Scones Away!

by Cressida McLaughlin

  ‘But you think Oliver felt threatened by me?’ He ran his thumb lightly down the side of her face. Charlie’s breath stalled in her throat, but the rest of her body fizzed into life. ‘Why would that be, do you think?’

  ‘Because he believes that you …’

  ‘That I what? What is it that I do, Charlie?’

  ‘We should go inside,’ she murmured.

  ‘Right now?’ He stopped his thumb at the edge of her mouth, and then grazed it over her lips.

  ‘Daniel—’

  ‘We’ll go back in a moment.’ He replaced his thumb with his mouth, so swiftly that Charlie didn’t have time to protest. And once it was happening, there was no part of her that wanted to protest. Her mind was a blank, everything focused on the feel of Daniel’s kiss, his body warm against hers. There was confidence in his embrace, and she knew that, were it to go further, she would relish him being in control. She craved it.

  He pulled back, his breathing heavy. ‘Now,’ he said. ‘We can go inside now, if you want?’

  She nodded, trying to gather her composure.

  She pictured Oliver stumbling away, hurt and drunk, and realized how unfairly she’d treated him. The hot tub kiss, as brief as it had been, was bad enough, and even though she wasn’t sure what was – or had been – happening between her and Oliver, she couldn’t keep leading him on. She wouldn’t be able to tell him, now, that her kiss with Daniel had been a one-off. She needed to set the record straight, to let him know that, although part of her still couldn’t believe it, her intentions were entirely focused elsewhere. Nothing else could happen with Daniel until she’d done that.

  She looked at the man who, despite the boldness of his actions, was staring mutely at the sea, as if he was as taken aback by the last few minutes as she was.

  ‘Are you coming?’ she asked.

  Daniel stared at her, his lips slightly parted. ‘Lead the way,’ he said.

  Together, they went back inside the pub.

  Chapter Six

  Daniel was waiting for her when she pulled into the Crystal Waters car park on Monday afternoon. His guests, those she’d seen in the breakfast room on Friday, plus a couple of others she didn’t recognize, hovered next to the entrance. They had no idea how much had changed over the course of the weekend.

  When Charlie and Daniel had gone back inside the pub, Lawrence was repentant, worried about how much he’d upset Oliver, and Juliette and Lauren were trying to calm him down. After that, the evening had felt as if it was over and Daniel had called a taxi for Lauren. While they waited, Myrtle had given them each a hug and thanked them for making her birthday so wonderful. Charlie hadn’t been able to work out whether she was referring to the added drama, or if she had been genuinely pleased that they had been a part of her celebrations.

  Daniel had accompanied them up the hill, and said goodbye at the end of Juliette’s road. His brief embrace had felt as charged as the moment outside the pub. Which meant today Charlie had an extra reason to be nervous on what was already a landmark afternoon: her first-ever Cornish Cream Tea Tour aboard Gertie.

  ‘Great to see you all again,’ she said, beckoning her guests forward and shaking hands as they passed her. ‘The best views are from the upper deck, so if you’d like to make your way up there and find a seat, Juliette will give you all menus. There are tables downstairs if you’d prefer, or if you’re not fond of steep staircases.’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry about us,’ said the older woman who had spoken up on Friday. ‘We did the Cornish coastal path last year. This holiday may be a bit more comfortable, but we’re good for a few stairs, aren’t we, Elber?’

  ‘Indeed,’ Elber replied. ‘It was an experience, I’ll give you that. But Crystal Waters is too, and I don’t mind a bit of the high life. I’d pick the king-sized bed and Jacuzzi over tents and hostels any day.’

  ‘I don’t think I could do it,’ Charlie said.

  ‘Oh, you could,’ the woman chimed in. ‘A sprightly young thing like you. Fancy thinking of cream teas on a bus, too. I don’t know whether you’ve got sense or stupidity behind all that red hair of yours, but I’m looking forward to finding out.’ She patted Charlie on the shoulder and took Elber’s hand to climb up onto the bus.

  Charlie turned to find Daniel watching her, a smile tugging at his lips.

  ‘Don’t mind Helena,’ he said. ‘She has a knack for putting the younger generation in their place. How are you, after yesterday?’

  ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘You?’

  ‘Not bad. Heard from Oliver?’

  Charlie shook her head. She had tried calling and had left several texts, but he had remained resolutely incommunicado. She hoped he was just sleeping off his hangover.

  ‘Maybe he’s realized he’s not good enough for you,’ Daniel said. ‘But if he stops hedging his bets and asks to see you, then I think you should be honest with him.’

  ‘Honest? I—’

  ‘You know what I mean,’ he whispered. His brushed his hand against her bare arm as he passed.

  ‘Charlie? You coming?’ Juliette called from inside the bus.

  ‘Of course!’

  As she took her seat and pulled out the detailed route plan she had created, she was relieved to see that all the guests – Daniel included – had chosen to sit upstairs. She could concentrate on driving, on pointing out the highlights of Cornwall’s beautiful coastline through the mic system while Juliette arranged the cream teas. There were stopping points along the route, strategically timed to help with serving, but also with spectacular views. She had planned everything down to the last detail.

  She needed this tour to be triumphant, and if she’d been lacking any kind of incentive before, then having Daniel on board had given it to her. So far, she had failed spectacularly in her quest to show him she was unflappable. Now it was time to pull it out of the bag. There was no other option but to succeed.

  As Charlie navigated the twisting coastal road south from Porthgolow, pointing out the various coves, lighthouses and old mining towers, the sun burnt off the last of that morning’s clouds to leave behind a beautiful afternoon. Green hills and fields rolled inland, while to their right was the deep blue of the sea beyond a sheer drop, a craggy cliff face or a sloping, golden beach. The heat was tempered by a brisk breeze, and Charlie had the driver’s window open so that it licked deliciously in, cooling her hot cheeks. It was strange, driving the bus, acting as tour guide and talking to guests she couldn’t see or interact with. Every time Juliette came downstairs to refill teapots, Charlie asked for an update.

  ‘How’s it going?’ she asked. ‘What’s happening?’

  ‘There’s lots of laughter,’ Juliette said. ‘That old couple are holding court, telling everyone their stories from the coastal path walk. I honestly think they’d be a bad influence on us, Char. You want to hear what happened in a pub in Padstow! Lucky that the girls, Sarah and Samantha, don’t really understand, but their parents seem pretty laid-back.’

  Charlie slowed as a bright green van declaring itself to belong to The Best Pastry Company in Cornwall approached along a particularly narrow bit of road. She waved a thanks to the driver as they passed each other. ‘And Daniel?’ she asked, keeping her voice casual.

  It didn’t work. She saw her friend’s grin in the mirror. ‘He’s being well behaved,’ Juliette confirmed. ‘Joining in with the conversation, complimenting the scones and the mini lemon meringue pies. It was fun with him, in the pub, if you discount the moments of excruciating tension. It was a surprise that he used to come on holiday here as a child. I feel as though I hardly knew anything about him until last night. Did you have fun with him outside, too?’

  Charlie kept her gaze on the road. ‘I really need to talk to Ollie. He stormed off pretty quickly.’

  ‘Poor Oliver,’ Juliette sighed. ‘Poor Lawrence, too. Why do men have to be so confrontational?’

  ‘Beats me,’ Charlie murmured. ‘At least Daniel remained level-headed during the whole thi
ng.’ Almost until the very end, she added silently. ‘He came outside to see if I was all right.’ She spotted the lay-by she had earmarked for their next stop, which had a panoramic view over Hayle Beach, stretching for miles and curving round towards the bay of St Ives. She indicated and pulled gently into it.

  ‘I bet he did.’ Juliette’s lips flickered into a smile that vanished as soon as it had arrived. ‘Just be careful, OK? Remember what you told me about him making you feel hopeless. Don’t forget why we’re doing this, today, using his guests as guinea pigs.’

  ‘I won’t, Jules. It’s at the forefront of my mind.’ Although, after last night, Charlie felt as though she had a better understanding of Daniel and thought that they might have moved beyond game playing.

  Juliette sighed, suddenly pensive. ‘I don’t want you to get your heart broken again, Char. You’re here to heal yourself, and obviously your interpretation of that is to throw yourself into this,’ she gestured around her, ‘but just – just don’t get too invested in Daniel.’

  ‘I’m not getting invested in him. I just – after all this back and forth between us, I want him to take me seriously. I want him to see that Gertie is a good thing, for all of Porthgolow, including his customers.’

  ‘You’re doing that, for sure. Want to come and talk to your adoring clientele?’

  Charlie laughed. ‘I do want to stretch my legs.’

  Charlie gave Marmite a quick stroke and followed Juliette to the upper deck, where everyone, led by her friend, gave her a round of applause.

  ‘I sometimes get nervous driving my Mini along these roads,’ Kerry said. She was part of the trio, on holiday with her friends, Luke and Richard. ‘And I’ve been to Cornwall every year since I was twelve. How you’re driving a double-decker is beyond me.’

  ‘Not a drop of tea spilled, either,’ added Luke, raising his cup in appreciation. ‘Have you been a bus driver long?’

  Charlie shook her head. ‘My uncle Hal used to tour this bus round the Cotswold countryside. I often went with him and he taught me to drive it. I added the café after I inherited it.’

  ‘Great addition,’ the father of Sarah and Samantha said. ‘I’ve not had an afternoon tea like this for years. It reminds me of one I had in the Langham in London, decades ago.’

  ‘Oh wow, that’s a huge compliment. Thank you.’

  ‘And the views,’ added Helena. ‘Sublime. It’s bringing back memories of our trip last year. You know, I’ve seen every Cornish beach, and I think Porthgolow is one of the most beautiful. No wonder that Porthgolow Hideaway Instagram account has got so many followers. You must know who runs it, living there?’

  ‘Not a clue,’ Charlie said. ‘What about you, Jules?’

  ‘I’ve never been able to work it out, though I have an inkling Daniel might know.’

  ‘Me?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘You think I’ve got time to go sneaking about incognito, snapping photos and uploading them to Instagram?’

  ‘You don’t even know who it is?’ Juliette asked, deflated.

  ‘Nope. But what about Jonah? He strikes me as the kind of kid who would do something like that.’

  ‘Are you even allowed an Instagram account at twelve?’ Juliette asked.

  ‘I wouldn’t have thought so,’ Helena said, tutting.

  ‘I know the one you mean,’ cut in Richard. ‘It’s partly why I agreed to come to Crystal Waters with Kerry and Luke. They post those Cornish landscapes on the tourist sights and social media and you know you have to see them for yourself.’

  Charlie nodded. ‘As soon as I drove into Porthgolow, I was blown away by the view. Cornwall couldn’t be any more different from Herefordshire.’

  They all took a moment to look out at the wide strip of sand and glittering water.

  ‘Did you paint the seagull cookies?’ the older of the two girls, Sarah, asked, breaking the silence.

  ‘I did,’ Charlie confirmed. ‘But with icing. You can use different colours and make any design you want, like the seagull and the shell, and the green one shaped like Cornwall.’ She had spent yesterday morning baking the cookies, and she and Juliette had got up early today to ice them, Charlie thankful that she hadn’t had too many cocktails the previous night. They were more intricate than any she’d done before.

  ‘And the bus!’ Samantha added. ‘I love the bus, like this one.’

  ‘The cookies are as pretty as they are delicious,’ said a young, beautiful woman who was one of the last-minute additions to the tour. She was there with her partner, their hands clasped across the table. They were the type of guests that Charlie had expected to be staying at Crystal Waters, their clothes, posture and demeanour all refined.

  But the rest of them weren’t. They were simply people indulging in a bit of luxury for whatever reason. She had allowed the look of the hotel, Daniel’s initial coolness, and the gossip in the village to sway her assumptions, and she knew now that she had misjudged.

  ‘Thank you everyone,’ she said. ‘This is our last stop – the seemingly endless Hayle Beach. I’m in negotiations with the National Trust, which owns lots of the car parks along here, to run a tour that includes a stop closer to the sand. A swim, stroll or paddle to work up an appetite, followed by afternoon tea looking out across the water. There are always new events and initiatives happening on the bus, including the weekly food market in Porthgolow itself. Please keep up to date on our social media pages to find out what’s going on and where we’ll be next. Now, does anyone need a top-up before we head back to the hotel?’

  There were a few murmurs of assent, and she helped Juliette refill the teapots before seating herself behind the wheel and beginning the slow, winding journey back to Porthgolow. She didn’t want to count her chickens, but it seemed as if her taster tour had gone well. Now all she had to do was work out how to fit them into her schedule. Her mother’s words came to her; a mantra she’d heard so often growing up. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Charlene. Otherwise it’ll get stuck in your gullet and choke you. She thought how different that was to Hugh’s positive affirmations, and pushed the words to the back of her mind. For her, busyness meant happiness, and The Cornish Cream Tea Bus was making her feel more fulfilled than anything had done in a long time.

  ‘Impressive tour,’ Daniel said, once Charlie had waved the guests off the bus and was about to head upstairs to help Juliette clean up. He was standing in the doorway, his heels hanging off the step.

  ‘Thank you. I knew if you came, you’d love it.’

  ‘There was never any doubt of that.’ He took a step towards her, his polished boots clanging against the metal floor.

  Charlie frowned. ‘Really? Even after all your posturing with the yoga sessions, muscling in on that first Saturday as if it wouldn’t be good enough unless you intervened? What did you think of the lemon meringue pies?’

  ‘Delicious,’ he said. ‘Everything was. Is that really why you thought I arranged the fireworks? I was trying to help. Why are you picking a fight with me now? Do you regret what happened last night?’ Charlie looked away but he touched her cheek, forcing her to face him. ‘I believe in your events, Charlie. I believe in you.’

  ‘What about the mix-up with the yoga?’

  Daniel’s smile was irrepressible. ‘OK, that was a bit cruel, but I couldn’t help it. I love the fire you have and I wanted to see it unleashed. But the food market was never in danger.’

  ‘You really believe in me?’

  ‘You think I’m still playing games?’ He took another step towards her. ‘Last night was not a game to me. You’ve brought a breath of fresh air to Porthgolow, changed it for the better. And as for me …’ He took her hand.

  ‘What about you?’ she managed. She leaned in closer, the scents of orange and cedar wafting over her, his face inches from hers.

  ‘You’ve got all the way in here.’ He brought her hand up and pressed it against his chest.

  She swallowed. She could feel his breath against her face, the hard
contours of his muscles beneath her palm. When she forced herself to meet his gaze, he was smiling.

  ‘It’s not easy for me to admit,’ he said, ‘and I can see you’re having a hard time accepting it, too. So I’m going to prove to you just how much I believe in you, and in Gertie. Maybe then you’ll realize.’

  ‘Realize what?’

  ‘That this is meant to happen. Again. And then again. Ad infinitum.’ He bent his head towards hers and she closed her eyes, waiting for his kiss.

  ‘Charlie?’ Her eyes sprang open.

  Daniel turned, allowing her to see beyond him, down into the car park where Oliver was standing, his face paler than usual and, at that moment, a mask of shock.

  ‘I saw the bus as I was passing. I wanted to apologize for last night. For what I said to you, accused you of …’ His words hung in the air.

  Charlie was frozen. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a weak stutter. Oliver looked from her, to Daniel, and back again. The seconds ticked past, her pulse like the beat of a metronome. By the time she’d come to her senses, Oliver was climbing back into his van, and Daniel squeezed her hand, giving her a weary, resigned smile as he walked off the bus.

  Charlie leaned against the nearest table and wondered what on earth she was meant to do now.

  Chapter Seven

  As the food trucks started to drive onto the creamy Porthgolow sand on Saturday morning, Charlie felt sick. She wondered whether Oliver and The Marauding Mojito would even turn up. The raft of unanswered calls and ignored texts suggested that he might be giving it a miss.

  On Monday evening she had watched Daniel walk back into the hotel and Oliver drive out of the car park, and at first she hadn’t done a thing about either of them. Juliette had remained quiet, as if waiting for Charlie to decide what to tell her, but the truth was Charlie hadn’t known what to say.

  She had been meaning to speak to Oliver. Between the pub on Sunday night and her tour on Monday afternoon, she hadn’t been able to get hold of him, and it was predictably awful timing that he had turned up just as Daniel had been turning her insides to jelly in the doorway of her bus. But she had nobody to be angry with but herself. She should have stayed away from Daniel until after she’d found Oliver. But she hadn’t, and now everything was a mess.