SEVENTEEN
‘You know, that’ll stop ringing when you answer it.’ Lila Bridges eyed Ellie’s phone, which was buzzing on the table next to her in Serafina’s Café.
‘It’s work. I’m ignoring it,’ Ellie explained, and switched off the ringer altogether. The phone screen lit up after a moment with a voicemail message.
In fact, Ellie had volunteered to contact some local newspapers to let them know about the wild swimming event that her group was planning at the end of the summer. Ellie would be back at work by then, but she had promised to come back for the weekend.
If she was being really honest, Ellie didn’t know if she’d have the energy to return to Magpie Cove for a weekend, but she didn’t want to disappoint everyone. The cancer fundraiser was because of her, after all.
She had been trying to compose an email on her phone that made the sponsored swim sound interesting and fun, and it wasn’t coming easily to her. If it had been a legal brief, she would have found it much simpler.
‘I see.’ Lila held a coffee pot in one hand. ‘Refill?’
‘Lovely, thank you.’ Ellie held out her blue pottery mug. ‘They want me to go back. I mean, I’m supposed to go back. I’ve put them off for another week, but there’s only so long I can do that.’
‘And you don’t want to go back?’
‘Not sure.’ Ellie looked out of the window onto Magpie Cove’s small high street. ‘I mean, this was – is – just a holiday. I’ve had holidays before and never had a problem going back to work. But I guess I’ve never had breast cancer before. The whole thing’s just knocked me for six, if I’m honest.’
‘Of course it has. I’d be amazed if it hadn’t.’ Lila sat on a spare chair at Ellie’s table; the café was pretty quiet. ‘You seem to like it here. You’ve got roses in your cheeks,’ she added.
‘I do like Magpie Cove. That’s the thing. After everything that’s happened, I don’t know if I can face going back to that life again. I don’t think my body can take it anymore. And… I dunno. Maybe it was a sign that I shouldn’t.’
Lila sighed. ‘Only you can make that decision, sweetheart. All I can tell you is that I came down from London to study patisserie in St Ives, and I never looked back. I fell in love with Nathan, but I also fell in love with the cove. There’s something special about it.’
‘You lived in London?’ Ellie sipped her coffee.
‘Worked in a dead-end job. Hated it. My boyfriend and I split up after I had a miscarriage.’ Lila frowned. ‘I can talk about it now, but I was a wreck when I got here. But I just needed to get away, and I found this course I wanted to do, and hey presto. It all came from there. Nathan left a job in the city, too. He much prefers it out here.’
Ellie had met Nathan, Lila’s partner, in passing a couple of times. He was rather shy, but Lila said he warmed up when you got to know him. Lila and Nathan owned the café: Serafina’s had been his mother’s before she died.
‘Well, that’s because he met you here, I expect.’ Ellie smiled at her new friend. It was strange, but Magpie Cove already felt like home.
‘Partly. He had some bad feelings about the village when he got here, but it’s changed a lot. I dunno. People seem to come here and it… heals them, somehow.’
‘Sounds a bit new-agey.’ Ellie raised her eyebrows.
‘I know. But it does. I think, sometimes, people need community around them, and that’s what you get here. And a simpler life. And the sun and the sea swimming don’t hurt you, either.’ Lila gave Ellie a meaningful look. ‘And neither will the local talent.’ She lowered her voice as Mark Gardner pushed the glass door to the café open, setting off the tinkling bells.
Lila stood up. ‘Hi, Mark. Baked potatoes on the menu today.’ She winked at Ellie and followed Mark to the counter.
Why is she winking at me?Ellie wondered.It’s not as if I have a thing going with Mark Gardner.She busied herself with her phone, but looked up as he approached her table.
‘All right, Ellie?’ Ellie was still getting used to the soft Cornish burr of the local accent, and the way that people said ‘all right’ instead of ‘hi’ or ‘hello’. There were a lot of other strange Cornish-isms that she was starting to pick up, too, mostly from Esther Christie in her swimming group. Esther was of that older generation that had grown up with all the strange Cornish legends like piskies in the tin mines, smugglers and local fairies.
‘Hi, Mark.’
‘Wanted to say thanks again for helping Jamey. She says that lawyer’s been really good.’
‘You’re welcome.’ Ellie smiled up at him.
‘Can I sit down?’ Mark looked awkward.
Ellie looked at all the other empty tables in the café. ‘Umm. Okay.’ She felt self-conscious, suddenly realising that she hadn’t bothered putting any make-up on that morning, and her hair was in a messy topknot. She was dressed comfortably in jogging bottoms and a T-shirt. He must think I’m the worst-dressed woman in the world, she thought to herself. Still, she didn’t have to dress up for him, she reminded herself. ‘I, um… I actually had dinner with the judge the other day. Turns out he’s an old boyfriend.’ Ellie gave a little laugh. ‘So I know the case is in good hands.’
‘Old boyfriend?’ Mark frowned, but just then Lila deposited a plate with a giant baked potato topped with cheese and baked beans, complete with a huge salad, in front of Mark, and a glass of water. Ellie assumed it must be Mark’s usual lunch.
‘Oh. Yes. Well, not really a boyfriend as such. We just dated a little bit a few years ago. Small world.’ Ellie’s stomach grumbled as she glanced at Mark’s baked potato, which looked like it could be an advert for baked potatoes everywhere: huge, crispy and piping hot, with a mound of topping and a rivulet of butter running down the side. ‘So, how’s Marilyn getting on?’
