Maddie went home on the Tuesday, with a promise to return for the regatta weekend in August. Although still a few weeks away, the bunting was already going up all over Falford. The yacht club, pub terraces, gallery and sailing centre were festooned in jaunty-coloured pennants and there was a buzz around the post office and village store.
Finn, Joey and Oriel hadn’t exaggerated when they’d said that the competitions were taken seriously. The waters of the estuary were already markedly busier with yachts and a fresh influx of summer visitors hiring or taking out their own craft.
‘I’m so glad I learned to drive your boat while it was quiet,’ Rose said to Oriel one evening at the Ferryman. It was only her quick thinking that had avoided a collision with a hired speedboat on her way back from a lesson at the sailing centre that afternoon. ‘Some of the people on the water think they’re Lewis Hamilton! Did you hear about that guy in the Fairline who ran into the cardinal buoy by Falstaff Creek? Ripped a hole in the hull and when the RNLI arrived, he told them to do one! And some woman in a speedboat almost mowed us down during our lesson earlier.’
Oriel sighed and nodded sagely. ‘Half those big gin palaces never leave the moorings and when they do, the skippers haven’t got a clue or are half cut. They should be forced to pass their RYA before they can set sail. Fuckwits, the lot of ’em!’
Rose and Oriel indulged in half an hour of juicy gossip about useless emmets and the latest regatta rumours before motoring across to the boatyard, where they showed their ‘design’ to Joey and discussed what he thought could be achieved in the limited time they had.
Wood, tools and skills would be no problem and there was no shortage of enthusiasm on any side. Finn wasn’t at the first session, but he was there the next evening, working on the cutter. Naomi had also promised to drop by as and when she could.
Joey offered to help Oriel create an Excalibur sword and provide the basis for a wooden ‘castle’ backdrop. Rose wondered how much ‘modification’ the little motor launch could take but Joey seemed confident that the lightweight ‘props and scenery’ wouldn’t make it unsafe.
‘Finn and I are on marshalling duty anyway, so we can always fish you out if it goes wrong.’ His eyes twinkled and Rose had to laugh at Oriel’s disgusted face.
‘I can handle my own boat!’ she declared.
Joey mimed reeling in a fishing line.
‘Ha-ha. Very funny. Not.’ Oriel rolled her eyes. ‘Now, what about Rose’s grotto?’
Now that was a phrase Rose never thought she’d hear. Hiding a sigh, she reminded herself once again that she was doing this for Oriel and Naomi’s sake.
‘I’ve no problem with the Lady of the Lake costume. I was thinking a Goth look would do. Black and purple medieval dress, green wig, covered in slime. Auntie Lynne has offered to help with the dress as long as I don’t tell Nigel.’
Rose again wondered what kind of hold Nigel had over Auntie Lynne or if she even realised what a bully he was.
‘Don’t you think that the Mermaid of Zennor is a bit … random?’ Rose said. ‘It doesn’t really fit in with the King Arthur narrative.’
‘Oh, no one will care,’ Oriel declared. ‘It’s all about creating an impact and you’ll look amazing as the mermaid. Everyone will know what you are and we are meant to be about Cornish myths and legends. It’ll be brilliant publicity for Cornish Magick and even Auntie Lynne agrees with that. Especially if we win!’
Over the next week, Rose, Oriel and Naomi spent all their spare time at Morvah Marine after work, hammering, sawing and painting until dark. It was a welcome distraction to all of them, especially as Oriel was nervous about her first tour, which was coming up in just a week’s time. Along with the dig and her research, plus the boat construction, Rose was steeling herself to ‘mind the shop’ for a morning while Oriel did her stuff.
The phrase ‘bitten off more than she could chew’ rang in her ears every night as she collapsed into bed, not that she lay awake for long.
They worked hard, making the battlements for their ‘Tintagel’ castle with Joey’s help. Having done A-level art, Naomi was going to paint them to look like real stone.
Finn was ‘knocking up’ a grotto for Rose, which consisted of a hardboard frame with a net over it, which would be decorated with shells and dried seaweed. Oriel wanted it to be littered with plastic bags and old flips-flops to show the pollution of the seas, but it was decided after a long and heated argument that although that was accurate for the twenty-first century, it probably wasn’t such an issue in medieval Cornwall.
‘Not that mermaids were an issue ever …’ Rose said one evening.
‘Don’t spoil things,’ Joey said, giving her one of his twinkly-eyed looks, making Rose laugh. Rose wondered why it didn’t have the effect on her that it was meant to. It certainly seemed to affect Finn, however. He went even quieter than before although his hammering definitely grew louder.
After initially offering to make the mermaid’s chair, Finn had said nothing since and Rose didn’t want to push it. However, with the pageant only a few weeks away, and Oriel asking about it, Rose felt she could no longer put off the question.
Taking her cue, she followed him outside into the evening sun and found him at the woodpile, moving planks and offcuts.
‘Finn. I know you’ve already done loads for us and you’re absolutely rushed off your feet with the business … and I really don’t expect you to spend all your time making scenery for our amusement.’
‘It’s not a waste of time. In fact, I came out here to find a piece of oak. I know it’s here somewhere.’
‘Oak? Real oak?’
‘Yes. No point making it of hardboard.’
‘You don’t think we’re going to sink under the weight of all this?’
He laughed. ‘No. I was going to carve the end piece and fix that behind you, not a whole chair.’
‘OK. I’m glad to hear it. Actually, I was planning to call in at Zennor church next week on my way back from visiting an Iron Age village with a colleague. Thought I’d take some photos of the pew and measure it. I know you have photos from the Internet but if it’s any help … plus I wanted to see it myself and I’ll be in the vicinity.’
‘That sounds like a great idea,’ Finn said.
‘I’m sure you’re too busy to come with me …’ She laughed. ‘Of course you are but I thought I’d mention it in case there was anything you particularly wanted me to get photos of or check out. Not that I’m expecting a replica of the actual mermaid! I didn’t mean anything like that.’
‘Anything you can get would be a help,’ he said, clearly trying to inject some pleasure into his voice. ‘Measurements and photos are perfect.’
‘OK.’ Rose gave herself a reality check. He was actually working. It was ridiculous to expect him to bunk off on a jolly and anyway she had a meeting first herself.
They finally stopped work at half past ten. Oriel picked up her car and drove home to her flat while Rose lingered a while, watching the lights shimmering in the water. The evening was still and warm and water lapped gently on the sides of the boats. The boatyard was dark but the lamps were lit in Curlew Studio and birds called in the dusk. She thought back to her conversation with Oriel about tourists … She was no longer considered an emmet; she’d slowly but surely become part of the community.
It would be so easy to be lulled into staying.