Pippa found herself singing along with the float in front, her mouth open wide as she threw herself into the music. She caught Kam watching her out of the corner of her eye and giggled as she said, ‘I know, loud and very, very off-key,’ and felt the grin cross her face as she said it, and then suddenly wipe clean straight off it as Kam gave her a funny look.
Shit, that was the exact phrasing from the letter. She really hoped the words weren’t as etched in his heart as they were in hers, but seeing as they were his words in the first place, she didn’t fancy her chances. Good job she never fancied being a spy; she’d be utter rubbish.
She covered her mistake quickly by nodding her head towards the pavement and shouted at him over the noise that surrounded them, ‘Look, I’ve never seen it this busy before. People must have come for miles around.’
The street was lined with people all waving and shouting encouragement. The noise seemed to be rising and it was getting hard to make out any individual words, but looking at Kam’s lips (she found it very hard not to) it looked like he had exclaimed, ‘No way! How on earth?’
Looking up, she followed his gaze to see his mother, a man she assumed was his father and Nisha, Hema and Anuja lined up along the side of the road next to her own family.
‘Oh, that’s lovely. Did you not know they were coming?’
‘No, no I didn’t. They didn’t say a word.’
And although Kam didn’t look overjoyed to have his family descend, Pippa couldn’t help but think their families looked pretty good together.
Chapter Forty-seven
Kam was exhausted. He had never realised walking through a small village wearing a tail and carrying a giant fork would be so draining. Now he was scooting about the field trying to find his parents and sisters. He’d catch a glimpse of them and then, poof, they would disappear again. It was as if they and Pippa’s family were playing a game of hide and seek and chase all rolled into one without letting him know he was It.
Besides which, since when had his mum and Pippa’s mum become such good friends? That in itself was odd. Surely there was only a limited amount of bonding one could do over a cake stall.
Eventually he tracked them down in one of the marquees at the end of the field which was serving cream teas, and his father – always fond of his mum’s sweet treats – looked pretty happy as he rammed a scone topped with jam and a mountainous looking pile of clotted cream into his mouth.
‘Hello, boy, these are good. I can see why Cornwall holds some appeal.’
‘Ah it’s more than a bit of clotted cream that’s keeping Kam here,’ teased Hema who was instantly rewarded with an evil look, the like of which only an older brother can deliver.
‘It’s great to see you, a huge surprise. How long are you here for?’ Kam was surprised with how genuine he sounded. They were actually really messing with his plans.
‘Just until Saturday night. We wanted to come and see the carnival. Jan told us how much work you and Pippa have put into it, so we couldn’t miss that. We’ll stay for the It’s-a-Knockout tournament and the fireworks and then Dad is going to drive us home.’
‘That seems silly. Why don’t you stay an extra night and head back on the Sunday?’
‘No, no, no! This is what we will do, but you are a good boy for asking. Anyway, talking of Pippa…’ Kam hadn’t realised they had been although it was a subject he could happily chat about for hours, much to Ben’s annoyance. ‘Where is that darling girl?’
‘Um, I think she has just dashed off to check on a friend.’ It felt odd calling Marion a friend but it was easier than explaining any further. He felt bad for not going with her but Pippa had insisted he went to find his family and that she would be fine checking in on Marion by herself.
The ice that had seemed to build up between him and Pippa over the last few weeks seemed to be thawing again, and he was pleased about it. It had knocked him for six when she hadn’t mentioned his letter at all over the last half term, such behaviour seeming so out of character. She was normally a woman who dealt with things head on and he appreciated that about her. Coy was not a quality he ever thought he could ascribe to Pippa, but then he supposed one lived and learnt. He was hoping that now the thaw had begun they may be able to get their friendship back on track. His feelings may be unrequited but he still missed her company, her easy-going friendship and the silly midnight texting.
He was hoping that, over the course of the next few days, when they would be sort of socialising together without the responsibilities of being at work hanging over their heads, and maybe with a little help from Roger’s famed hooch, they may be able to rekindle the friendship and get things back to where they were before they had slept together. He’d just have to try not to look all puppy dog eyes at her and not to mind too much when she did eventually meet someone she wanted a relationship with. Although no matter how noble he wanted to be about it, there was still a real sting when he considered that possibility.
As much as he loved his family, he hoped they weren’t going to throw a spanner in the works, and scare Pippa off even more than she was already. The fact that his mother and sisters clearly adored her would have been great if she cared about him as much as he did her, but now that the situation had changed it could be added pressure that they did not need. Argghhh!
Chapter Forty-eight
The big day had arrived and as Pippa walked to her mum’s house she was really beginning to doubt the wisdom of what she had agreed to. Doubting the wisdom was a bit of an understatement: she was absolutely terrified. Her feet were so cold they were practically ice-blocks. Somehow, in a matter of a few days, the whole village had got involved and what had seemed like a wild, impractical and unworkable plan now was actually happening. And she was the one in the middle of it, forced to do embarrassing stuff that would no doubt be giggled about for years.
It was no secret that Pippa wasn’t easily embarrassed and was pretty game for most things, but this… this was off the scale. She recognised that doing embarrassing stuff meant that Kam would understand how deeply she felt, and she didn’t mind doing it for that very reason. She did mind, however, the fact that now she felt pressured into acting the twit because the whole village were expecting it.
Even Rosy had taken the time to let her know that she thought it a sweet idea and that her initial reservations, only caused by professional concerns, were put to one side as time had shown how perfectly matched Pippa and Kam were.
It seemed that the only person who wasn’t involved was Marion and that was because she was absent. When Pippa had called at her house after the carnival, she had been met with silence. No lights were on and no sounds were heard. She began to worry even more than she had. Marion would never schedule time away from Feast Week unless it was an emergency and, as the end of term approached, the woman had been looking increasingly frazzled.
Pippa had knocked one last time, when Marion’s neighbour popped out and confided that Marion had hightailed it with both boys the minute term had ended, to head off to somewhere hot – Morocco, the neighbour thought – and to stay with an old university friend.
She had also confided that Richard had not appeared to be accompanying them.
With nothing else for Pippa to do, she had returned back to the field and giggled and gossiped with Kam’s sisters until the evening was well and truly over. In snatched bits of conversation, held whenever they sent Kam off to fetch something for them, a drink, popcorn, candy floss etc., Pippa had managed to glean that Jan had been in touch with Kam’s mum regularly since they had last visited, and the two of them had been concocting a slowly-slowly plan to get their children together romantically. With things not moving as quickly as they had hoped and with Jan letting Geeta know about the Feast Week plan, they had resolved to come down and see how things unfolded.
