle down with someone. Shewasready but finding the right person was such a gamble. Her mum and dad had got lucky and she wasn’t sure she could expect that to happen twice. The advice the world gave was so confusing, ranging from the pessimistic ‘You never truly know somebody’ to the more optimistic ‘When you know, you know’. All she knew for sure was that, right now, she didn’t reallyknowanything.
As their group returned, her phone binged. Pulling it out of her pocket she saw it was from Lottie. The others stood there for a moment breathing in the beauty of this particular part of the coast, so she quickly read the message.
Oh wow! You are not going to believe what I’ve heard. Make sure you come find me when you get home. I can’t wait to see your face. But as ever, Pippsy, you were right.
Pippa read it twice. Had Lottie found out something she could use against James in the battle with her mum? That would be awesome. What could it be?
She pulled herself back to the moment. Anuja was still looking at the stage in awe, no doubt imagining herself in a flowy gown, hurling herself dramatically from one side of the stage to the other. Whereas Nisha was staring out over the cliffs to the turquoise sea and sandy beach next door.
‘It’s beautiful, like, really beautiful. Can we go down there?’
‘I’m not sure that was on Pippa’s plan,’ Kam jumped in.
‘No, but plans are like rules and made to be broken.’ She winked at Kam’s oldest sister, ‘Porthcurno is absolutely breathtaking and there’s no real reason we can’t go and explore the beach. If I remember rightly it’s just down the coast path, bit of a steep hill but shouldn’t take too long. It’s fascinating actually. Not only is it mind-blowingly beautiful and looks like it should be part of a tropical paradise somewhere far away, it’s also where they put the first underground cables to communicate with America in 1870-something or other. Let’s go explore, if everyone wants to?’
The walk down to the beach, a narrow path dry in the good weather and sprigged with tufts of grass, curled along the line of the coast. The path itself was unsteady and made more difficult to walk by the fact that it was next to impossible to tear your eyes away from the scene laid out in front of you. The sea was bright and clear, a myriad of blues and greens making up the turquoise that was a siren call to anyone with a soul; there were children splashing, and adults lying on their backs or sculling across the cove and looking up at the cliffs made up of multicoloured strata and scattered with grass and wildflowers.
Geeta and her daughters’ voices tumbled over each other as they headed down towards the beach, claiming that this could be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean rather than part of the UK mainland.
Pippa and Kam were walking close together as they headed down, as if there was some kind of elastic bond between the two of them which meant that neither could stray far from the other for very long before they were pinged back together. Pippa was giggling – her concerns from earlier firmly put to the back of her head – and leaning into Kam as she pointed out some children mischievously throwing buckets of water over each other as they stood at the edge of the waves. Suddenly she felt her ankle twist in a dip, sending her body careering off at an angle, stumbling right by the cliff edge.
Kam moved like lightening and before anyone else had realised what was happening his arm had shot out, swooped around her and brought her back in safely. She grabbed his arm as he did so, trying to right herself on the bumpy path. Her ankle was fine but her body was shocked, not just by the near fall but also by its response to Kam’s touch. An electric shock had seared through her body, making the whole of her tingle from tip to toe. She had never felt anything like it and she stared up at him, frozen to the spot as the lust puddled through her, overwhelming her. Her mind was in meltdown, her heart was pounding as she tried to thank him, whilst their hands were still holding each other, as if that was exactly where their hands should always be. Breathing in deeply, she could capture not just the salty tang of the sea air, but the smell of Kam. The woody undertones of his aftershave combined with the very core scent of him.
He made no move to change position nor to stop looking at her. Her blonde hair flicked across her face in the breeze, her eyes big and blue and communicating so much as she stared up at him.
Pippa realised, in that moment that shewasbrave, and shewasan optimist. There was no going back, job or not. What she felt for this man was something special, something different from all her other relationships, something that she was not going to walk away from until she knew, definitively, whether this man looking at her, heart and soul on display, felt the same.
Chapter Thirty-one
What an epic day. Thank you so much. My mum and sisters had a great time.
Thank you for letting me join in with your family. I had the best time too. You’re right, it felt like being with my own family with all the teasing.
What was your favourite bit?
Looking at you. Delete, delete.
Um, so much. Probably the bow and arrow battle in the prehistoric village.
That was so much fun, such a good idea bringing the toy bow and arrows. Although I thought with the fuss Ben was making we’d had his eye out.
Right, when he sank to his knees like that, wailing. For nothing! Has he ever considered a career in football?
Ouch. I shan’t tell him you said that.
