The Holiday Cottage by the Sea: An utterly gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy

by Holly Martin

  He stood up and her hand fell from his. It felt cold without him. He took their plates to the side and served up what looked like Eton mess with a mixture of berries.

  ‘Do I get to try the coveted heartberry then?’ Tori indicated the mixed fruit he was spooning into the bowls.

  ‘Nope, not until tomorrow night. We aren’t allowed to start picking the fruit until the night of the May full moon.’

  ‘What, really?’

  ‘That’s the optimum time, apparently.’

  He placed the two bowls on the table in front of him, and she looked at the strawberries and raspberries that were soaking into the meringue.

  ‘Is that one of the village traditions?’ Tori asked as he sat down opposite and took her hand again. Her breath caught in her throat at this simple gesture.

  ‘Yes, and it’s a right ball-ache, let me tell you. It will take us about two to three weeks to clear the field, but we have to be done before the next full moon, because around then the heartberry fields always flood.’

  ‘Is that to do with the weather? I’ve heard there’s a hurricane in America they think will head out over the Atlantic towards us.’

  ‘No, that shouldn’t really affect us. We don’t normally get floods from the weather at this time of year. The heartberry field sometimes floods in the winter, with all the bad weather we get, but all the fruit is gone then. No, the June flood is a tidal flood, you can predict it down to the day. It only lasts a day or two, but any fruit left in the heartberry fields is ruined if it isn’t harvested before the flood.’

  ‘Why not start picking the fruit earlier then? Surely the villagers wouldn’t want to see the crop wasted.’

  ‘Traditionally it was always picked after the May full moon. They believe that it’s the moonlight that gives the berry its special love powers and picking the fruit before would mean it’s less effective in its love- and happiness-spreading capabilities.’

  Tori laughed. ‘That’s ridiculous.’

  ‘I know. But one year I did sneak out to pick a few baskets of berries a few weeks ahead of the full moon. We’d had a good crop that year and I’d wanted to get ahead because we had more fruit than usual. Every single berry I picked was a lot tarter than usual and I ended up throwing most of the early berries away. They simply weren’t ready for picking. And, despite me doing it under the cover of darkness, the villagers knew, and I didn’t hear the end of it for weeks afterwards.’

  ‘OK, so if you can’t do it before the full moon, why not move the heartberries, grow them in a different place so they don’t get flooded?’

  ‘The salt water moistens the ground for the next year’s crop. The heartberries thrive in these conditions, which is why they don’t grow in many places around the world. It’s not really a major problem – with some help from whoever stays in Blossom Cottage, we can normally get all the fruit picked. It’s just a bit frustrating that the villagers’ traditions are so restrictive, especially as we are only allowed to pick the fruit at night.’

  ‘Another of their traditions?’

  ‘Yes, but I have to agree with this one. For some reason the berries picked at night do taste better.’

  ‘And you don’t have any restrictions on how you pick the strawberries and raspberries?’

  ‘No, I can do whatever I want with them. It’s only the heartberries they care about. The strawberries and raspberries are also open to the public to pick their own. The public are not allowed to touch the heartberries. They have to be picked in a special way.’

  Tori smiled and shook her head. What kind of place was she staying at with all these weird traditions?

  ‘If the berries require handling by a virgin, you might be a bit out of luck.’

  Aidan laughed loudly. ‘Thankfully not.’

  ‘Any sacrificing of goats? Because I’m not sure I can get on board with that either.’

  ‘No animal sacrifices, we’re not barbarians.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘We just sacrifice whoever stays in Blossom Cottage at the end of their stay. But it’s for the good of the berries, so you’ll be OK with that, won’t you?’

  ‘Of course. Just make it quick.’

  ‘Well we burn them at the stake, so it’s over fairly quickly.’

  Tori laughed. ‘So, tell me what I’ll be expected to do tomorrow night. Are we talking naked dances?’

  Aidan hesitated and then his smile grew. ‘Yes, definitely naked dances. It’s tradition.’

  Tori smiled, she loved his wonderful mischievous streak. ‘And will you be dancing naked too?’

  ‘Oh no, it’s just the women that dance naked. Nobody wants to see me dangling free, it’d be enough to turn the fruit sour if I was to dance for them.’

  Tori doubted that.

  ‘So, I’ll be dancing naked and you’ll be picking the fruit.’

  ‘Yes,’ Aidan said, slowly. ‘That’s exactly what I’ll be doing, picking the fruit and not paying any attention to you whatsoever.’

  Tori laughed.

  ‘No, there are no weird traditions with picking the fruit, you just have to do it gently. Coax the fruit off the stalk. It’s very easy to squash the fruit because it’s so small and you don’t want to lose half the crop being heavy handed.’

  ‘OK, so you can show me that tomorrow. Do all these traditions bother you?’

  Aidan shook his head. ‘The heartberry farm is as much the villagers’ as it is mine. It’s been in my family for hundreds of years; who am I to start breaking the traditions now?’

  ‘And is this what you wanted to do, be a fruit farmer?’

  Aidan straightened in his chair. ‘I know it might not seem like much of a job to you—’

  ‘Wait, that wasn’t what I meant. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a fruit farmer. I imagine it’s wonderfully peaceful and if it makes you happy then that’s great. It’s just you mentioned before that you always fancied being a chef and I wondered if that was your dream but, because you inherited the farm, looking after it was something that you were expected to do rather than what you wanted to do.’

  His face softened. ‘You remembered that from my ramblings yesterday?’

  ‘You said you wanted to make desserts and puddings.’

  He smiled. ‘I did. I do. I loved cooking growing up. I always fancied being a chef. But I always knew that the farm would be passed down to me or my siblings and, as the oldest, I knew it was likely to come to me. My dad died when I was quite young and my mum, me and my siblings managed it for a while and then I took it over as soon as I was old enough. Leo and Emily never wanted to do it, and though I think Jamie would have been happy to, he was always so talented in art and sculpture that it was important he was free to do that. I didn’t mind so I was happy to take it on. I’ve taught myself to do various desserts over the years, but I’ve never done anything more than that. I could hardly set up my own pudding or cake shop when I’ve got the farm to run too. It’s fine – as you said, the job is very peaceful and rarely stressful. I do enjoy it, even if I don’t love it, and I couldn’t sell the farm on. The future of the heartberries could never be assured if I was to sell it. The heartberries bring a lot of tourism and money to the village and I don’t want to do anything to risk that.’

  Tori thought about this for a moment, the way he emphasised the money being brought to the village. She thought about Blossom Cottage and how there were certain things that needed to be repaired or replaced. Aidan didn’t look as if he was the lazy sort. What if he simply didn’t have the money to do these things?

  ‘Does it bring a lot of money to you?’

  Aidan paused, and she realised that was way too personal.

  ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that, it’s just that—’

  ‘No, it’s fine. No, it doesn’t, not really. I probably make more money annually from renting out Blossom Cottage as a holiday home than I do from the heartberries, and I don’t make a lot from that. In fact, I would make much more money if I was to
dig up the field and plant strawberries or grapes or any other kind of fruit instead. Most of the heartberries are sold locally, not just within our village but the surrounding towns and villages. Every café, pub and restaurant in Sandcastle Bay will buy them from me to make cakes, cookies and various desserts. About twenty percent of my crop will be frozen and sold across the UK and probably another ten percent sold abroad. But it’s expensive to ship it abroad so I don’t make a lot of money from that either. Beyond the local villages, it’s mainly bought by hotels and posh restaurants across the UK as some kind of extravagant garnish or for weddings where people have heard of the legend of the berries and want to bring extra luck and romance to a marriage. But it’s such an unknown fruit. Many people don’t know it exists so there isn’t much demand for it.’

  ‘Do you advertise? Tori asked and was surprised when he shook his head. ‘Really, not at all?’

  ‘The locals take almost everything I have.’

  ‘Could you grow more?’

  He nodded. ‘Yes, if there was a need. There is no need.’

  ‘There could be if you advertise. Even if you can’t sell the fruit, you could sell the end product. So, you don’t make any of the jam or cakes here?’

  ‘No, Emily makes all that and a few other local people do.’

  ‘But that would tick that box for you. You could make cakes, pies and desserts from the fruit you grow here and sell it under the Heartberry Farm label. You could make very simple things, but also more elaborate fruit desserts too. I mean, I know it’s not as simple as that. You’d have to get a proper kitchen if you were to make the stuff here and I presume someone from a professional body would need to check it over, I’m not sure how it works, and I imagine you’d have to get a certificate in food hygiene or something, but that’s relatively easy to do. You say you’ve taught yourself to make various desserts over the years, you could start by offering them. Selling cakes, cookies and pies across the UK would be much more attractive than just selling the berries. I’m sure Emily would help you.’

  He smiled, and she could see he was thinking about that idea. ‘I’m sure she would.’

  ‘We just need to launch you as a new brand. Advertising would help with that.’

  ‘I couldn’t afford proper advertising, certainly nothing on the TV.’

  ‘It doesn’t have to be, you can make a thirty-second video commercial and put it on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. You could even put it on YouTube. If you make it something unique or funny, people would be more willing to share it.’

  ‘I wouldn’t know the first thing about doing something like that.’

  ‘This is what I do,’ Tori said, excitedly. ‘When I’m not making animated films, I do freelance stuff like this. Clients come to us, sometimes with no ideas for what they want their adverts to be, they just want an advert. We come up with an idea and once it’s approved then we go away and make it. I could make you something.’

  He stared at her in surprise and then frowned. ‘I couldn’t afford to pay you much. I’m not sure how much these things cost, but I imagine it might be quite a bit beyond my budget.’

  ‘I’d do it for free. I love this kind of thing. I’ve spent the last eighteen months working on an animated film and, as much as I love it, it’s so constraining. I’ve been wanting to do more freelance stuff ever since I finished shooting on the film, I find it so creative and liberating. I have my plasticine with me. We can have a chat about what you want and then I can come up with a few ideas. The design and modelling of the character might take a while, because getting the right character can be tricky, but I imagine I’d be ready to shoot in the next week or so. I have my green screen too, so I can add in a background later in post-production. Or we don’t have to have a background at all, it can just be white – sometimes something simple works best.’

  Tori pulled her notebook from her bag and started scribbling down some ideas, the thrill of creating something from start to finish buzzing through her. It had been too long since she’d done something like this.

  ‘I could make a talking heartberry, then you could use him as your logo or mascot. Ooh, merchandising would be another good angle to make money. If the advert proves successful, you could make mugs, t-shirts or even cuddly heartberry characters and sell them. Kids love that sort of thing. The possibilities are endless when it comes to merchandising – phone cases, sofa cushions, mouse mats, notebooks, bags – and it all helps to get your image and your company out there. I’ll come up with some rough ideas over the next few days and then we can discuss it together, but I definitely think we need some kind of logo like a smiling heartberry going forward, something that will help all your potential customers associate the fruit with you. It needs to be something memorable and cute. I’ll come up with a few designs and you can choose which one you like the most.’

  She looked down at her notebook and started roughly sketching out a heartberry figure with oversized shoes and big cute eyes. It looked like a walking heart – she needed to actually see the berries and then she could make the character look more berry-like. She had already Googled a heartberry but she needed to see the real thing. Colouring would be key; the end model would need to look shiny and juicy. She sat back and studied it for a while, suddenly desperate to get her colouring pencils. Thankfully she’d brought them with her, but they were back in Blossom Cottage at the moment. She started drawing a different berry character before she remembered where she was.

  She looked up and saw Aidan was smiling at her.

  ‘I’m so sorry, I got carried away there. When you stare at plasticine models all day, you sometimes forget how to be social. Coming to dinner with someone and then spending the night drawing in my notebook is hardly good etiquette.’

  She reluctantly shoved her notebook back into her bag.

  ‘I’ve never seen anyone so passionate about their work before. It’s a wonderful thing to see,’ Aidan said.

  ‘Do you not enjoy your job?’

  ‘I enjoy it. Growing fruit is a peaceful and often easy way of life. I can’t say I love it to the same degree that you clearly love your job. Tell me more about it.’

  ‘I do love my job. I was fascinated watching Morph when I was a kid and how he could just change shape at will. Later, when I realised that was all done with plasticine and stop-motion animation, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I loved making little short films about animals when I was at college and university, something that would only have a running time of a few minutes but would take several weeks or months to make. No one was allowed in my room in the university dorms because there was always a plasticine character in action – well as much action as it could be when we only move them a few millimetres for each shot. But later, those little shorts were seen by someone who worked for one of the main TV stations and the idea got turned into the show Amazing Animals that was on TV a few years ago. It was so fantastic to get a break like that and to see my work on screen. After that, I got commissioned for lots of different adverts for big and small companies. I travelled to California, actually worked in Hollywood for a few weeks at a film studio there almost straight out of university. I’ve had jobs in Paris, Germany, and I’ve got one in New York in a few months’ time. I’ve just finished an eighteen-month stint on a stop-motion animated film which will be out in cinemas probably later this year and I loved that. But I love seeing a project through from beginning to end, coming up with an idea, turning that idea into sketches and then plasticine models and then shooting and editing the final piece. So working on your advert is a dream come true for me.’

  He smiled as she spoke, not taking his eyes from her face as he really listened to what she said. He was so easy to talk to.

  He leaned back in his chair when she had finished. ‘Well, this advert and merchandising sounds like a great plan, but I will pay you. I couldn’t possibly let you do all that work for free.’

  ‘I promise, this is like a fun hobby for me, it doesn’t
feel like a job. You can pay me in heartberry cake or free strawberries.’

  ‘We can discuss terms later, but this sounds like something fun and I’d love to work with you on it. Honestly, I could do with a bit of help at the moment. I make some good money from the sale of the fruit but it’s not really enough. I’m not struggling, not really, but… there are always unexpected outgoings. A new roof on Blossom Cottage set me back over twenty thousand last year and I just don’t have the money for those kinds of things.’

  ‘I’ll help you. Adverts on social media can’t really do any harm. We’ll work something out.’

  He smiled at her. ‘Thank you.’

  She focussed her attention on the Eton mess for a few minutes, tasting the sweet fruit and the crunchy meringue as her mind bubbled over with ideas.

  She realised that Aidan was watching her with a smile.

  ‘You’re still thinking about the advert, aren’t you?’

  ‘I’m sorry. Was it that obvious?’

  ‘That you weren’t in the room with me, yes a little. Your eyes were filled with so much excitement and happiness. I doubt that I was the one giving you that reaction.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know. You already know I have a thing for your knees and elbows.’

  He laughed. ‘I knew it, I knew you fancied my elbows. All that stuff about them being only six and a half out of ten was rubbish.’

  ‘You got me. They’re the sexiest elbows I’ve ever seen.’

  His laugh got louder. ‘You’re different, Tori Graham.’

  She swallowed the lump of meringue. Was that a bad thing? All this talk of elbows, was it too weird for him?

  ‘Hey, different is definitely a good thing,’ Aidan said, softly. ‘I’ve talked to you tonight, really talked, and you’re a great listener. I feel I have nothing of interest to say to a lot of the women round here. Quite honestly, some of them have nothing of interest to say to me either. There’s a group of women, they meet every week and discuss all the celebrity magazines, who is dating who, the clothes they wear. I know nothing really happens in Sandcastle Bay, but why the lives of celebrities hold so much interest, I’ll never know. You’re different from all of them. And I really, really like that about you.’