‘Guys!’ It was Lawrence, running up the hill, pulling Reenie behind him. She looked horrified.
‘Oh God, Charlie.’ Reenie flung herself at Charlie, and they embraced. Even though Marmite was between them, she could feel the older woman trembling.
‘Apparently we can’t try and move him ourselves,’ Juliette said to Lawrence, as he wrapped his arm around her. ‘We have to wait for the fire engine.’
‘It’s so risky,’ Lawrence replied, glancing at the BMW. ‘Hugh’s at the bottom of the cliff, telling any traffic that tries to come up here to turn back.’ He released Juliette and went over to Daniel’s side of the car, crouching down and peering forward. ‘You doing OK, Daniel, mate?’
Charlie turned away. She couldn’t lose what little composure she had left. She thought of Hal, of the lessons he had taught her, his nuggets of wisdom and inspiration. If you find yourself on a sticky wicket, just stop. Stop, breathe, take a moment to compose yourself, then try again. There is nothing that can’t be overcome if you believe in yourself enough. Could she do this? Could she ignore the advice of the emergency services, or was it a terrible mistake? No. She believed in herself, and they had to overcome this. There was simply no other option
She pushed Marmite into Reenie’s arms and called out to Lawrence as she ran. ‘Tell Daniel to hold on. We’re getting him out of this.’
‘Where are you going?’ Juliette shouted after her. ‘Charlie?!’
But Charlie didn’t reply. She ran back down the hill, past Hugh, past the remaining food trucks, and onto the beach. The sun was falling as she raced back to the bus, which she’d left open in her haste to discover the cause of the bang. She ran round to the front of Gertie and checked the winch, remembering her incredulity all those months ago when she’d discovered Pete had added it. When she next saw him, she would kiss him. She climbed into the cab and started the engine. Gertie puttered into life and, for a second, Charlie felt calm. If she was with her bus, she could do anything: it was her and Gertie against the world. And now, they were facing their most important challenge of all.
She turned the bus round and drove off the beach, then gestured to Hugh to let her past, pointing at the winch until he understood and stood back. She kept her pace steady as she climbed. She knew the bus’s weight would pull Daniel’s car back to safety, but she didn’t want it to make the cliff more unstable before she’d attached the winch. Her heart was in her throat, her palms slick on the steering wheel as she reached the crest of the hill.
Juliette and Lawrence stared at her open-mouthed, and Reenie was wide-eyed, clutching Marmite tightly. Charlie drove the bus as far as she dared, positioning it a good way back behind Daniel’s car, and at an angle because the road wasn’t wide enough to park horizontally across it. Then she climbed out of the driver’s original door, the quickest route down.
‘Here,’ she said, yanking the disengage lever and pulling out the winch. ‘We can attach this.’
‘Charlie, you fucking genius!’ Lawrence took the end of the winch and approached the back of the BMW.
‘It’s not perfect,’ she said. ‘I can’t get the bus directly behind him because the road’s too narrow, and we don’t have time to set up a pivot point so, as it pulls, his car will twist to line up with the winch. But it should be enough to get him onto solid ground.’
‘It’s brilliant, Char,’ Lawrence replied.
This time it was Juliette who called out to Daniel. ‘We’re going to winch you to safety, OK? If you feel a jolt, it’s not that you’re going over, it’s that we’re pulling you back. Hold on, Daniel!’
‘Is he OK?’ Charlie called, climbing back in the small door and behind the wheel. She found the winch button on the dashboard.
‘As much as he can be!’ Juliette shouted.
She could hear muttering from the others, standing around and doing nothing except telling her not to rescue him. She pushed down her anger. She had to focus. Afterwards, perhaps, she would tell them that it wasn’t the man they cared about who’d been stuck on the edge of the cliff, and if it had been, they might have felt differently. But perhaps she wouldn’t. Maybe she would be too busy holding onto Daniel and never letting go. Besides, she might accidentally push one of them over the edge, and she didn’t want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Victory, victory, victory, she said to herself. This has to work.
She watched as Lawrence spent several tense moments securing the end of the winch, the load hook, to Daniel’s car, his movements slow and measured. Then he walked backwards, never taking his eyes off the BMW. He re-engaged the winch lever on the front of the bus.
‘OK, Charlie!’ he shouted, giving her the thumbs-up.
‘Right,’ Charlie said to herself. She thought of the first time she had seen Daniel in the pub, his insolent comments about Gertie, and the last time, in his office, when their kiss had been a promise, a prelude to something more. She could replay, easily, all the meetings in between; they stood out like stars, burning brightly in her memory. Victory, victory, victory. This has to work. And then, out loud, she said, ‘Here goes.’
She pressed the winch button, heard a clunk as it swung into action, and then watched as slowly, slowly, the cord began reeling in.
There was a collectively held breath. She could feel it inside her and all around, as everyone watched the BMW creep slowly backwards, the silver winch cord gleaming in the evening light. It inched closer and closer, turning as it began to line up with the winch and Charlie’s bus, the passenger side coming towards solid land first. The front left-hand wheel hit the edge of the cliff and bounced up, the driver’s side of the car dipping precariously towards the sea, a long way below. Juliette squealed and Charlie gripped the steering wheel so tightly she couldn’t feel her fingers. She thought, for a horrifying, time-stopping moment, that Daniel’s weight would send it over, tumbling down the cliff, unravelling the winch as it went.
But then the car lurched up again and, a few seconds later, seconds that seemed like hours to Charlie, the driver’s front side wheel rolled backwards onto the cliff. Then it was only the bonnet with a sheer drop beneath it. There were sighs and shouts of relief. Juliette wrapped her arms around Reenie, while the older woman looked on, aghast. But Charlie didn’t dare breathe. She wouldn’t until the whole car was at least five metres away from the edge.
The winch kept working, the BMW got closer to the bus, and by now everyone was clapping and cheering, Reenie pressing her head into Marmite’s soft fur while the little dog scrabbled in her arms.
‘You’ve done it!’ Lawrence called, giving her another thumbs-up. ‘You can switch it off now, Charlie! Charlie?’ He patted the front of the bus and Charlie pressed the button. The winch stopped.
Reenie and Juliette rushed to Daniel’s door and flung it open. Marmite jumped down inside the car and Juliette picked him up again, shushing him gently.
‘Daniel, my God, are you OK?’ With tears in her eyes, Reenie bent inside the car and, a moment later, Charlie saw feet on the ground; blue Converse, jeans; and then he was half pushing himself up, half being pulled by Reenie, until he was out and leaning against the side of the BMW. Dark hoodie, dark hair, face as white as a sheet.
Charlie finally let her breath go. She gulped air in as if she couldn’t get enough, and then, her whole body trembling, she climbed out of the driver’s door into the cool evening.
Daniel stepped away from the car, towards her. Reenie gripped his arm, but he patted her hand and she let go. He took another few steps, and she could see the rise and fall of his chest, his eyes bright with shock. He rubbed his hands together, as if loosening up his fingers. Had he been gripping the wheel, just as she had?
‘I didn’t know your skills extended to winching,’ he said. He sounded only slightly less in control than she was used to. Relief and desire flooded through her.
‘Are you OK?’
‘Thanks to you,’ he said. ‘Charlie, I—’
‘You’re OK. Thank God you’
re OK.’ She rushed forwards and put her hands up to his face. His skin was cold and she felt the graze of stubble under her palms. He searched her eyes, as if reminding himself that she was still there.
‘Juliette said you were leaving.’
‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘I had to make a decision, at the end of the summer, about my old job, but I’m not going. I chose to stay here. With you.’
He placed his hands over hers and pulled them gently away from his face, but didn’t let go of them. ‘I called you. I didn’t understand, Charlie, after the other day—’
‘It’s all my fault,’ Juliette said. ‘I overheard Charlie on the phone and I misunderstood.’ She had tears in her eyes, Lawrence’s arm wrapped protectively around her waist. ‘I am so, so sorry.’
‘It’s OK, Jules.’ He turned to look at her. ‘This was entirely my fault. I was going too fast, as usual. Especially fast, on this occasion.’ He faced Charlie again. ‘But you’re not leaving. That’s all that matters.’ He brushed his hand over her hair, traced a finger down her cheek. Charlie shivered with delight.
‘And that you’re OK,’ Charlie said. ‘That matters too. Quite a lot, actually.’
His smile slipped. ‘Because of you. I would like to tell you that I wasn’t remotely scared in there, that I sat back and enjoyed the impressive view out of my windscreen, but it would be a massive lie. You saved my life, Charlie.’
She swallowed. ‘I just … Pete, he—’
He put his finger on her lips. ‘You did. You saved me. You and that bus.’
Charlie tried to speak past his finger. ‘Gertie is—’
‘Wonderful, I know.’
She could feel the emotion bubbling up inside her, uncorked now that Daniel was back on solid ground. She bit back a sob just as sirens pierced the air, the flash of blue lights filling the sky.
‘Your rescue party,’ Lawrence said quietly, and Charlie wondered if they were all thinking the same thing: if they’d waited, would the BMW still have been balanced on the cliff? She didn’t want to consider the alternative.
‘You should let them check you over, Daniel,’ Reenie said. ‘You must be in shock. Did you hit your chest against the wheel?’
‘I’m fine, Reenie.’ He bent to give her a hug. ‘But I will get checked over, just to be sure.’
She scrunched his cheek. ‘Oh, you ridiculous man! Imagine almost getting yourself killed for an extra five minutes off your journey.’
‘It was an important journey, though. Even if, at the time, I was acting under false information. My intentions were good. Charlie and I have unfinished business.’ He smiled, and Charlie could see a glimmer of his usual spark. The ember was still there, even if shock had temporarily dulled it.
She placed her hands flat on his chest, feeling him solid and warm beneath them. ‘I couldn’t leave you behind, Daniel. I love Porthgolow, Jules and Lawrence, Reenie, Jonah and his family. I could have come back and visited everyone, watched the sunsets, driven my bus around Cornwall, but I knew that if I left, if I only came back here occasionally, you wouldn’t be in my life in the way I wanted. You’d be Daniel Harper, owner of Crystal Waters, dedicated businessman, warm and kind-hearted, often completely infuriating. And I love that you’re all those things, but for me, you’re so much more. I want you to be more.’
‘Good,’ he said. ‘Because I want to be more than that, too.’
His lips found hers, and his arms circled her waist until she was fully wrapped in his embrace. His kiss went through her, straight to her heart. She held onto him and kissed him back, and it was even sweeter, even sexier than the last time. He was here, he was alive, and he was hers. It was only the sirens that broke them apart, much louder now as the fire engine, ambulance and two police cars finally reached them, coming to a stop metres from the bus and the BMW.
Charlie stepped back, her smile mirroring Daniel’s.
‘We understood there was a person in trouble at the edge of the cliff. Could someone please explain what’s happened?’
‘Is there anyone in need of medical attention?’
Reenie pulled Daniel away and Charlie watched him introduce himself to the paramedic and the policeman, shake their hands and start to tell them what had happened. Even after such a terrifying experience, he was the epitome of professionalism. And then a fireman approached her, asking about the bus and the winch, and she explained everything – everything except the emotions that had raged through her as she decided she was going to risk it, that she couldn’t wait for Daniel’s car to crash over the edge of the cliff when there was something she could do about it.
By the time she’d finished, Daniel was sitting in the ambulance, his hoodie and T-shirt off while a paramedic checked his chest and breathing. Charlie hovered in the doorway, reasoning with herself that, under the circumstances, she shouldn’t be enjoying the view quite so much.
‘Is he OK?’ she asked.
‘I’m fine,’ Daniel said.
She waited for confirmation from the paramedic. ‘All his obs are normal,’ he confirmed. ‘But he’s had a shock, so I’d like him to rest and book in with his GP next week for a check-up. If you start having pain or discomfort in the meantime,’ he said to Daniel, ‘then call 999.’
‘Of course,’ Daniel replied.
‘I can make sure all of that happens,’ Charlie said, smiling at Daniel’s surprised expression.
‘Oh you can, can you?’
‘Especially the resting part.’
Daniel thanked the paramedic, pulled his T-shirt and hoodie back on and hopped down from the ambulance. ‘Rest wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.’
‘What?’ Charlie widened her eyes innocently. ‘You don’t think you’re entitled to a hot tub session? I would have thought all the tension from sitting in that car, still as a statue, has wreaked havoc with your muscles.’
‘Depends,’ Daniel said. ‘Will you be in there with me?’
‘I think I’d have to be,’ Charlie replied, ‘to make sure you didn’t succumb to any after-effects of all this.’ She gestured at the flashing lights, the tow truck that had arrived to take Daniel’s BMW to the garage. Its undercarriage was damaged, apparently. It would need a lot of work before it would be drivable again.
‘You don’t have much faith in my physical strength,’ he said, as she took his hand and led him back to the others.
‘We’re going to the pub,’ Lawrence announced. ‘I don’t know whether any of the food market guys will still be there, but we could all do with a stiff one.’
‘I’m going to take Gertie back to the beach,’ Charlie said, ‘but—’
‘You don’t have to come, if you’ve got other things to do.’ Juliette pulled her and Daniel into a hug. ‘I’m so glad you’re OK. You know, it is pretty romantic.’ She stepped back and appraised them both. ‘He comes rushing back because some idiot tells him you’re leaving, then goes over the edge and has to be rescued by the woman he loves.’
‘Juliette!’ Charlie’s cheeks flamed.
‘What?’ Juliette smiled. ‘Isn’t it obvious? It is to me.’
‘And me,’ Reenie said, smirking. At least she was looking – and sounding – more like her old self.
‘Come on,’ Charlie said, taking Daniel’s hand again. She couldn’t meet his eye. ‘We’ll see you in the pub in ten minutes.’
Chapter Thirty-Two
By the time she’d parked her bus in its space on the beach, the sun was a burning orb hovering above the horizon, the water flaming pink and gold beneath, as if inviting it into its depths. Daniel was sitting at one of the downstairs tables, Marmite on his lap. He smiled when she approached, but she could see that the evening’s events were catching up with him now that the sirens and adrenalin had been replaced by calm.
‘We don’t have to go to the pub,’ she said, sitting opposite him.
He reached across the table and took her hands. ‘I’d rather go home.’
‘Of course. Is Jasper there?’
/> He nodded. ‘My dad’s allergic to dogs, so I left him with my neighbour over the weekend. I’m so glad he wasn’t in the car this afternoon. When Juliette called to tell me you were leaving, and then I couldn’t get an answer from you …’
‘I’m so sorry that happened.’ She ran her hand up the inside of his arm, sliding her fingers under the soft cotton of his hoodie. ‘I was on the phone to my mum, telling her about looking for a place here, but not wanting to let Juliette know until I was definitely moving out, and Jules got the wrong idea. My old boss, at the café in Ross-on-Wye, had called to ask when I was coming back, and I’d talked to Juliette about it, so she knew it was on my mind. But then …’
‘But then?’
‘But then I came to see you at the hotel. I had decided that if you couldn’t forgive me for accusing you of shutting Gertie down, then the choice would be harder. I love Porthgolow, and I love The Cornish Cream Tea Bus. I want this to be its home, to be my home, but I also knew that if you didn’t feel the same way about me …’
‘You must have known that I did,’ Daniel said. ‘And it started long before that night in the hot tub.’
‘Because you kept antagonizing me?’
‘Exactly,’ he said, laughing softly. ‘I couldn’t leave you alone. With all my business knowledge and highly attuned understanding of what it means to be professional, I couldn’t stop interfering. I may not have been enamoured with Gertie at the very beginning, but the very first time I met you … I wanted you to succeed, to stay, even if the bus wasn’t my idea of a perfect café venue. Obviously, you have completely proved me wrong on that front.’
‘And you’ve come to embrace the whole of Porthgolow a bit more too, if I’m not mistaken?’
He looked at her but didn’t reply, just absent-mindedly stroked Marmite between the ears while the little dog sat in a state of bliss on his lap.
‘You organized and paid for the car park upgrade, the new streetlights – all those small changes that have made Porthgolow shine. And you arranged for Josie to come and cover the food market. I don’t know what it took to convince her to give me a second chance, but thank you.’
The Cornish Cream Tea Bus Page 31