The Cottage on Sunshine Beach: An utterly gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy

by Holly Martin

  ‘No, don’t, it’s five minutes down the hill. I’ve done that walk a hundred times before. I’ll be fine. Stay here and look after my sister.’

  Leo smiled. ‘I always will.’

  Melody gave him a little wave and left the house, stepping outside into the warm night air. A million stars peppered the darkness like tiny snowflakes. The moon was shining brightly and, out in the sea, a silvery blanket danced over the waves. The pale-yellow houses were lit up with gold as lights twinkled from the windows. Other houses were sleeping, the curtains closed, lights off. Even the animals were sleeping or tucked up inside at this time of night. It was completely silent.

  As she made her way back down the lane towards Sunshine Beach she automatically looked over at Jamie’s house, which was shrouded in darkness.

  She really wasn’t sure where she stood with him. The kiss that night had been amazing but after that he hadn’t really given her any hope he wanted to make a go of things. If he had planned on dating her, the fact that she had poisoned him within the first half hour of the date would probably put him off her anyway. And even if that didn’t put him off, her tendency for accidents and clumsiness would soon scare him away. Maybe they really were better off being friends.

  Her phone beeped in her pocket and she quickly fished it out, hoping it was Jamie. It was a message from Leo instead. She opened it up and smiled when she saw it was a photo of Isla lying fast asleep on Leo’s chest, her mouth open slightly, a tiny drip of drool on Leo’s shirt. His arm was around her shoulders and there was a look of resigned amusement on his face.

  Looking after your sister, the message said.

  She grinned. Things might be hopeless for her, but they looked pretty good for Isla, if only she was prepared to take a risk. She just had to hope that Jamie was prepared to take a risk with her too.

  7

  Jamie knocked on Melody’s door early the next morning. He had spent almost the entire night throwing up everything he had ever eaten, and he intended to spend the day sleeping it off. He still felt awful, but he was better now than he had been the night before. He wanted to tell Melody not to wait for him in their usual spot for their walk to work and to apologise for the night before. He also needed to get his phone, which was probably still sitting in his jacket pocket on the back of one of Melody’s dining chairs.

  She didn’t come to the door.

  He knocked again and this time he heard Rocky yapping on the other side but still there was no answer. It was a lot earlier than their normal meeting time so maybe she was still in bed or in the shower. He peered through the window and there was no movement at all, beyond the wagging of Rocky’s tail as the little puppy stood by the front door.

  He could see through to her bedroom and he could see her bed was empty.

  He rubbed his hand across his face. God, he needed to go back to bed. He’d eaten some toast this morning and it was lying heavy in his stomach. He wasn’t hopeful of keeping it down.

  He knocked once more but there was still no response. He turned to leave but, as he got to the front gate, he stopped.

  There was Melody sitting cross-legged on a paddleboard a few metres out from the shore, keeping perfectly still, not moving at all. Her hair was tied up in that cute ponytail, though the early morning breeze was still gently moving it around her shoulders.

  He watched as she carefully stood up, the paddleboard barely moving at all, as she raised her arms up in the air into a point above her head, then she stretched back, reaching them behind her head so she was a perfect C shape. With her arms still stretched out, she moved her arms back over her head, out in front of her and then touched her toes.

  He realised he was watching her do paddleboard yoga. He knew she’d had paddleboard lessons when she’d first come down here and she had mentioned to him that she had started doing yoga on her board. After practising normal yoga for years in London, she was evidently quite flexible.

  He watched her walk her hands out in front of her and then bring one leg off the board and high in the air. She looked magnificent. She was wearing a strappy blue vest and matching tiny shorts that showed off her legs beautifully.

  He couldn’t help but stare as she worked her way through a multitude of positions, gracefully and with wonderful poise and balance.

  His stomach suddenly churned as if the toast he’d eaten earlier was having some kind of party in there. He groaned and turned back for home.

  The apologies would have to wait until later.

  Melody pulled up her little anchor and then hopped down into the shallows, tugging her paddleboard behind her.

  She loved doing yoga on her paddleboard; nothing could be rushed; every move was slow and considered. She would often do yoga on the beach in the mornings if the sea or tides weren’t paddleboard-friendly, but today had been a beautiful calm day.

  She noticed Agatha, Emily and her daughter Marigold coming down the beach towards her. Marigold was holding the lead of her puppy, Leia, who was from the same litter as Rocky and Sirius. She seemed more sedate than her brothers, walking gently at Marigold’s side. Maybe she would have to ask Emily and Marigold for some tips.

  Marigold waved and came running over to talk to Melody, dragging Leia behind her.

  ‘You looked like a ballerina out there, so beautiful and graceful.’

  ‘Oh thank you.’ Yoga and paddleboard yoga felt like the only time she had any grace so it was nice that someone had noticed it, even if it was a five-year-old girl.

  ‘I’d like to be a ballerina when I’m older,’ Marigold said, doing a little pirouette and getting tangled in Leia’s lead.

  ‘I bet you’d be marvellous at that.’

  ‘Or a racing car driver.’

  Melody smiled. There were no gender stereotypes when it came to Marigold. She loved Star Wars as much as she loved Frozen, wore jeans and dinosaur t-shirts one day and pink sparkly dresses the next.

  ‘Or maybe even a pilot, so I get to fly to different countries.’

  ‘That all sounds great. Maybe you can do all those things.’

  ‘Being a ballerina takes many, many years of training. So does a pilot. I wouldn’t have time for both,’ Marigold said, putting Melody in her place.

  ‘Well, lots of people retrain after spending time in one career so they can be something else. You could train to be a ballerina first and then when you’re older you could retrain to be a pilot.’

  Marigold nodded thoughtfully. ‘Can I practise on top of your paddleboard?’

  ‘Being a pilot?’ Melody teased.

  Marigold laughed. ‘No, silly, being a ballerina.’

  ‘You want to do it in the water?’ Melody asked as Emily and Agatha approached them.

  ‘No, I’d get my dress wet, I’ll do it on the sand.’

  Melody laid the board down, fin side up so they didn’t snap off in the sand while Marigold was dancing on it.

  ‘Keep down this end,’ she pointed to the nose.

  ‘You be careful on that board, Marigold Breakwater,’ Emily said. ‘We don’t want to break it.’

  ‘No Mummy,’ Marigold said seriously and then proceeded to dance and spin like a loon on the back of the paddleboard, sticking the odd leg out here and there and waving her arms in the air.

  Melody suppressed a smile and it was quite clear that Emily was trying not to laugh as well.

  ‘Has she done much ballet before?’ Melody asked innocently.

  ‘Not one lesson, but that obviously doesn’t matter when you have enthusiasm,’ Emily said, dryly.

  ‘Am I a beautiful dancer, Mummy?’ Marigold said.

  ‘The very best, darling,’ Emily said.

  ‘So I hear you had a date with my dear nephew last night,’ Agatha said. She must have been biting her tongue till now and was clearly not prepared to wait any longer to bring it up.

  Melody wondered how she could possibly know. Maybe Jamie had told Emily and she had told Agatha. She glanced at Emily, who shrugged her shoulders.


  ‘Don’t look at me, she told me about it this morning, I had no idea,’ Emily said.

  ‘My friend Elsie West from the chemist was in the chocolate shop in Starfish Court last night and she saw the two of you holding hands when you left work—’

  ‘We weren’t holding hands,’ Melody protested, although she remembered that Jamie had caught her hand to stop her flapping them about while she was talking about sex. Oh god, had Elsie West heard that conversation too? Was nothing private?

  ‘And then Frances O’Toole saw him going up to your front door wearing a suit jacket and tie. She said he looked very handsome and very nervous. He was carrying a bunch of hand-picked flowers but then he seemed to change his mind before he knocked on the door and left them in your garden instead. So it obviously was a date.’

  Melody felt herself smile. He had brought her flowers. He’d thought it was a date and he had picked flowers for her.

  Emily shook her head in wonder. ‘Wow, you really do have spies everywhere.’

  ‘I shouldn’t need them. I would have thought Melody would have told me herself,’ Agatha said, haughtily.

  ‘Gee, I wonder why she didn’t,’ Emily said, sarcastically.

  ‘Well, I know now, that’s the important thing,’ Agatha said.

  Melody sighed.

  ‘I hear it didn’t go too well either,’ Agatha tutted, as if it was Melody’s fault. She supposed it was in a way.

  ‘Well no, I managed to poison him,’ Melody said. It really wasn’t the best start to a date and she had no idea whether there would be a second one.

  ‘A good hostess should always check dietary requirements of their guests,’ Agatha said.

  ‘Oh shush,’ Emily said. ‘It’s not Melody’s fault. Jamie doesn’t exactly tell everyone he meets about his shellfish allergy.’

  ‘I did know, but the jar just said Chinese sauce, it didn’t mention oyster at all, at least not on the front,’ Melody said, exasperated.

  ‘It will be something you’ll laugh at when you’re married,’ Emily said, encouragingly. ‘A first date you’ll never forget.’

  ‘Are you marrying Uncle Jamie?’ Marigold said as she kicked her leg out in front of her like she was doing a goosestep.

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Melody said.

  ‘Not yet,’ Agatha said.

  ‘Not ever, according to you. Who would want to marry a bad hostess?’ Melody said.

  Agatha waved her hand dismissively. ‘I don’t think Jamie is going to care about that.’

  Melody rolled her eyes, wondering why she’d had the lecture in the first place.

  ‘I just think that it’s a shame you didn’t get a chance to take the date into the bedroom,’ Agatha said.

  ‘Why would you have a date in a bedroom?’ Marigold asked as she touched the board with her hands and stuck one leg out behind her.

  ‘I wouldn’t,’ Melody said, more for Agatha’s benefit than Marigold’s. ‘I’d prefer to talk to someone on my first date.’

  ‘What do you need to talk about?’ Agatha said. ‘You’ve lived down here for over a year now, been walking to work with him every day, I think you’ve done all the talking you need to do. You two are moving at the rate of snails. Time to speed things up a little or at this rate you’ll be having your first kiss at the age of sixty.’

  Melody didn’t tell her that they’d already had two insanely hot kisses, admittedly over a year apart, but still, it was something.

  ‘I’ve heard he’s very good in that department,’ Agatha went on.

  ‘Urgh, Agatha, that’s my little brother, I don’t want to hear that,’ Emily said.

  ‘I’m just saying what I’ve heard. All the women he’s been with say he was always a bit of a surprise in the bedroom. Very sweet and nice to talk to but once they got to that stage, he was a bit of an eye-opener in terms of how skilled he was. Polly Lucas says that was the only reason she stayed with him so long.’

  ‘That’s horrible,’ Melody said. Poor Jamie.

  ‘Of course it is; Jamie is wonderful. I’m just saying that skills like that are not something to shy away from. The only real way to see if you have a connection with someone is to… try those skills out,’ Agatha said, trying to be vague around Marigold. ‘Talking and having meals is all well and good but friends do that and you want to be more than that. Just grab him and…’ She trailed off as she clearly had an idea and started rooting around in her bag. ‘I got this from the library yesterday. I thought I might show it to Stefano to see if it galvanises him into action, he’s still refusing my requests for a date at the moment. But he’ll cave eventually. I think your need is greater than mine. Aha!’

  She pulled a book from her bag and passed Melody a copy of the Kama Sutra.

  Emily burst out laughing.

  ‘This one has pictures so you can see how to do them.’

  ‘Aren’t you a bit old for picture books, Agatha?’ Marigold said, finally getting tired of her impromptu dance session and coming to look at the book. Fortunately the cover wasn’t too offensive, just a couple, lying together on a sofa, the remainder of their clothes covering all the important bits.

  ‘I think some picture books can be very informative,’ Agatha said, knowingly. ‘Many non-fiction books have pictures.’

  ‘I don’t need this,’ Melody said, trying to give it back.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure you don’t need any tips,’ Agatha said. ‘I’m sure you know exactly what you are doing in that department.’

  Melody bit her lip, because truth be told she was a bit lacking in experience. Two men was not a lot and the first time had been very underwhelming. There had been other men, of course, but none of them had got that far.

  ‘But this can help to spice things up a bit, give you some ideas. Polly says that Jamie really loves… having cuddles. A lot. I’m sure he would appreciate having… lots of cuddles from you too.’ Agatha pushed the book back towards Melody.

  ‘Will you leave the poor girl alone,’ Emily said. ‘You want the two of them to get together, not make her run for the hills. She doesn’t need this pressure.’

  ‘There’s no pressure,’ Agatha said. ‘I’m merely suggesting she takes a look.’

  Melody knew it was better to take the book, than try to argue against Agatha. It didn’t mean she would look at it. Well, maybe just a little peek. She shoved the book into her bag and picked up her paddleboard.

  Leia yapped and chased a bird down the beach, her lead trailing behind her like a ribbon. Marigold gave chase, yelling the puppy’s name, which Leia completely ignored.

  ‘Thanks for the book Agatha; I’ll see you at lunch time Emily.’ Melody turned to walk away.

  ‘Don’t keep the poor lad waiting too long, he’ll have balls as big as watermelons otherwise,’ Agatha said.

  Melody cringed. She knew she would have to endure some of the village gossip going out with Jamie, but she didn’t expect it to be as bad as this. Hopefully it would all die down in a few weeks. Or in a few days if nothing else happened between them.

  Melody stood at the bottom of the hill, waiting for Jamie, but there was no sign of him. She had already been waiting for fifteen minutes but it was clear he wasn’t coming.

  She pulled her phone out of her bag and tried his mobile but, after ringing several times, it went through to the answer machine. He hadn’t replied to her text from the night before either. Part of her knew that he was probably still feeling rough, the effects of food allergies could last for a good twenty-four hours after the event, but the other part of her was wondering whether he was avoiding her after that amazing kiss.

  She hadn’t got the patience for that malarkey. If he didn’t want a relationship with her then he needed to be a man and say it, rather than avoiding her.

  She walked along the beach towards Starfish Court, though she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder every few minutes to see if he was coming. Even Rocky seemed to be disappointed with the lack of Jamie, although it was probably the lack
of Sirius more than anything.

  She arrived at Starfish Court and peered into his art studio to see if he had perhaps gone into work early, but there was no sign of him there and Klaus was dealing with a customer so she didn’t go in and ask him.

  Melody settled Rocky into his basket and then leaned on the counter, wondering what to do about the whole Jamie situation. She dialled his number again, but there was still no answer.

  Worry pushed aside frustration. What if he was really sick? She should have gone up to his house to check on him when he didn’t show that morning, instead of coming into work.

  She picked up her phone again and dialled Leo’s number.

  He answered after the first ring. ‘Have you rung to tell me you love me again, because I’ve already said, this would never work,’ Leo said.

  She smiled, despite everything. ‘Leo, have you spoken to Jamie since last night?’

  ‘I ended up staying at Isla’s last night. On the sofa,’ he quickly added but Melody couldn’t help wonder if he had spent the night on the sofa with Isla. ‘But I popped round to his house this morning. He’s OK, still feeling the effects but he said he’d managed to keep his breakfast down so that was a good sign. He looked a bit grey, but I don’t think he’s going to die any time soon. He said he planned to sleep it off today as he didn’t get much sleep last night.’

  Melody sighed with relief.

  ‘He says he still intends to come to Isla’s tonight for dinner so I’m sure you’ll see him then,’ Leo said.

  ‘OK, thanks,’ Melody said, quietly. So he was alive and well enough to talk to Leo, but he hadn’t called her to say he wouldn’t be meeting her. But then she supposed that their walk to work was a casual arrangement anyway. ‘Did he… mention me at all?’ she asked and cringed as she did so. She was better than this.

  Leo paused before answering. ‘I didn’t ask. And Jamie definitely isn’t the sort to kiss and tell. He could have had the most amazing sex of his life and I wouldn’t hear a word of it. You know what Jamie is like, his business is his own.’