I’m so shocked that I stop walking and he crashes into my shoulder. ‘I thought Thursday was a one-off?’
He purses his lips. ‘There may be more to learn from regular small-batch baking than I’d first thought.’
‘What about your national roll out?’
He gives a shrug. ‘The other day reminded me a lot of when I first started out as a green sixteen-year-old.’
I’m puzzled. ‘Was that when you left school?’
He shakes his head. ‘Not exactly. My education was a bit patchy. I probably left when I was twelve. Or maybe nine.’ He pushes that aside and carries on. ‘I’d forgotten about the adrenalin rush of a raw start-up, the thrill of running on your wits and gut instinct.’
I roll my eyes. ‘The freedom to be so small you can change from day to day. Isn’t that what I said all along?’
He gives a rueful grin. ‘Back then I was still thinking of the real world. If I stop fighting it and accept that I’m living beyond the end of nowhere, in a place where everything is minute, small scale makes sense.’
I’m trying not to let my mouth drop open. ‘Youdohave regrets about the past?’
He stares at me. ‘You didn’t believe me?’
I frown. ‘It’s the way you exude confidence. You just give the impression that life couldn’t be any better.’
‘Don’t be taken in by the jeans and the car.’ He thinks again. ‘Don’t be fooled by any of it, not for a second.’
He walks a few more paces, then slows. ‘I wouldn’t have come anywhere near Cornwall if it hadn’t been for some catastrophic problems.’
‘You wouldn’t?’ I look at him again because it’s hard to take this in.
He shakes his head. ‘It’s the last place I’d have chosen, but there wasn’t a choice, so I made the best of it.’ He gives a rueful smile. ‘If you pretend things are great when they couldn’t be worse, very often great things do happen.’
I’m not even trying to hide my shock. ‘And have they?’
‘What do you think?’ His eyes are dancing with self-mockery. ‘Still waiting. It’s a good thing I’m patient, but each new day could be the one.’
‘Give me time to catch up. Is this the real Miles or the pretend version?’
He laughs. ‘While you work that out, let’s deal with the logistics for the shop and the baking. You do want to carry on selling with Pumpkin?’
I jump at that for Pumpkin as much as for me. ‘That’s the fun part for us.’
I’m racking my brain trying to work out an hour-by-hour list of who goes where and who does what to make this work. Just as my head feels like it’s about to explode it hits me– Miles is craving a plan. If I want the fastest way to drive him round the bend, I only need to think back to my vegetable pile on the side the first week. I know he’s trying to help me, but with all the body blows I’m taking from Team Tate, I may as well pile in as many as I can from my side with this.
‘And the rest?’ Miles is staring at me expectantly.
I give a cough. ‘We’re going to stay true to the ethos of small-scale start-ups… and wing it.’
His jaw drops. ‘We’re going to what?’
I laugh. ‘Make it up as we go along. Be truly flexible. Until we see how it all pans out, we’ll do what we want on the day.’
He lets out a howl. ‘That’s never going to work!’
I’m trying not to smile. ‘We won’t know until we try it, will we?’ In the interests of the shop, I make a concession. ‘We might need to decide the night before, so we know what time we need to get up.’
From the way Miles kicks the sand, I take it he’s not happy.
I look at him. ‘Are you in or out?’
He gives a sniff. ‘We’ll try it for a week, and revisit.’
