Holly stared at the email. The wordCornwallseeming to pulsate across the screen, her heart thudding in her ears in time with it. She should just delete the message and block the sender because the offer he was making wasn’t one she could ever accept. She didn’t want to go back to Cornwall. It was where all the worst things that had ever happened to her in her life had taken place and she’d decided to leave all of that behind years ago. She had no intention of going back – not now, not ever. So she had no idea why she was clicking on the button to reply and typing out a response that seemed to suggest she was interested in accepting Tristan’s offer, especially now she knew they had a connection he clearly wasn’t aware of, but which could cause big trouble for them both. Not even Colombo would be able to solve that mystery.
5
Tristan charged into the room with a broad grin on his face and Bex immediately felt guilty, knowing that she was going to pour cold water on whatever it was he was so happy about. Before her mum’s cancer diagnosis, when they’d started working on the campsite project together, they’d been like a couple of excited school kids. Matt had been happy to leave the development of the campsite to them. It had always been Bex’s dream, but with three young boys and a full-time job at the school, it had seemed impossible to turn it into a reality. She knew Matt supported her unconditionally, but she hadn’t wanted to add to the pressure he was already under by asking if there was a way she could make the campsite a possibility. When Tristan had said how much he loved the idea and asked if he could be involved in setting it up, it had finally felt like it might actually happen. Tristan had boundless energy and enthusiasm for almost everything in life. He was also single with no real commitments outside of work, so he’d had the time and motivation to plough all that energy into getting the campsite up and running.
Tristan was brilliant at all the marketing stuff too. He followedlots of social media accounts linked to camping and Cornwall, and had come up with all sorts of ideas about how to get the word out. Before the news of her mum’s cancer, Bex had greeted every one of Tristan’s updates with enthusiasm. She might never match the breadth of his smile, or the way he paced around when he was talking about something that excited him, running his hands through his auburn hair until it was even wilder and curlier than it had been at the start. Despite their mums being sisters, Tristan and Matt didn’t really look much alike, except that they were both tall and broad-shouldered, but they did have one thing in common; they brought the sunshine to every situation and Bex felt guilty for being the Eeyore to their Tigger just lately, but in the wake of her mum’s diagnosis she just couldn’t seem to find much to smile about.
Tristan’s blue eyes were sparkling as he walked towards her desk, and she swallowed down the sigh that was already threatening to escape. She’d been deep in a rabbit hole of research about liver transplants from live donors, and the last thing she wanted was an interruption.
‘You’ll never guess what.’ Conversations with Tristan often started that way and Bex was usually happy to play along, but today the idea of playing a protracted guessing game just irritated her.
‘I probably won’t, but you could just tell me.’ She knew she sounded horrible, but she just wanted to get back to her research. She was desperate to, in fact.
‘Ah but it would be no fun that way.’
‘It’s no fun this way either.’ Her words were sharper than she’d intended and the smile seemed to slide off his face. There were definite similarities between Tristan and her youngest son, Tom, and suddenly she felt almost as guilty as she had when Tom had found his latest piece of school artwork – one of what felt likeabout two hundred that term – shoved into the kitchen recycling bin.
‘Sorry. I know I’m a miserable cow. It’s just all this stuff with Mum.’
‘No, I should be the one saying sorry. You’ve got a lot on your plate and the last thing you need is a stupid guessing game.’ Tristan smiled again, but it was far more muted, and it was almost as if he’d read her mind. ‘I just wanted to tell you that I got an email from a vlogger called Holly Day and she’s agreed to do a piece on the campsite.’
‘Her name’s Holly Day? Surely that can’t be for real.’
‘I very much doubt it, but it doesn’t matter what her real name is, because she’s got over a million followers.’ Tristan had begun his customary pacing. ‘You can’t buy that kind of advertising. Well, you can, but not with a budget like ours!’
‘A million? And what happens if her review isn’t positive? That’s a hell of a lot of potential customers who’ll be deciding to steer clear of us.’
‘Of course the review is going to be positive. We’ve created something amazing here, with some of the best views on the west coast. Then there’s the fact that we’ve got the baby goats now too. I mean, who could resist?’ Tristan had the same kind of bouncy energy as the kids that had been born to the three nanny goats who’d lived on the farm for the past two years. Matt had missed the dairy farming of his youth, but as a mixed arable and sheep farm already, they’d decided that having a herd of cows would be a step too far. Instead, they’d bought the goats with the intention of eventually breeding them and building up their own little herd to produce small quantities of goat’s cheese to sell at one of the local farm shops. The kids had arrived in March and were now gambolling about in a small paddock between the campsite and the woods, creating yet another irresistible draw for campers.
Tristan was right, Bex couldn’t imagine anyone not loving the campsite or the farm, but then she’d never have been able to imagine hearing the news that her active and vibrant mum had cancer either. The news had rocked her foundations in a way that nothing else ever quite had; not even Liam and Briony’s deceit. Her mum had always been the one person she could rely on, the one constant throughout her entire life, and everything felt different now that Bex had been forced to face the fact that she wouldn’t be here forever.
‘I just think we could do without the pressure of a visit from such a high-profile person right now, Triss. I’m sorry, I know I’m about as much fun as a wet rag at the moment, but I just don’t think we need that kind of stress. Not with everything else that’s going on.’
‘What if I promise you that I’ll make sure Holly has the best time ever and you won’t even have to meet her if you don’t want to.’
‘And how exactly are you going to guarantee she has the best time ever?’ Bex raised her eyebrows, a genuine smile crossing her face for the first time as Tristan put his hands on his hips, affecting an over-exaggerated model-style pose.
‘Do you really need to ask?’ He tried to pout and then started to laugh, and she found herself laughing too.
‘You’re an idiot, you know that, don’t you?’ Her tone was warm, matching the wave of affection that washed over her for Tristan. Her own family had never been big, but after Briony had disappeared out of her life, it had become tinier than ever. Being a part of Matt’s family meant a lot to her as a result, and she couldn’t have loved Tristan any more if he’d been her brother.
‘Yep, but somebody has to hold down that role in this family and you are far too brilliant to be able to handle it.’ He stopped for a moment, his expression suddenly serious. ‘It’s good to seeyou laugh, Bex. I know how tough this must be and we’re all rooting for Donna, but if there’s anything at all I can do, at any point, you know you just have to say the word, don’t you?’
‘Thanks, Triss.’ She reached up and squeezed his hand, gratitude washing over her. She was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so many people who wanted to help and support her entire family since Donna’s diagnosis. Her friends and her mother’s friends had all thrown themselves into the same research she had, to find out as much as they could about Donna’s diagnosis and what could be done to make sure she came through the other side. It had taken Bex a long time to trust people again after what had happened with Liam and Briony, but she could trust the people she let close to her with her life if she had to, and she was trusting them with her mother’s. Bex knew she could count Tristan in that number too. ‘I know you’ll pull this off and I’m so grateful I can leave this all in your hands. I’m just sorry I’m a dead weight at the moment and so bloody miserable most of the time.’
‘No, you’re not, and it was you who got me through when Anastasia decided I wasn’t worth sticking with. When I look at you and Matt, I know that what she and I had was never enough. That made it much easier to deal with.’
‘I never once heard you complaining about your lot, even then. Whoever you end up with is going to be very lucky and who knows, maybe this Holly Day woman will be just who you’ve been waiting for. After all, if she can spend all her time travelling around in a van, life in Cornwall with us carrot crunchers should be a breeze.’
‘Maybe, and you know I’m not too proud to do whatever it takes to get a good review.’ Tristan did a shimmy, a move that looked so out of place for a man of his build, dressed far more like a ranch hand than a dancer, and Bex laughed again. Her onlyreal wish right now was for her mum to get better, but if the universe was willing to grant her another one, Bex wanted it to be for Tristan to find someone who deserved him, and she’d have to be pretty damn special to fit the bill.
Bex almost felt as though she was having an affair arranging to meet up with her closest friends, and her mum’s best friend, Linda. Usually they’d get together regularly, both for the book club Bex had started, and whatever other fun activities they could come up with. Bex had always loved the fact that she had that kind of relationship with her mum. They weren’t just mother and daughter, they were friends too, finding the same things funny, and enjoying the company of the same kind of people. Linda had been like a substitute aunt to Bex, but she still couldn’t recall a time when she’d met up with her mother’s best friend without her mum being there too. Despite the fact that there was a good reason for doing so tonight, she still felt guilty.
‘That smells gorgeous.’ Matt came up behind her as she stirred the curry that was bubbling on the hob, putting his arms around her waist from behind and nuzzling her neck.
‘You and the boys have got pizza being delivered in ten minutes and Ollie has picked what he reliably informs me is going to bethe best movie you’ve ever seen. So you won’t be missing out on anything.’
‘I’ll be missing out on being with you.’
