Rose went home, showered and changed before heading off to the dig. Oriel had texted her to say she was glad Rose was home safely and Rose promised to tell her all about what had happened – some of it – when Oriel came into work on the Monday morning. She was ready to go out when she got a call from Joey to say he was outside the flat. Deciding she’d rather get the conversation over with, she let him in.
He saw her backpack on the table. ‘I was just going to work,’ she said.
‘Is this not a good time?’
‘I can spare five minutes.’ She smiled but Joey looked anything but comfortable.
‘I’m glad I caught you. I wanted to explain about last night. I’m gutted to have let you down, only I had a call from a friend. She needed me and I tried to get away but it was … complicated.’
‘It’s fine. It was only a sail. No big deal,’ Rose said, a little taken aback that he seemed so worried.
‘Sorry, that sounds feeble.’ He pushed his hair back. ‘OK. It was Sophie. You met her at the yacht club, remember?’
‘I do, actually.’ Rose also recalled the heated argument Sophie and Joey had been engaged in one of the first times she’d watched Morvah Marine.
‘Sophie and me … We used to have a thing. It’s been over for a while.’
‘OK … Look, Joey. You don’t have to explain yourself. I’m not annoyed with you.’
‘Thanks …’ He sat down on her sofa with sigh. ‘I want to explain because you know sometimes people get the wrong idea about me. That I’m unreliable and … let people down but the truth is I couldn’t leave Sophie.’
Rose sat down too, realising she was going to have to spare him more time than she’d anticipated. He needed to get whatever it was off his chest. ‘Is she all right?’ Rose asked.
‘She is now, but yesterday evening she called me when I was on my way back from a client’s to the boatshed. She sounded desperate and I thought I had plenty of time to see what was the matter and still make it back to take you out. She’d had bad news. Some bloke she’d been seeing … before me. They’d been engaged and split up. He had some problems … and he wanted to see her, but Sophie didn’t want to see him. He’d been threatening to go round.’
‘That sounds horrible. Poor Sophie. She must have been so worried.’
‘She was, so I went over, intending to leave as soon as I could, but she begged me to stay. Her ex kept calling her.’
Rose wondered why Sophie didn’t ask someone else for help, like her family or other friends, but she’d already worked out Sophie might want an excuse to see Joey.
‘She didn’t want to tell her family. They don’t get on,’ Joey said, as if he could read her train of thought and needed to explain.
‘I see.’ Life was complicated; people ended up in difficult situations. Rose knew that as well as anyone, having had to console and counsel students, homesick freshers and young people who’d split with boyfriends and girlfriends. She was sure Joey was genuine and Sophie must have been genuinely terrified.
‘I didn’t want to explain all of this in a text and I couldn’t call you with Sophie there all the time. That’s why I kept my message short. Sophie was with me and I didn’t want to share it all with a … with someone she doesn’t know.’
A stranger?
‘I understand,’ Rose said. ‘Don’t worry about it. I guessed it was something important.’
‘It was.’ He looked relieved.
‘And how’s Sophie now?’
‘OK. Her ex’s sister turned up at his and calmed him down. She’s a counsellor and she’s getting him some help. I don’t think he’ll bother Soph again.’
‘That’s good.’ Rose treated him to a smile. ‘Good job she had you to help too.’
‘Yes, though I don’t want to make a habit of it.’ He sounded very relieved that Rose had taken his explanation so well. ‘I hope you weren’t too disappointed to miss out on our trip, though Finn stepped in, of course.’
‘Yes, he did.’ Rose tried not to give any clue as to how she felt about her night with Finn. Even the memory of it made her cringe with embarrassment in the cold light of day.
‘Rough night though. I heard he had to climb up to free the sail. Lucky he took you to Navas to shelter instead of trying to run for home. He said you were brilliant, taking the helm when the auto packed in.’
‘I was lucky and it’s a good job Finn knows what he’s doing or we might have been in trouble.’
Joey laughed. ‘He’s a regular knight in shining armour, my brother.’
‘He is,’ Rose said. ‘Although I didn’t need a knight. An expert sailor was more than good enough. And I learned a lot. I had to.’
‘Of course not. I only mean … maybe we can try and go out sailing again sometime?’ he offered. ‘After the regatta?’
‘That sounds great. Actually,’ she said. ‘My friend Maddie’s coming soon. She’d love a sail and it would be fun to go out together. We could ask Oriel and Naomi too and Finn. Make a party of it?’
‘A party? Yeah … yeah, sure. Let’s do that. Sounds like fun.’
Looking a lot happier, Joey left. He had a genuine reason for letting her down, and she would have done the same in his situation. But if she’d learned anything from her adventure, it was that Finn not Joey was the one she’d choose to rely on in a storm.
After all the drama, it was a relief to spend the rest of her Sunday working at the site. She stayed until everyone else had left, hoping to exhaust her mind as well as her body. It wasn’t difficult after the physical exertion of sailing and the dig, Rose fell asleep in her clothes and woke at seven with aches in places she didn’t know she had.
Monday was a clear morning with the promise of a hot day ahead but first she faced a grilling from Oriel when she arrived to open the shop. She decided to get it over with, made them both a coffee and prepared to give Oriel her side of the story, i.e. the true one, rather than what Oriel might have heard on the grapevine.
Focusing on the drama of the storm seemed to satisfy Oriel, who’d already heard from Naomi why Joey had been called to help her cousin, Sophie. Even so, it was a relief when Rose left the shop, feeling she really should concentrate on her primary purpose for being in Falford: her work.
Rose had another meeting at the university a few days later and had been up very early writing a report. With a rumbling stomach and an urgent need for caffeine, she decided to grab some brunch from Bo’s before she headed off to King Arthur’s Pool. With the sun blazing down, and the sea like glass, it was hard to believe the storm at the weekend had ever happened.
As she approached the café, Bo was fixing posters to the hut, encouraging people to register for the competitions at the Falford Regatta. Rose thought of Joey’s joke that she take part in the beginner sailors’ race.
The thought made her feel queasy, but she was looking forward to the event itself. Oriel still hadn’t revealed any more about her own plans.
‘Hiya,’ she said, deciding to have something to eat and have a chat with Bo at the same time.
Bo smiled. ‘Morning. Can I get you anything?’
‘What’s the special?’
‘Brunch panini with local bacon and eggs,’ Bo said.
‘Sounds perfect.’
‘What do you want to drink?’
‘Americano, please.’
‘To go?’
‘No, I think I’ll have a quick bite here before I get to work,’ she said, thinking it would be much pleasanter than eating on the go. She could spare fifteen minutes. ‘I need the energy for all that digging.’
‘I bet. I’ll be as fast as I can.’ Bo popped a panini in the toaster, then fired up the espresso machine. ‘It’s quiet just now but the lunchtime rush will start soon.’ She raised her voice over the hiss of the machine. ‘I have around fifteen minutes before they start coming out for the sandwiches and hot drinks.’ Bo handed over the Americano in a vintage Cornishware mug. ‘There you go.’ She went back behind the counter and retrieved the panini.
‘Thank you. That smells amazing.’
‘You’re welcome.’ A boat motored up to the slipway, and it was clear it had a broken mast.
‘Looks bad,’ Rose said.
‘Kev’s brother’s boat,’ Bo said. ‘The one the RNLI had to tow to Falmouth in the storm.’
Rose shuddered, thinking it could have been her and Finn. ‘It was scary.’
‘Of course. Still, no one better to be caught in a storm with than Finn.’
Rose laughed, wondering if Bo was now angling to find out how she felt about Finn. Rose sipped her coffee before replying.
‘Yes, things could have been far worse. Spending the night at Navas was easier than trying to make it back to Falford.’
‘Yes.’ Bo gave a wry smile. ‘Everyone’s been caught out by the weather sometime. You can’t really call yourself a sailor until you are.’
‘No, I suppose not.’ Rose paused. ‘I do hope the gossip isn’t too juicy?’ she said lightly. She took a bite of the panini, which was still a little too hot for comfort.
‘If it is, no one’s shared any of it with me. Most of the people at the yard are only interested in boats and sailing. The rest are fully aware that I’m a friend of the Morvahs so they’d be unlikely to imply anything. And, it’s really none of my business,’ Bo added, evenly.
‘Thanks,’ Rose said. ‘I wouldn’t want to give people the wrong idea. Finn and I are just friends.’
Bo laughed. ‘Same here.’ She sat down on the other side of the bench. ‘Finn’s lovely. In fact, he’s gorgeous, and we did have a few dates just to make sure we didn’t want it to go any further, but it was like going out with my best mate.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘You know what it’s like with some men? You feel like you ought to fancy the pants off them but there’s no connection between what you’re seeing and the other stuff?’
‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Rose said, thinking of Joey. However, she still couldn’t imagine not feeling ‘the other stuff’ for Finn and knew she wasn’t being entirely honest with Bo. She and Finn might be friends, but that was mainly because he obviously wanted to keep it that way. ‘They’re an interesting family,’ she said, with a smile, before risking another piece of the hot sandwich.
‘You can say that. I know Joey has a reputation for being a bit of a lad but he’s OK, really. They’re both good guys and they’re very close, not that you’d know it. They’ve been through a lot together.’
Rose abandoned the next bite of panini. ‘Oh?’
‘With their dad leaving when Joey was just a baby. Finn can hardly remember him. Dorinda and her mum and dad brought them up.’
‘Dorinda’s definitely an amazing woman.’
‘She can come across as a bit scary …’ Bo smiled. ‘But she’s had a tough life, running a yard in what’s still, mostly, a male-dominated world. She’d die for those boys.’
‘You’ve been friends a long time, then?’
‘With Dorinda? She’s been a big support since I opened this place and we’ve become mates. They’re my best customers. I wouldn’t like them to get hurt.’
For the first time, Rose sensed an edge to Bo’s comment. A warning. She must know that Rose had spent time with both Joey and Finn. It must look as if she was playing them off against each other, when really Rose had only wanted to find out who was her donor, while not raising any suspicions about her quest.
Wasn’t that equally bad? She was still using and deceiving Finn and Joey.
‘They’d jump in the sea to save anyone, friend or stranger. Even an enemy. Not that they have any.’
Rose’s pulse quickened. She wanted to ask Bo if she knew anything about the bone marrow donation. Instead she settled for something less obvious. ‘I – I can see they’re close. They’re well liked in the community and they want to help people.’
‘They’re not saints. Of course not, especially Joey, but he’s – had a rough time, with people he cared about.’
Rose was considering whether to ask what Bo meant when she saw a group of people approach and recognised them as workers from the yard. Finn was a little way behind them, talking on his phone. The sight of him made her heart beat a little faster.
Bo got up. ‘Oh, it’s Finn and some of the Morvah lot come for their brunch butties. I’d better get back to work.’
‘Me too,’ Rose said, wrapping her sandwich in its foil packet. ‘I think I’ll let this cool a bit and have it later.’
Bo turned for the kiosk but Finn spotted Rose. He lifted his hand and Rose briefly waved before hurrying off, with a racing pulse and warmth in her face that had nothing to do with the hot food. If she’d hoped to quell her reaction to him by avoiding him, it hadn’t worked. She was in danger of fancying him as much as ever and even more intrigued to know if he was her man.