Page 35 of The Secret Holiday Kiss

‘What, today?’ Daisy balked.

She nodded.

‘Did you come out with all your toes?’

‘All ten,’ Lucy said proudly.

‘What about you two? You’re too old to be that foolhardy, surely.’

‘Less of the old,’ Dexter said. ‘But you’re right. Our boots stayed firmly on.’

‘We’re foraging for Christmas decorations,’ Imogen told her. ‘It’s something we started last year, when … I was going through some things. I’d run away from London to hide out with Birdie, my grandma. I was cross about how expensive Christmas can get, so we decided to make natural decorations: twigs and shells and pine cones, that we painted and spruced up.’

‘Then Dad and Imogen fell in love and now she’s here for ever,’ Lucy said. ‘After running away from her own wedding, can you believe that?’

‘Golly.’ Daisy matched the girl’s wide eyes, then gave Imogen a warm smile. ‘That sounds like a lot. Even more than I’m dealing with – which is a leaky ceiling,’ she added, when Dexter and Imogen looked concerned, ‘and a messy divorce not very long ago, and …’ She waved a hand. She never used to be this much of a sharer, and only ever with her closest work colleagues; her assistant Emma who had left her last year to go off to Japan. ‘Where are you getting your shells?’

Lucy pointed at the line of seaweed stuck to the groyne that ran up their portion of the beach. ‘We got some good ones there. Cockles and some razor clams. I want more winkles though, but they’re mostly smashed up.’

Daisy nodded. ‘They’re very delicate.’ She thought for a moment, seesawing between her options: should she let them in on her secret, or should she not? Except now she knew that the girl had also lost her mum, and she remembered how much this place had mattered to her when she was grieving. So really, the decision was easy. ‘OK, come on.’

‘Come on where?’ Lucy didn’t sound apprehensive, only intrigued.

‘If we walk a bit that way, there’s a tunnel in the cliffs that leads to the best rock pools in the whole of Norfolk.’

‘Really?’ Lucy looked at Imogen. ‘Can I?’

Imogen turned to Dexter, an eyebrow raised.

‘I’m always up for finding out more about Mistingham,’ he said. ‘How did I not know about this?’

Daisy felt her cheeks redden, despite the unforgiving wind. ‘I was a solitary teenager,’ she said. ‘I didn’t tell anyone about it. And the gap isn’t obvious. It might not even be there any more.’ But she led the way over the sand.

The tide was going out, the sea whipped into foamy waves rather than crashing breakers, so they had lots of space to walk, crossing each of the groynes, until they were quite a way up the beach, below the far side of the manor’s estate.

‘If I remember, it’s just along here.’ She scanned the cliffs, looking for familiar signs, even though it had been over twenty years. Cliffs crumbled. Nature moved forward without a thought for what it was leaving behind. She walked up to the rock face, pressed her hand against it, peered ahead to where it jutted out into the sand. There had been a distinctive swirl of patterns in the cliff, making it look like a giant, smiling face. But of course, it was long gone now. Perhaps rock falls had covered the gap?

‘This part of the beach is beautiful,’ Imogen said, her eyes bright. ‘I bet hardly anyone comes this far.’

‘Mostly with good reason.’ Daisy looked around her, her stomach sinking, because she’d been excited about showing this little girl the place that had brought her so much solace when she was younger, and she couldn’t even do that. ‘We’re off the beaten track here. And I can’t …’ She strode up to the next protruding section of cliff. It didn’t look like her section, but she walked along it anyway, wondering if she could take Lucy and her parents for fish and chips to make up for her failure.

‘OK, Daisy?’ Dexter called.

‘I might have brought you on a fool’s errand.’ She glanced behind her. Three people, four dogs and a goat. And she was about to embarrass herself in front of them all.

A memory popped into her head, Stefan standing in their living room, in his crisp white shirtsleeves, his blue eyes harsh as she cried, as she asked him why he had done it. Don’t embarrass yourself, Daisy. The needy look doesn’t suit you.

‘It was worth coming anyway,’ Imogen said brightly, and Daisy felt a tiny bit better. She was glad Lucy – and Dexter – had this generous, upbeat woman in their lives.

‘It was,’ Daisy said firmly. ‘It—’ She turned at the sound of pebbles skittering, and saw that Terror was nosing along the cliffs, near the spot she had just been looking at. He barked at her and she went to join him, her heart thumping when she realized what he’d found. It was her gap, a tunnel in the rock that led to the rock pools. It was hard to reach them any other way, because the protruding cliff ran right down to the waves, and was impossible to pass unless the tide was at its lowest.

Here was Mistingham Beach’s secret.

‘Good boy.’ She ruffled Terror’s fur and gave him a treat, so then all the other dogs wanted in, and by the time she’d done that, Felix the intrepid explorer was already through the tunnel, closely followed by Lucy, and Daisy let Dexter and Imogen go ahead of her. When she was through, she found that the rock-pool cluster was as impressive as she remembered it. Lucy raced over to the nearest pool, crouching to look into its depths.

‘Oh my goodness,’ Imogen said. ‘I feel like we’re going to find an actual oyster here. With a pearl.’

‘Really?’ Lucy said.