‘We could always sit inside if you want to avoid the seagulls?’ He raised his eyebrows questioningly, but she shook her head. It was one thing nipping in to Mehenick’s and ordering the food, but quite another to sit inside and wait for someone to turn up and realise she was back. She wasn’t ready for that, and she didn’t think she ever would be. Her visit back had gone against every instinct she had, but the pull had been too strong. Now she was here, allowing herself to experience Port Agnes again, but she had to be realistic. This was a flying visit, just enough to hold the desire to return home at bay. The last thing she wanted was for anyone else to realise she was here. Tomorrow she’d have to move on, but if she was careful, she could allow herself just enough of a taste of home to keep her going. That’s what she was counting on anyway.
‘It’s such a nice day, I thought it would be lovely to sit outsideand I could grab a bit of footage of an al fresco harbourside picnic for when I put up my posts about Port Agnes. I’m sure it will all help to entice people to the campsite.’
‘Say no more.’ Tristan was already moving towards the bench, and she turned to head inside the bakery, grateful to discover that there was only one other person at the counter, who was already being served by Jago Mehenick. It was after 2p.m. and past the lunchtime rush, so the usual crowds had dissipated. Jago’s wife, Ruth, was standing next to him and she gave Holly a beaming smile as soon as she spotted her.
‘Hello, there.’ The warmth of her greeting was so familiar that for a moment all Holly could do was stare. If Ruth had recognised her so quickly, it would only be a matter of time before the whole of Port Agnes heard that she was back, but when Ruth continued, there was no indication that she’d realised who Holly was. ‘Isn’t it a beautiful spring day out there? What can I get you?’
‘Yes, it’s gorgeous, and I’ll have two of your steak pasties please, and a couple of cans of pink lemonade.’
‘Coming right up.’ Ruth placed the pasties into paper bags, before moving to the other end of the counter and taking two cans out of the fridge. ‘Is that everything?’
‘Yes, thank you. Although I am sorely tempted by the carrot cake, that was always my favourite whenever I came in.’ The words were out of Holly’s mouth before she had a chance to think them through.
‘Oh, you’ve visited us before then?’ Ruth narrowed her eyes. ‘Sorry, we get such a lot of people in, but I usually recognise the regulars.’
‘Don’t worry, it was years ago now, when I was a kid. I used to come here on holiday with my parents every year.’ The lie rolled off her tongue, but she’d got so used to spinning cover stories over the years that sometimes she almost forgot the truth herself.
‘Ah, well, I’ll let myself off then as I expect you’ve changed a bit.’ Ruth gave her another warm smile. ‘Although now I come to think of it, there is something familiar about you.’
‘I think I’ve just got one of those faces.’ Holly forced a laugh and made a show of rooting around in her bag for her purse, so that she could drop her gaze.
‘There you go, keep the change.’ Holly thrust a twenty-pound note in Ruth’s direction, snatching up the paper bags and cans, before heading towards the door.
‘Thank you, my love, that’s very generous of you.’ Ruth’s lovely lilting accent made Holly’s chest ache. She sounded so much like her mother and the feeling of home sickness, right here, in the heart of the village where she’d grown up, almost overwhelmed her again. She couldn’t respond, because if she did there was a good chance she might burst into tears. Instead, she headed out of the door and into the sunshine to find Tristan, before she ruined everything.
7
Constantly checking her phone to see if an email had come through was beginning to drive Bex mad. She kept telling herself not to look all the time, because the disappointment when she checked her inbox and there was no response was crushing, and a little bit more of the hope she’d been clinging on to so tightly evaporated each time. She tried setting herself a limit to only check three times a day. Once in the morning, once at lunchtime and once before she went to bed. That had turned out to be a very bad idea, because getting to sleep after yet another disappointment proved impossible. She needed to do something else to make it feel like sand wasn’t just slipping through the egg timer and taking them all closer and closer to the point where nothing would be able to help her mum. She just didn’t know what she could do and she needed a sounding board. Texting Rowan, she just hoped her friend might be available for a catch up, but as a headteacher of the local primary school, free time during the week was hard to come by.
Bex
I don’t suppose you’re free to meet up for a cuppa and a chat after school, are you? xx
The response came back almost instantly.
Rowan
I’d love to, but I’m in St Piran’s with Nathan for our twenty-week scan. It would be great to meet up with you afterwards though and I can tell you the news. I can get Nath to drop me over on the way home? xx
Guilt twisted in Bex’s stomach as she read the message. She should have remembered it was the scan today. Rowan was forty-one and Bex knew how nervous she’d been about this scan, which would screen for eleven different conditions, some of which were more likely to affect a baby born to a woman who was, what the medical profession referred to as, of ‘advanced maternal age.’
‘Bloody cheek!’ Bex had responded when Rowan had told her what the midwife had said at her first appointment.
‘It could have been worse. Toni told me that until recently they used to call women like me geriatric mothers.’ Rowan had grimaced. ‘Although to be fair, both my back and bladder are reminding me I’m no spring chicken any more.’
Despite her minor grumbles, it was obvious how excited Rowan was about the baby, and Nathan couldn’t have been more thrilled at the prospect of becoming a father, after thinking that the opportunity might have passed him by. She shouldn’t gatecrash their moment, so as much as she wanted to talk to Rowan about the lack of progress in finding Briony, she wasn’t going to derail such a special moment for them.
Bex
It’s such an exciting time for you both and I can’t wait to see the pictures! Maybe we can catch up tomorrow or later in the week xx
She set her phone down on the table and refilled the water bowl for the dogs almost robotically, trying to work out what else she could try in order to track Briony down, when everything she’d done so far had just been met with another dead end. Just as she picked her phone up again, another text pinged through from Rowan.
Rowan
How could I have forgotten how difficult it is not to wet yourself when you’ve got a full bladder and you’re twenty-five minutes late going in for the scan? Thank God for your texts to distract me! Nathan is going straight from here to the station, so he can go to London with Will and Leo and it’s going to be really tight now. So you’d be doing me a massive favour if you met me here xx
Will was Nathan’s brother, and Leo was his nephew, who’d been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy as a toddler. Bex knew that a trip to London usually meant an appointment with Leo’s consultant, so Nathan couldn’t afford to miss that train. Glancing at her watch, she checked the time. She’d planned to pick Ollie and Tom up from school before she met Rowan, but if she went to the hospital now, she wouldn’t make it back in time for the school run. Matt was due to be in a meeting with their accountant at pick-up time and she didn’t feel comfortable about the boys making their way home alone, even though Ollie would have to make the transition when he started secondary school. She still worried about Henry travelling back from Three Ports High on his own, after more than two years.
