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The moment Sybil emerged from the smoke, bewildered and blinking, Zennor knew this was going to be good; she had butterflies of anticipation herself. The audience was in for a treat.

Sybil had the audience on the edge of their log seats, and drew gasps when she related some of the creepier tales from Cornwall: pacts with the devil, maidens going missing on the moors, young men lured to watery deaths by mermaids and ghostly sailors rising from the sea bed to stalk the streets of fishing villages, hell-bent on revenge.

Even though she’d heard some of the tales before, she shuddered at the details of rotting corpses, clanking chains and innocent fishermen driven mad by the horrors they’d seen. The smoke and shadows combined with some clever sound effects sent shivers up her spine. By the end of the performance, even Zennor was ready to believe that malign spirits walked the moors and clifftops.

As the smoke cleared and a smiling Sybil emerged to take the enthusiastic applause, Zennor felt a light tap on her shoulder. A whiff of expensive aftershave reached her and a deep voice came from behind. ‘Hello, Zennor.’

Her heart seemed to stop. She didn’t need to turn around to know that the hand on her shoulder belonged to Trev.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘Sybil’s really very good, isn’t she?’ Trev said.

‘Yes, yes, she is …’ Zennor stammered, feeling like a pebble stranded on the beach as the audience poured out of the Dell around her. ‘I’d no idea you were there.’

‘I arrived about ten minutes ago and stood at the back. I didn’t want to disturb the performance – or you. Have I given you a shock?’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘this is a big surprise. Um—’

‘What am I doing here?’ He smiled, and she was reminded what a handsome and imposing man he was, even though he now had plenty of grey threaded through his once jet-black hair.

‘I’m here on business … kind of. I’ve been sorting out Mum’s estate.’

‘Her estate?’ Zennor said as the meaning of his words took a second or two to comprehend.

‘Yes, she passed away last November.’

‘Oh …’ Zennor was dumbstruck. She hadn’t been bosom buddies with Sandra Jameson but she was still shocked and saddened to hear the news. Trev’s father had walked out when he was a young boy so she’d brought him up alone. ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Was it sudden?’

‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘She was seventy-four, and the only mercy is that it was an aneurysm so it was over in seconds. If you’re going to go, you can’t really go any better way. So everyone keeps telling me.’ He spoke so quietly that she could barely hear him above the hubbub of the audience after Sybil’s performance. Kids were still clustered around Sybil, asking about giants and ghostly hounds.

‘It still must have been such a shock.’

‘It was. You would know about that.’

‘Yes.’ Trev had sent flowers to her father’s funeral but hadn’t been able to attend. ‘I’m still sorry I didn’t know.’

‘Why would you? Mum was living in Horsham. I’ve been living and working up that way since we split up and we’ve had no reason to be in touch, apart from when Hayden passed away. I’d have come but I was abroad.’

‘It’s OK. Your mum was – a force of nature,’ Zennor said.

‘She was that.’ He smiled wryly and then added, ‘Thanks for being kind but I’m OK. I’ve come to terms with it, as much as you can when you lose someone close. Life goes on and all that crap …’ He looked at her and his brown eyes lit up with puzzlement. ‘How come you don’t look any different than the day I first met you?’

She shook her head, insisting, ‘I absolutely do.’

‘If you say so.’ He smiled again. ‘I’m afraid the past year has added a few decades to me.’

Zennor couldn’t deny that the years had changed him. He was older, for sure, with the grey and deepening frown lines between his eyes. Even so, he’d lost weight, which suited him, and a little of his swagger was gone.

Butterflies stirred in her stomach. They reminded her that she’d loved him once, enough to think she would make a lifetime’s commitment to him – or perhaps they were merely a nervous reaction to bumping into him so unexpectedly, and so soon after Matt’s return.

Was that a coincidence?

His focus switched briefly to Sybil, who was still talking animatedly with a new set of audience members. She didn’t seem to have noticed Zennor and Trev.

‘Do you want to get a drink?’ he asked.

‘I’m driving.’