‘If you could get Oli and Grace to look away for a moment,’ Simon said to Zoe, ‘I’ll get this all set up.
‘Of course.’
Zoe went to Grace and Oli and told them to look out through the window. The newly engaged couple held hands and giggled excitedly as they waited.
‘Oooh! Daddy and Grace, you are going to like this surprise!’ Tom announced, as he rocked on the balls of his feet, his small hands scrunched up with excitement.
Zoe waited until Simon waved her over.
‘Can we check everyone’s glasses are full, please, Zoe?’
‘Of course!’
Along with her two waiting staff, she nipped around and filled adult glasses with champagne, and the children’s with non-alcoholic fizz.
‘Ready?’ Simon asked.
‘Ready!’ Zoe replied.
‘Come on over to the surprise!’ Tom said, as he grabbed Grace and his father’s hands and tugged them towards the cake.
‘Oh!’ Grace squeaked, as she gazed at her father’s amazing creation.
‘I helped with it, Grace.’ Amy smiled proudly from beside the cake.
‘Actually, Grace, Amy did most of the work. She was fantastic with ideas as well as practically in the kitchen. I just supervised.’ Simon smiled proudly at Amy.
The girl’s cheeks glowed at her adopted grandfather’s praise.
‘It’s wonderful, Amy.’ Oli’s face lit up as he stood in front of the cake, with his fiancée.
‘Right then.’ Simon waved his hands for everyone to be quiet. ‘I’d like to say a few words.’
The diner fell silent and Simon took his wife’s hand as they stood close to Grace and Oli.
‘When we first came to Conwenna Cove, it was to follow our dream. Louise and I fell in love with this beautiful village many years ago on our honeymoon, but never in our wildest imaginings did we think that our daughter would fall in love here, too. But she did! With Oli and with Amy and Tom, and Hope the greyhound, of course!’
Laughter rippled around the room.
‘I’m going to use the cliché now because it sums up my thoughts and feelings, and I know I speak for Louise, too… We are not losing a daughter but gaining a whole family. We never thought we’d be grandparents…’ He paused, and it was evident that he was fighting his emotions.
Louise patted his arm. ‘I’ll take over, shall I, darling?’
He nodded.
‘As my husband was saying, we never thought we’d be grandparents… for various sad reasons that life had thrown our way… but Grace has given us the most wonderful grandchildren we could wish for, in Amy and Tom.’ There was a gasp as Amy rushed towards Louise and wrapped her arms around her waist. Louise hugged the girl with one arm while she held on tight to her husband with the other hand. ‘Yes, Grace brought Oli, Amy and Tom into our lives and Simon and I couldn’t have asked for more. We’re here in this beautiful village surrounded by wonderful people and now we have an extended family.’
Simon coughed, then raised his glass. ‘Now I can speak again… I’d like to toast Grace, Oli, Amy and Tom. May you be happy and healthy and enjoy many, many years together. Congratulations to you all as you embark upon what will no doubt be a wonderful future!’
Everyone in the diner raised their glasses and toasted the happy couple.
Zoe had to blink hard as she watched; it was such an emotional moment, and the air in the room was suffused with joy. She looked around, enjoying seeing so many smiling faces – then her eyes met Nate’s and she gasped. He was staring right at her, his beautiful blue eyes shining with emotion. It was all she could do not to rush over to him and throw herself into his strong arms.
She forced herself to look away and focused on the cake instead.
‘Thank you so much,’ Oli said. ‘We are extremely grateful to you, Simon and Louise, for coming here to Conwenna and for bringing Grace with you. Until I met Grace, I…’ He shook his head. ‘Excuse me. I’m afraid this is all rather moving.’ He paused for a few moments and the guests waited quietly. He cleared his throat. ‘Anyway… as I was saying, I thought I’d never fall in love again, but Grace proved me wrong. And she brought us new family, too. Amy and Tom are as delighted as I am and I’m a true believer that children cannot ever have too much love. Now they have an abundance of it and life is so much better again.’ He gazed around the room. ‘So… to Grace, who has brought such love with her, to our beautiful children, and to Louise and Simon, as well as to my dad and Maxine, my mum and stepdad, and to you all. Thank you for sharing in our celebrations this evening!’
‘CONGRATULATIONS!’ resounded through the diner.
‘And as for this cake, Amy and Simon… Wow!’
Oli grinned as he and Grace posed for photographs with the cake, the children and with everyone in turn. Zoe circulated, filling glasses again before going to have a good look at the cake herself.
The dark chocolate sponge was covered in white chocolate frosting. Simon and Amy had decorated the outside with fondant hearts and roses in red and silver, and at the centre was an icing photograph of Grace, Oli, Amy, Tom, Hope their greyhound and Katy Purry, their cat. It was a beautiful creation and must have taken Simon and Amy hours to decorate.
‘Is it time for dancing now, Daddy?’ Tom asked, as he tugged at Oli’s hand.
‘You’ll have to ask Zoe.’
Zoe nodded. ‘I’ll turn the music up.’
Tom followed her to the counter and when Elvis filled the room, crooning ‘Have I Told You Lately’, Tom began to sway around the space that served as a dance floor whenever the diner was used for functions and parties.
Soon, others joined in and Zoe was able to move around the room and collect used glasses and plates.
One song led into another and when she felt a tap on her arm, she turned to find Nate with his hands raised in front of his face.
‘Just in case, you know. I can see you’re not carrying a bag but I didn’t want to risk getting another wallop.’
‘Nate, that was an accident.’
‘I know. So… would you dance with me?’
Zoe paused. This probably wasn’t a good idea at all.
‘Come on, Zoe. As friends?’ He held out his hand.
Zoe looked at his hand, then at his face and, before she could overthink it, she took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.
Nate slid his arms around her waist and she automatically entwined hers around his neck, as ‘Always On My Mind’ drifted from the speakers. They moved in time, eyes locked, and emotion bubbled in Zoe again. Life could be so good but it could also be so unfair. If things had been different, if she hadn’t been hurt in the past and Nate hadn’t been about to go away, if there hadn’t been things about him that reminded her so much of her old life and if… She sighed inwardly. What was the point in wishing that things had ended up differently? Life was what it was and people were who they were. Part of her believed, deep down, that she could have had something good with Nate but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Nate leant forwards and she thought he was about to kiss her but he moved to the side slightly and his warm breath tickled her ear.
‘Zoe?’
‘Yes.’
‘I really like you. A lot. But I understand that, for whatever reasons, we can’t be more than friends.’
She swallowed hard against the ache in her throat.
‘Okay.’
‘But I do want to be your friend and to work with you for Surf for Sighthounds. I’d also like to stay in touch while I’m away, if that’s all right with you?’
‘You would?’
‘Yes. The thought of not being able to hear from you is proving to be tougher than I’d anticipated.’
Zoe leant backwards and met his gaze. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his eyes shone. He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen and her heart swelled. He was also really honest and open about his feelings and that was something Zoe wasn’t used to, either. It unne
rved her at times, as if he might be mocking her and toying with her feelings, but whenever she met his eyes, she was certain that he was being genuine and upfront with her. That was another difference between him and Finn; Nate didn’t seem to be playing any games with her.
‘I’d like to stay in touch, too.’
‘Good…’ He smiled. ‘Good.’
His arms tightened around her waist and he rested his head against hers, and they stayed that way for some time as the music flowed and the party guests danced, and the evening wore on. And Zoe absorbed every detail of being held in Nate’s arms, savouring the way his body felt against hers, the way his breath gently moved her hair and how good he smelt. In spite of all her thoughts about not allowing it to happen, Nate had something that Zoe had never thought anyone would ever have again.
Nate had her heart, and she was beginning to trust him.
* * *
Nate made his way home after the party with an aura of sadness and a strange sense of loss shadowing him. It was like being followed by a storm cloud, wondering when the storm would break and he’d be soaked to the skin.
He’d left the party before Grace and Oli, not wanting to be the last one there, alone with Zoe. Simon and Louise had taken Amy and Tom home an hour before, as Tom had danced his socks off and was yawning constantly. Amy had been happy to go with Louise, encouraged by the offer of a hot chocolate in front of the TV. Grace and Oli had been finishing off a bottle of champagne with Zoe, Jack and Eve, and Nate had thought it would be a good time to slip away.
He’d enjoyed the evening and it had been lovely to see Grace and Oli so happy. They had the perfect life now and Nate believed that they fully deserved it. They’d been through so much in the past and seemed aware of how precious their current happiness was; they clearly treasured every moment together with family and friends.
Nate reached the cafe and went around the back to the stairs that led to his flat. Once inside, he kicked off his shoes and went to the front windows to pull the curtains, but he paused. It was such a beautiful evening. The moon was shining over the village, bathing everything in a silvery light. If he leant forwards, he could see down the main street and out to sea. The moon cast a shimmering pathway along the surface of the water and Nate imagined walking along that pathway, heading towards his future. He intended on going away from the cove for a while, but he knew now that his journey wouldn’t be as straightforward as it had initially seemed. His pathway into the future and into the world wasn’t clear, and neither was it set in stone; it could waver like the pathway of moonlight did right now on the sea. And that was okay. Nate had the luxury of being able to make his own decisions and to change his mind if he wanted to. But he knew he couldn’t change his mind about going away; it was something he had to do. Wasn’t it?
The more he thought about it, going away had represented a rite of passage for him, a way of breaking away from his bad habits and moving towards the grown-up version of himself. It was as much a symbolic journey, a figurative stepping stone away from his past, as it was a literal desire to travel and surf in foreign waters.
He closed the curtains and sank onto the sofa. Zoe evidently had some issues linked to her past that were holding her back. He had a basic idea of what they were but she hadn’t told him the gritty details and he hadn’t wanted to pry. He was going away and he sensed that that could be a stumbling block for him and Zoe, and that she wouldn’t entertain the thought of allowing anything to happen between them if they were going to be separated. Nate also thought it wasn’t a good idea to try to have a long-distance relationship: it would be far too painful and stressful and completely work against his reasons for going away in the first place. Nate didn’t want to cause Zoe any hurt or sadness at all, so he wouldn’t ask her to do anything that would be difficult for her.
Yet the thought of never being with her was becoming a bigger deal for him by the hour. Holding her as they danced and breathing her in, being aware of how perfectly she fit in his arms and wanting her more than he’d ever wanted a woman was making this a big deal for him. Zoe was special and Nate wanted her. He’d spent the past few years so close to Zoe yet unaware of her. How conceited he had been, dismissing her as cold and aloof whenever he saw her. He hadn’t tried to get to know her before and he deeply regretted that now. Life could have been very different if he’d just gone into the diner for a milkshake sooner. But if he had, would it have been the right time for Zoe? Or did things happen when they did for a reason? Nate wasn’t a big believer in a divine force that set out human paths but he did find comfort in the idea that things happened for a reason. It was something his mother had always said to him when he was growing up. Perhaps the time hadn’t been right for him and Zoe before, and they’d needed the pressure of him leaving to make them see each other clearly.
If only there was a way forward for them, a way that they could work through things to be together. He rubbed his eyes then ran his hands through his short hair. There had to be a way, surely? They were both adults, both free and single. What if there was a way to convince Zoe that he wasn’t going to hurt her, that he was a good guy and that he could make her happy? A way to manage his trip away while making her his…
But, right then, with so much raw emotion filling his chest and so many thoughts racing around his head, he couldn’t plan clearly. Hopefully, if he slept on it, an idea would come to him. And with that reassurance, he got up and went to bed, hoping that the morning would bring him some clarity.
Chapter 11
The next day, Nate was on the road by eight-thirty as he was going to his mother’s house for lunch. The drive to Penzance would take about fifty minutes, as long as the roads weren’t too busy.
He drove with the radio up loud, singing along to the eclectic mix that the DJ played on the request show. His mother still lived in Penzance where he had grown up. After his father had died, she’d been on her own for over two years, then she’d fallen in love with a local businessman, Richard Cooper, and within six months they were married. Nate had been a bit surprised at their whirlwind romance, but not begrudged his mother her happiness at all. He’d known that even though she kept busy with her social circle, she must still get a bit lonely. The fact that she had Richard made him feel less guilty about leaving Penzance and settling in Conwenna Cove, but he still liked to know that she was all right. Her quietness of late had set some alarm bells ringing, so he was keen to see her today to check that she was okay.
When he reached the cul-de-sac of detached bungalows where his mother had moved with her new husband, Nate followed the road to the end then turned around before parking outside the long driveway of the first one on his left. It was a white, four-bedroom bungalow with a spacious garden that ran right around the house, and it had a huge conservatory on the back. Richard owned a tile warehouse on one of the local industrial estates and he’d done very well for himself. That was another thing that Nate was glad about; his mother didn’t need to worry about money.
Nate cut the engine of his uncle’s Ford Focus, which he borrowed whenever he needed a car – Kevin and June rarely went far and had told him the car was his as much as it was theirs – and climbed out. He paused, to see if he’d experience a wave of nostalgia, but nothing came. It was probably because the house he’d grown up in was some distance from there and he hadn’t needed to drive past it, so he hadn’t seen many of his childhood haunts during the drive. Which was a good thing, really. Nate didn’t like to come back very often because he still found it difficult. His grief for his father was a strange thing and although it was always there, it didn’t often rise to the surface. Most of the time he was able to suppress it and he could live with that.
He locked the car then opened the gate and headed along the curved drive that was hidden from the street by the well-established trees of the front garden. As he rounded the corner, the nostalgia he’d waited for earlier hit him like a blow to the gut and he froze.
There it was. His red and whit
e VW campervan, the one his father had bought him for his twenty-fifth birthday. It was parked on the driveway, gleaming in the sunshine, and looking as good as it had the day his father had proudly handed him the keys.
Nate approached the campervan and ran a hand over the bonnet, appreciating how clean it had been kept. The hours he’d spent in this van, driving to different beaches with groups of his friends before heading into the surf for more adventures. He’d loved this van, and it had been a part of him for so long. He knew his mother had kept it after he’d left but he didn’t come back very often and, somehow, he’d managed to forget that it was there, almost waiting for him.
Seeing it was bittersweet, an onslaught of good and bad memories. After his father had bought him the campervan, he’d told Nate he had just one condition: they were to spend a fortnight together, driving around the Cornish coast and surfing at all the best beaches. It had been one of his father’s lifelong dreams and Nate had loved the idea of spending that time with him. However, they’d both been busy and the trip had been delayed and then his father had died so suddenly. Nate had been consumed with grief at the thought that they’d never have that trip, that his father had missed out. Even now he couldn’t shake the guilt, which lingered like a bad smell, whenever he thought about the unimportant things he could easily have put off in order to spend those precious few weeks with his dad.
What made it more poignant still was the fact that Nate suspected his father had always wanted to see more of the world but sacrificed his own desire to travel to be a good provider for his family. His dad had never told him that he had any regrets, but things like the maps on his study wall and the photographs of different locations that he had on his pin boards made it obvious. If Nate’s father hadn’t got married and had Nate, he might have led a very different life. These thoughts had stayed with Nate while he was growing up and played on his mind after his father’s death. Marriage and children could mean surrendering your freedom and your dreams, and Nate wasn’t sure that he’d ever want to do that.
Forever at Conwenna Cove Page 9