Jenna blinked as her mum nudged her gently with her elbow. She hadn’t even heard her approach, she was so lost in thought.
‘They’re not worth a penny. What are you doing here, anyway?’
Mum nodded over to where Carne was leaping joyfully into the rolling waves, yapping in delight as the saltwater splashed up around his paws and legs.
‘I didn’t even hear him,’ Jenna admitted. ‘Sorry.’
‘So we’ve established that I’m at the beach because I’m taking Carne for his morning walk. What about you?’
‘Just thinking,’ Jenna said cautiously. ‘Where are the twins?’
‘With Mac, of course.’
‘But he’s finishing off the shepherd’s huts, isn’t he? Won’t they get in his way?’
‘Not at all. He’s only fixing up the lights and lamps and putting wood in the baskets for the stoves. Can you believe we’ve finally got our planning permission through? Stella’s over the moon. She’s launching the website today. Hopefully the bookings will start coming in soon.’
‘Bit late in the season, though, isn’t it?’ Jenna asked worriedly. ‘You’ve missed the summer holidays.’
‘That doesn’t matter for the type of break we’re offering,’ Mum said. ‘This isn’t a bucket and spade seaside holiday, is it? This is about cutting off from civilisation, to all intents and purposes. Long walks on the beach, or into the countryside, or along the river path. Taking photographs. Being in nature. Then going back to the hut to a cosy fire and a good book or a long conversation with someone special. A hot, cooked meal brought to the door if they require it.’
She gave Jenna a sideways glance. ‘They could even nip across to The North Star and eat in there, in front of the open fire. Sounds blissful to me. It really won’t matter about the weather for something like that. It’s the isolation that matters, and not having access to electricity or the Internet, so they can really switch off from their everyday problems.’
Jenna shivered. ‘If the pub’s still open.’
‘Well, there is that, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You’re not wrapped up warmly enough,’ Mum said sympathetically. ‘The weather’s turned, don’t you think? Only three days left of August, including today. Soon it will be autumn, and I think the cooler weather’s on its way.’
They gazed up at the sky, which looked distinctly grey. Jenna shivered again. ‘You’re right. I’m not wrapped up warmly enough. I think I’ll go home and make myself a hot, strong coffee. Are you coming back?’
‘Not yet,’ Mum said with a smile. ‘I’ll let Carne have a good run around first, work off that energy. But you can make me a coffee, if you don’t mind. I won’t be that long.’
Jenna nodded and trudged across the sand through the grassy dunes, and onto the concrete path that led to the car park near The Driftwood Hub.
As she passed the cafe, she glanced through the window and saw that Emmy and her grandma were as busy as ever, with a queue of people at the counter waiting, no doubt, for the famous Driftwood bacon butties.
In a matter of weeks, the season would be over, the queues would be gone, and it would be hard to imagine that it was ever so busy. Only the most hardened of nature lovers and birdwatchers visited Kelsea Sands and Kels Point as the year rolled on towards winter. And only the most devoted owners stayed in their mobile homes at the Tide’s Reach Caravan Park once the weather turned. People like Rosie, who lived permanently in her caravan, apart from one month in deepest winter when the park closed and she stayed with her parents in their home nearby.
Kelsea Sands was, she thought, a different place entirely when the nights began to draw in, and one she hadn’t seen much of since she was a young girl and visited her grandparents regularly with her mum and dad.
Soon, she’d be leaving for home, too. Leaving all this behind her. The comforting sound of the Humber at the end of the garden, the ridiculous thrill she still got when she spotted a ship passing from her bedroom window, the birdsong in the morning, collecting the eggs from the Bennet Sisters and the Dickensian Ducks, the comforting shaggy loveliness of Jamie Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, and the gentle nudges for apples from Heatherstone and Jacob Armitage. Not to mention the haughty looks she got from Mrs Beddows and the playful excitement of the endlessly enthusiastic Robert Carne.
No wonder the twins loved it here so much. Her mum and Mac were so lucky to have all this on their doorstep, and the sea only at the other end of the lane.
And The North Star just across the road, standing on the corner, overlooking the river as it had done since the middle of the nineteenth century, when new homes and businesses had been constructed at the Humber end of the village to provide some security from the ravages of the North Sea and the endless battle with coastal erosion. Sam’s parents, his grandparents, and their grandparents had all stood behind that bar at one time or another. The Hughes family was easily as much a part of the history of Kelsea Sands as the Wainwrights.
But soon the pub would be sold to a new family. Or worse, to a company. Would it remain open as a pub? The future for The North Star was so uncertain, and her mum had told her there was a lot of anxiety about it in the village. Kelsea Sands just wouldn’t be the same without the place.
Where, she wondered, would Seb live? Where would Sam go?
She dug her hands in her jacket pockets, thinking about Sam. She’d triednotto think about him ever since that kiss, but sometimes she just couldn’t help it. She knew she’d behaved badly, running away like that, and not giving him the answer to the question she knew he’d been longing to ask her.
But how could she? What could she say?
The truth was, she had no idea what to make of any of it, and her future was no clearer to her now than it had been when she’d first arrived in Kelsea Sands. In fact, it was even more unclear, because now there was the added complication of Sam.
The kitchen at Watersmeet was lovely and warm, and Jenna quickly made coffee for herself, Mac and her mum. She made squash for the twins and set some biscuits on a plate in the middle of the table, knowing they’d be hungry when they came in. They always were.
She smiled to herself, remembering the Thursday morning when they’d insisted on going over to the pub to thank Seb once again for the birthday present, and to tell him all about their riding lesson.
