I hold up my finger. ‘And chips! I don’t care where they’re served, but you have to have them. Triple cooked in teensy portions, served in clam shells.’
Rye reaches for a couple more glasses and fills them from the Prosecco bottle. Before I realise what he’s doing, he’s topped mine up, too.
He watches me hesitate. ‘Sorry, if you’d prefer to switch to alcohol-free, it’s only over here?’
The carefree bubbles from the first glass have already reached my head. ‘One more will be fine.’
Rye picks up his glass and pushes the other towards Kit. ‘In that case let’s drink to good ideas and fully booked rooms.’
Kit nods. ‘And undercover agents.’
I add my own. ‘And parents who don’t stay out too late.’
But even as I say it, it’s so delicious sitting close to Kit with the heat from his body radiating across the space between us I realise I wouldn’t care if we stayed here all night.
31
The Reef Bar, High Tides Hotel, St Aidan
Free style, line dancing and Archimedes
Tuesday
We stay at the bar for the time it takes for us to finish those drinks and a couple more, then Kit slides down from his stool.
‘While you’re here, I’ll show you the place we’re talking about.’
Rye nods. ‘If you get a feel for the space, Floss, you might have even more suggestions.’
As Kit and I walk side by side along a wide corridor leading off the foyer past more vertical windows, I’m catching glimpses of the sea fading into the dusk, and the lights twinkling in the distance around the curve of the bay, and blaming any wobble in my legs on sitting on that high stool.
Kit is smiling down as he walks beside me. ‘If we want to look like authentic guests on a romantic getaway, I should probably have my arm around you.’
If he’d said that three drinks earlier I’d have laughed him off the beach, but I’m so full of feel-good fizz, before I know it I’ve tucked my shoulder under his arm and slipped my own arm around his waist. As I try not to expire from the shock, I find my voice is out of control too. ‘So your break-up wasn’t so bad that you can’t be a fake incognito couple?’ What the hell made me ask that? He can’t mind too much because he laughs and I feel the vibration go through my body.
‘I might have given you the wrong impression when you caught me moping about my letter the other day. It’s frustrating that it’s taken so long to finalise the finances, but when you aren’t a hundred per cent committed emotionally, it’s easier to carry on when things end.’ He’s taking this a lot more seriously than the accidental question intended. ‘Sure, I’ve learned from my mistakes, I’m certainly keen to avoid repeat performance, but I’m not too traumatised to pretend.’ He looks down at me. ‘How about you?’
I give a twitch on Shadow’s lead. ‘There are too many complications for me to ever be a couple again, but if faking gets us the insight we want, it’s worth it.’
Since I’ve been playing scenarios through in my head, it’s reassuring to know that my dating strategy has held good every time. What’s more, it means I can talk about it with conviction whenever it crops up. Where I was tentatively single before, I’m now more confident.
And finding someone else in a similar situation is useful, because I know he’ll get where I’m coming from.
I stare up at Kit and watch his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows.
‘In case you’re wondering, I haven’t reached the milestone of sleeping with anyone else.’ He clears his throat. ‘Not because I’m not ready, it’s just the time hasn’t been right.’
My throat is suddenly so dry I’m croaking. ‘Me neither.’ I may as well be true to myself and add my mission statement. ‘I actually plan to stay with Shadow for ever, and he’s promised he’ll stay with me until the custard creams run out.’
‘I’d say we’re all good then.’ Kit heads towards a broad timber door and pushes it open. As we step into a large circular space, the lights on the floor come on automatically, and bounce back off the chalky white ceiling above our heads. ‘Welcome to the new cake and kick-back zone. What do you think?’
There’s the same pale cream stone floor as on the hot tub terrace, repeating windows right around the space like the ones in the bar, and the overall effect is enough to take my breath away. ‘It’s fabulous. When it’s filled with tables and chairs it’ll be like a modern orangery.’ As I look up there’s another surprise. ‘A circular skylight! That’s amazing too.’
Kit nods. ‘It’s there so you can see the stars.’ He looks at me again for more recognition. ‘Stargazingishow Cornish natives spend clear evenings – lying on their backs staring at the sky?’
I bite back my grin. ‘Sorry to disillusion a city boy, but I moved away when I was eighteen, so my nights here were mostly spent on my feet partying. I only lay down when I passed out.’
He looks at me. ‘Next time I want a wild night out in St Aidan, I’ll remember who to come to for advice. And if we end up spending a lot more time undercover, I’m sure the stars are something we can discover together.’
