by Holly Martin
‘Now that’s a proper welcome,’ he said.
‘Sorry, I’ll make sure all welcomes are like that in the future.’
He grinned. God, he hoped so.
‘Did you hear the latest about Hurricane Imogen?’ Tori asked, rubbing his shoulders, soothingly. ‘Apparently now it’s been downgraded to just a bad storm, but they are still predicting extreme high winds and large waves hitting this part of the country.’
‘I know,’ Aidan said. He’d been making a point of listening to the news every day to hear progress of Hurricane Imogen. He was trying hard not to get anxious about the storm, it could blow itself out completely before it reached these shores. Sandcastle Bay had endured bad storms before and Heartberry Farm had survived so he shouldn’t get too worried, though he knew he would need to keep an eye on it. He looked at Tori’s face, creased with concern, and he wanted to take that away and for her to smile again. ‘Que sera, sera, remember?’
She forced a smile on her face and nodded.
He slipped his hand into his pocket and presented her with the paper rose he had made that morning, watching her face genuinely light up with a big smile this time.
‘This is so sweet, I love that this has become our thing,’ Tori said.
‘I like that we have a thing.’
‘I do too. And look, you’ve inspired me actually. I have a commission for an advert for a zoo and I thought I would do it with origami animals. I have to discuss it with them, but this morning I made an origami tortoise, a penguin, a giraffe and I’m halfway through making a fruit bat. I’ll take some photos of these later and send them over as part of my concept, so I wanted to thank you for inspiring me. And I have something for you too actually,’ Tori said. ‘Though I feel bad that it’s not anything origami.’
She pulled out of his arms and walked over to the mantelpiece. Picking up a white envelope, she held it out to him, excitedly.
He took it and slid it open. Inside was a voucher and small brightly coloured brochure.
He read the voucher and his heart filled with love for her. It was a voucher for a three-day cookery course at the nearby college focussing on making various cakes, pies and desserts.
‘I passed the college the other day and couldn’t help popping in,’ Tori said, excitedly. ‘This sounds right up your street. I’ve bought this voucher for you, so you can book yourself on a course at a time that suits you. I know you’re always busy with the fruit but maybe later in the year you might be free to do it. They run the course twice a month and it’s only three days.’
‘This is perfect,’ Aidan said, softly.
‘It is?’
He nodded. ‘You bought this for me?’
‘Yes. I know opening your own dessert business and distributing pies and cakes across the UK is a lot easier said than done, but even if you don’t want to do that or haven’t got the time, I still thought this would be fun for you to spend a few days indulging in your passion, even if it’s just for you.’
‘This is…’ he swallowed. ‘Nobody has ever asked about what I wanted to do with my life. You were right, it was expected that I would take over the farm and I just accepted that. This is so thoughtful. Thank you.’
Tori smiled. ‘Ah, I’m so happy you like it, I wasn’t sure if you would think I was interfering. I’m already pushing you into doing this advert and now…’
He pulled her back into his arms. ‘I’ve told you, you never have to worry about what you do or say around me. This is really kind, thank you.’
Tori reached up and kissed him again.
‘By the way, I meant to say, I haven’t seen Beast for a few days. Is it normal that he just disappears?’
Aidan nodded. ‘Yes, he always turns up.’
‘The food is still getting eaten but that could be foxes or badgers or something else. The bowls are going missing too.’
‘If the bowls are going missing, it’s likely to be Beast. I shouldn’t worry too much. I’ll ask around and see if anyone has seen him, but he sometimes wanders off with his girlfriend, so he’s probably fine.’
Tori nodded before she turned back to her little makeshift set.
‘OK, are you ready for a thrilling few hours? This animation malarkey is very fast-paced.’
Aidan laughed, having guessed from her previous brief descriptions that it was anything but.
She pulled him over to the set and he could see that Max looked ready for action, flat cap, twinkle in his eye, cheeky smile, and…
‘Green wellies?’
‘Jenny will be wearing purple,’ Tori explained. ‘It seemed more fitting this way.’
He smiled. ‘I really like that.’
‘So, we are about ready to do the first shot. Do you want to do the honours?’ Tori said.
‘What? No, I don’t know anything about animation or—’
‘You don’t have to. Just look at the laptop and decide if you’re happy with the shot and if you are, just press Enter.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Yes, there’s nothing fandangled at this stage, it’s just taking photos. We can edit stuff out later if it goes wrong. I’m going to put in a countryside background later so we’re just focussing on Max for now. Are you happy with this shot?’
He looked at the laptop. Max looked shiny and juicy, just like a real berry, and he had his cheeky smile at the ready. It was perfect.
‘Looks good to me.’
Tori gestured to the Enter button and Aidan reached over and pressed it.
‘Congratulations, you’re now my assistant animator,’ Tori said.
* * *
‘That’s the way to do it!’
Tori smiled slightly as all the children sitting on the sand burst out laughing at Punch’s antics up in the red and white stripy booth. She was sitting in one of the rows of deckchairs where all the parents were taking a much-needed break while the kids were entertained for half an hour. Now Judy had come back on and was berating Punch for his terrible baby-minding skills. The kids thought it was hilarious. The week before she had come to Sandcastle Bay, Tori had got a last-minute ticket to see Wicked in the West End. Because she had been alone, she had managed to get a seat three rows from the stage and it had been amazing. Now she was here, watching Punch and Judy.
The puppeteer had already dropped the plate he was supposed to be spinning. Judy’s voice, which had started off high-pitched and feminine, was now distinctly gruff, as if he couldn’t be bothered to put on the voice any longer. The crocodile had appeared and, as it had fought with Punch, one of its eyes had fallen out and Tori didn’t think that was scripted. The whole thing looked tired and shabby and the booth was shaking so much it looked like it was going to collapse at any second. Life really was different down here if this passed for high-quality entertainment.
‘This is shite,’ Isla sighed, and Tori laughed with relief that she wasn’t the only one thinking that.
Tori leaned forward and looked at Elliot, holding hands with Marigold, Emily’s daughter, as they both laughed their heads off. ‘The kids seem to like it.’
Emily, sitting in front, turned round to talk to them. ‘Part of me knows this is just silly harmless children’s entertainment, and living at the seaside, this is our heritage. Marigold wanted to come and see it and I didn’t want to say no. But the other part of me wants to shout out to Judy that she can do so much better than Punch, he’s a sexist, misogynistic bully who has no place looking after children. Judy would be better off being a single mum than staying with this git and I don’t want Marigold growing up thinking this kind of behaviour is acceptable or funny.’
Agatha, sitting next to Emily, nodded. ‘Quite right, dear, you need to raise my great-niece to have the highest of standards when it comes to men. I don’t want her settling for any old rabble.’
A young mum in front of Emily and Agatha turned round in her seat. ‘For goodness sake, Punch is a puppet, not a candidate for the next Prime Minister, get off your high horse.’
Emily placed a hand on her arm and shook her head. ‘Leave it, Agatha. Just because I want the best for my child, doesn’t mean that everyone else thinks that way about how they raise their children.’
Tori suppressed a smile. She liked this fiery side to Emily.
Melody giggled next to Tori and turned to Isla. ‘School-gate politics. You’ve got all this to look forward to when he’s older.’
‘It started in Nursery,’ Isla said. ‘And now he’s in Reception it gets worse. I try to keep out of it as much as possible, but Emily has a point.’
As Punch forced Judy to kiss him up on the makeshift stage, Isla booed loudly. The young mum who had challenged Emily turned round and gave Isla the stink eye. It was quite obvious Isla didn’t care.
Agatha turned round completely in her chair to talk to Isla, giving up on watching the show. ‘You see, you could do a lot worse than marrying Leo Jackson. You could end up with someone like that Mr Punch.’
Tori felt her eyebrows shoot up at the meddling. It wasn’t remotely subtle.
Isla shook her head. ‘Emily’s right, I’d rather be on my own for the rest of my life if the only other option was Mr Punch. Elliot doesn’t need a father like that. And don’t make it sound like I think I would be scraping the barrel by marrying Leo, or that I think I’m too good for him. I don’t think that at all. He would make a wonderful father to Elliot.’
‘Then what’s the problem?’ Agatha said.
‘The problem is, he doesn’t love me. He cares about me, he adores Elliot, but he doesn’t love me.’
‘I notice you didn’t say that the problem was you don’t love him.’
Isla sighed with exasperation. Agatha just didn’t give up. Tori looked at Melody, wondering if she should step in and tell Agatha to butt out. Melody cringed at the question. But it was quite likely that now Agatha’s attention had been swayed from the high-quality entertainment, they were all going to be in for the Spanish Inquisition.
‘The boy asked you to marry him for goodness sake,’ Agatha said. ‘Of course he loves you.’
Isla looked aghast. ‘How did you know that?’
‘If you want a private conversation, do it in your own home,’ Agatha said, bluntly. ‘I have spies everywhere. He’s proposed numerous occasions apparently.’
‘Wait, Leo proposed to you?’ Emily said, turning round and giving the conversation her fullest attention.
‘Because he wants to take care of me, because Matthew made him promise at Elliot’s christening that if anything was to happen to him, Leo would take care of me and Elliot. That’s all this is, a promise to his best friend,’ Isla said.
‘That boy is crazy in love with you. You mark my words, he’ll be giving you his slice of the famous heartberry cake on Saturday as a token of his love for you.’
‘Aidan said that Leo has never given his heartberry cake to a woman before, outside of his family, that is,’ Tori nodded to indicate Emily. ‘Might be a bit optimistic to hope that Leo will suddenly change that.’
‘It’s not going to happen,’ Isla laughed. ‘I tell you what, if he does give me his cake on Saturday, I might even say yes to one of his crazy proposals in the future. That will scare the crap out of him if I actually said yes.’
‘I just think that if Leo and Isla are going to get together they are better left alone to do it by themselves rather than pushing them to do it,’ Melody said, bravely.
‘And what about you and young Jamie?’ Agatha said, giving Melody her attention now. ‘When are you going to ask him out?’
‘Agatha, have you asked out Stefano yet?’ Tori said, pointedly, in a desperate attempt to rescue Melody.
‘I told him I expect to get a slice of his heartberry cake on Saturday, so we’ll see what happens. Melody, what about you? In my experience if you want a man like Jamie Jackson, you have to go and get him yourself. He’s not like his brothers, he doesn’t have that confidence, isn’t that right Emily?’
‘No, bless him, he’s always been a bit shy when it comes to women,’ Emily said.
‘I can’t ask him out,’ Melody said.
‘Why? Because he might say no? Because then it would be awkward between you? No more awkward than it is now. It’s painful being anywhere near the two of you when you’re together. Asking him out couldn’t possibly make it worse.’
Melody clearly had no words to reply to that. ‘But…’
‘But if he says no it will hurt?’ Agatha said. ‘Yes, I know it will honey, but it won’t kill you. You pull your big-girl pants up and move on with someone smart enough to snap you up and realise how wonderful you are while I’ll give Jamie a clip round the ear for being so stupid.’
Melody smiled slightly at this, despite the interfering.
‘OK, I’ll try,’ she said, which surprised Tori. She was not exactly forthcoming when it came to men herself. ‘But it won’t be straight away. You have to give me some time to pluck up the courage, to come up with a plan, not keep harassing me about it all the time.’
‘At my stage of life, time is the one thing I don’t have. I’ll give you three months or I’m staging an intervention.’
‘What does that mean?’ Melody asked.
‘Trust me, you don’t want to find out,’ Emily said. ‘How do you think me and Stanley ended up together?’
‘Fine, three months, but don’t blame me if asking him out makes him run for the hills,’ Melody said.
‘I don’t think that will happen.’ Agatha now turned her attention on Tori. ‘And how are things between you and young Aidan? You seemed to be cosy at Matthew’s memorial the other day. I saw him holding your hand when you were releasing the balloons.’
Tori smiled; this woman really was omniscient. ‘We’re fine.’
‘Having lots of hot sex from what I hear?’
‘Unless you have spies in Aidan’s farmhouse, there’s no way you could know that,’ Tori said, then regretted it immediately.
‘I didn’t know, but I do now,’ Agatha said, triumphantly. ‘Well, well, well. Now I have fifty pounds riding on you two getting married within the year so if you could hurry things along, I’d be grateful.’
‘I’m not getting married just so you can win fifty pounds,’ Tori said.
‘No, you’re right,’ Agatha said. ‘Marriage is to be taken seriously. But if you want those five children, you better get a shift on, you’re not getting any younger.’
Tori’s mouth fell open.
‘Well, now I’ve sorted out the lives of my nephews, I’ll be on my way. I’m certainly not hanging around to watch this dated crap any more,’ Agatha said as she got up out of her deckchair and then walked across the beach.
Tori stared after her in shock.
‘Is she always like this?’ she asked Emily.
‘Yes, sadly, she’s been like it all my life. It’s easier just to do what she says than try to argue against it, she always wins,’ Emily said.
Tori sighed and shook her head. ‘Looks like we’ll be having a triple wedding then next year.’
Melody and Isla laughed.
The show was still going on: the baby had been stolen by the crocodile and the police were there, although Mr Punch wasn’t taking it remotely seriously.
Marigold came over to Emily and Elliot followed her.
‘Mummy, I don’t like Mr Punch,’ Marigold said as Elliot climbed up onto Isla’s lap.
Emily turned to give Tori a smug grin. ‘No honey, I don’t like him either. Men should never treat women like that, not ever,’ she said loud enough for the mum in front of her to hear.
Marigold nodded solemnly.
‘Shall we go and get some ice cream?’
‘Yayyy!’
Emily stood up and took Marigold’s hand, waving goodbye to Tori, Isla and Melody.
‘What do you think of Mr Punch?’ Isla
said, kissing Elliot’s cheek.
‘He’s an asshole,’ Elliot said, succinctly.
Melody snorted that he had picked up that word from their conversation in the pub the other night.
‘Yes he is,’ Isla said, proudly.
* * *
Tori pulled her t-shirt over her head and moved to Aidan’s bedroom window. It was set back from the room in a small bay window and looked out over the fields and hills, and in the distance, the glittering Orchard Cove.
She had never stood half naked at a window before, but it was Aidan’s land as far as the eye could see. No one would see her here.
She finished undressing and stretched her arms above her head, feeling bold and confident. Aidan had laid one of his t-shirts on the bed for her, so she would have something to nap in, but as he had already made it clear that he didn’t intend to nap until he’d had his wicked way with her, there didn’t seem much point in covering up now. He’d already seen her naked several times.
She smiled. God, he made her feel so alive.
Sex with Luc had always been done in darkened rooms. She had never been sure if that was Luc not wanting her to see his body or him not wanting to see hers, but she always felt so shy showing herself to him. Of course, he had seen her naked, but it made her feel uncomfortable and she didn’t know why. With Aidan, there was never any of that. She didn’t feel shy or embarrassed by him seeing her, she loved the look in his eyes when he devoured her body.
They had spent a few hours that day animating Aidan’s advert and, so far, Max had moved a few millimetres. She had been sure that Aidan would grow bored at the seeming lack of progress, but in fact he had loved every minute of it.
She loved spending time with him, chatting and laughing with him, and it didn’t matter if they were watching a sunrise, picking fruit or having dinner together, he made her feel so happy. Every moment she spent with him made her fears and doubts slowly ebb away.
There was a noise behind her and she turned around.
Aidan was standing in the bedroom door, dressed only in those gorgeous tight black shorts she loved so much. He had the most impeccable body and her hands itched to touch him.