Tia’s voice is soothing. ‘What about your sparkly play suit and your silver Doc Martens? Then you’d be coastal yet dressy in a fun way.’
Lando grins. ‘Perfect choice. I’m already looking forward to that!’
‘How about you?’
He grins. ‘Don’t worry about me, Oliver’s always happy to help.’
Then he waves and he’s back in the hall. And this time, when he leaves, the doorbell rings loud and clear.
Athena laughs. ‘Lando won’t take no for an answer. I should know; he was adamant about us changing our ceremony from Somerset to here, and me buying everything from the shop. Which I haven’t minded at all, but you get the gist.’ She breaks off. ‘And before you say it, there are six of us kids in the family, and none of us looks anything like the others.’
I’m looking at her through narrowed eyes. ‘There’s definitely a resemblance.’ Then it hits me: she and Lando both have that identical attitude of unquestioning certainty, as if they were varnished with self-belief at birth.
Her smile widens. ‘It’s been lovely to meet you at last. The second you said your name was Maeve, I understood why Lando has refused every hot friend we’ve ever thrown in his direction. We knew he’d been hanging on for someone; we just never knew quite who.’
I can’t believe what I’m hearing! I’d never have had the courage to contradict a Nancarrow in the past, but I can’t let that go.
‘Lando was more my brother Sav’s friend than mine, so I’m not sure you’re right about that one.’
Athena brushes away my protest. ‘Let’s wait and see. Knowing how determined Lando is, you might want to be open to changing your mind.’
I’m opening my mouth to protest even more loudly, but then I catch Tia’s look and close it again.
Tia beams. ‘Anything could happen, so watch this space!’
I can hear Nemmie berating me for letting that go. ‘We’re usually less reliant on clichés, Athena.’
She leans towards us and grasps my hand. ‘Whatever the reason Lando’s here, we Nancarrows are all grateful to you and Sav for bringing him back. He’s been estranged from my parents for many years, and now he’s finally part of the family again, it’s a great relief to all of us.’
I have to be honest. ‘I’ve played no part in this personally, but I’m happy it’s working out for you.’
She squeezes my fingers harder. ‘We’ll be able to thank you better at the wedding!’
I nod. ‘We’re always there in the background on the beach, checking the ice cream turns up at the right moment.’ I’m not going to scratch the surface of what else can go wrong, but most things are solvable.
She laughs. ‘Of course.’ Then she claps her hands. ‘I’m sorry, my head is all over the place. I was about to leave without the main thing I came in to ask about!’
Tia pats her arm. ‘Don’t worry, that’s what it’s like being a bride.’
She bites her lip. ‘When I was here last time, there was a gorgeous jacket on the rail…’
I nod. ‘There was. There still is.’ It’s exquisite white leather with a price tag so huge it fries my brain, but it’s obviously worth every penny if you can afford it.
Her face lights up. ‘If it fits, I’d like to take that too.’
Tia’s already slipping it off the hanger and onto Athena’s gym-toned arms. A couple of twists in front of the full-length gilt mirror, and it’s back on the hanger, Athena’s out on the street, and Tia and I are standing staring at each other.
Tia looks at her phone. ‘Well, how weird was that? And it’s still not nine o’clock.’
I’m picking up the shoe boxes. ‘At least that explains how she was spending like there was no tomorrow, and where Nemmie got her burnished blonde curls from.’ I’m trying to make sense of it all. ‘For a loaded person she is very nice.’
Tia blinks. ‘She had some very interesting takes on Lando too.’
‘As for Lando and his second date’—I shake my head—‘at least in the garden, I was on safe ground.’ I screw up my face, because the more I think about it, the more I despair. ‘How the hell am I going to handle a daybreak champagne breakfast?’
40
The harbour, St Aidan, Cornwall
