by Jenny Kane
Abi smiled up at him. ‘It’s fine. I think I’d like to sort out my stuff on my own, after all, only I know where I want to put everything.’
‘Fair enough,’ Max kissed her forehead, ‘I do have one condition, though.’
‘Oh yes?’
‘Make sure, and I realise I’m speaking with a lot of future hope here, that you have a king-sized bed put in your room. You may have noticed that short I’m not!’ And with a brief glance of desire in Abi’s direction, Max strode off down the path, and disappeared into the wilds of Penwith to paint someone’s ceiling.
Chapter Forty
‘Are you sure you don’t want us to take Sadie?’
Max cuddled the retriever as said, ‘It’s too dangerous for you up there, isn’t it, old girl. We’ll have a walk later, OK?’
With Sadie wagging her tail as if in agreed understanding, Max turned to Abi. ‘I want to show you Mayon Cliff before the weather takes a major turn for the worse. It’s best if we have a nice day for it. We’ll get a much better view, and if we’re lucky we’ll see the basking sharks.’
Testing her toes in her new walking boots, Abi grabbed her fleece, ‘Do you think I’ll be alright in these? I’ve not broken them in as much as I’d like yet.’
‘Only one way to find out. I’d wear some thicker socks than those if I were you though, keep them from rubbing you too much.’
‘But that’ll roast me! I hate having hot feet.’
‘Well, if you end up in crippling agony I dare say I can carry you. You barely weigh as much as a feather anyway!’
Waving goodbye to Sadie, Abi locked the front door which now officially belonged to her. ‘So, which way, Mr Pendale?’
‘This way.’ They walked past the old converted capstan house, followed the arrow painted on the coastal path sign that was half-hidden by the public toilet block, and began to climb some steps.
Abi started to puff, and Max laughed. ‘Come on, city girl, you can’t be out of breath already, there’s another twenty steps to go!’
‘I hadn’t realised there would be so many people about now it’s September.’
‘It’s because it’s the last chance for a lot of people to do something with their children before they go back to school. Most of these folk will be off to the Land’s End Experience.’
Abi laughed. ‘By the way you spat that last sentence out I take it you aren’t a fan of that particular tourist development?’
‘This is one of the most outstanding places of natural beauty on the planet, why do we need a theme park to bring people to it? I’m all for family visitor centres and that, but here? Big mistake.’
‘Not for all these people.’ Abi gestured to the crocodile of families trailing up behind them.
‘Don’t be reasonable! Part of the scenery has been destroyed all for the sake of a Doctor Who exhibit and some other stuff.’
‘Really? I rather like Doctor Who’
‘Well so do I, but …’ Max caught Abi’s expression. ‘You’re teasing me, aren’t you?’
‘Yep!’ She stepped up the last of the granite steps and took in a big lungful of air. ‘This is Mayon Cliff, right?’
‘This is it. There was an Iron Age hillfort here once, and now there’s a little stone castle, and look, if you stare down there you’ll see the harbour we’ve just passed, and that large flat rock you can see is called Cowloe Rock, the sea channel around it is called the Tribbens.’
‘It’s simply stunning.’ Abi held onto Max’s arm as the wind flapped at their faces, ‘Do you know all the local placenames?’
‘I sure do. Beth always says I sound like I swallowed a tourist guide, but really I just love the place. I was born and raised here. Once my marriage fell apart I couldn’t wait to get back.’
As she watched the specks of people wandering about in the harbour below, Abi said, ‘I can’t imagine you living anywhere but here. You seem to fit.’
Tucking Abi under his arm, Max set them off in the direction of the old castellated area of Pedn-men-Du. ‘Come on, if we keep going we’ll leave all the holiday makers behind. Are you OK with a bit of a climb?’
‘I am if the view stays this incredible.’ Abi didn’t know where to look first as she enjoyed the refreshing wind on her face.
Every few minutes Max stopped them to point out landmarks he didn’t want Abi to miss; a strange shaped rock called the Irish Lady, another rock just offshore of the Castle Zawn headland called The Peal, and then the little cliff castle which Abi had to stop and marvel over as a little set of streams, that Max told her was called Carn Clog, trickled past their feet.
‘Over there,’ Max gestured to the line of people walking away from them, ‘that’s the way to the Land’s End Experience. We, however, are going this way.’
Abi stood statue-still. She wanted to take in every inch of the landscape she was surrounded by.
‘How are your feet?’
Wishing she’d taken Max’s advice and worn thick socks, Abi fluttered her eyelashes at him. ‘Let’s just say I am rather aware of my toes right now, and you might have been right about the socks.’
Max smiled, ‘Just a few hundred metres, then we’ll stop and rest those tootsies. OK?’
‘What are we looking for?’
‘You’ll see.’ Max ran his free hand through his hair as he checked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone. A few paces later, he said, ‘Close your eyes.’
Abi wasn’t sure she should, ‘The ground is a bit unsteady. I might fall over.’
‘I won’t let that happen, trust me. It’ll be worth it.’
Closing her eyes, Abi felt Max stand close to her left side and take her hand, then he passed his right hand all the way around her to hold her right hand. ‘First one step, and then another, that’s it. I won’t let you trip or fall. Promise.’
Ten steps later, each one tentative over the sloping grassy ground, Abi could hear a roaring noise getting closer, making her hold onto Max tighter still.
‘OK, you can stop.’ Max turned Abi so she was stood with her back firmly against his chest, and wrapped his arms around her front, ‘you can open your eyes.’
‘Oh, wow …’ Abi stared in awe at the view before them. It was one of the most spectacular sites she’d ever seen. ‘Max, it’s beautiful, what’s it called?’
Pointing to a rock arch that was being battered by the waves thundering beneath them, Max raised his voice above the scream of the sea. ‘That’s the Armed Knight of Enys Dodnan, and if you follow the view you can see where the sea is churning and roaring around Pordenack Point.’
‘It’s magnificent. I can’t believe we’re the only people here.’
‘You can see why I didn’t want to risk Sadie coming here though, can’t you. She could have been blown over the edge.’
Glad that Max was there to keep her on her feet as the wind whipped up around them, Abi pushed her hair from her eyes.
‘We should sit down, it’ll be more sheltered, and you can still see the view just fine.’
Glad to take the weight off her sore feet, Abi found herself sat between Max’s outstretched legs, cradled in his arms, with his chin resting gently on top of her head. She’d never felt so safe, or so tiny, as she watched nature showing her its beauty and its power.
Even with Max’s body heat against her, after ten minutes Abi began to feel cold. The fleece which had kept her so snug suddenly felt insubstantial, and she began to shiver.
Max brought his face down to her ear. ‘Are you cold, shall we go?’
‘A bit, but it’s so amazing here, and peaceful – well, apart from the sea and the wind!’ Twisting around, smiling up at Max, Abi leaned forward and kissed him. ‘I love it! Thank you so much for bringing me here. It’s just what I needed.’
Max’s eyes met hers. ‘I’m so glad you like it. This is one of my favourite spots in the county.’
Keeping her eyes fixed on his, Abi asked, ‘Will you show me the other places you love sometime?’
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‘I’d love to.’ Max wiped Abi’s windblown hair from her face, before pulling her down so she was lying on top of him. ‘But first, I think I’d better warm you up a bit.’
Abi didn’t argue as his mouth met hers. The sound of the sea whipped away her cry of ‘at last’ as his large hands disappeared beneath her fleece on a gratifyingly accurate quest for her breasts that soon made every fibre of Abi’s body buzz with happy desire …
‘Come on then, I told Jacob and Beth to meet us on the beach for a late lunch.’
Letting Max pull her to her feet, Abi readjusted her clothing, ‘You did? Why? I have so much unpacking to do now the bits from Surrey have arrived and Stan’s happily playing ninja bridge with his friends at the flats.’
‘Because you need a break, and because, if I remember rightly, apart from living in Abbey’s House there were three other things you wanted to do in Cornwall, walk – which we are doing right now – have lots of picnics – Jacob should be manhandling a large and very full hamper into position as we speak – and you wanted to build sandcastles. Right?’
Abi was amazed. ‘I can’t believe you remembered that.’
‘I remembered because it was obviously important to you.’
As they climbed carefully back down the steps to Sennen beach Abi could see Beth waving at her, a big smile on her face as she battled against the gusty late summer wind to lay a picnic rug over the sand.
‘You arranged all this for me?’
‘We arranged it,’ Max bent down and kissed her upturned face, ‘all of us.’
In the closing distance Abi could see Jacob and Beth setting out glasses, a bottle of champagne, and a huge cake.
As soon as they were in range, Beth ran forward and hugged Abi hard. ‘Nice walk?’
‘Very.’ Abi blushed. ‘Look at all this. Wow!’
Jacob waved the champagne bottle in her direction. ‘What better way to mark the start of your official residency in Cornwall than a picnic of home-cooked pasties, cake, and champers?’
As the cork flew from the bottle with a suitably theatrical pop, Max pulled Abi onto his lap on the rug, and as Jacob filled their glasses he raised a toast. ‘To Abi, the new owner of Abbey’s House!’
‘And to Art and Sole,’ added Abi, ‘Beth’s new venture and my new job. If the feedback from the launches and our TV moment is anything to go by, we are going to have a very busy year indeed.’
Three evenings later Abi sat on her special sofa in the corner of the kitchen. Her kitchen.
She stroked the tatty blue fabric. If this sofa could talk … She had left Stan’s kitchen table where it was in the middle of the room, but the arrival of her dresser had meant that the old side table Stan had kept his surplus groceries and bits and pieces on was now in the summerhouse, dotted with a myriad of flower pots.
The oven had been scrubbed to within an inch of its life and the Belfast sink gleamed in its freshly varnished wooden surround. The plates that had been in the larder had all been washed, and now had a new home being displayed on the dresser.
Abi hadn’t been sure about inheriting so much of Stan’s stuff with the house, but as he’d been adamant he didn’t want it, and wouldn’t have any need for it, she’d kept it. After all, she loved its eclectic nature, and the fact that none of it matched anything else appealed to her need to escape from the ‘everything has to be coordinated’ life she had left behind her.
Beth and Jacob had been surprised when Abi politely but firmly declined their offer of help to sort Abbey’s House out. Max however had simply told her he understood. This task she had to do herself. It was her way of letting go of everything that had gone before and starting all over again. By herself. For herself. After that anything was possible. The new future that was out there for her could truly begin.
Tucking her feet up under herself, Abi let the ache of hard work in her muscles flow satisfyingly through her. Only Stan’s room remained without the distinct mark of her personality on it, and even that had been tidied. His bedlinen was aired and ready for him whenever he wanted to visit, and the collection of Zane Grey novels he’d left behind was neatly stacked on his bedside table.
A spare easel stood in the corner of Abi’s bedroom, along with a stool and the cabinet of her art supplies that Max had insisted she bring from Surrey.
Max.
Holding her mug of hot chocolate tighter, Abi allowed reminiscences of their walk across the Mayon Cliff infiltrate her mind.
Abi looked down at the sofa again. It was time her favourite piece of furniture had some brand new memories to add to its silent history.
Epilogue
Max found Abi weeding the dandelions that had taken root by the front door. Refusing her invitation to come inside, he passed her the large, heavy parcel he was carrying.
‘It’s from Stan.’
‘Stan?’
‘Your belated house-warming gift. Open it here. Trust me.’
‘It’s so heavy! Whatever is it?’
Max’s eyes radiated pleasure as he supported the end of the parcel so she could unwrap her present.
‘Oh, wow!’ Abi couldn’t take her eyes off the carved plaque of shaped wood that she was half holding, had half propped in Max’s arms. Eventually her words came out as a whisper. ‘Did you make this for Stan?’
‘For Stan to give to you, yes.’
Max passed Abi the mallet he’d produced from behind his back like some sort of tool-carrying magician, and with a solemn look on his face that belied the glowing happiness in his eyes, he nodded encouragingly towards the front gate.
Abi pulled the old sign out of the ground with a satisfying heave. As she positioned the new one into the clay soil, Max wrapped his hands over hers, and they swung the mallet together, driving the new house sign home.
Abi’s House.
Jenny Kane
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Published by Accent Press Ltd 2015
ISBN 9781783758050
Copyright © Jenny Kane 2015
The right of Jenny Kane to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Accent Press Ltd, Ty Cynon House, Navigation Park, Abercynon, CF45 4SN