@CornishMaid: Anyone know what bands are playing at the festival? @Porthmellowchick #Cornishfestival
@Metallicafan: Who cares. They’re always shit anyway. My dog sounds better. #crapmusic #metalrules
Sam was on her way home to Wavecrest Cottage en route from the village salon. After work, she’d gone to the hairdresser’s and while she was waiting to be shampooed, she’d finally given in and googled Gabe Mathias: girlfriend. She’d looked in the past, of course, but not for a few years, knowing that it wasn’t healthy or helpful.
She wasn’t sure whether she liked what she discovered or not. Gossip blogs and past news stories unearthed the fact that he’d been ‘seen with’ several women since he’d opened up his own restaurant, one of whom – a glamorous cookery writer – he’d lived with for a couple of years until last year according to Wikipedia. Sam had already known about that relationship from an old snippet on an Internet site. However, there was no one listed on his Wiki page as a spouse or partner now and the personal life section was surprisingly short. Plus, the Porthmellow gossip mill hadn’t mentioned a partner, or Troy would have said something at the meeting.
So far, no further on …
She’d closed her phone and as usual ended up rattling on about the festival with the stylist. By the time she’d remembered to say: ‘Just a trim, please,’ the floor looked like Bryony’s dog grooming parlour. After she’d left, she caught sight of the smart but scarily short bob in the window of the fudge shop, and let out a squeak of panic.
The hour in the salon had been a brief moment of pamper time in a mega busy day baking for a stint at a paranormal festival in Tehiddy the following evening. Now, walking home, she was enjoying the spring sunshine, which had real warmth in it as summer approached. The chinking of glass and bursts of laughter followed her as she turned in to an alley that led to steep steps that would take her to the streets above the harbour. Despite being used to the climb, she was breathing harder by the time she reached the lane of pastel-coloured fishermen’s cottages that included Wavecrest. Not that Sam could see her cottage, because the street was completely blocked by a large removals van. Its tyres rested on the thin strip of pavement and there was only the thinnest sliver of daylight visible on either side of the van.
A man in maroon overalls was standing at the rear with his hands on his hips, staring at his van.
She jogged up to him. ‘What’s happened?’ she said, although she could have supplied the answer herself. Delivery drivers got stuck on this corner several times a year.
The driver scratched his head. ‘Bloody sat nav led me up here. Now I’m wedged in.’
‘Someone should have said you wouldn’t get through with a vehicle this big. You can’t go forward, there’s an overhanging bay window on one of the cottages around this corner. Your van will damage the building if you try to squeeze through here, and I wouldn’t recommend trying.’
‘I’ve seen the window. I’ve been trying to reverse, but it’s a bloody nightmare with that bend behind. That corner’s so sharp with that road sign right behind and I’m worried I’ll take a chunk out of the white cottage I drove past. That one with the funny stone porch. I can’t risk doing any damage. My boss’ll skin me.’ He peered hopefully at Sam. ‘I was hoping someone could watch out for me, but I haven’t seen anyone over thirteen or under ninety yet. And even with help, I’m not sure I can make the turn.’
She looked at the van and the driver. He was totally nonplussed. ‘So, what are you going to do?’ she asked.
‘Have to wait for another driver to come out and see if they can do it.’
‘I’m guessing that could take a while, even if he or she can move it …’ She paused as a thought formed in her mind. ‘Where are you going by the way?’
‘Big place at the end of this road, I hope, though the lane seems to peter out into a path. Apparently, there’s a house called Clifftop House along there? You heard of it?’
She gawped. My God, if someone was moving into Clifftop House, it had to be Gabe. Which meant his stuff was in this van. She could leave it here, stuck like a cork in a bottle and let Gabe’s driver sort it out. He might be waiting a very long time, she thought with grim pleasure, but that soon evaporated. Gabe was moving in a few doors up from her for God knows how long. This was far worse than she’d imagined.
‘It is up here, isn’t it?’ the driver said anxiously, taking Sam’s shock for ignorance.
‘Yeah. It’s there, but it’s a little way along the track at the end of this lane. You can’t see the house because it’s on the edge of the cliff behind some gates. The owners should have told you to bring a smaller van. Here, hand over the keys.’
He snorted. ‘What? You must be joking.’
‘Why? Because I’m a woman?’
‘No, because you’re not qualified or insured.’
‘One: I drive a pick-up and a converted horsebox with a full kitchen in it down lanes much narrower and twistier than this pretty much every day of my life. And two: I live up here and my sister will be home soon – or she would if she could get past in her car. You’re stopping us from sitting down together for a very large gin and tonic.’ She held out her palm. ‘Keys, please.’
He folded his arms. ‘I can’t do that.’
Ignoring him, she climbed into the driver’s seat.
He stood in the doorway. ‘You … I … shouldn’t really be doing this. You’re not insured,’ he repeated.
‘And what will your boss say when they have to send someone who is qualified to get your van out? And meanwhile, no one can get from the properties above here to the village. There are elderly people in some of the cottages and a lady who’s expecting a baby in a week’s time. What if the emergency services can’t reach a house? Give me the keys, please.’
The man handed them over. ‘I must be mad.’
‘Keep an eye out for traffic from behind, please,’ said Sam.
Still grumbling, the driver went behind the truck. Sam saw him in the wing mirror and started to back up. The van was big and space was very tight, but she knew the lane like the back of her hand, and the exact micro second of when to turn to miss the white cottage with its stone porch. She reversed steadily down the hill and opened the door.
‘Hop in,’ she said. ‘I’m going to take you via the scenic route.’
His eyebrows scrunched together. ‘What? You said this was the only road.’
‘The only road to Clifftop House, yes, but not the only way.’
Shaking his head, he got into the passenger seat.
‘Buckle up,’ said Sam wickedly, before reversing a few yards more and turning the van into a gravel driveway between two cottages. The driveway was a tight squeeze but not as tight as the lane. It led to a concrete track that ran behind some garages at the back of the cottages.
The man had one hand on the window to brace himself as the truck bumped along. ‘Jesus. Is this a road?’
‘Not strictly speaking. It’s unadopted but if you want to get to Clifftop House it’s your only chance.’
‘I’m not supposed to go off road …’
‘Off road?’ she laughed. ‘This isn’t off road. You’ve obviously never been to Cornwall before.’
Carefully watching out for people coming out of their back gates, Sam drove the truck with inches to spare on either side and turned sharp right again at the end onto a dirt track overhung by trees.
The driver swore. ‘’kin hell. This isn’t a track, it’s a footpath.’
‘This section is a green route technically,’ she said as branches snapped and crackled against the van. ‘But look, there’s Clifftop House.’
She slowed down as they emerged from the hedges into a sandy area on the heathland. The sea suddenly came into view. Sam drove slowly along the rutted track and stopped the vehicle alongside the coastal path outside Clifftop House. She daren’t get too close in case she saw Gabe. Hmm. Maybe she should have considered that before she made the offer to move the van.
‘This is as far as I go. You’ll have to buzz the gates to be let in or call the owner, but be careful how you drive over the coastal path. There might be people or dogs about and it’s illegal anyway.’
‘Bloody hell.’ The man blew out a breath as Sam opened the van door.
‘How will I get out of here?’ the man asked, looking in the wing mirror in horror.
‘Sorry, I can’t help you there. I expect your client can help. Ask him to drive you out.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘If he can still remember his way.’
Sam jumped down from the cab. But as her boots hit the earth, she heard a voice behind the van.
‘Hey there! How have you managed to get that huge thing down here?’
Sam slid to the ground and came face to face with Gabe.
Momentarily stunned, he regarded her as if she was alien, but eventually found his voice. ‘Sam? What the hell are you doing?’
The driver called from the passenger seat. ‘I told her she shouldn’t be driving it! I knew it was illegal, but she wouldn’t listen.’
Gabe’s eyes glittered. ‘I bet she wouldn’t.’
Sam exploded. ‘Now hold on. “She” is actually here, you know, and I didn’t force this guy to let me drive. It’s his fault he got wedged on Stippy Stappy Corner in the first place. He was about to take a chunk out of Old Man Garner’s cottage and he’d blocked the road. I was doing my civic duty to move this thing. I mean, who needs a van this big, anyway? Clearly someone with far too much stuff!’
Gabe stared open-mouthed at her while the driver cowered in the passenger seat. Her heart thumped. Obviously, she’d seen him on screen; she’d watched enough reruns of his cheffy appearances, but in the flesh, he was shockingly gorgeous.
‘I was only trying to help,’ said Sam. ‘Anyway, I’ll be on my way now. I was on my way home. I’ve got work to do.’
‘I thought you said you were desperate for a large gin and tonic?’ the driver muttered.
‘That too. Bye.’ She moved away.
Gabe caught up with her. ‘Wait. I was hoping to talk to you.’
She kept on going, striding along the track downhill towards Wavecrest Cottage. ‘I’ve nothing to say to you.’
‘Great. That’s perfect. So, you’re going to ignore me and freeze me out?’
‘I’m the chair of the festival and I’ll behave with total professionalism when it comes to that,’ Sam said coldly. ‘Even if it wasn’t my idea to ask you. Chloe, the deputy chair, had no idea of our … connection, or she would never have suggested it.’
‘I must admit I was a bit surprised to be approached. Especially after all this time.’
‘All what time? Seems like yesterday to me.’
Gabe shook his head and held up his hands in despair. ‘So, it’s going to be like that, is it?’
She swallowed hard. She knew she ought to count to ten, or twenty or even a hundred, but right now it seemed as if no period of time would cool her down. She’d known this moment would come and she’d rehearsed how it would be, armed herself with a long list of polite platitudes. None of them were helpful now. Seeing Gabe again had flooded her with memories that drowned out all her social armoury.
‘Like what?’
‘Daggers drawn. Naked hostility. Sam, I should never have agreed to come. I had hoped that you’d agreed to Chloe asking me. I should have checked with her, but I see she had no idea of our history.’
‘No. I had to tell her that we were … that we were close once, a very long time ago, but she doesn’t know the exact details of why we split up – although she probably has half a dozen different theories by now, helped by the village grapevine.’
‘Hmm. I bumped into Troy Carman earlier.’
‘Great,’ Sam said. ‘He’s on the committee, by the way. Evie too.’
‘He told me.’
‘I have to go. I’ll see you at the next committee meeting.’
Gabe touched her arm. The lightest most fleeting touch. Then he drew back and folded his arms as if he was ashamed of making physical contact with her My God, she thought, this was going to be excruciating.
Gabe’s expression was so serious, goosebumps popped out on her arms. ‘I would pull out but I can’t let people down now,’ he said.
‘That would make a change,’ she muttered, desperate to get away.
Before he could stop her, Sam turned on her heel and headed towards the cottage. She heard Gabe calling to the driver, but didn’t dare look round. Soon his voice was lost in the dull roar of the waves dragging at the shingle on the beach below the cottages and the cries of gulls high above her. Only when she was outside her garden gate, did she risk a glance behind her. There was no sign of Gabe, only the rear of the van disappearing between the gates of Clifftop House before they slid shut.