Page 97

‘I—’ Zennor was momentarily speechless. This man she’d fallen for and thought she’d loved would never change. ‘We could never have lasted.’

Trev shook his head. ‘You know, I have tried to make you happy and show you that I care. Donating to the club and theatre, giving your clients gigs at the hotel, even when …’ He paused as if he was about to add something and checked himself.

‘I never asked you to do any of those things,’ Zennor replied.

‘I know but it still helped all the people and things you care about. I was trying, can’t you see that?’

‘And I am glad on behalf of all those people but if you carry on doing it, do it for you, not for me. Because it makes you feel happy and it’s the right thing to do.’

He snorted. ‘I hate to point this out but that does sound a little bit sanctimonious, which isn’t like you.’

‘I’m afraid I don’t care if it does.’ She got up, suddenly realising with horror she might have just deprived the Surf Club and theatre school of a lot of money. It was too late now. She’d have to find some other way of helping. Their futures couldn’t depend on her living a lie to appease a man like Trev Jameson. ‘I have to go and pick up my mum from the station.’

He laughed nastily. ‘That’s going to be an interesting conversation.’

‘I hope so. It’s time we all talked honestly.’ She didn’t tell him her mum already knew about Sybil.

His fingers closed around her wrist. ‘I did everything for you. I loved you. I still do.’

Zennor almost faltered. Finally, there was a trace of genuine pain in his eyes that almost stopped her from walking off. She believed that he loved her, in his own way – but that would never be the way she wanted to be loved.

She pulled her arm away from him. ‘I never wanted to hurt you or anyone. I’m sorry that we can’t be friends or … anything else. A clean break is the only way for both of us to move on.’

He folded his arms and sneered. ‘You’ll never feel the same about them, you know. Not about Sybil – or Matt. You’ll always remember that they let you down. That they lied. That’s your problem. You expect people to live up to your standards and they can’t. No one can. You’ll always be disappointed; always be searching for some impossible ideal of love that doesn’t exist. People are flawed.’

‘Maybe I will be disappointed, but you’ll always be trying to keep on top of them and control them. Goodbye, Trev. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of each other after this. To avoid any awkwardness for everyone concerned, I’m removing the hotel from my client venue list.’

CHAPTER FORTY

How Zennor found her way to Penzance Station, she’d never know. At every traffic light or queue, she had to wipe her eyes. Then she had to spend a few minutes at the station car park reapplying her mascara.

Her bravado had lasted about five minutes after she drove away from the hotel. The exchange ought to have been cathartic and in one way it was, but who actually enjoyed conflict and confrontation? She’d been shaking when she got in the car and probably shouldn’t have set off at all but she wanted to get as far away from Trev as possible.

The awful worry was Trev might still – horror – be right. It was going to be hard to forgive Sybil for lying and Matt for keeping her in the dark – and as for her father …

When her mum had said she was coming, Zennor had had no idea about her dad’s affair with Sybil or the web of deception surrounding it.

She gripped the wheel tightly. At least, she thought, Sybil had admitted her mother already knew about the affair.

With a deep breath, she got out of the car and spotted her mother carrying her overnight bag towards the waiting area. Tears welled up again but she forced them down.

Her mum abandoned her case to hug her. ‘Hello, darling! I’m so glad to see you. I’d forgotten what a long way it is.’

‘I always do too – and I live here.’ Zennor almost sobbed at her mum’s heartfelt embrace. ‘I’m so happy to see you.’

‘Me too. It’s been way too long.’

Zennor held on. ‘I have missed you so much.’

‘I’ve missed you even more …’

Zennor nodded. ‘I’ll take you to my flat if it’s OK. You can check into your hotel later. I want to talk somewhere private.’

When they’d reached the flat, Zennor asked, ‘Shall we take these drinks outside?’ All of her neighbours were out enjoying the sunshine or at work so they wouldn’t be overheard. Not even Eric would be there.

Zennor put down a packet of biscuits on the bistro table next to her mum’s coffee and briefly thought about how Eric would have perched on his favourite telegraph pole to eye his favourite snack. Still, the sun was out and St Ives had never looked more picturesque with its stone houses tumbling down the hill towards the harbour.

Her mum took a biscuit and glanced over warily at the next-door balcony. ‘It’s gorgeous out here but I don’t like the look of matey boy over there.’