Lachlan stood in the doorway of Marina’s cottage, with a leaflet in his hand.
‘I picked up this flyer in the village,’ he said, handing it to her. ‘Some outfit called Stargazey Pie is running an evening cookout called Pie on the Beach.’
‘Oh yes, that’s Sam Lovell’s mobile business. Some of the staff at college were talking about it today. Sounds good. It’s at Seaholly Cove, isn’t it?’ She glanced at the leaflet but was more intrigued by his sudden appearance on her doorstep. It had been a couple of days since their heart to heart at his place and she’d wondered if – when – they might meet up again.
‘Yes – this Saturday. You take your own plates and glasses, and chairs or a picnic rug. They dish up the food and you eat under the stars on the sand. There’s a menu on their website … if you fancy it, that is.’
‘Saturday night?’ Marina said. ‘Oh …’
‘Is it a problem? If you’re busy, we could do something another time …’
‘No. No … Saturday’s fine. It’s OK.’ She smiled. ‘More than OK. I’d like that.’
His expression lit up and she realised he’d probably genuinely been unsure of her response. They were still skirting around each other, despite their previous conversations. She did feel that Lachlan was holding back more than her, but perhaps that was because she was further down a path than he was. But the fact he’d invited her to a communal event was a promising sign for a man who said he wanted to ‘hide away from the world’. She certainly didn’t want to put him off, now he’d decided to venture out.
‘Great. I’ll book two places and call for you around six so we can walk down together?’ he said. ‘I’ll bring some wine and glasses, shall I?’
‘I’ll bring the plates and a rug then.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’ He left, and she heard him whistling softly once he’d gone a few yards. Unable to wipe a silly grin off her face, she went out to the garden to take a few calming breaths.
She looked out to sea. On the Lizard point, the lighthouse was a silhouette in the evening light. There was something that she hadn’t told Lachlan and had no intention of revealing in case it shattered the rapport they were building.
Saturday night would be the seventh anniversary of Nate’s disappearance – and the day that, legally, he would be officially considered gone forever.
Marina told Tiff about the beach date while they were both keeping watch at the lookout station the next evening.
‘Wow. Well done. I’m very happy you two finally saw sense. I like Lachlan, even from the few times I’ve met him … I saw him pay for an old lady’s shopping in the Co-Op the other day because she’d forgotten her purse.’
‘What? You didn’t say anything before,’ Marina said
‘Sorry, I must have forgotten. I told him it was a nice thing to do but he brushed it off. He’s clearly modest as well as kind hearted …’ Tiff’s eyes gleamed. ‘Although I don’t think his chivalry towards elderly ladies is the main part of his attraction, is it?’
‘No, I have to admit it isn’t.’ Marina smiled then her doubts came back. ‘I’m looking forward to it in one way but … do you think it’s a bad idea to go out on a date with another man on a night like that?’
Tiff seemed puzzled. ‘A night like … oh, I see. That’s the anniversary of …’ She let the rest of the sentence hang, probably because she didn’t want to say the words out loud.
‘Of Nate’s death. Yes. I haven’t told Lachlan. It’s not really the sort of thing you want to hear on a date. Especially as we’re getting on so well right now.’
‘Of course I don’t think it’s a “bad idea”, my love. If you like Lachlan and you want to have something happy to look forward to on what could be a grim day, then it strikes me as a great idea.’
Marina sighed. ‘I’m not sure what my mum and dad will think.’
‘Have you told them?’
‘Not yet. I haven’t told anyone apart from you. I keep wondering if I should be throwing flowers into the sea, dressed in widow’s weeds and weeping, instead.’
‘Don’t you think you’ve done enough of that to last a lifetime?’ Tiff swept her arm around. ‘Who needs flowers when you’ve got this place as the best memorial Nate could ever have? One that’s saved many lives and will go on to save many more. There’s even a plaque on the wall outside dedicated to his memory. So you have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. Plus, I don’t think Nate would want you to spend the rest of your life weeping for him, would he?’
‘No, I don’t think he would,’ she replied, though in truth she’d no idea what Nate would have wanted.
‘So go out with Lachlan and live your life. You deserve it.’
She nodded and they watched in silence for a few minutes before the radio crackled into life with a message from the coastguard, making them aware that the Porthmellow lifeboat had been called out to a trawler with engine trouble.
Tiff showed a great interest in the message and seemed very keen to be in charge of the powerful binoculars. She was intent on the orange all-weather lifeboat cutting through the waves, throwing up spray on its way to the stricken vessel a few miles up the coast.
‘Have you managed to zero in on Dirk yet?’ Marina asked.
Tiff pulled her eyes from the scope, blinking. ‘The boat’s gone out of range and no … I don’t think I could see him at the helm.’
Marina pointed to the screen on the desk. ‘Want to follow him – sorry, it – on the marine radar?’
Tiff wagged a finger. ‘Naughty.’ She sighed. ‘I’m not that desperate …’
‘Is everything OK between you two?’ Marina asked. ‘Or is that a stupid question considering you’ve been at his most of the past week?’
Tiff smirked. ‘More than OK I’d say … I may as well confess that things have gone quite a way beyond the holding hands stage. In fact, there never was any hand holding. We decided to skip the nursery slopes and go off-piste pretty much straight away.’
Marina giggled. ‘You’re outrageous.’
She gave a little bow. ‘I aim to please … but I suppose I’d be lying if I said it was smooth sailing between us. How could it be when Dirk ’n’ Stormy meets Tempestuous Tiff? We rub each other up the wrong way from time to time but we’re also remarkably similar. We enjoy similar music, most of the same books, our politics are in synch …’
‘You like him, then?’
‘Yes.’ Tiff sighed. ‘I could like him a lot more if I let myself, but I won’t. We’ve been upfront that things can’t go anywhere long-term …’ She sighed. ‘The fact is, there’s no future for me and Dirk in Porthmellow. He’s made it plain he expects me to return to the evils of London at some point.’
‘Have you any plans to go back yet?’
‘No, but I can’t live off your hospitality forever and I’m still hopeful that when the heat has died down, I can find another job. I might have done a bit of work on the side while I’m here.’
Marina’s antenna twitched. ‘What do you mean?’
Tiff assumed an innocent look but Marina knew there was no halo. ‘I know I said I wouldn’t dig anything up on anyone in Porthmellow, and I haven’t – not on anyone you like anyway. But I did spot an opportunity in the St Austell area recently that was too good to miss.’
‘St Austell? Oh God, what have you been up to?’
‘A tip-off about a councillor who used to be involved in a lifeboat crew until he was asked to leave. I heard via a solicitor who knows him; she’s one of Cream of Cornish’s ad clients … I pursued the story and it turns out he’s been harassing women – including this lawyer. They haven’t wanted to say anything because the councillor’s firm was one of their clients. It’s a tangled web, but she put me in touch with more women he’s alleged to have hassled, and he’s been suspended. I felt duty bound to mention it to a contact in London.’
Marina blew out a breath. ‘Wow. I’ve been at fundraisers with that guy. I thought he was creepy but I’d no idea he was such a shit.’
‘Dirk seemed shocked. He only knew the man slightly but he was disgusted. He said “the bastard deserved everything he got”, and he wished he’d known about it before.’
‘That’s good, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but … he didn’t say anything explicitly, but I think it reminded him what my job is and that in spite of everything, I love doing it – if I’m ever allowed back.’ She paused, letting her eyes rest on the horizon as if, Marina thought, the answers to anything concerning Dirk could be found in the deep blue depths.
‘Which only reinforces the fact that he and I both know I won’t be here forever,’ she resumed. ‘I love Porthmellow and I could – if I let myself and was extremely foolish – fall very hard for Dirk. Despite his reputation, you know yourself that there’s a kind, loving guy under that craggy, moody exterior: a man who wants to trust someone but refuses to ever open up a chink of vulnerability ever again. I even think he rather likes me, and we’re certainly compatible when no words are required.’ Tiff smiled. ‘But as for committing to anything long-term, or letting myself fall any deeper, I can’t let that happen.’
‘Oh, Tiff. This all sounds so bleak.’
‘Not at all. It’s merely self-preservation. I’ll admit when I go back to my wicked ways in London, I’ll miss Porthmellow, I’ll be heartbroken to leave you and I guess it will sting a bit to say goodbye to Dirk …’ She heaved a sigh. ‘But I have to survive, financially and career wise. I can’t imagine settling down here, fixing Dirk’s dinner every night when he comes home from the station, smelling of engine oil and shouting “Hi, honey, I’m home!”’
Marina could hardly reply for giggles at Tiff’s version of an American housewife.
‘That’s rubbish! Dirk would never expect you to do that. It’s like something from the 1950s and, anyway, you can’t cook.’
Tiff nodded. ‘Good point – and, actually, when he smells of anything, it’s either salt water or Creed … anyway, I digress. I can’t see a way for us to be together long-term.’
After that Tiff changed the subject and Marina backed off. Tiff was a grown-up and, after all, she had her own love life to focus on and Nate’s anniversary to get through. Hopefully, the evening at the beach would go some way to helping her put the past behind her for good.