Then from nowhere there’s a clatter and a whoosh of grey and Diesel jumps to his feet. Before I can protest, his paws are on my knee and he’s snatched the cupcake out of my hand. A second later it’s gone, paper and all. There’s a flash of pink as he licks his lips, then he’s down resting his head on the deck again.
My shriek finally breaks free. ‘Oh my days! What happened there?’ He was full of mischief as a pup, but that was almost a third of my life ago. Apart from the time he made a midnight raid on my mum’s specially iced Christmas cake, he’s always been so good.
Diesel’s stare is inscrutable. If it wasn’t for the sandy footprints decorating my jeans and top, I could almost be persuaded he had nothing to do with this.
Nell’s wagging her finger. ‘Bad boy, Diesel.’
Plum’s brow wrinkles. ‘The entire cake went without him swallowing.’
I’m scrubbing the marks off my shirt, leaping in to cover for Diesel. ‘I’m sure it won’t happen again.’ I’m aiming to laugh this off, so I frown down at my thighs, which have to be double the size of Sophie’s and are way larger than they were before all the bake-off tasting. ‘It’s probably Diesel’s way of reminding me not to grow too big for my apron.’ The great advantage of Insta and YouTube is you can keep the bulges out of shot. And as Diesel’s got one over on me twice already this afternoon, we might be better quitting while we’re ahead and making a run for home. At walking pace this time.
I smile around the table. ‘It’s been lovely meeting you all, but Diesel will be wanting his next walk.’
Nell squints at me. ‘Another?We’ve barely started on the cakes.’
‘They were awesome but I’ve had more than my share.’ It was touch-and-go getting my jeans to zip up earlier.
Sophie’s running her fingers through her perfectly cut blonde hair, watching me as I stand up. ‘If you really can’t stay, don’t forget – anything you need, we’re all here on standby.’
It’s fab of them to offer, even if I won’t be taking them up on it. I’m closing my fingers round Diesel’s lead as he scrambles to his feet. I’ve had a delicious half hour, but I as I told them earlier, I really will be fine on my own. ‘Thanks then, see you soon…’
As I wave them goodbye I’m giving silent hurrahs for getting away without making any definite arrangements, and before Diesel did anything worse. I’m on my third whoop when I feel the lead slide across my palm. I make a grab but it’s already gone – and Diesel’s way ahead of it.
2
The Surf Shack Café, St Aidan, Cornwall
Toast toppings and where to stick them
Friday
Iclose my eyes and curse under my breath as I feel the gap in my hand where Diesel’s lead should be. When I open them I’m ready to see Diesel lolloping off, tail held high as he disappears around the curve of the bay. But he’s much closer. And it’ssomuch worse. He’s made a beeline for the guy sitting on his own at a café table by the steps and his paws are already on his shoulders.
I groan. It’s one thing Diesel clambering all over Clemmie’s friends, a stranger not so much. And not that I’ve got a choice, but I wish Diesel had chosen someone ordinary rather than the most ripped guy in the place.
Two leaps and I’m across the deck and ready to grovel. ‘I’msosorry, my dog’s not attacking you, he’s just super friendly.’ If I personalise this he may react better. ‘His name is Diesel… Obviously I’ll replace any food of yours he’s breathed on.’ I’m under the table trying to find the end of the lead before Diesel takes off again.
‘Diesel and I already know each other well.’
‘You do?’ As Diesel seems to be besties with most of Cornwall, that’s no surprise. But there’s something catchingly familiar about that laid-back gravelly tone that makes me jolt so hard, I bang my head on the table. As for recognising the pull of taut denim, or the giveaway curve of a thighbone in the shadows, that’s ridiculous. But as I finally close my fingers around the leather and scramble back to my feet, my insides have turned to jelly.
‘Egg-and-Cress Hobson, who’d have thought? It is you, Cressy, isn’t it?’
It’s that same dark chocolate voice that used to inexplicably turn me from a shy teenager into a mouthy princess desperate to be noticed. Now there’s a huge hole where my stomach should be and, worse still, hearing my childhood nickname has made me clamp my eyes tight shut.
‘That’s right.’ Except my head’s spinning so fast I’m not sure I know who I am at all as I try to work it out and fail.Ross? Surely it can’t be?
Except one flick of my eyes, and I can see it’s him. What’s more, he’s still got the whole rugged jaw and devastating dark eyes thing going on. Not that I’d be shallow enough to fall for that whole knockout, sex-on-legsvibe now. These days, if I were looking – which obviously I’m not – I’d look a lot more at the whole person.
‘Still just as extraordinary too, from what I just overheard.’ He’s peering at me past Diesel’s back. ‘No surprise there! You were always going to do something astonishing.’
‘You were listening in?’ I’m praying he didn’t hear me acting like a celebrity. As for him catching me on my frizziest hair day since time began, well, isn’t that just typical?
He pulls a face. ‘It wasn’t deliberate. Youweretalking quite loudly.’
That fires me up enough to make me focus again. ‘What the hell areyoudoinghereanyway?’ More to the point, what the hell went wrong with that unspoken agreement we had? He took Scotland, which he never left due to being a workaholic, and I got the rest of the world. For all those years I’ve been totally confident that he was never going to accidentally waft into a city bar and start ordering pints of craft ale. Secure that the scar on his left cheek where he got kicked by a cow wasn’t about to jump out from behind a postcard rack and make my knees do what they’re doing now. Legs as sturdy as mine shouldn’t ever give way, but I grasp the table edge just in case.
He clears his throat. ‘I’m doing a bit of locum work at the local vets’.’
