‘Are you okay?’ Callum asked.
She kept walking, strolling through the clumps of spikey dune grass rising up on either side of the path. ‘Yes.’
Hughie dashed ahead.
‘Where’s Juno?’
‘She’s sleeping in her crate. She sleeps a lot. Apparently, it’s what puppies do. Sleep, play, eat, repeat. She’s only nine weeks old.’
‘This is none of my business,’ he said, ‘but were you and Karl together at one time, because if not, it’s only fair to warn you that…’
‘He told you I slept with him?’
‘Yes.’
She’d overheard him at lunch, and she should be fuming, but she refused to let Karl and his poison win. She stared at the sandy path in front of her. Scattered amongst the grasses, clusters of sea thrift flowers had turned from the pink of early summer to mostly dry and brown. ‘Will you believe me if I say I didn’t?’
‘Of course. Not that it matters.’
She stopped walking and faced him. ‘It matters to me. I loathe Karl. And I’m sick of having to defend myself. Karl has a grudge against me. I wouldn’t go out with him. Instead, I got involved with Daniel – a man who wasn’t free, not that I knew that at the time. Then I chose a fake relationship with Nick over a real one with him. He doesn’t forgive me for not finding him attractive.’ She set off at a quick pace.
‘And he behaves as if you do. There’s something not right with the guy.’
They reached the beach and stood, side by side, silently watching Hughie potter in the quiet cove. She didn’t care what the crew thought about her. They’d be gone again at the end of the week. But she did care about the here and the now and Callum.
‘Listen,’ he said, ‘since Karl thinks we’re in a relationship, how would you feel about continuing to give him that impression?’
She glared up at his face. ‘No, thank you. I’m done with fake relationships in any shape or form.’
‘I’ve got nowhere else to be. I have to wait for a work visa. I’ve got time to kill.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m staying for the shoot anyway.’
Her head was churning, because the flicker of possibility that had started her thinking that Callum had come back because he wanted to be with her, that he felt something, had been wiped out thanks to his infuriatingly blasé offer to pose as her fake boyfriend. It was all only because he had nothing better to do and didn’t fancy giving the zip-wire experience a go, after all.
She shaded her eyes. With the tide half out, she viewed the picture-perfect scene. ‘Where’s Hughie?’
‘Over there.’ He pointed to a tiny dot at the far side of the cove scampering amongst the seaweed at the water’s edge.
They sat on the sand and made a start on the chocolate brownies. With nothing but the sounds of the sea between them, tension prickled in the air. She and Callum wouldn’t be a thing. There wasn’t a scintilla of hope that it could happen.
‘I wonder where we’ll both be in life this time next year?’ he said, infuriating her still more.
It was on the tip of her tongue to say that they would never see each other again. ‘I’m tired of drifting, letting life happen to me. I know that much. If the right house comes on the market, I plan to stay.’
‘You’re not up for buying Karadow Hall, by any chance?’
‘Now there’s a thought.’ She was joking as she said it, but then began to wonder if her savings would stretch that far.
The sun came out from behind a cloud, and feeling the warmth, she relaxed. She couldn’t stay upset with Callum for long. Feeling more for him than he wanted was her problem, not his.
She finished the brownie, scrunched up the napkin, put it in her jeans pocket and stood up. Hughie had disappeared out of sight. ‘Where’s he got to?’
She was answered by a bark carried on the wind.
She dusted the sand off her legs and called to him. He bounded over, tongue out, panting, and sat, bright-eyed, head tipped expectantly to one side, ears pricked. Callum scrambled to his feet and fed him one of the dog biscuits.
‘Best get this little guy back to the house for a drink of water.’ She started walking. Feeling ungrateful, she looked back over her shoulder. ‘Thanks for the brownie – and for coming to find me. I appreciate it.’
‘Is everything alright?’
‘Yes. Honestly.’
‘With me and you though. Did I offend you?’ He was walking beside her, but she didn’t look at him. He didn’t get it, and that was a good thing.
‘It’s not that. I…’ She walked faster. ‘I can’t pretend I’m in love with you. I can’t make that mistake all over again.’
‘You’re not in love with me?’ His tone was teasingly, irritatingly disappointed. ‘Damn.’ He laughed.
‘I’ve avoided love for so long. I’m not sure how finding it for real might feel.’ She shocked herself by saying something that was close to the actual truth. Her honesty scared her. She hadn’t stopped thinking about him when he’d been in Europe; wondering not just if he’d come back, but if one day he could be her someone. She didn’t know how to be in a relationship, how to trust her feelings not to be wrong, and Callum was off to China, so he was a non-starter. ‘I’m a poor judge of men, like my mother when she fell for Wesley.’
‘Just because it didn’t last forever doesn’t mean it wasn’t right for them at the time,’ he said.
They had both stopped walking and were facing each other.
‘Is it love you’re avoiding? Or regrets?’
‘Both.’
A mind-shattering screech from somewhere on the beach crashed through the stillness and the moment ended abruptly.
‘What the fuck?’ she said.
‘Perhaps they started filming again already?’
The screaming worsened. Shrill and anguished, it got under her skin. She started to run. ‘Come on. Something’s not right.’
Callum rushed with her towards the opposite side of the cove, the dog following at their heels. As they rounded some rocks, a figure bent double at the edge of the sea came into view.
A cold shiver ran through her. ‘It’s Karl.’
Callum put a firm hand on her arm. ‘Leave him. We have nothing to say to him. This is probably some weird attention-seeking bollocks.’
Ella couldn’t ignore Karl’s piercing screeches. ‘He’s on his own, and it sounds like he’s in pain.’
At that moment Karl dropped to his knees and slumped over, collapsing face down in the sand. A wave rushed up to his limp body, washed against his legs and all around him, and receded again.
Callum and Ella ran. In seconds they were with him. Callum sank down onto the wet sand and turned him over. ‘What happened?’
Karl spluttered out a mouthful of seawater, desperate.
Ella gasped. Wrapped around his lower leg and foot was some kind of jellyfish. Its tentacles had penetrated his skin and he was in agony.
‘I got an electric shock, my whole body’s burning, it’s like being set on fire. What the hell is it?’ Karl started to hyperventilate.
‘It’s a Portuguese man-of-war,’ said Callum. ‘The sting is poisonous. Try to stay calm.’
Karl was white and trembling. He looked like he might throw up at any moment and livid red welts were visible on his skin beneath the venomous tentacles.
‘Stay with us Karl.’ Ella sprang into action. ‘He’s going into shock. He needs urgent help. You stay with him. I’ll go.’
She took off at a crazy pace, leaving Hughie with Callum. Rather than run all the way round by the path she clambered up the steep rocky bank below the house. With her heart in her mouth, she dashed straight to the kitchen, found Jessie’s emergency flare, hurried back out onto the lawn and set it off. She caught her breath, thrown by the unexpected kickback as it launched. It flew into the air like a firework and brought everyone inside finishing lunch out onto the terrace.
Jessie cried out. ‘Ella! Have you lost your mind?’ Ella spun around to see her and Oliver hurrying towards her closely followed by Drake and Hetty.
‘What’s going on?’ said Oliver. ‘It’s illegal to set off a coastal flare unless you’re in distress.’
‘Not me,’ said Ella, getting her breath. ‘Karl. He’s been stung by a Portuguese man-of-war. It’s bad.’
‘I’ll phone the coast guard and explain.’ Oliver marched off around the side of the house heading towards the kitchen.
‘Where’s the first aid kit?’ said Drake, ‘We need tweezers. And gloves.’
‘I’ll get it,’ said Hetty.
‘I’m not being funny,’ said Drake, ‘but someone should pee on him. I read that urine is good for jellyfish stings.’
‘Peeing into a receptacle and pouring it over him would be better.’ Ella looked hopefully at Jessie. ‘Have you got an empty jam jar, or anything?’
‘Don’t look at me. I’m not peeing in a jar,’ said Jessie. ‘I’m fairly sure that’s a myth. It could make things worse. What we need to neutralise the sting is vinegar.’ She set off to see if she could find any in the kitchen.
‘Come on,’ said Drake. ‘Show me where he is.’
Ella led Drake, still dressed as Reverend Farthingale, to the shortcut she’d taken. ‘This is my fault,’ he said. ‘The way he was talking at lunch was inappropriate, to put it mildly. I asked Hetty to cut his role out of the film. She – for obvious reasons – said she couldn’t do that, so I tore a strip off him, said he’d never work again after this, if I had anything to do with it, and off he went to the beach in a sulk. I may have overdone it.’
‘That doesn’t make it your fault,’ said Ella. ‘You weren’t to know he’d stand on a jellyfish.’ They scrambled down to the beach over the rocks and rushed across to where Callum was trying to reassure Karl that help was on the way.
Drake knelt down on the sand beside them. ‘Breathe slowly, if you can. In through your nose and out through your mouth.’
‘It hurts like hell,’ Karl stammered.
‘I know,’ said Drake. He patted Karl’s shoulder. ‘Has anyone got a credit card?’
Bewildered, Ella looked at Callum. He took a wallet out of a pocket in his cargo pants, and handed a bank card to Drake who cautiously leaned over Karl’s leg. Using the edge of the plastic card he pushed the tentacles away from his skin revealing nasty red stripes and blisters.
‘Look.’ Ella pointed to the sea and the Porthkara lifeboat speeding towards them across the bay. ‘Help is coming.’
Jessie, Oliver and Hetty arrived at the same time as the lifeboat. The helmsman raised the outboard engine, and two volunteers leapt out and beached the lifeboat, then all three of the crew rushed towards them.
Relief flooded Ella as she recognised that one of the volunteers was a doctor who lived in the village. ‘Thank goodness you’re here.’ Her relief was short-lived because fear engulfed her as Karl turned deathly pale, his lips blue.
‘It’s an anaphylactic reaction,’ said the doctor. ‘His body is severely envenomated. The pain must be excruciating.’
The captain of the lifeboat knelt down in the sand beside Karl. ‘Hang in there, mate. We’re going to get you to hospital. The rescue helicopter is on its way.’