They were all as pink as shrimps by the time they got back to Butterbox. Suzy, Archie and Laird had gone ahead in the car with Velvet to prepare her tea, but Cassie was grateful for some solitude and preferred to take the longer, slower clifftop walk home. Their day together had been quietly eventful, relaxed but full on, as it always is with children: Archie had spent hours building Velvet a speedboat in the sand, which she immediately proceeded to fill with buckets of water, and when he and Suzy had fallen asleep, Cassie had taken her off for a play on the grassy banks just above the rocks where they were sitting, the two of them watching in quiet raptures as the wild golden-haired rabbits nibbled on the clover and sea thrifts. They had had pasties for lunch – another thing they could tick off the list (which was proving to be disarmingly placid so far) – vegetarian for Archie, eating them in the brown paper bags they came in and trying not to get sand in them, and it was only when the incoming tide started nudging the bottom of their multicoloured striped windbreak that they were finally forced to move.
The journey back was uncomplicated and straight out of a Daphne du Maurier novel. As Archie had directed, she had to head up the steep hill and take the right footpath onto the cliffs, following the coast round, past the golden crescent of Daymer Bay until she saw the church whose steeple she had spied from the house. If she headed left there, she could follow the hedge line along the fields and would come to the stile that entered their garden.
It had taken her almost an hour from Polzeath, not because the distance was great but because the beauty of the landscape was so distracting and she had stopped frequently to absorb the shape of a land that felt so remote and foreign from the rest of England that she half expected to find the border had been sundered altogether and this county that felt more like a country was bobbing in the sea beside it.
By the time she threw her leg over the stile, Laird was already firing up the charcoals and Archie was on a desperate hunt for something stronger to drink than Purdey’s.
‘Hey!’ she called as she strode up the lawn in the denim shorts and pink vest she’d left in. ‘I hope I haven’t missed anything?’
‘Not a thing. We’ve only just finished feeding Velvet,’ Laird smiled as he looked up. ‘Suzy’s gone up to have her shower.’
‘Oh good,’ she smiled back, taking off her sunglasses and peering at the platter of fish that Laird had arranged on crushed ice, with samphire and mussels on the side.
Laird’s expression changed. She didn’t have time to ask why because suddenly she heard Archie bellow from inside the house, ‘Lairdy, m’lad!’, appearing at the doorway a moment later with a bottle of Merlot and a delighted smile. ‘Look what I just f— Oh! Good God!’ he exclaimed in astonishment as Cassie sauntered up to him with a tut.
‘I’ll take that, thank you,’ she said in a sing-song voice. ‘It’s more than your life’s worth, or mine, to let you have that, as well you know.’
‘But—’
‘No buts, Arch!’ she called behind her as she strode through the kitchen and into the hall beyond. ‘We’ll keep you alive if it kills us all.’
She skipped into her bedroom with a happy smile, tossing the bottle onto the bed and wandering into her bathroom to get the shower running. Only when she caught sight of herself in the mirror did she realize the real cause for Laird and Archie’s reactions: her face was as rosy as an apple, but round her eyes, two giant white moons beamed back at her. Panda eyes writ large.
By the time she emerged downstairs, forty minutes later, she had used half a tube of her Clarins green concealer, which was supposed to minimize redness in complexions and which she sometimes used on her cheeks to offset her tendency to blush. She had left her hair down to act as a curtain and hopefully mitigate the full extent of Suzy’s scrutiny.
To no avail.
‘Holy crap!’ Suzy burst out laughing as she took one look at her in the kitchen. ‘Did the goblins get you?’
‘Oh, don’t!’ Cassie wailed, her hands flying to her greentinted face. ‘The green’s better than the red.’
‘It really isn’t.’ Suzy walked over to her bag and pulled out some baby wipes. ‘And as your best friend in the world, I am staging an intervention.’
‘But my eyes! They’re bright white.’
‘Yes, and you’ll put everyone off their food sitting there like you’re radioactive.’
Cassie laughed in spite of herself, obediently wiping her face clean and grimacing at the green wipes as she threw them in the bin.
‘Just keep your sunglasses on,’ Suzy instructed her. ‘It’s light till nine anyway, and then we’ll just blow out the candles and sit in the dark.’ She pointed to a chilli-flecked green bean salad on the counter. ‘Carry that out, will you?’
Cassie pulled her sunglasses down from the top of her head and followed her out with the dish, setting it on the large oval table. Laird and Archie had done a fine job of finding all the cushion covers for the chairs in the summerhouse and lighting the stash of taper candles that were reserved for power cuts, ingeniously planting them in a terracotta pot full of sand. Cassie counted seven place settings.
‘Shouldn’t this be five, Suze?’ she asked.
Suzy counted on her fingers. ‘No. Us three, Gem, Laird and the couple who are staying with them.’
‘Oh. I didn’t realize that they had guests too.’
‘No, me neither,’ she said in a lowered voice and checking Laird wasn’t listening. ‘Gem conveniently forgot to mention it. Guess I really am excused now for keeping them in the lodge house, huh?’
Cassie shrugged. ‘What are they like?’ She remembered all the trendy types at the Cross Keys and her hands went to her sunglasses, pushing them further up her nose. Great – strangers; these would definitely have to stay on all night now. That or excuse herself from dinner by nine.
‘No idea. Gem’s been showing them the sights all afternoon,’ Suzy said under her breath. ‘But I reckon it’s no bad thing: they can distract her from us and provide some much-needed breathing space between her and me.’ She rolled her eyes and leaned in closer. ‘Honestly, while you lot were busy not surfing, she was driving me potty. By the time she asked me where she should take them this afternoon, it was all I could do to stop myself from suggesting Carlisle.’
Archie came over, breaking up their secretive conversation and handing Cassie a drink of Purdey’s with a disapproving look – although whether that was because she had hijacked his Merlot heist or was wearing sunglasses in the gloaming she couldn’t be sure.
‘Thanks, Arch,’ she smiled apologetically. ‘Have you started to stiffen up yet?’
‘Who, me?’ he asked, stretching his neck. ‘I have a residual fitness level that I just never lose, Cass. I guess it comes from being so sporty in my youth.’
‘Yes, really fit. Hence the near-fatal heart attack,’ Suzy scoffed, but softening her scorn by affectionately flicking the tea towel at his retreating bottom.
‘Ugh, I’ve got to start running more regularly again,’ Cassie sighed, rubbing her thighs lightly through the thin cotton of her baby-blue dress. ‘I may need a piggyback up the stairs tonight. I’m not sure I’ll be capable of popping even a champagne cork by tomorrow.’
There was the sound of squeaking from the near corner and they all turned as a side gate swung back on its hinges.
‘Hey! Here you all are. What a lovely sight,’ Gem cried happily, crossing the lawn. She ambled up to Laird and kissed him lingeringly on the lips. ‘Miss me?’
‘Of course,’ Laird grinned. ‘Where’ve you been? I was expecting you back ages ago.’
‘Where haven’t we been?’ she asked back, accepting her Purdey’s from Archie with a grateful smile. ‘We went to Padstow, then on into Wadebridge to get some proper drinks.’ She winked at Archie. Suzy looked like she was going to have a stroke. ‘Then we went for a drive to Port Isaac. It is just so cute there. Honey, I wish you’d come with us. I know you wanted to ride the waves, but you’d have loved it. We’ll go again tomorrow, shall we? It’s this heavenly little fishing village, just teeny tiny, and we found the best fudge shop.’
‘Sounds great. Where are the others?’
‘Just coming. Amber’s trying to find a cover-up. She feels the cold so easily.’
‘Did they enjoy the sights?’
‘Loved it. Loved it! Luke says he never wants to leave.’
Cassie almost dropped the glass from her hand. What had Gem said?
‘And you’ll never guess who I saw today—’ Gem continued, just as the side gate squeaked open again and they all turned to see a tall, lean couple making their way over the grass. ‘Oh, look, they’re here. Come over, guys!’
Cassie felt the ground shift beneath her feet as she took in a silhouette that she knew all too well. No, he couldn’t possibly be here . . . Not again.
But he could and Suzy realized it, too, in the next moment, giving a small gasp and turning to Cassie in horror. They watched in silence as the couple approached, their hands intertwined, long, lean legs striding in unison.
‘Amber, Luke, I want you to meet Suzy, my biggest and best cousin, her hubby, Archie, and Cassie, who’s engaged to my other cousin, Henry, who isn’t here – he’s sailing across the Pacific as we speak,’ she said proudly.
Even the mention of Henry couldn’t pierce the smog of shock that had descended over Cassie at the sight of her ex-boyfriend crossing the grass.
‘Happy to meet you, Luke,’ Archie said, oblivious to the tangled web that interconnected some of their group and thrusting out his hand. ‘And, Amber, what a pleasure.’
Suzy, for once, didn’t say a word, instead shaking their hands like a dutiful wife and waiting for Cassie to take the lead on whether or not to reveal that they were already . . . acquainted.
For a long moment Cassie just blinked at them all from behind her giant sunglasses, grateful now for their protection in the fast-fading light. Amber she’d have known by name even without an introduction. She was one of the models of the moment, with ad campaigns for Dolce & Gabbana, Jimmy Choo and Burberry this season. And Luke was her boyfriend. She was whom he’d meant when he’d said at the party that he’d moved on too. He hadn’t been lying, then.
‘Hello,’ she said finally, shaking Amber’s delicate hand, scared she might lift her off the ground. She looked over at Luke; his expression was hidden from her by his own mirrored aviators, but the tension in his body was plainly apparent – he was standing too still for one thing, like a samurai alert to any movement at all.
They weren’t going to be able to deny knowing each other.
‘Hello, Luke. Nice to see you again,’ she said stiffly, not sure whether he’d even respond with civility. They’d hardly parted on friendly terms last week, when she’d thrown his attempts at diplomacy back in his face.
Gem looked astonished. ‘You guys know each other?’
‘Vaguely,’ Luke said quickly, before she could reply. ‘We met in New York a few times. We’ve got some friends in common, right? Bas, Kelly Hartford . . .’
‘Uh, yes, she’s Kelly Cole now,’ Cassie said cautiously, trying to guess his game. ‘She got married a few years back.’
‘Oh yeah, that’s right. I’d forgotten. Who can keep track, right?’ He cracked a slight smile. ‘Do you still see her?’
Cassie just nodded. She wished she could see his eyes. They’d had this very conversation at the polo. This was a game, role play.
‘Kelly’s an absolutely top pal of Suzy’s too,’ Archie said, oblivious to the undercurrent. ‘The girls were all at school together. They go back yonks.’
‘Funny, isn’t it?’ Luke asked, stuffing his hand in his pocket and looking across at Archie with interest. ‘It’s just such a small world.’
‘Never fails to astound me,’ Archie continued. ‘I remember one time . . .’
Cassie tuned out, watching Luke deliver a seamless performance that betrayed no hint of the intensity that had once existed between them, of the fierce passion that had led to them not leaving his apartment for four days one time and her losing three pounds just from sex. Her eyes travelled over to Amber, yet another in the long line of models who had both preceded and succeeded her. A photographer dating his models was just an occupational hazard, he’d once told her. Actors dated other actors; nurses dated doctors . . . How else was he supposed to meet girls when he was trapped in an airless, windowless studio for fifteen hours in every day? And frankly, though he’d never said this outright to her, why wouldn’t he? Every man on the planet would want to trade places with him.
Cassie tilted her face to make out that she was listening to the men’s conversation, but her eyes were taking in Amber’s silver ‘H’ Hermès sandals and denim cut-off shorts, which were so tiny the pocket linings peeked out of the bottoms. Her long, rich brown hair – while not blow-dried – had still clearly been styled into rough ‘beachy’ waves, and she had some sort of dry oil on her skin, for it glistened as she moved, minute flecks of gold reflecting in the sunset. A hair-thin gold bracelet with a single diamond dangled round one dainty wrist, and it was apparent she had been named Amber on account of her lion’s-yellow eyes.
‘Well, it’s an amazing place you’ve got here,’ Luke said, still to Archie, and Cassie knew he was deliberately avoiding engaging Suzy in conversation directly. She did know the truth about their relationship and he couldn’t be sure yet how her loyalty to Cassie would manifest itself – although fiercely would be a good guess. ‘I can hardly believe the view. I always think mine is pretty special in Manhattan – I live on the forty-eighth floor and can see all the way to Brooklyn – but this is really something else.’
Cassie tried not to remember his apartment – the industrial chic with exposed-brick walls and steel girders he’d pioneered long before the crowds, the massive custom-made bed, the state-of-the-art coffee machine, the light box where he’d first seduced her . . .
Why was he here? Had he known she was here? He had to have known! Surely he didn’t expect her to believe it was just a coincidence to find themselves in the same shabby house on a remote lane in the furthest corner of England?
‘So how do you guys know each other?’ Cassie asked Gem, accidentally, in her haste, talking over the punchline of Archie’s joke about the Frenchman and the toast.
‘Oh, Ambs and I connected in Sydney last year. Lululemon was doing this mass live yoga session for the launch of their flagship and Amby was one of the models.’
‘Why did they have models for a yoga session?’ Suzy asked disingenuously.
‘Oh, ’cos it all goes hand in hand in that market. I mean, everyone’s always asking you about your figure and how you exercise and what you wear, right?’
Amber groaned and rolled her eyes. ‘Jeez, if I had a buck for every time I’ve been asked about my fitness regimen or my diet, I wouldn’t have to freaking work!’ she laughed.
Gem, Luke, Archie and Laird laughed too. Suzy didn’t – Cassie could see her friend was watching her husband’s blood pressure rise by the second to be in the presence of a bona fide model.
‘Anyway, so Amber was one of the girls doing the demo and I was leading the yoga workshop; we just got chatting and really connected.’ Gem put her hand on Amber’s arm. ‘Hey, remember the silent retreat in Goa?’
‘Oh, man, we got the giggles so bad,’ Amber laughed, leaning in to Luke so that he draped his arm round her shoulders, planting an easy kiss on the top of her head. ‘I mean, three days without speaking? Come on!’
‘It wouldn’t be Suzy’s forte either,’ Archie said. ‘She talks so much sometimes I think she’s being paid for words per minute.’
‘Oh, ha, ha!’ Suzy said indignantly, walloping him on the arm.
‘Wow, so then you’re here because you two are such good friends,’ Cassie murmured, scarcely able to believe her bad luck. It had been bad enough seeing Luke at the polo and the party with Beau’s crowd; that at least made sense – he and Beau were friends – but now there was another connection linking their worlds?
‘Yeah, but it’s not like we’re able to see each other much,’ Gem shrugged. ‘In fact, we haven’t seen each other for months. Amber’s always travelling for work—’
‘Always,’ Amber sighed wearily.
‘And I was in Oz for all that time. We’d slightly lost touch, to be honest.’ Gem looked sadly at Amber, who was nodding solemnly back at her. ‘But then we bumped into each other again at Henry’s leaving party last week because Luke’s a mate of Beau’s. Can you believe it?’
‘Sadly yes,’ Cassie muttered into her drink.
‘So when Amber told me she was with Luke and Luke knew Beau and Beau knew Henry and, of course, you’re with Henry and he’s my cuz and your bro’ – she looked over at Suzy – ‘I thought . . . wouldn’t it be just so much fun?’ Gem held her arms out in delight.
‘Amazing,’ Suzy said, shaking her head and looking over at Cassie. ‘Isn’t that just amazing?’
‘Amazing,’ Cassie echoed limply.
‘It was just the perfect opportunity for us all to be together. I mean, there’s so much to do and talk about.’ She squeezed Amber’s arm as she looked over at Suzy. ‘Amber’s agreed to be my bridesmaid, you see. How could I pass up the chance to have her and you – the very best wedding planner in London – together, all to myself? I just couldn’t resist holing us all up here. You don’t hate me, do you?’ she teased.
This time, neither Suzy nor Cassie said a word. Neither one of them had the strength to lie.