SEVEN
Dawn broke pretty early at this time of year, Ellie realised, as she lay in bed and stared groggily at the crack in the curtains, through which a shaft of sunlight streamed straight into her eyes. She lay under the duvet for a few minutes, listening to the seagulls out on the cove. As well as their seasidey squawks, the shushing of the waves on the sand was beautifully lulling.
After a while, Ellie realised that she could hear faint voices on the beach, and went to her window to look out. Blearily, she rubbed her eyes and recognised the same group of wild swimmers – Mara’s group, she thought, unless there was another troupe who wore brightly coloured swimming caps.
Ellie padded downstairs and made herself a cup of tea, and took it out onto the porch, wrapping her fleecy robe around her. She settled into one of the rocking chairs and sipped the tea, taking in the early morning air. The breeze coming in off the sea was so clean and energising she breathed it in as if it was medicine, sipping her tea.
Her phone buzzed; she tilted the screen towards her to read the message and was surprised to see it was from her friend, Toni.
Hey. Hope you’re okay. Called for you at the flat but you weren’t around. Let me know if you’re around next week for a catch up.
In fact, Ellie had been so focused on the road trip, she’d forgotten to let any of her friends know that she was going; not that they seemed to care. She frowned, thinking about how to reply.
Fine, thanks. Have gone away for a few weeks to recover. Catch up when I get home?
Ellie pressed Send and watched the screen for a reply from Toni.
Spa break? Enjoy!
Ellie stared thoughtfully out to sea. If Toni thought that cancer was nothing more than a great excuse to spend time in a hot tub, then she wasn’t sure she wanted to see her anyway. What was it about people not understanding what she was going through?
As she stared out onto the sea, Ellie watched the women swimming, stopping to tread water and chat and laugh. What fun they seemed to be having, and what a great way to start the day a dip in the sea must be. She’d swum in the sea plenty of times over the years, but not in Cornwall, and not so early in the day. It would be much colder than the Mediterranean holidays she was used to.
For a few years, she’d gone along on one of the big group holidays to which the senior partner in her law firm invited all his favourites. It had been on a yacht in Sardinia, and she had dived from the boat into the turquoise water, the sun on her shoulders. None of those company holidays was really relaxing, because Ellie was always worrying about saying the wrong thing or keeping up with everyone else, whether that meant drinking games, poker or taking part in all the activities that were organised: wine tasting, jet-skiing, hiking in the hills. But for those brief moments where she’d been alone, under the water, she had been happy.
Ellie reflected that it was, in fact, completely nuts to have gone on so many exotic holidays and not enjoyed any of them. She was actually enjoying sitting on the porch of the beach house and drinking a cup of tea more than she had enjoyed the endless bottles of champagne on the private yacht.
Well, that’s messed up, she said to herself.
Some of the women were getting out of the water. One of them – Ellie thought it was Mara – waved to her, and she waved back. Gradually they all made their way out and stood there, laughing and chatting, getting changed under their towels and drinking from Thermos flasks.
Ellie watched them. She felt no need to go over; she was happy where she was, but it was nice nonetheless to feel that she was now an accepted part of the landscape in some small way.
The door opened and Fee came to stand next to her on the porch, also dressed in pyjamas and her robe.
‘Wow. I had the most amazing sleep, babes. You okay?’ She rubbed Ellie’s shoulder gently. ‘I hope your bed was half as comfy as mine. Didn’t want to get up, but I’ve got a call in an hour.’ She yawned. ‘Fancy some breakfast?’
‘That would be great.’ Ellie drained her mug. ‘Yeah, I slept like a log, actually. Chest feels a bit less sore too. So far, anyway.’
‘Awesome. See, I told you the beach house would be good for you.’ Fee took in a lungful of the sea air. ‘Good for me too, I reckon. God, it’s going to be hard to go back to smoggy old London after this.’
‘Let’s not think about that for now,’ Ellie advised. ‘I think we should have pancakes.’
‘Pancakes it is,’ Fee called over her shoulder, walking to the kitchen.
Fee was chatting animatedly to one of her design clients on a Zoom call when Ellie left the beach house, having decided to explore Magpie Cove. Fee put herself on mute briefly to call out that Elliehadto pay a visit to the village café – and, ideally, bring her back some lunch.
It was the first time in a long time – maybe forever – that Ellie remembered being at a loose end and completely alone.I can do whatever I want!she thought, gleefully. There was no one pinging her with urgent work messages on her phone, no clients to call, no paperwork to be done, and certainly no loud, demanding group of lawyers in Speedos challenging each other to down as many Jager Bombs as possible.
The wild swimmers were gone now, and apart from a woman walking her dog, Ellie had the beach to herself. If it was still term time, which it must be, given that Mark’s niece and nephew had arrived in school uniform with their mum the day before, then Ellie supposed Magpie Cove wouldn’t start to get really touristy for another few weeks.
The cove itself was smallish, but beautiful, filled with fine golden sand for the most part, bordered by piles of black boulders that looked like they had tumbled there from the hands of a giant. The craggy cliffs that rose up around it on the right, like a shield, gave Ellie a twinge of vertigo as she shaded her eyes with her hand and gazed up to their summit. She’d always heard that Cornwall was romantic, and now she could see why. There was something wild and magical about the turquoise sea and the grey-black cliffs that hinted at the shadows of caves under the tide line. Ellie wondered if this was one of those places that held legends of smugglers.
The cluster of fishing boats moored up around a small harbour master’s hut brought back a forgotten memory: a seaside holiday she had had as a child, before her parents had split up. She didn’t remember where it was. All she remembered was holding her dad’s hand as they walked around a fishing harbour, looking at the crabs and the lobsters in nets. She had been happy then.
She stopped for a moment, surprised at the sudden lump in her throat.
One forgotten moment, so long ago.
