The Beach Cabin

by Fern Britton

  The man was immediately friendly and introduced himself in a thick Cornish burr as Paul Tallack. ‘We’m from up Trevay way, but my boys love the waves. Older one’s Ryan and my youngest is Josh over there.’

  He and Ed shook hands. ‘This is Charlotte, my wife, and those are my kids, Alex and Sam.’ He pointed to his son and daughter, down at the water’s edge. ‘You’re surfing too?’

  ‘Aye, love it. We all do. Shellsand’s got the right climate, see? Today’s going be perfect. Them waves is building.’

  ‘How can you tell?’

  Paul tapped his nose conspiratorially, then laughed. ‘You gotta be in the know. Seriously, I’m a reserve coastguard, so I’ve spent years watching the waves and learning. You can never second-guess the sea, though. That’s part of the wonder of it. Never know what you’re gonna get. Need to respect it too, mind – can’t take any chances.’

  Spotting the presence of real-life surfers, Sam came hurrying up the beach to watch Ryan expertly setting out their kit. Charlotte could see that her husband and son were bonding with the neighbours in that way men do. Perhaps Sam and Ed were going to get that surfing lesson they so desperately needed after all.

  Josh, the younger of the two sons, ambled over to where Alex was sitting, still with her head in a book, trying hard to be nonchalant. At about fifteen or sixteen he was already a handsome young man and had that characteristic and confident Cornish charm.

  ‘What you’m reading?’

  ‘Pardon?’ Charlotte looked up from her book.

  ‘Your book. What is it?’

  ‘Umm,’ Alex looked down awkwardly at the cover, as if she’d forgotten. ‘It’s called The Catcher in the Rye.’ She looked down at her book again, her cheeks suddenly bright pink.

  Watching from the veranda, Charlotte felt a pang at Alex’s awkwardness, but Josh didn’t seem to notice. ‘What’s it about?’ He sat down next to her as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  Alex hesitated, looking around her as if to find somewhere to bolt to. But there was no escape. She caught her mother’s eye and Charlotte looked away quickly, desperate not to add to her daughter’s shyness.

  ‘Er, it’s about a boy – he doesn’t feel that the world understands him. Or that he doesn’t understand the world. He sort of goes off on his own…’ She trailed off awkwardly.

  ‘Yeah, folks are like that. My dad’s all right, leaves me alone, but my mum’s always on at us: “Do this, don’t do that, pick your trainers up.” She don’t stop…’

  Josh continued in this lively vein and Charlotte smiled. Alex didn’t stand a chance.

  The sun was high in the sky. Paul and Ryan couldn’t have been happier to share their expertise, and in Ed and Sam they had two ultra-willing pupils. Josh seemed content to forgo surfing and sit with Alex. The two of them were now side by side on the deckchairs, chatting animatedly. Alex’s face was lit up in a way Charlotte had almost forgotten, it was so long since she’d seen her that happy. Josh obviously had the knack of breaking down her barriers – his charm offensive was working wonders where Charlotte’s and Ed’s had failed. Maybe she’d been worrying too much.

  When lunchtime arrived, Paul and Ed decided to pool resources on the barbecue front. Was it possible for two men to share barbecue duties? Charlotte wondered. Or would it end in a tongs-off? They seemed to be doing all right, though she almost wished they weren’t. Having steeled herself for a difficult conversation with Ed, she was anxious to get it over with. But first they needed a moment alone. A little voice kept niggling away at her: If you don’t tell him now…Her thoughts were interrupted by Paul’s voice booming across the beach: ‘C’mon, Josh – muck in, mate! Get back to the jeep and bring me some more o’ that charcoal, it’s in the boot.’

  Josh did as he was asked and Alex came over to sit with her mother on the veranda.

  ‘You’ve caught the sun.’ Charlotte observed. ‘Given up on the vampire look, then?’

  ‘Mum!’ But Alex was smiling.

  They were joined by Sam, who proceeded to strip off his wetsuit, scattering big drops of seawater over both of them.

  ‘Watch out, you flippin’ idiot!’ Alex scolded.

  ‘Don’t call me an idiot. At least I’m not sitting there with an idiotic look on my face mooning over some stupid boy.’

  ‘Shuttup, you little arsehole!’

  ‘Sam,’ said Charlotte sharply, ‘stop showing off. Alex, calm down and don’t let him wind you up.’

  But Sam was in that irksome mode that comes as second nature to eleven-year-old boys, and, having discovered Alex’s raw spot, he wasn’t about to stop poking it.

  ‘Oohhh, feeling sensitive about your new boyfriend?’ He puckered up his lips and made loud kissing noises. ‘Mwah-mwah, I love you, Joshy.’

  ‘I’m going to kill you if you don’t shut up, you little shit!’

  ‘Sam, that’s enough!’ Charlotte could see that Sam was pushing it too far, but there was no letup.

  ‘Alex and Joshy, sitting in a tree,’ he sang, ‘K-I-S-S-I-N-G!’

  At this Alex launched herself at Sam, shoving him to the ground and kicking him in the ribs, screaming. ‘I hate you! I wish you were dead! I hate you and I hate Josh – I hate all boys!’

  Despite thinking that Sam had gone too far, Charlotte was shocked at Alex’s reaction.

  Ed, hearing the fracas, rushed over and hauled the children apart. ‘What the hell’s going on, you two?’

  ‘That cow pushed me over and kicked me!’

  Sam was rubbing his ribs and feigning tears, but Alex was panting hard and real tears of anger were streaming down her face.

  Ed took her by the shoulders. ‘Alex, relax. Come on, let’s chill for a minute, OK?’

  ‘No, it’s not OK.’ Alex shook her head violently. ‘Don’t tell me to chill out. Leave me alone.’ She shrugged her father off and moved away.

  ‘Alex, please, talk to me—’

  ‘No. Leave me alone, all of you. I’m going to take Molly for walk.’ And, before he could stop her, Alex grabbed Molly, who’d been tethered to the veranda to stop her going near the barbecue, and stormed off in the direction of the path.

  ‘Ed? I’m not sure we should let her go off like this…’

  ‘Let’s give her some space, Charlotte.’

  ‘I don’t know – she seems really upset.’

  ‘She just needs a bit of time to calm down, that’s all. As for you…’ Ed turned to Sam and launched into a serious telling off.

  Charlotte caught snatches of it drifting on the breeze – no iPad and apologise to your sister – but her thoughts were with Alex as she watched her climb the path up the cliffs.

  Over forty minutes had gone by and Alex still hadn’t returned. The food had been dished up but neither Charlotte nor Ed could muster an appetite. Even Josh was asking after her now.

  ‘I’m going to go and look for her,’ announced Charlotte.

  ‘No, I’ll go.’

  Their conversation was interrupted as the insistent beep of a pager came from Paul’s pocket. He took it out, looked at it and then made a call on his mobile.

  ‘OK, mate. I’m on my way.’ He rang off. Gone was his carefree, happy-go-lucky demeanour. He turned back to them with a look of tense concern. ‘There’s no need to panic yet, but a fishing boat on the water close to here has reported a sighting of a body down on the rocks.’

  Charlotte’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Oh, my God! Alex!’

  ‘Now hang on a minute,’ said Paul, laying a reassuring hand on her arm. ‘There’s no reason to assume that it’s Alex. The best thing you can do is stay here in case she comes back. I’m on callout and we’ve been scrambled. We’ll let you know if there’s any news.’

  As Paul set off at a run up the cliff path in the direction of his jeep, Charlotte and Ed looked at each other. ‘I’m going to find her, Ed.’ Charlotte’s tone brooked no argument.

  ‘I’m coming with you.’ Ed was equally determined. Sam’s bottom
lip trembled and Ed squeezed his son’s shoulder. ‘Stay with Ryan and Josh, Sam. Everything’s going to be OK, I promise.’

  Keen ramblers could walk all the way from Pendruggan to Trevay, but Charlotte had never been that far. On her walks with Molly they had only pottered along a short section where slopes dotted with gorse and heather rolled gently down to the sea. Now she found herself on a stretch of the coast path with brambles on one side and vertiginous cliffs on the other. She could hardly bear to look down to where the waves battered the rocks a couple of hundred feet below.

  ‘I’ll never forgive myself if anything’s happened to her…’ Charlotte’s voice caught as she hurried along the path with Ed on her heels. ‘I should never have let her go – I could see how upset she was.’

  ‘Try not to think the worst. We don’t know that anything’s happened – she might be back at the cottage, playing with her iPad.’ But Ed wasn’t sure that he believed his own words. Alex might be fifteen, but she wasn’t worldly wise and she’d been upset and angry – the possibilities didn’t bear thinking about.

  They’d been walking for twenty minutes now and there was still no sign of her. Ed had tried calling her mobile, but there was no signal. Charlotte could feel panic rising up inside her with each step. Striding out in front, she picked up her pace. Please, please, let her be all right, she prayed.

  Then she saw a familiar outline ahead. Alex!

  ‘Darling! Alex! We’re here!’ Charlotte ran as fast as she dared to where Alex was crouched down, almost at the edge of the cliff. On hearing her mother’s voice, Alex stood and threw herself at her mother. The pair of them were immediately enveloped by Ed’s strong arms, and for a moment they stood hugging each other and crying.

  ‘M-m-m—’ Alex was distraught, tears choking her words. Charlotte held her tightly, whispering soothing words. ‘It’s all right, baby, it’s all right, we’re here.’

  ‘M-M-Molly—’ Alex could only point down to the rocks below.

  ‘You two, get back from the edge.’ Ed took a step forward and peered down the face of the cliff. The drop here wasn’t so sharp and the cliff sloped down a little more gently, but down at the bottom of the rocks he could see the unmistakable hairy body of Molly. She didn’t appear to be moving.

  Despite a surge of relief that it was his dog and not his daughter lying down there, he felt a lump in his throat at the sight below. Behind him, Charlotte was asking, ‘Do you know how it happened, Alex?’

  Between convulsive sobs, Alex replied, ‘We were walking…she wasn’t on the lead and then she saw a rabbit…and then she was gone…’

  ‘OK, baby, OK.’

  ‘I didn’t want to leave her, Dad. I tried to call for help, but I couldn’t get a signal…At first she was barking, and I was telling her it was going to be all right, but I couldn’t see any way to get down to her…And now she’s not moving.’ Alex broke into fresh tears.

  ‘The main thing is to get you to safety. Charlotte, can you and Alex make it back to the beach? I’ll wait here for the coastguard.’

  ‘OK.’ Charlotte gave her husband a brief but fierce hug and he kissed them both on their heads.

  As they headed back up the path, Ed dropped to his knees and looked down at Molly’s prone body.

  ‘Hang on in there, girl,’ he whispered as the outline of the coastguard’s red rescue vessel rounded the headland.

  ‘You must be the owners of the luckiest dog in Cornwall.’ Paul’s face was one huge grin as he jumped out of his jeep and led Molly to the door of the cottage.

  The four family members threw themselves at their beloved pooch. Molly couldn’t believe the overwhelming but welcome attention she was receiving.

  ‘We pulled up in the boat and she jumped up straightaway, barking like a good ’un – think she must have been asleep.’

  ‘Well, that’s one way of dealing with a crisis!’ Charlotte regarded her dog with admiration while Molly gazed back at her dopily from beneath her fringe, her fluffy tail wagging furiously.

  Alex hugged Molly more tightly than anyone else and buried her face in the dog’s mane. ‘Molly, you big hairy twit.’

  ‘You all right?’ asked Josh, coming up the path behind his father.

  Alex stood up and waved for him to join her. The two of them went to sit on the low dry-stone wall that enclosed the front garden, their heads close together, engrossed in conversation.

  ‘She’ll be fine.’

  ‘We can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done.’ Ed took Paul’s hand and clasped it gratefully in thanks.

  ‘Just another day for the coastguard, no ’arm done and all’s ended well. I’ve earned me pint tonight, that’s for sure.’

  ‘We owe you more than a pint,’ Charlotte said with feeling.

  ‘I’ll hold you to that!’ Paul winked at her, then returned to his jeep, waiting patiently in the driver’s seat while Josh and Alex swapped numbers. Then Josh jumped in and they drove off.

  ‘I hope we see them again,’ said Alex, joining her mother on the sofa.

  Charlotte put an arm around her daughter. ‘I’m sure we will, darling. We all want to come back here, even Molly does.’ Molly wagged her tail at the sound of her name.

  Alex’s face was buried in her hoodie and Charlotte could feel her shoulders shaking as more tears came. They’d all had a big fright today, so she wasn’t surprised that Alex was still feeling fragile.

  ‘I’m sorry I called you a shit and pushed you over,’ Alex told Sam.

  ‘What?’ Sam looked up from his iPad, where he’d been engrossed in his new obsession – Surf World. ‘Oh, that? Don’t sweat it.’

  Alex smiled through her tears. ‘You are annoying, though.’

  Ed squeezed in next to his wife and daughter on the sofa. He gave Sam the head nod that said Hop it. Sam rolled his eyes at his dad’s unsubtle hint, but for once restrained himself from making a clever remark.

  ‘Come on, Molly – let’s go bark at that cat that keeps hanging around for scraps outside.’ He bounded out of the back door, followed by the luckiest dog in Cornwall.

  Alex continued to hold on to her mum, and Charlotte was reminded of when Alex was a baby, hating to be put down or held by anyone else. Those days were long ago, but it seemed her little girl still needed her mum after all.

  ‘What is it, darling? Is there something else upsetting you?’

  Alex didn’t say anything but the question brought on a torrent of tears. Ed came and joined them on the sofa.

  ‘You can tell me and your mum anything,’ he said encouragingly.

  ‘Not anything!’

  ‘Of course you can!’ Charlotte squeezed her daughter’s hand. ‘Is it something or someone at school? Is it about your new friend – Lily? She’s not being horrid, is she?

  At this there was a fresh bout of sobbing. ‘No, Lily’s amazing, I…I…’ Alex hesitated and her parents held their breath. ‘I…I’ve got feelings for her…I think I might be gay!’

  Charlotte and Ed exchanged a brief wide-eyed look, then immediately rushed to reassure her with shushes, hugs and soothing words.

  ‘We love you no matter who you have feelings for,’ Charlotte said forcefully. ‘Don’t we, Ed?’

  ‘Absolutely! You mean the world to us and as long as you’re happy, that’s good enough for us.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Really, really,’ they both said in unison.

  Alex sniffed and wiped her nose on her cuff. ‘It’s just that Josh…today…he was so nice. We exchanged numbers.’

  ‘Darling girl,’ said Charlotte, holding Alex to her tightly, ‘you’re still working things out. You don’t have to be anything yet. Growing up isn’t easy and you’ll take a few different turns along the way, but you’ll sort it out eventually.’

  ‘You don’t need to rush anything,’ agreed Ed.

  ‘You remember Gloria – my best friend from university?’ said Charlotte.

  Alex nodded. ‘The one with those annoying twi
ns: Gina and Angelina.’

  ‘And two annoying ex-husbands!’ Charlotte laughed. ‘Well, when we were students, she was head of the Student Lesbian and Gay Alliance. She had a very handsome girlfriend called Mogs and they were inseparable.’

  Alex raised her eyebrows in astonishment.

  ‘You can ask her next time you see her – Gloria’s proud of her past. The thing is, people change – it’s natural. If you care about someone, all you want is for them to be happy. Nothing else matters.’

  After a Chinese takeaway from Trevay, Alex had gone upstairs and Charlotte had tucked her in as if she were a little girl again. Then she came down and joined Ed on the sofa with a bottle of red wine.

  ‘What a day!’ Ed exhaled loudly. ‘Do you think she’s gay?’

  Charlotte thought about it for a moment. ‘Not sure. Maybe. Maybe not. Does it bother you?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Good.’

  They sipped their drinks in silence for a while. Then:

  ‘Charlotte…’

  ‘Ed…’

  They spoke at the same time and an awkwardness descended over them.

  Not again, Ed thought anxiously.

  ‘There’s something I need to tell you…’ There was something ominous in her tone.

  ‘It’s about Henry, isn’t it?’

  Charlotte looked confused. ‘Well, yes – how did you know?’

  All Ed’s anxieties came bursting to the surface. ‘I just do,’ he blurted. ‘And I know what you’re going to say – I saw the texts.’

  Charlotte was frowning. ‘What texts?’

  ‘The ones that said, “I love you…”, “I can’t live without you.”’

  He watched realisation dawn on her face, steeling himself for the bombshell to drop, for her to tell him that it was all over between them, that she was leaving. Instead she did the last thing he’d expected: she burst out laughing.

  Lost for words, Ed looked at her aghast. How could she find anything amusing in this?

  ‘Oh, Ed!’ She tried to compose herself but couldn’t stop the hilarity from bubbling over. ‘You’re face is a picture!’

  ‘Charlotte, I don’t understand, what—’