Second Chance Summer, page 12
He wasn’t sure how he was going to cope. On a practical note, he hadn’t slept in his own bed at Hell Bay House, his home on Bryher, for days. Morven had had the run of the place, and God knows what she’d been getting up to on her own. Elspeth had said she’d seen young people coming to and fro and heard music until the small hours. Sam would have to go back there and check the place hadn’t been turned into a rave venue before he took Lily over to Stark.
And now it would just be the two of them, alone together. There was no doubt they’d forged a bond since the accident and she’d overturned many of his expectations, but spending so much time with her might mean growing even closer.
Look what had happened the last time. It had ended in tears, bitter tears …
Sam shook himself. None of this was going to help him behave as a professional host for the next two weeks. He had to get a grip.
Lily was sitting outside the Quayside Café, talking to Elspeth.
‘Ah, Sam!’ His aunt greeted him with a broad smile on her face.
To his relief, Lily looked happier too. ‘Elspeth says I’m welcome at the café any time I want to be in touch with the outside world.’
He hid a smile. The outside world made Scilly sound like Mars.
‘And I can try out her coffee while I’m here. And possibly the cakes. The brownies were delicious.’
‘You haven’t tried the lemon drizzle yet,’ Elspeth said. ‘Or the coconut and lime sandwich, or the cheese scones. I do brunch and lunch as well as cream teas.’
‘Stop!’ Lily cried. ‘I’ll go home the size of a house!’
‘You need fattening up,’ Elspeth said. ‘Doesn’t she, Sam?’
Lily stared at him expectantly.
‘I – er—’ he floundered, feeling that Lily needed a good dose of his aunt’s cakes.
‘It’ll be OK for me to pop over to Bryher, won’t it? When you come for supplies and stuff?’
‘Yes, of course.’ He bit back a lengthy response involving tides, rocks, running the retreat, cooking for Lily, working on the unfinished cottages … before realising he was meant to be a host. ‘Do you mind,’ he said as brightly as he could, ‘if while we’re here we pop in at my place, quickly? I need some clean clothes and to check on the house.’
‘Not at all,’ Lily said, equally as brightly. ‘Be my guest.’
Hell Bay House had stood for over a hundred years on a low grassy field beside the shore. It was separated from the bay itself by a freshwater pool and low rocky outcrops. In the distance beyond was Stark. He could see the cottages from here and even the ladder propped against one of the four unfinished units. Hidden at the rear were a concrete mixer and building materials.
It struck him that he was very far from having the retreat ready for visitors. Neither the facilities nor the infrastructure were ready – and, most worryingly, neither was he. It seemed arrogant of him now to have rejected Lily’s offer of advice, yet he stood by his principle: she was on Stark for a proper break, not to talk business.
He just hoped that there were no more dramas to come while she was his guest.
The press reports surrounding her accident hardly showed the retreat in a good light. One had called it ‘half-built’ and words like ‘deserted’, ‘isolated’ and ‘abandoned’ had been used along with a mention of ‘the plague and leprosy’ in reference to the pest house. None of it was an actual lie, but together it made Stark Retreat sound like a few shacks on a pestilent lump of rock where guests weren’t safe.
‘OK. I’m ready,’ Lily said, switching off her phone. ‘I’ve spoken to Richie and my head of PR. They’re going to deal with the press now so I can fully relax.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ Sam said, unsure if she really would stick to it.
‘Shall we go to your house?’ she said. ‘I’ve put you to a lot of trouble already.’
‘Not at all.’ He showed her to a muddy old Defender parked near the slipway. Her eyes ranged around on the way, taking in the tiny settlement known grandly as High Town, with its flower-bedecked cottages, gallery and post office stores.
‘I didn’t know you kept a car here,’ she said.
‘Yeah, though it’s ancient and it’s never left Bryher since the day I bought it from one of the neighbours. I wasn’t even born when it arrived here on the freight ship. Most people on the islands have some form of motorised transport, to shift stuff around. We give lifts to those who need them: the elderly, non-drivers and kids up from the boats.’
‘Everyone looks out for each other, I can see that.’
‘It’s a small community – we wouldn’t survive if we didn’t. Of course, there’s also a downside to living in each other’s pockets.’
‘No privacy,’ she murmured. ‘Ironic that I came here for that and the opposite has happened.’
‘Yes, I’m afraid everyone probably knows who you are by now. You might have been better off in London where you could at least have been one among millions. You’ve clearly decided Stark was the lesser of two evils.’ He added a smile as he said it.
‘I didn’t stay here because I had no choice. I felt it was what I needed to do.’
He nodded and stopped the Land Rover outside a white-painted place. ‘Here we are. Hell Bay House.’
Lily slid down from the passenger seat and stared at the building. ‘OK?’ he said, seeing her eyes widen at the sight of his home.
‘Yes. It’s – well, Hell Bay. It doesn’t live up to its name.’
Sam followed her gaze to his double-fronted house, the gardens thick with mauve agapanthus and towering echiums. Scallop shells adorned the low white garden wall. He’d helped implant them in the cement himself when he was younger and his parents and Nate lived here too.
‘You should see it on a wild January night in the middle of a raging storm. Sand gets blown into the garden and you can feel the foundations shake.’
‘The actual foundations shake?’ Lily asked, eyeing the ocean with trepidation.
‘It feels like it, but we’re far enough back from the sea for safety.’ He saw her eyes widen at the sight of the jagged rocks closed around the white sand bay like jaws. As the tide ebbed, Stark seemed to be almost within wading distance across the shining strand and shallow pools. So tranquil, so benevolent a scene … Nothing bad or tragic could ever happen here, surely?
‘So far, anyway. Come on in. Make yourself comfortable while I sort out some stuff.’
Hell Bay House had once been the home of one of the better-off families on Bryher, amid a clutch of cottages owned by fishermen and modern bungalows built in the middle of the twentieth century.
The Teagues had made money on mainland Cornwall, initially from pilchard fishing, and had invested it cautiously, which had enabled them to buy the house at the turn of the twentieth century – and to purchase Stark from its previous owner, a bankrupt minor aristocrat who’d been given it by the Crown and had been desperate to be rid of it.
Although Stark had been left jointly to Nate and Sam by their grandparents, Nate had never shown an iota of interest in it and hadn’t put in a penny of investment. He’d told Sam that he could have the place and keep any profit he made from ‘the godforsaken rock’.
Lily lingered by the gate to look out over the sea.
‘This view is … breathtaking.’
He glanced up, used to the panorama of navy sea, bone-white sand and a sky that could be anything from clear blue to leaden.
‘I guess so. I suppose I take it for granted. Even so …’ he said, allowing his gaze to rest on the clouds scudding across the sky and the terns landing on the pool ‘… I would find it hard to live anywhere else.’
‘Hard or impossible?’ she said.
‘Very hard,’ he said, reminded of a similar conversation he’d had on this very spot. He’d known she was leaving then, as he knew Lily would soon. Only this morning he’d convinced himself he’d be glad to see the back of her but now … he longed for her to stay so he could know her better yet that would be to risk liking her too much.
She shivered.
‘Shall we go inside?’ he asked.
She nodded.
‘Lily, can I ask what really made you change your mind about staying here?’ he said, back in the sitting room.
‘I – I made a strategic business decision.’
‘A strategic business decision?’ He sat on the arm of the sofa, arms folded.
She turned away from the window. ‘Yes.’
‘I see.’
‘I decided that now wasn’t the time to go back. The press are hounding me, and yes, I do need more time to gather myself. My family want me to take a break too and, for all our sakes, I think I should do it. The past few days have been … challenging … and it’s probably best if I allow myself time to fully process them.’
‘That sounds very much like a corporate statement,’ he said. ‘If you don’t mind me saying …’
‘Does it?’ She treated him to a self-deprecating smile. ‘I guess it’s hard to kick the habit. It is OK, isn’t it?’ she added.
‘Of course. You’re my guest,’ he said, aware he also was putting on a front.
‘And you won’t mind me popping over to Bryher when I need to? I can get one of the scheduled boats to the other islands from there, so I won’t be under your feet all the time.’
‘It’s your holiday. You can do what you like. Please, make yourself at home while I collect some things from upstairs.’
He needed clean clothes. Although there was a laundry room at the retreat, he wasn’t sure he’d have time to do any washing. In search of clean underwear, he opened drawers, knowing he had an unopened pack of boxers somewhere …
Cursing under his breath, he opened the drawer at the bottom of the wardrobe. Inside was a tiny bunch of dried flowers tied with a blue ribbon.
His stomach clenched with sadness at the sight and the bittersweet memories they brought back – he still couldn’t bear to part with them.
Sam covered them with clothes again and went downstairs, forcing himself to focus on practicalities and activity. He put his clean clothes in a dry bag by the front door and popped into the kitchen, taking fresh milk, juice and a few other items from his fridge. The boat was already loaded with cool boxes of fresh veg, meat for the freezer at Stark and enough fresh fish from Rory to last a couple of days. Lily would be pleased.
‘The forecast’s good. We shouldn’t have a problem getting around,’ he called as she re-entered the sitting room.
Lily was nowhere to be seen but the curtains were blowing in the breeze through the open French doors.
He moved quietly forward and saw her outside on his terrace, surrounded by agapanthus, hugging herself as if no one else ever would.
Sensing his presence, she swung round, panicked at being caught looking vulnerable. He was struck by how slight she seemed, how drawn and isolated. Was this the woman of steel, the ‘evil bitch’ described online? Because, while he was upstairs, he had glanced at the social media comments … and wished he hadn’t. He’d wanted to confront every single one of the cowardly pondlife posting such vile comments.
Then he remembered she was the last person who needed a man protecting her like some misguided knight in tarnished armour. It was better to keep his distance: that way he couldn’t be hurt.
‘I hope you don’t mind. I needed some fresh air after this morning. And the view was so incredible, I stepped outside.’ She smiled. ‘I can’t see anyone but perhaps a long lens is trained on me.’
Sam was alarmed. ‘You think reporters would follow you over here to Bryher?’
‘I’m not that notorious,’ she said, attempting a joke. ‘No, they wouldn’t bother and the fuss will die down quickly. There will be new people to hound and troll soon enough.’
‘I don’t know how you stand it.’
She shrugged. ‘I have no choice. Or rather, I have to accept it if I want to be successful at what I do.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘You’ll have to deal with reviews from guests and the press, you know? You can’t run a place like Stark and not put yourself out there.’
‘I realise that. But maybe I hadn’t realised quite how much.’
‘Look, I am supposed to be on retreat, but I can give you some tips … but only if you want me to. Not as a businessperson, but as a – friend?’
‘A friend?’ he echoed. ‘I – I don’t want to add to your stress.’
‘It would be a pleasure.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘If you think you can stand the heat?’
She’d disarmed him again, and he glimpsed the warmth under the exterior, a warmth he was seeing more of, more often. ‘Will it be as scary as being a contestant on the Great British Craft Show?’ he asked, deadpan. Lily playfully punched his arm.
‘In all seriousness, I’d appreciate some advice. But first, shall we get you safely to Stark so you can settle back in? It’s been a hell of a day and it’s still only eleven a.m.’
‘Let’s hope it doesn’t hold any more drama,’ Lily said, with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
She still looked pale and the image came into his mind of her staring out at Hell Bay, hugging herself tight.
There was so much more she wasn’t telling him.
But then, there was so much more he wasn’t telling her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘Now, I don’t want you to worry,’ Lily said, taking her chance to call her parents again before she returned to the tech-free zone of Stark. ‘But I thought I’d call to say that I’ve decided to have a proper break after all.’
While trying not to alarm her mother and father, Lily felt she owed it to them to explain more about the kayak incident but, even in her new spirit of honesty and openness, she couldn’t bring herself to say just how close she and Sam had come to disaster.
She tried to focus on the fact that the accident had made her realise she needed more time to rest and relax while all the fuss died down.
‘We’re so glad you’re taking a proper break,’ her mum said. ‘Keep in touch so we know you’re OK.’
‘Please be careful, love!’ her dad added.
A lump formed in Lily’s throat. ‘I will do. Don’t forget, I’ll have no signal on Stark but I’m going to explore the other islands, so I’ll call you then. Please try not to worry about me.’
With that, she’d switched off her phone and boarded the Hydra as Sam was waiting to take her back. She hoped that Richie and the team could deal with the press enquiries and she was going to check in with him by phone on a regular basis from Bryher.
Even so, the thought of letting go of the reins made her feel twitchy.
She rested her eyes on the twin hills of the island, trying to focus on the feeling of the sun on her face and the wind in her hair. Having made her decision to spend the rest of her two weeks on Stark, she now needed to be fully present, just as Sam had advised her to be when she first arrived.
Along with the nervousness about letting go, was there also a feeling of release? Of relief that, for a little while, she could let someone else shoulder the burden?
If only she didn’t have to wrestle with the supermarket decision. While she’d been on Bryher, she’d found it impossible to resist opening an email from her contact at their head office, asking if she was OK. She’d put them off for now, saying she was fine, taking a holiday, and would set up a meeting for the moment she returned.
Lily sneaked a glance at Sam. Was his grim expression merely concentration as he piloted the Hydra towards the hidden jetty? Or was he less than thrilled that she was returning?
Admittedly, she’d changed her mind at the last minute and caused someone to miss their place on the helicopter. To mitigate this, she’d insisted on paying the fare of the islander who’d given up her place, apologising profusely for the trouble.
Yet under the veneer of politeness, Sam was definitely on edge. He certainly wasn’t the relaxed man who’d shared a meal with her last night; the one who’d proudly shown her the island and later pulled her from the sea.
She flinched as the fender bumped against the wooden pilings of the tiny jetty.
Sam’s mood might not be anything to do with Lily’s behaviour at all.
‘Here we are again,’ he said and, without waiting for an answer, slung her bags onto the quayside.
She climbed off, carrying her blazer. As the sun had risen higher, she was far too hot in her jeans.
‘You know, I think I’m going to have to get some new clothes now I’m staying. I didn’t realise I’d be spending so much time outdoors and I haven’t brought enough to last the whole stay.’
‘There are some clothes shops in Hugh Town on St Mary’s,’ Sam said. ‘Mostly T-shirts, sweatshirts and board shorts.’
‘That sounds perfect. When you take the boat to Bryher tomorrow, would you mind dropping me off at the ferry for St Mary’s? I don’t expect a lift all the way,’ she added hastily. ‘I’m more than happy to find my own way round the island transport system.’
‘If you’re sure …’
‘Sam, I use the Tube almost every day. I think I can negotiate a few boats.’
His eyes crinkled and he defrosted a few degrees. ‘No problem. I’ll take you to Bryher tomorrow.’
After changing into something more comfortable, Lily threw open the door of the cottage and went onto the terrace, breathing in the fresh air. Through binoculars she could clearly see the Quayside Café and the other buildings near the jetty: a boat shed, a yard full of masts, Rory’s fish shack and a couple of holiday chalets. The pub garden was full of holidaymakers and Rory’s red sail boat motored between the yachts in the Tresco channel.
She found the guidebook again, wanting to remind herself of the history of the island. She guessed it had been compiled by Elspeth with illustrations from Morven plus old photographs that showed a group of three Victorian ladies in extravagant hats and long dresses sitting next to the hearth in one of the cottages – could it be her cottage?
She shuddered, wondering how Mabel Teague would have felt to see her home turned into a tourist attraction, first for the visiting ladies and then for Lily herself.
