A Summer to Remember

by Sue Moorcroft

  The fine eyebrows that were so much like Clancy’s own shot up into Alice’s hair. ‘I prefer to use the word “negotiation”.’ Then she grinned and took one of Clancy’s hands tentatively. ‘Have I done enough for you to forgive me a bit? I do also have good news. At least, I think you’ll think it’s good news. Let me tell you and then you can decide.’

  Clancy didn’t really hesitate. Although Alice had let her down, she was still her favourite cousin, and she had got rid of Hugo, ruthlessly, but efficiently. ‘Go on then. Tell me.’

  When she’d listened to what Alice had to offer, Clancy thought it was fantastic news. At least for her. She wasn’t so convinced how it was going to turn out for Alice.

  ‘You’re absolutely sure?’ she kept asking. ‘Because it’s a big step.’

  Alice’s eyes filled with tears then. ‘I’m sure,’ she said. ‘I need to leave the village again and it’s absolutely the best way to pay you back for being the best cousin in the world.’

  Then Clancy’s eyes filled with tears too.

  Alice left soon after that. She carted the remainder of Possession Mountain into the motorhome, though Clancy couldn’t help her because she still had two more cottages to service. Alice said she didn’t want Clancy to wave her off anyway, because it would be too sad. From the front bedroom window of number six, Clancy watched sadly as the big vehicle’s roof passed above the hedges and turned the elbow bend before sinking steadily out of sight on the steepness of Long Climb.

  Wiping her eyes, she tossed the final armload of used bedding over the bannisters – just too late to warn Aaron, who was coming up.

  He swore and tripped as the fabric billowed over him, banging his elbow on the handrail as he fought his way out.

  Clancy tried not to laugh. ‘Oops, sorry!’ she called, as he craned around to look at her. ‘I’ve been trying to phone you but a lot’s happened this morning and I’m running miles behind.’

  ‘Was that Alice in the motorhome?’ he demanded, taking the remainder of the steps two at a time.

  ‘It was.’ Clancy met him on the landing, her heart picking up pace. She regarded him uncertainly.

  But not for long. He pulled her into his arms, his lips descending firmly on hers in a kiss that both set her senses ablaze and settled her nerves as it went on and on. ‘Can we go somewhere to talk?’ he said eventually, when they came up for air.

  Her heart gave a little anticipatory hop, because she was desperate to share the good news Alice had given her, but she glanced at her watch. ‘There’s still the rest of this and number five to clean and change—’

  ‘Sod them!’ Aaron planted his hands on his hips.

  She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him again. ‘So you’re going to stay here and tell three families they have dirty sheets and their holiday homes aren’t ready?’

  Aaron heaved a sigh. ‘OK. Let’s get it done.’

  With both of them working furiously they finished before the first guest hove into view. Clancy led Aaron into the Roundhouse to dump the cleaning things. ‘We could stay here because—’

  But he was already grimacing. ‘No! I want to go where no cousins, brothers, parents, guests, exes, pets, phones or emails can interrupt.’ Then he grinned. ‘Get your swimming costume.’

  Giggling, Clancy hurried into a one-piece and threw her clothes back on over it, then she grabbed towels, and they hurried along Droody Road, onto the grass of the clifftop to The Leap. Once they’d stripped off their clothes – Aaron to his boxers in lieu of trunks – he took her hand. ‘Ready? Let’s go!’

  They raced towards the cliff edge, yelling as they launched themselves into nothingness, scattering gulls in the wind as they plummeted through the air and crashed stingingly through the waves into the near-silent world of underwater. As before, the swim to the surface seemed a couple of seconds longer than was comfortable, but then they broke the surface together.

  ‘Come on.’ Aaron led the way around the rocks to Secret Beach, empty today. Clancy felt a twinge of sorrow that there was no Harry and Rory hiding out from the rest of the village so they could show their love for each other. Then Aaron was pulling her to her feet in the shallows, helping her over that bit where the waves played at sucking the sand out from underneath your feet as you tried to walk.

  Finally, he pulled her down on the beach beside him, kissing her so suddenly and thoroughly that she didn’t know if she was breathless from the swim or from the kiss. Then he broke away. ‘I love you,’ he said firmly. ‘I’m not sure if that’s been completely obvious but I want to make sure you know.’

  Her heart flipped like a giddy pancake. ‘That’s good,’ she murmured breathlessly, reaching up to touch his cheek, slippery with water. ‘Because I love you too.’

  Relief blazed in his eyes. ‘If you don’t want to live here then I’ll be at home wherever you are. There must be some kind of gardening business I can get off the ground in London.’ He looked struck. ‘I was thinking of specialising in roof gardens and I could call it that, couldn’t I? “Off the Ground Landscaping”.’

  Clancy shivered, and not because of the spray from waves breaking nearby. ‘You hate London,’ she said in astonishment. ‘I don’t know who’d be more miserable, you or Nelson.’

  He tried to shrug her words off. ‘But if you can’t be happy here—’

  Cautiously, she bit back an assurance that she could be ecstatically happy in the tiny little village high up above the sea. There were other hurdles to be cleared. ‘I talked to Oli and Kaz about the B&B yesterday and now they know the truth about what happened with IsVid, Oli wants to talk again about me investing with them.’

  Aaron’s hands tightened on hers. ‘Will you?’

  She shook her head. ‘Can’t now, because … um, have you spoken to Lee about Alice?’

  He brushed his brother away with an impatient shrug. ‘They’re not going to try again. He told me last night. But, listen—’ he gripped her still more fiercely ‘—I’m not going to let them get inside our relationship any more, whatever they do.’

  Joy blossomed in her chest. ‘Me, neither. Or me, too – whichever’s right. Alice came this morning. I think she’s upset about Lee but trying not to show it. I can’t promise she’ll stay away though because I think she suspects Lee was The One, and she let him go so there would always be a chance she’d pop back up.’ She turned to face him squarely. ‘I think she’d genuinely hoped … Anyway, she’s gone travelling again. And I have sole possession of the Roundhouse because she’s manipulated Hugo out of the way too.’ She told him about her cousin’s insouciant blackmail.

  Instead of looking pleased, though, Aaron frowned. ‘Even if Alice comes back to the Roundhouse sometime, it doesn’t have to matter. You could move in with me.’

  It was such a shock that she had to pause to get her breath before she answered. ‘I’m not sure that’s the best idea—’

  ‘Lee and Daisy are going to move to Hunstanton,’ he added persuasively. ‘We’ll be alone.’

  ‘Yes, but Genevieve—’

  ‘Forget what happened with Genevieve,’ he broke in, knitting his dark brows over the bridge of his nose. ‘I didn’t want her moving in because she was the wrong woman. You’re the right woman.’ And he closed in for a hard, hot kiss, as if to prove it. ‘I’ve talked to Genevieve and I’m pretty confident she won’t try and make trouble for you any more.’

  ‘But—’ Clancy said loudly, intent on getting a word in ‘—Alice has taken Genevieve travelling with her! Apparently she stayed at Genevieve’s cottage last night after talking to Lee and she’s persuaded her that she needs a break from Nelson’s Bar.’

  Aaron’s jaw dropped. ‘Seriously?’

  Clancy nodded, freeing a hand to stroke seawater droplets from his arm. ‘Alice and I had a row yesterday. I told her she took from me but didn’t give and that I wasn’t going to look after her half of Roundhouse Row any more. She was so shocked she came up with a plan to rebalance the scales.’
>
  He looked bemused. ‘And that’s taking Genevieve away for a bit?’

  Breathless all over again, but this time with joyful anticipation, she laughed. ‘Only partly. Alice has offered me something else. Something really valuable in my opinion, and not just in money. Something that will – if you agree – make me very happy and settled, here in Nelson’s Bar.’

  Silently, his eyes searched hers.

  Clancy took a big breath. ‘She’s offered to let me buy her out of Roundhouse Row,’ she said in a rush. ‘If you’re up for it. It will have to wait until my money comes through but we’d be partners. We could live in the Roundhouse. It wouldn’t be my space or your space. It would be our space.’ She waited, hardly daring to breathe.

  Then a slow smile broke across his face. ‘If I’m agreeable? If I think it’s a good idea? I think it’s just about perfect! Fancy Alice doing something so generous in the end.’ Then he grabbed Clancy to him, rolling on his back so she was completely supported by his body and he could drag her head down to his to kiss and kiss while the waves broke, the gulls called, and they were covered in a great deal of the sand of Nelson’s Bar.

  And, Secret Beach being called ‘secret’ for a reason, they held a very secret celebration.

  Epilogue

  August, the next year

  Bridegroom Aaron stood at the front of the function room at the Duke of Bronte, which had dropped the label B&B now Oli’s brother had become a partner in the business, bringing with him enough capital to finance the extension that allowed the celebration of weddings. Best man Lee stood beside Aaron. A piano was playing gentle background music while the congregation, which filled the room and spilled over into ranks of red velvet seats on the lawn, waited for the bride.

  Then there was a stir at the back and he turned to see Clancy Moss walking towards him up an aisle edged with sprays of flowers.

  Her dress was cream, flowing around her as she walked, and tiny ivory narcissi were pinned in her hair. Her arm was linked chummily with her father’s, her parents having torn themselves away from their busy lives long enough to attend. Aaron didn’t think they completely appreciated what a wonderful, warm, intelligent, funny woman they’d given to the world in Clancy, but he was fine with that.

  It meant she was all for him, which was just how he liked it.

  Walking importantly at the other side of Clancy and holding her hand was Daisy, dressed in yellow and carrying a basket of matching roses.

  The music swelled and the celebrant and registrar, both ladies with neat navy suits and benevolent expressions, stepped forward to greet the bride. Clancy beamed at Daisy as they neared where everybody waited and whispered, ‘I have to take a step forward now, remember.’

  ‘And I have to stay behind you and be quiet,’ Daisy whispered back.

  Unlinking herself from both Daisy and her father, Clancy moved to Aaron’s side without waiting for any formal, dated gesture of being ‘given away’. She took Aaron’s hand instead, at the same time mouthing ‘You OK?’ at Lee. Beside Lee, a well-brushed Nelson, wearing a black bow tie on his collar, wagged his tail, giving a tiny whine. Lee had him on a short lead to prevent him from jumping up at Clancy’s wedding dress.

  Lee, who now agreed that Aaron had got the best cousin, grinned and whispered, ‘Glad you could turn up.’

  Aaron laughed softly and gave his little bro a playful nudge, appreciating that he’d made the effort to joke and smile. They all knew that somewhere amongst the guests lurked Alice, who’d left Genevieve picking grapes in Italy to fly home. No one had thought it would be a good idea to invite Alice to be a bridesmaid, but Clancy hadn’t been able to exclude her altogether. Happily, Lee was seeing a woman called Elaina, seated alongside Yvonne and Fergus. Elaina worked in an amusement arcade in Hunstanton and had a little boy in Daisy’s class at school. She’d transformed Lee into a much happier man than he’d been in the Alice years.

  Clancy turned to check out the front row, where Gerry had joined Clancy’s mum, Brenda, sitting beside Aaron’s own mum and dad. All four parents beamed back at her. He could only marvel that Clancy had so open-heartedly forgiven certain members of his family for their chilliness in the past. Yvonne and Norma had almost worn a path between De Silva House and the Roundhouse in the past year.

  In the row behind, Aunt Norma, Dilys and Ernie beamed at Clancy too. Harry sat next to Rory, both looking incredibly handsome in suits. Harry’s first year at uni was behind him and Rory was well into an apprenticeship as a passenger transport driver. Anabelle and Jordy had never repaired their marriage but got along well enough to sit together, alongside the lads, for the wedding.

  Finally, Clancy turned to Aaron and winked.

  Aaron winked back and blew her a kiss.

  The wedding celebrant cleared her throat, or possibly smothered a laugh, and murmured, ‘Is everything OK?’

  Clancy took a last look at everyone, then beamed. ‘It’s absolutely perfect. Welcome to Nelson’s Bar. We’re ready when you are.’

  Acknowledgements

  A Summer to Remember is my fourteenth full-length novel and was the most difficult to write. I’m not sure why. I loved taking my story to north Norfolk and creating a brand-new village in the form of Nelson’s Bar. The characters came willingly into my head and we worked well together, but … the story took a bit of taming. When I felt the book was finally in shape, my editor, agent and beta reader all gave A Summer to Remember a hugely positive reception and I breathed an enormous sigh of relief.

  As if to underline the novel’s individuality, for once I involved comparatively few people in my research:

  I’m greatly indebted to fellow author and Romantic Novelists’ Association member Liam Livings. We didn’t know each other very well when I approached Liam for help. A mutual friend suggested I contact him when I was struggling with what Harry and Rory’s happy ending would look like. I didn’t want to be trite or to dismiss their issues and I very much wanted to make their story thread feel real. Liam wrote me long emails, providing lots to think about and options to mull over. It’s entirely down to him that things worked out as they did for Harry and Rory, and I’m as grateful to Liam as they are.

  Paul Matthews advised me on the making of bespoke guitars even though, apparently, he didn’t realise he was being interviewed. You can see his own fabulous creations on his Instagram feed @turnedoutalright.

  Mandy Hull shared with me her knowledge of buildings insurance as it relates to subsidence.

  My thanks to the many Facebook friends who entered into long and fascinating threads about Parish Meetings, Parish Councils, Village Meetings and Village Halls. I had no idea there was so much to know or how much work is involved.

  I’m also grateful to the unknown man whose video conferencing software caught him in ‘the act’. His face wasn’t in shot but he probably wasn’t pleased that the story found its way onto Twitter. If he ever discovers I put his embarrassment in my book, I hope he forgives me.

  The rest of the material in A Summer to Remember came from my own knowledge, internet research and a glorious and happy time spent in north Norfolk. If you were around Hunstanton, Thornham, Titchwell and the salt marshes you might have seen a happy novelist roaming around in a heatwave, taking photos. A pub garden bathed in a vermillion sunset ranks highly in my places to pore over leaflets, books and maps with a glass of wine.

  Mark West made time in his busy life to beta read my manuscript with his usual good humour and valuable commentary. As I get to the end of each book I ask him if he’s free to read it and he always replies, ‘Of course!’

  The members of my wonderful street team, Team Sue Moorcroft, constantly offer support in so many ways. Thank you! I feel privileged that so many lovely people make time to spread their appreciation of my writing. A special shout out goes to Manda Jane Ward for naming the village of Nelson’s Bar.

  No acknowledgements page would be complete without me expressing my unending appreciation of my agent, Juliet Picke
ring and the team at Blake Friedmann Literary, Film & TV Agency, and my editor Helen Huthwaite and her colleagues at Avon Books. It’s such a pleasure to work with each and every one of these outstanding people.

  Lastly, of course, thank you to my wonderful readers, especially those who follow me on social media and write lovely reviews. Every book is for you.

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  About the Author

  Sue Moorcroft writes award-winning contemporary fiction of life and love. The Little Village Christmas and A Christmas Gift were Sunday Times bestsellers and The Christmas Promise went to #1 in the Kindle chart. She also writes short stories, serials, articles, columns, courses and writing ‘how to’.