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

by Heidi Swain

  ‘And has he managed to do it?’ Sam asked, his eyes still on Joe.

  I got the impression that he already knew the answer.

  Joe nodded and smiled and clapped his brother on the back. Charlie wrapped his arms around him and almost lifted him off his feet. I don’t think I’d ever seen Joe look so elated, not even after our roof-raising duet in the karaoke bar.

  ‘Yes,’ he sobbed. ‘Yes, I have. The contract hadn’t got so far that the farm couldn’t be saved and I can tell you all for certain that none of the Home Farm land or property is going to fall into Sunny Shores’ hands now.’

  A collective cheer went up and Joe looked at me and smiled and I blinked back a tear. I felt incredibly guilty to have been the one who had gone public on this whole debacle, but at least there was a happy ending. The irony wasn’t lost on me, however, that just like the diary scenario, had I tackled the situation head on, there wouldn’t have been the subsequent misunderstandings, heartache and wasted time. It was a valuable life lesson and one that I wasn’t going to forget.

  ‘Everything has been unravelled,’ Joe added for the benefit of those close enough to hear, ‘and while Charlie goes off to travel for a while and live the life he has been dreaming about, I’m going to take over the running of the farm. There’ll be some changes to what we grow and how things are managed, but there won’t be a holiday complex springing up out of the hedgerows!’

  Everyone cheered even louder, happy that the brothers had found a way to keep the farm and find a compromise which ensured they both got what they wanted. I guessed that Charlie had been reluctant to take on any of Joe’s ideas and suggestions because he just wanted to be rid of the responsibility.

  ‘I had been hoping,’ Joe continued, coming out from behind the bar once everyone had settled down a bit, ‘that Charlie and I would be able to keep this business to ourselves.’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said, feeling the tears well back up again as I imagined how the atmosphere could have turned if he’d had to tell everyone that he hadn’t been able to pull out of the deal.

  ‘But there was someone among us who genuinely had Wynmouth’s best interests at heart,’ he said, coming to stand right next to me, ‘and Charlie and I both know that she only did what she did because she thought it was best for the village.’

  I risked a glance at Sam and found he was now as red as Charlie had been before.

  ‘So, when I heard her being accused of colluding with me,’ Joe went on. ‘I knew I was going to have to say something. Tess Tyler might have said more than she should, but she did it with the best of intentions and the fact that her family owns a famous PR firm is a complete coincidence.’

  Everyone was focused now on Joe, Sam and me.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Tess,’ Sam said huskily. ‘When I saw that letter with the firm name stamped on it, I just assumed, well, the worst I suppose.’

  I nodded, disappointed that he could have thought so little of me, but I could hardly protest. Twice recently I had jumped to conclusions and got things wrong myself so it would have been hypocritical of me to complain.

  ‘It’s okay,’ I told him. ‘Had I been in your position, I probably would have thought the same thing.’

  ‘And while we’re on a roll,’ said Joe, looking at Sam, and keeping me close, ‘and getting a few things sorted, there’s something else we need to discuss, isn’t there, Sam?’

  ‘There is,’ Sam confirmed. ‘But in private.’

  Hope looked at me and frowned and I wondered if my kiss with her other half was about to be revealed. I might have been all for clearing the air, but that was one confession that I thought would do more harm than good if it was set free, especially in view of our earlier half-sibling revelation.

  ‘So,’ Sam shouted, above the rapidly rising din, ‘I’m going to ask everyone if they wouldn’t mind drinking up because I need to lock up for a little while, but I’ll be open as usual this evening.’

  ‘Don’t look so worried,’ Joe said to me, ‘everything’s going to be fine.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Hope asked.

  ‘All in good time,’ he told her, another broad smile lighting up his face and making her blush.

  If Sam hadn’t sussed out that she and Joe were still mad about each other, then he was even more short-sighted than I had been recently.

  ‘Well,’ said Charlie, once most people had gone. ‘That wasn’t too bad, was it?’

  ‘No,’ Joe agreed, ‘not bad at all.’

  ‘Although,’ Charlie admitted, ‘I can’t help wishing I’d talked things through with folk a bit before I made that call to Sunny Shores.’

  Joe rolled his eyes.

  ‘That might not have been a bad idea, mate. You should have talked to me, if no one else.’

  ‘I just wanted shot of it all, Joe,’ Charlie went on, ‘and I had no idea you were genuinely interested in taking it on. I just assumed . . .’

  There was that word again.

  ‘That you were happy where you were.’

  ‘And you also assumed that folk wouldn’t pitch in and help,’ Joe rather unnecessarily pointed out.

  ‘I know,’ Charlie tutted. ‘I did everyone a huge disservice in thinking that, but I’d got so low, I couldn’t see beyond my own problems.’

  ‘We’ve all been there, mate,’ said Sam. ‘There’s been many a time that I’ve wanted to lock up and never do another shift behind this bar myself.’

  It was kind of him to say that and the expression on Charlie’s face confirmed that he appreciated the show of solidarity.

  ‘We need to keep talking, don’t we?’ he said. ‘A problem shared and all that.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Sam, ‘although us blokes are a bit crap at it sometimes.’

  ‘Which is why you need to keep opening the pub,’ said Joe. ‘There’s nothing we can’t sort out over a pint.’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ Sam smiled.

  Hope and I exchanged another quick look. From what I could work out, talking things through had made all the difference to Sam and Joe. There had been no need for my sis and me to pry or push at all and I was now feeling rather pleased that I hadn’t rushed out of Wynmouth when I had the chance.

  ‘Right,’ said Charlie. ‘I suppose I’d better get back. There’s no telling what that dog’s been up to while we’ve been gone. I’ll come and pick you up in a bit, Joe.’

  ‘All right,’ said Joe. ‘I’ll see you later.’

  ‘I’m going to check flight prices this afternoon,’ Charlie said keenly, ‘because after the harvest is in, you won’t see me for dust. Not for a while anyway.’

  That made Joe smile all the more and once Charlie had gone, Sam locked the door behind him and led the remaining four of us into the snug.

  ‘So,’ said Hope, eager as ever as she took the chair next to Sam, who had quickly made us all a drink, ‘what’s going on?’

  ‘Joe still has more to say,’ said Sam, handing out mugs of tea, ‘but none of it is for public consumption.’

  Joe didn’t say anything.

  ‘Don’t you?’ Sam prompted, staring hard at Joe who was opposite him.

  ‘Okay,’ said Joe, rubbing his hands together and taking a deep breath, ‘Okay.’

  Sam sat back in his chair and shook his head.

  ‘I’m doing it,’ Joe told him, ‘I’m doing it. Just give me a minute, all right.’

  ‘Don’t let him bully you, Joe,’ said Hope, giving Sam a sharp nudge. ‘I don’t know what’s gone on between you two today, but—’

  ‘Just shush for a minute will you,’ Sam cut in. ‘Let the man speak.’

  ‘Okay,’ Joe said for the third time. ‘The thing is—’

  ‘Just spit it out man,’ Sam cajoled. ‘Don’t worry about how you say it, just bloody get it out!’

  Joe closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was looking at Hope.

  ‘I’m still in love with you, Hope,’ he blurted out. ‘I always have been and I always will b
e. I didn’t know how I would feel when I came back to Wynmouth, but the second I caught sight of you again, I knew I was still as smitten as I always had been.’

  Well, if Sam hadn’t worked it out before, the look on Hope’s face was proof enough that Joe’s feelings were well and truly reciprocated. That said, it was Sam who had just encouraged Joe to make this declaration and, given the look on his face, I got the distinct impression that a whole lot more had been talked about than just the Sunny Shores deal after I had rushed back to the sanctuary of the cottage.

  ‘Oh Joe . . .’ Hope whispered, cutting off my train of thought.

  ‘And I know I said always way too many times just then,’ Joe blushed, ‘but Sam hardly gave me time to rehearse it, did he? And anyway, it is the right word. It’s always been you, Hope. Always.’

  ‘Joe,’ Hope said again, this time with tears in her eyes.

  ‘I should never have let you go,’ Joe carried on. ‘I should never have been so jealous of you wanting to look out for Sam after the crash and if I hadn’t let my stupid imagination get the better of me, I would have known you were nothing more than friends.’

  Sam nodded and my thoughts rolled on, only I wasn’t sure I believed them. Was Joe suggesting that Hope and Sam had always been just friends?

  ‘And I need to apologize to you too, Tess,’ Joe then said, making me jump.

  ‘Do you?’ I asked.

  Sam shifted in his seat.

  ‘Joe,’ he said.

  ‘No,’ said Joe, looking at him, ‘we need to get this sorted.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I frowned.

  ‘I recognized you, Tess,’ Joe stunned me by saying, ‘the very second I stopped you tumbling over the top of the cliff.’

  ‘What?’ I squeaked.

  ‘I knew you were the girl who used to holiday here with your parents all those years ago, because you’d hardly changed at all.’

  ‘Joe,’ Sam said again.

  ‘You were the very one I’d promised to kiss behind the beach huts,’ Joe went on, ‘but the thing was, Hope had arrived back in town just after I’d made that promise and as it was love at first sight, I found I didn’t want to kiss anyone else.’

  ‘So, what did you do?’ Hope asked, going straight for the heart of the matter, rather than trying to fill in the details.

  ‘Well,’ Joe smiled. ‘Sam here had the biggest crush on Tess back then, but he was beyond shy and couldn’t even bring himself to talk to her. He used to disappear whenever she turned up on the beach.’

  Poor Sam was puce. I’d had absolutely no idea, but then if he’d always ducked out of the way, it was hardly surprising that I hadn’t remembered him.

  ‘Jesus, Joe,’ he cursed, pushing his hands into his hair and dropping his gaze to the table.

  ‘So,’ Joe carried on in spite of Sam’s discomfiture, ‘we swapped places.’

  ‘You did what?’ Hope gasped.

  I didn’t need to ask the question, because courtesy of the solstice snog, I’d already worked out that Sam was my first blistering kiss, but at least now, I knew why they’d traded.

  ‘It was late,’ Sam said, huskily, still staring at the table, ‘and it was dark, so Tess didn’t realize and I can’t begin to tell you how guilty I’ve always felt about doing it. It was a disgraceful thing to do, inexcusable, but it was also—’

  ‘The best kiss of your life,’ I cut in, unable to stop the words. ‘The one kiss you’ve never been able to forget.’

  ‘Yes,’ Sam said, finally looking up, ‘the very best kiss of my life and certainly one I’ve never been able to forget.’

  ‘Well,’ said Hope, ‘it was the best one until the night of the party on the beach.’

  My eyes snapped back to her.

  ‘You know about that?’

  ‘Of course,’ she grinned, ‘Sam’s not stopped going on about it.’

  Oh my god! There was no way Sam would have mentioned it if he and Hope were a couple. I had got it wrong! They were just friends.

  ‘Hope,’ Sam squirmed, and Joe began to laugh.

  ‘Apparently,’ Hope added with relish, ‘it was even better than the first one.’

  ‘So, you recognized me too?’ I asked Sam as multiple cogs in my head began to shift and settle my memories of the last few weeks into a brand-new pattern.

  ‘Of course I did,’ he said, ‘as soon as you walked in here, but as you didn’t seem to know me, I thought I’d save myself the embarrassment and awkward explanation and not say anything. I had no idea why you wanted to keep it a secret that you’d visited Wynmouth before but when that letter turned up, I thought I’d worked it out. It hasn’t stopped me fancying you though. Where you’re concerned, Tess, I just can’t seem to help myself.’

  He turned an even brighter shade of red and I started doing a very passable goldfish impression. His admittance that he fancied me had me floating on cloud nine, but I was still in shock that another assumption I’d made had been so wide of the mark.

  ‘And you fancy him too, don’t you?’ Hope beamed.

  I couldn’t believe she was going to out me like that.

  ‘Yes,’ I swallowed, ‘I do actually, but I had kind of assumed . . .’

  ‘What?’ asked Sam.

  ‘Well . . . I assumed that you and Hope were a couple,’ I said sheepishly.

  ‘If it makes you feel any better, until this afternoon, so did I,’ Joe admitted.

  ‘But we’re not,’ said Hope, looking shocked. ‘We never have been.’

  ‘But the day you came back from your travels,’ I said to Hope. ‘You and Sam were—’

  ‘Hugging,’ she cut in. ‘Because we hadn’t seen each other for ages.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Sam, clicking his fingers before pointing at me, ‘now I get it. At last, it all makes sense.’

  ‘What do you get?’ I asked, my thoughts freefalling.

  ‘You changed,’ he said, biting his lip, ‘when Hope got back, you were different, Tess.’

  ‘Was I?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘to start with, when she wasn’t here, I thought you might fancy me and I was beginning to think that I could finally act on that crush I had all those years ago, but then when Hope came back you became more distant. Was that because you thought we were together?’

  ‘Yes,’ I admitted. ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you thought I’d snogged you behind Hope’s back at the party?’ Sam tutted. ‘And that’s why you never acknowledged our second kiss, even though it was so phenomenal?’

  ‘Yes,’ I swallowed. ‘And I’ve been feeling as guilty as hell about it.’

  ‘I can’t believe you thought that of me, Tess,’ Sam said, shaking his head.

  ‘And I can’t believe that you thought I was here to smooth the way for Joe telling everyone that he’d sold up to Sunny Shores,’ I pointed out, eager to remind him that I wasn’t the only one in Wynmouth who had got the maths wrong when I’d put two and two together.

  ‘Touché,’ he grinned, making my stomach flip.

  ‘So, that’s it, then right?’ Joe announced. ‘We’re sorted, yes? All the romantic muddles have been unravelled. I love Hope, Hope loves me and you pair fancy the pants off each other?’

  ‘Sounds about right to me,’ Sam laughed.

  ‘Great,’ Joe said, leaping up and dashing around the table before lifting Hope off her feet, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her deeply.

  ‘This has been like a Shakespearean comedy,’ said Sam, reaching across the table for my hand.

  ‘You’re not wrong,’ said Joe, when he finally came up for air.

  ‘But this is it, right?’ I said, lacing my fingers through Sam’s and revelling in the sensations that his warm skin touching mine kicked off. ‘There really are no more muddles?’

  ‘No more muddles,’ everyone chorused but it didn’t escape my notice that it was Sam and Joe who were looking at one another when really, they should only have had eyes for me and Hope.

  Chapter 27


  I don’t think that Hope, who was experiencing that heady rush of love all over again, picked up on the fact that the guys hadn’t been as resolute in our ‘no more muddles’ announcement as we had. Unfortunately, there was neither the opportunity to point it out to her, nor the time to spend catching up on the kisses I had missed out on during the last few weeks because the wheels of everyday life were still turning and the minutiae had to be attended to.

  No sooner had we got everything settled than our intimate moment was interrupted by Sam’s delivery from a local brewery and Joe announcing that he’d had a text from Charlie who was about to leave the farm to collect him.

  ‘Let’s all meet tonight then,’ suggested Sam. ‘After closing time, down at the beach by the rockpools.’

  We all agreed that was a wonderful idea and having spotted Joe and Hope saying a very tender goodbye, Sam pulled me close to him and rested his hands low on my waist. The action literally made my knees weaken and I had barely a moment to become ensnared in his emerald eyes before he was closing them and lowering his lips to mine.

  His kiss was purposeful and full of promise and when I felt the tip of his tongue caress mine, I thought I was going to pass out. I let out a lust-filled gasp, so quiet that only he could hear it, and in consequence his hands held me tighter and he kissed me harder.

  My light-headed feeling from earlier had only just settled back down and I knew that if he carried on like this for the duration of my remaining time in Wynmouth, I would be a physical wreck by the time I had to leave.

  Instinctively, my hands then reached for his hips and I pulled him right in to me, his breath catching as the gap between us closed.

  ‘Bloody hell, Tess,’ he murmured, pressing himself close enough to leave me in no doubt that he was enjoying the moment too.

  Had we been alone, I’m not sure where we would have ended up, but the sound of Joe clearing his throat restored our decorum and we slowed the moment down.

  ‘I see you’ve learnt a few new tricks since our assignation behind the huts,’ I whispered.

  Our first kiss had been perfect and I was pretty certain the second one had been too, although the influence of Sophie’s rum punch had ensured certain details weren’t quite as focused as I would have liked, but there was no doubting the quality of the third one.