Kit’s looking down into my face. ‘We need to be brave together, we need to take our chances and believe in the future.’ He waits for a few seconds. ‘I’m up for it if you are?’
I’m agonising, trying to let myself agree, when his lips land on mine, and the pulsing sweetness of his kiss draws me in. By the time he gently pulls back to look at me again, my head is spinning.
I have to protest. ‘Making me see stars isn’t fair.’
His laugh is low. ‘Whatever it takes to make you say “yes”, I’m going to have to do it.’ He’s rubbing his chin on my cheek. ‘I fell in love with you that first day by the side of the road. It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before.’
I laugh. ‘So what impressed you most? Me stripping off my T-shirt in a gale, managing to catch Arnie, or my banter with the fire brigade?’
He closes his eyes as he thinks. ‘All of it. Especially your love for Clemmie. Not many people would have kept their nerve like you did. You were a total star and I was smitten. And your boobs of course.’ He’s biting his lip. ‘I also have an insane admiration for your chocolate brownie puddings, the way you handle customers and your amazing pink shorts, but that all came later.’
If this is confession time, I’ve got some of my own. ‘I did mentally undress you that first day – and every day after. And you buying me custard donuts was a game changer. Obviously you also saved The Hideaway from the out-of-hand teenage campfire, and you’ve made me feel sick every time I’ve seen you because of the outrageous tummy flips you cause, and I’ve lost count of the times you’ve come to the rescue for Shadow and me. As for the way you make me come…’
I’m about to say, no one’s ever even come close, but I stop in mid-sentence when a rush of icy water hits my feet, and I jump back with a shriek instead.
‘Jeez, that’s freezing.’
Kit’s laughing as he pulls me into another kiss as the water laps around our ankles. ‘It’s meant to be cold, it’s the sea.’
We stand in the water, hanging on to each other, and I can already feel the happiness spreading through my body like a wave of warmth.
I’m about to bury my mouth in his again when he pulls back, puts a finger to his lips and gestures for me to look along the beach. As I turn and see what he’s pointing at, a smile the width of the bay spreads across my face. A few feet along the beach, Shadow is standing, his big body motionless. There is water swirling around his legs, and his eyebrows are raised in the WTAF? position.
I whisper to Kit. ‘I love that dog so much. He’s like a huge dark brown hole of joy in my life.’
Kit laughs. ‘He’s not barking or running away anymore. He might be looking horrified, but he’s in up to his elbows.’ He looks down at me. ‘Shadow in the sea – if ever there was a cosmic sign you need to say “yes” to our love, that’s it!’
I laugh at Kit. ‘I think you could be right.’ I call across the water. ‘Is it good in the sea, Shadow? What do you think, are we going to let Kit share our custard creams every night from now until the end of time?’
Shadow does a huge bark, dips into a play bow, snatches a mouthful of water then tears out of the shallows and off across the sand.
I laugh. ‘And I think we got our answer. One thing is certain – us three escapees have all come a long way since we left London.’
Kit’s hands are on my shoulders as he looks down at me. ‘I have enough love for both of us and I’m ready to care for you. Whatever life throws at us, we’ll face it together – is that okay?’
Put like that, there’s only one answer. ‘Absolutely.’
‘Thank you, Flossie.’ He laughs and pulls me into another dizzying kiss.
It’s a long time later when he gets to speak again. ‘Are we ready to go back?’
I lean into his warm body. ‘I think we are.’ And as we make our way arm in arm back along the sand to The Hideaway I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.
AUGUST
49
The Harbour Splash Day, The Harbourside, St Aidan
High stakes and high flyers
Saturday
It’s amazing what a non-organisational person like me can pull off with a whole community behind me. Thanks to so many willing helpers what is now known as the Harbour Splash fundraiser comes together, and three short weeks after the Barbie day, Kit, the mermaids and I are out on St Aidan’s cobbled quayside, leaning on the stacks of lobster pots outside George’s office, watching a throng of people in front of us.
Clemmie is gazing around. ‘I can’t believe there are so many stalls!’
‘All thanks to Nell pulling in Dakota from the singles club.’ She’s a high-energy gym-princess who aced the marketing and publicity, and the stalls aren’t all she’s scored a hit with. ‘There are roving reporters with TV cameras and live broadcasts for Pirate Radio too, although she insists the sea pool is a very easy sell.’
