The Secret Seaside Escape: The most heart-warming, feel-good romance of 2020, from the Sunday Times bestseller!

by Heidi Swain

  I had barely had time to fill the kettle when I was stopped in my tracks.

  ‘Tess!’

  ‘Joe,’ I smiled, turning to find his face peeping around the door I hadn’t thought to lock behind me. ‘This is a surprise.’

  ‘A good one, I hope?’

  I knew my smile was strained, but it was the best I could offer him.

  ‘I thought I might pop down to the pub for a bite of breakfast,’ he said. ‘Will you come with me?’

  My head might have been caught up in an emotional maelstrom, but I still had enough about me to know that there was no way I could let him go to the Smuggler’s.

  ‘I’m not really in the mood.’ I said. ‘Let’s have something here instead. I’ve got bacon from the butcher’s so I could make us sandwiches.’

  ‘No,’ he said, holding the door further open. ‘Come on. Let’s go to the pub. That way Sam gets to deal with the washing up.’

  Sam was the last person I wanted to see, but I couldn’t let Joe face him alone so, with a heavy heart I followed him up the lane, forgetting all about my expected phone delivery, and quickly ushered him into the snug before he was spotted.

  ‘I’ll order,’ I said, making for the bar, ‘you stay here. It can be my treat.’

  ‘Tess,’ Sam frowned as I approached. ‘I thought you’d be long gone by now.’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘about that . . .’

  ‘I think I’ll have a sausage bap, instead of a bacon roll,’ said Joe’s voice, unexpectedly close behind me, ‘if you haven’t already ordered, Tess?’

  Sam looked from me to Joe and back again, his expression darkening with every beat of my heart.

  ‘Are you actually serious?’ Sam said to me.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Joe retaliated, instantly ruffled by Sam’s belligerent tone.

  ‘Nothing,’ I said, turning around and trying to push him away. ‘It’s nothing. Come on, let’s go.’

  ‘How dare the pair of you even think about coming in here together?’ Sam hissed. ‘I always knew you had some front, Joe, but this is too much.’

  Joe suddenly looked every bit as pale and peaky as I had earlier.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he demanded, pulling himself out of my grasp. ‘What are you talking about?’

  Sam scowled at him and ground his jaw and I looked between the two of them. For a moment I thought Hope really had been right, that there was some complication between the pair that was still to be unearthed.

  ‘I’m talking about the land sale,’ said Sam, ‘what else?’

  ‘The land sale?’ Joe frowned, and although he sounded confused, there was also an edge of relief.

  ‘When were you going to tell us, Joe?’ Sam glowered. ‘When were you going to warn us that the village was about to be changed forever. Don’t you need some sort of public consultation before you go ahead with something like that?’

  ‘How do you know about any of that?’ Joe demanded, now looking at me.

  ‘Had you come to us and explained,’ Sam went on, ‘we might have been able to help, you might have even drummed up a bit of support, but this is a whitewash, and if you think,’ he went on, now including me in his argument, ‘that just because you’ve hired her and the fancy bloody PR company that her family owns, that you’re going to convince us otherwise, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you were.’

  ‘How do you know about Tyler PR?’ I stuttered.

  ‘I told you yesterday,’ Sam said to me, ‘that you weren’t the person I thought you were, didn’t I? Turning up here and helping pull the community back together, what a joke.’ He laughed. ‘I saw the franking mark on that letter, Tess Tyler. I know who you work for and how Joe has planted you here to soften us all up and convince us that a few more visitors to the area will be a good thing.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘That’s not it . . .’

  ‘Your boss even turned up here this morning looking for you,’ he cut in, ‘so you can hardly deny it, can you?’

  ‘Tess,’ Joe frowned. ‘How did you know about the land sale?’

  ‘I heard you on the phone and I saw the paperwork when I stayed at the farm,’ I admitted. ‘Bruce knocked it off the table and I spotted it when I picked it up.’

  ‘And you told everyone?’

  He sounded absolutely wretched.

  ‘Yes,’ said Sam, ‘she did. Although I’m still trying to work out her motive for doing that. How she thought that telling us what was going on was going to create some good PR for the cause, god only knows!’

  That was the last straw. I couldn’t cope with any more. I was going to pack up the last of my things, turn my phone back on and let Dad know that I was getting the hell out of Wynmouth for good.

  Chapter 26

  It didn’t take long for me to fling the rest of my things into the bags I had just a few weeks ago so carefully packed in anticipation of my seaside escape, but I found myself lingering in the cottage and reluctant to turn the key in the lock for the last time. I sat on the sofa, with my head in my hands thinking how impossible it was to comprehend that I had arrived in the village with so much mental baggage and now I was about to leave with even more.

  Not only was I trying to get my head around the truth behind what had really been happening in my parents’ marriage and having to rethink everything I knew about the woman who had taken pride in her simple sundress, I was also assimilating the knowledge that I had a sister. The fact that I loved her as a friend, hated myself for having betrayed her and was already having to leave her behind, was too much. It was all too much!

  And that was even before I factored in the complications surrounding the Sam and Joe scenario. In my attempt to help Hope find a way to push the pair back together, I had ended up pulling them even further apart. And now Sam hated me, just as I was daring to admit, if only to myself, that I had fallen in love with him.

  I knew that his being in love with Hope made my being around him unbearable, but now he’d got some skewed idea about me being Joe’s spy and there really was no chance of my ever returning to Wynmouth. The long-lost family get-togethers which Sophie was doubtless already arranging were always going to be missing one family member.

  I glanced up at the kitchen clock, amazed that so much of the day had already disappeared and knowing that I couldn’t drag my departure out any longer. I took my mobile out of the drawer where it had lived, for the most part, undisturbed since my arrival and thought how I was going to block my confused thoughts out until I had put at least a hundred miles between me and the village. I was just about to turn the phone on and message Dad to ask where he was and let him know that I was leaving, when Joe came bursting through the cottage door, only this time, with Charlie in tow.

  ‘What the hell?’ I shouted, jumping back in surprise.

  ‘Come on you,’ said Joe, pulling the phone out of my hand and tossing it onto the sofa. ‘You need to come with me.’

  ‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ I snapped back. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you.’

  Joe shook his head.

  ‘In fact,’ I pushed on, ‘I’m beginning to wish that I’d never set eyes on either one of you.’

  ‘You don’t mean that,’ said Joe.

  ‘Yes,’ I resolutely carried on, ‘I do, because my life has been nothing but a disaster from the moment you walked back into it.’

  He didn’t catch my faux pas and I bit my lip to stop myself adding another revelation to the drama the day had become. All I had wanted when I came back from the café earlier was to sit and quietly think about all the things Dad and Sophie had told me, but now this post-pub argument was going to be the cause of even more stress. I could feel something was coming and cursed myself for lingering in the cottage when I could have been long gone.

  ‘Please, Tess,’ said Charlie, sounding far more reasonable than his sibling. ‘It would really help if you could just give us a minute.’

  The words were sincerely spoken and, as I was the
person responsible for letting the cat out of the bag about the farm sale, I supposed I did owe them something. I looked at Charlie’s forlorn face and felt my resolve to refuse Joe’s demands crumble a little.

  ‘Please,’ Charlie said again.

  I let out a long breath.

  ‘Where exactly is it that we’re going?’ I asked, as I reached for the cottage keys.

  This wasn’t going to be the last time I locked the place up after all then.

  ‘To the Smuggler’s,’ said Joe, peering through the window as a van pulled up.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ I gasped, taking a step back again. ‘After what happened earlier?’

  ‘A hell of a lot has happened since earlier,’ he said mysteriously. ‘Trust me.’

  Given his track record, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

  ‘Are you expecting a parcel?’ Charlie asked.

  I took delivery of the phone I now didn’t need and the three of us walked back up the lane to the pub. The brothers were far keener to cross the threshold than I was, and I felt my heart kick in my chest as I discovered the place was even more packed than the evening I had arranged for the Sea Dogs to entertain us.

  ‘Is this everyone?’ I heard Joe ask Sam.

  ‘It’s as many as I could rally at such short notice,’ Sam told him.

  ‘Okay,’ said Joe, puffing out his cheeks, ‘thanks.’

  Sam nodded, looked at me for the briefest moment and then turned back to the till. The pair sounded almost civil and that was the last thing I had been expecting. When Joe had said back at the cottage that a lot had happened since earlier, he clearly wasn’t wrong. Exactly how long had it taken me to pack my bags? Long enough for the pair of them to come to some sort of tolerance agreement, by the looks of it. At least I could rest easier knowing I hadn’t been dragged in to witness a barroom brawl.

  ‘Do you know what’s going on?’ I mouthed to Hope as Joe pulled me further inside.

  She shrugged in response, looking as clueless as I was and then came over.

  ‘No idea,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Joe sent me a text a few minutes ago, asking me to come and wait in here and it was already packed like this when I arrived.’ She turned to Joe. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ she asked him, laying her hand lightly on his arm.

  It was the tiniest gesture, but it spoke volumes.

  ‘I will be in a minute or two,’ he smiled at her.

  My guess was that he had gathered everyone together, somehow with Sam’s help, to confess about the Sunny Shores deal, but what I was thrown by was the fact that he was looking so calm about it. He took Hope’s hand and squeezed it before following Charlie further into the room.

  ‘Have you seen . . .’ I began to ask Hope but then hesitated, not quite sure how to frame the question. I supposed there was only one way really. ‘Have you seen your mum and dad?’ I swallowed.

  It would have been too much of a mouthful to say ‘your mum and my dad’ and besides, it wouldn’t have been accurate either because as it turned out, the man who was my dad, was every bit as much hers.

  Hope looked at me and bit her lip.

  ‘God, that sounds strange,’ she whispered, and I was pleased I wasn’t alone in thinking it. ‘Don’t you think?’

  ‘Just a bit,’ I agreed, ‘but I daresay we’ll soon get used to it.’

  That made us both smile.

  ‘I haven’t seen either of them,’ she then told me. ‘I tried the café phone earlier, but Mum didn’t pick up and she’s not answering her mobile.’

  ‘Perhaps they’ve gone somewhere together then,’ I suggested. When I thought about it, I rather liked the idea of the two of them being together. Dad deserved to have some fun and happiness in his life and I was certain Sophie could supply both in abundance. ‘They’ve got plenty to talk about, after all.’

  Hope nodded in agreement but didn’t have time to comment further as Joe clapped his hands and the room instantly fell silent.

  ‘I think you’d better come and stand up here,’ Sam said to Joe, ‘both of you,’ he added. ‘That way everyone will be able to see and hear you.’

  I felt my mouth fall open in shock. First, the pair had been civil to one another, in spite of their earlier argument, and now Sam was inviting both Upton brothers up behind the bar. Hope and I exchanged a look, both of us clearly as amazed as the other.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Joe, weaving his way across the room with Charlie close behind him. ‘That’s a good idea.’

  ‘I’ve had a few in my time,’ said Sam, lifting the bar hatch to let them through.

  I couldn’t help wondering if this was damage limitation on Sam’s part. If Joe was going to talk about selling the farm and changing the face of Wynmouth forever then the crowd might take against him, but at least with the width of the bar between them, Sam could quickly usher the pair out through the kitchen if it looked like a fight was about to break out.

  ‘What’s this all about?’ someone shouted from the back of the room.

  ‘Yeah,’ joined in another. ‘Get on with it, Upton. I’ve shut up shop to come and listen to you.’

  Sam rang the bar bell to quieten everyone again as a low muttering broke out and then stepped aside.

  ‘Thanks, Sam,’ Joe swallowed, before looking around, ‘and thank you all for coming at such short notice. I know not everyone could make it, but I daresay those of you who are here will be able to fill the others in so, here goes . . .’

  ‘What have you done now, Joe?’ the voice from the back shouted again. ‘You always were bloody bad news and I’m guessing nothing’s changed just because you’re a few years older.’

  Charlie shook his head and stepped forward before Sam had time to make the bell clang again.

  ‘No,’ he said, his voice booming out and commanding everyone’s attention, even the person intent on stirring up trouble at the back, ‘this has nothing to do with Joe.’

  I was as quiet, and confused, as everyone else now. Joe and Charlie exchanged a look and then Joe stepped back so Charlie could carry on.

  ‘I know,’ he began, ‘that a few of you have found out that Home Farm and much of its prime land has been—’

  ‘Sold!’ someone couldn’t resist calling out. ‘To Sunny bloody Shores!’

  Charlie then had to wait while everyone digested the news that I had started to spread. I stared at my feet wishing the floor would open up and swallow me and, given the way Hope shuffled from one foot to the other beside me, I would have bet good money that she was wishing she could disappear too.

  ‘I knew the farm was struggling,’ said George, his voice only just rising above the others, ‘but I had no idea it had come to this. Why didn’t you tell us, Charlie?’

  Charlie shrugged and shook his head.

  ‘We might have been able to help, lad,’ said another voice.

  ‘We might have been able to find a way,’ added a third.

  I was pleased to hear sympathetic voices rising above the angry few.

  ‘This is all your doing, is it, Joe?’ shouted someone else. ‘You thought it the best chance you had of getting rid of the place for good!’

  ‘No,’ said Charlie, his voice rising above the rest. ‘No,’ he said again, quieter this time.

  ‘What do you mean, no?’

  ‘Joe has had nothing to do with it,’ he carried on, sounding choked. ‘I’m the one responsible. I’m the one who put the deal together. Joe had no idea about any of it.’

  That didn’t tally with the side of the telephone conversation I had heard, but I knew better than to interrupt. I had already had one lesson that day in what could happen when you jumped to conclusions, and I wasn’t about to do it again.

  Everyone was quiet now, waiting for Charlie to explain properly.

  ‘I’m not going to lie,’ he said, turning red, ‘I was sick of the place and I was sick of hearing about Joe’s great life away from Wynmouth and how he didn’t have to worry about crop yields and prices and
long-range weather forecasts and on top of all that, I was bloody lonely too. When I was growing up at Home Farm, there had been three brothers and two parents and now there’s just me, and my stupid dog and . . . well, it’s all got too much for me . . .’

  His words trailed off and Joe stepped up again. He placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

  ‘The only thing I’m really guilty of,’ he said, picking up the thread, his voice wracked with emotion, ‘is that I didn’t know any of this. I had no idea that Charlie was at his wits’ end and worn out running the farm that I was, if I’m honest, jealous had fallen to him. I didn’t know he was lonely or how he had planned to rid himself of the place, before he did something even more drastic.’

  There was a sharp intake of breath as everyone realized what Joe was suggesting might have happened.

  ‘So,’ he carried on, ‘when I came back to Wynmouth and discovered what was in the offing, I felt every bit as shocked as you lot. Not only because we were going to lose Home Farm, but also because I had been so divorced from the place, that I hadn’t seen the toll it was taking on my big brother.’

  ‘So, what are you going to do?’ Hope asked.

  Her voice was soft and kind and Joe’s eyes gratefully sought out hers from the crowd, safe in the knowledge that there were people listening to him who were prepared to wait and hopefully understand before shouting the odds and causing more unnecessary concern.

  ‘Well,’ Joe carried on, ‘I’ve been working tirelessly for the last few weeks, sometimes from the farm itself and sometimes further away, to untangle the deal and see if we can unravel the contract.’

  ‘Is that where you’ve been going?’ Hope asked.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I daresay some of you thought I was still running away from Wynmouth, but I can assure you that wasn’t the case.’

  At this point he looked at Sam and the pair shared, not quite a smile, but something close to it. Hope nudged me and I shook my head to indicate that I didn’t know what that was about either.

  ‘He was sorting out the mess I’d made of things,’ Charlie said, his cheeks flushed red again.