Confetti at the Cornish Café

by Phillipa Ashley

  ‘Of course. I’m so glad you’re all OK,’ I say.

  ‘Thanks to Mawgan,’ Ben adds.

  ‘Oh, I didn’t do anything. Just happy to be in the right place at the right time,’ she simpers.

  ‘Thank God everything turned out OK. Otherwise, today could have been a disaster for brand Ben and Lily,’ Addison says coldly. Because he and Jade would have lost their cash cows, I think.

  ‘Well, fortunately, they’re both alive, and Harry too,’ Cal says sharply. ‘Which I presume is what you mean?’

  Addison flings a withering glare at Cal, but Jade smiles. ‘Nothing matters but the welfare of Ben and Lily. She pats her bun and tucks a wayward strand back into it. ‘And now we know everyone is safe and well, we can manage the situation to our advantage. In the end, the publicity will keep Ben and Lily on the front pages for days. Weeks if we can handle it properly. Interest in them was flagging slightly and this will do the trick nicely. Come on, my darlings,’ she drapes her arms around Ben and Lily, ‘let’s get you two safely tucked up in the hotel while I arrange some interviews. If we’re quick we might catch the later editions tomorrow.’

  ‘Anyone would think they planned it,’ I say to Cal on the way home.

  ‘I don’t think even Jade and Addison would go as far as to arrange a near fatal drowning,’ he says while steering the Land Rover off the main road and into the high moorland lane that leads to Kilhallon. ‘Though I wouldn’t put it past them. They’re parasites. I can’t stand people like that.’

  ‘They should get on well with Mawgan,’ I say. ‘But why did they have to catch us looking like this?’ I tug the edges of my tatty hoodie together to try and keep warm in the unheated Land Rover.

  Cal’s bare ankles are a pale blotch in the foot well as he pushes the clutch down. ‘It wasn’t the best way to make an impression with Ben and Lily’s team. I have a feeling they’ll be all over us now and interfering with the wedding. If there still is a wedding,’ he says grimly.

  ‘Do you think things are that bad? Will they try to cancel and have it somewhere else?’

  ‘I don’t know and I’m not sure if I care. I like Lily. Ben’s a tool, but Louie’s OK.’

  ‘I thought you refused to be seen with a toy dog like Louie.’

  ‘I’ve decided that Louie’s cool. I hadn’t realised the dog had such a spirit of adventure. Apart from Harry and Lily, I don’t care much about the rest of them, though. Isla was trying to do us a favour by encouraging them to have their wedding here but now I’m wondering if they’ll be more trouble than they’re worth. Whatever we try to dress it up as, Kilhallon is a glamping site not a luxury wedding destination. I don’t like us trying to be something we’re not.’

  ‘We can still put on a great show if we all pull together. I know we can. With Rachel’s input we’ll find some amazing suppliers to help us create their dream day. Lily was definite about not wanting bling and OTT glamour … But there is no way on the planet that I will allow Mawgan Cade to help plan this wedding.’

  ‘Hmm. I’m not sure if the Gruesome Twosome will agree with Lily and if Mawgan sticks her oar in with Ben, we may have no choice. We’ll see.’

  We rattle over the cattle grid into Kilhallon land. The new sign is still smart but there are a few splodges of mud on it from the recent downpours. It needs a clean and polish. Can we handle this wedding?

  ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence,’ I mutter.

  Cal slows the car. ‘I’m sorry. I ought to be more positive and supportive about it but I’m not in the right frame of mind. I need some dry clothes. My own dry clothes plus a hot meal and a very warm bed.’

  He stops the car outside reception. ‘And most of all I need you …’ His gaze lingers on my retro ensemble. ‘And not only in the obvious way.’

  Hairs prickle on the back of my neck, partly through lust but also because I’m unsure that I’ll like what he has to say. ‘I think you were going tell me something until Lily interrupted us?’

  He sighs. ‘Yes. I was. I will. Come into the house and I’ll confess all.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Cal

  Demi stands by the kitchen table, still wearing her charity shop outfit. There’s something about her that stirs feelings deep within me and not only in a physical way. She’s unselfconscious and warm. Despite her recent experiences, her capacity for caring for people – friends, strangers, even a lost soul like me – always amazes me.

  She bites her lip nervously. I must have worried her. ‘Is it about Esme?’ she asks.

  ‘Yes. She’s been seen. Possibly been seen.’

  ‘Oh my God, that’s fantastic news. Where is she?’ Her face falls. ‘She’s OK, right? Oh, tell me she’s not hurt.’

  ‘She’s OK. If it’s her. It’s not one hundred per cent certain. Carolyn’s contacts have located a young girl with the same name who’s about the right age in a refugee camp. The girl’s not entirely sure of when her birthday is because she’s traumatised, and she doesn’t appear to have any relatives or friends with her who can confirm her identity. They need to find the girl again in the camp and ask if it’s OK to get a photo of her so we can make a positive identification.’

  ‘I really hope it’s her.’

  ‘Me too.’ Demi throws her arms around me and for a few seconds, I lose myself in the comfort of her body.

  ‘I’ve been looking for her online for months. Some families contact the international Red Cross and Red Crescent all the time when they’ve lost touch with loved ones who’re making their way through Europe. The organisations try to help but it’s almost impossible to track people when they’re on the move or not registered in the country they’re staying in. Then there’s the language barrier, of course. My charity’s overwhelmed because the crisis is getting worse all the time. They have so many other things to deal with. I guess that I could wait until they locate this girl and email the photo but …’

  ‘You want to go to see Carolyn anyway?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You have to go, Cal. You won’t rest unless you do.’ Her voice is fierce.

  ‘I’m not sure how I can help but I feel I need to speak to her in person and, if possible, talk to the people in the camp.’

  ‘When do you want to go?’

  ‘Soon.’

  She bites her lip and I wonder what’s coming. ‘Eva emailed me last week and said we need to set up a meeting to discuss Dog’s Dinner. We could go to London together if it fits in and I could visit the publisher while you go to the charity office. If you want me to come with you, that is.’

  ‘Of course I do.’ Even as I say the words, I’m not sure I do want Demi to be around me because I’m worried about holding it together if there’s bad news, and I don’t want her to see me in that state. ‘Of course, I want you with me,’ I say again, reminding myself that she probably needs to come with me.

  Going to London could well turn out to be a completely futile gesture but I feel so bloody helpless here. If there’s the remotest chance that this ‘sighting’ is of Esme then I want to make sure that every effort is made to find her. With the best will in the world, my ex-colleagues can’t cope with helping the people in front of them, let alone one lost and possibly dead little girl.

  ‘Even if this girl turns out not to be Esme, I need to hear the latest evidence about Esme in person instead of fourth or fifth hand. I’d like to set up a video conference with some of the people and aid workers in the camp. If I can talk to people out there directly, I might pick up a clue as to where she is.’

  Despite the warmth of the Aga, I can’t help but shiver and hope Demi hasn’t noticed.

  ‘I understand, and if you think it will help Esme and yourself, then you should go.’

  I smile. ‘But first, I think we should get out of these clothes.’

  ‘You’re so predictable, Cal Penwith.’

  ‘I thought I was the opposite. Come here.’ I press her against me, probably a little too firmly but by now I know she
won’t break and I need to lose myself in her. We both smell of the damp and clothes that have been in a plastic bag for a little bit too long but I don’t care. While I’m kissing her, my fingers fumble with the ribbon of her dress, teasing it undone, ready to finish what I started in the back of the car. She sighs as I trail kisses on her exposed throat. Then she lets out a gasp of pleasure and shock as I lift her onto the kitchen table.

  ‘You look so innocent in this dress,’ I say, sliding the hem higher up her thighs. ‘No one would know what you’re really like.’

  ‘Thank the Lord you’re back. I was— oh!’

  ‘Polly!’

  Demi’s eyes widen. She smooths down her dress hastily and half slithers, half falls off the table.

  ‘Sorry. I can see I’ve interrupted something but I saw the car and had to know why you’re home so late. No one answered their phones but I can see you’re fine. I’ll go to my bed.’

  ‘No, wait. Polly.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Polly. I meant to answer your text but it’s been a crazy day,’ Demi says, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

  ‘I can imagine.’ She frowns at me. ‘Why are you wearing your dad’s trousers?’

  ‘Um …’

  She stares at Demi. ‘And what on this earth are you doing in my Princess Diana dress?’

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Demi

  ‘Well, so much for this wedding being a discreet affair. The cat’s out of the bag now.’ Polly spreads her newspaper across the tables in Demelza’s Cafe the morning after our dramatic lunch date with Ben and Lily. She brought the paper down to the cafe as soon as it arrived.

  ‘Look at this!’ Polly pokes her finger at a story occupying most of page three. It’s accompanied by two photos so clear, they must have been taken close up or on a long lens. One of them is of Mawgan appearing to snog Ben and one of the RNLI helping Lily out of the sea. ‘What a load of piffle. This wasn’t what you and Cal told me last night.’

  Polly puts on her glasses, which otherwise dangle from a cord around her neck as she’s so fed up with losing them. She reads the article out loud, while Nina and Shamia pretend to be very busy behind the counter while trying not to snort.

  ‘There was drama at Newporth beach yesterday when movie stars Ben Trevone and Lily Craig and a third man, believed to be their bodyguard, had to be rescued from the water by friends and the emergency services.

  ‘The actors, who became engaged last October, were lunching at the exclusive Rockpool Cafe and had ventured onto the beach to exercise Ms Craig’s dog, Louie. The dog ran onto rocks at the edge of the beach and the bodyguard and Ms Craig appear to have entered the water to save him but ended up almost drowning.

  ‘“It was surreal” said an onlooker, walking his own dog nearby.

  ‘Hmmph, I wonder who this onlooker was? Needed to go to Specsavers by the sound of it.’

  Polly carries on reading.

  ‘“Some bloke fell in the sea with one of them little dogs and then Lily Craig leapt in after him and her dog,” the man commented.

  ‘I saw them in struggling in the water and the bloke got to Lily. Big bloke, I think he’s their bodyguard. Ben Trevone dived in the surf without a thought for himself but the waves beat him back and a woman was giving him CPR. I think she saved his life. Someone else got the dog.’

  Polly glances up at me over her glasses. ‘Not the sharpest tool in the box, is he, this “onlooker”? Your account of the whole thing was different.’

  ‘We were a bit busy trying to stop people from drowning,’ I say.

  ‘Quite right too. Listen to this: While the couple’s bodyguard and a local man helped Lily to safety, Ben had been swamped by a wave and was in difficulty in the surf where reports say he’d knocked his head on a rock. The woman, who reportedly was part of the lunch party, bravely entered the water and pulled him out before administering first aid.

  ‘Ben’s heroic rescuer is local businesswoman Mawgan Cade, who runs a property development and management company. Ms Cade, thirty-two, had apparently recently been on a first-aid course with some of her office staff. However, when questioned about her lifesaving skills, the shy heroine was reluctant to take any credit.

  ‘“I didn’t think about my own safety,” Ms Cade said. “Anyone would have done the same seeing a friend in danger. I’m glad I was able to pull Ben to safety and that Lily and everyone else is OK.”

  ‘Ben Trevone was quoted as saying that Ms Cade deserved a bravery award but while praising the efforts of Ms Cade, the bodyguard and other members of the party, emergency services said it was fortunate there was not a tragic outcome and that no one should enter the sea in dangerous conditions.

  ‘Well, have you ever heard such rubbish? Mawgan Cade the shy and reluctant heroine? That’s not what it sounded like to me. Did she save Ben?’

  ‘Apparently Ben did trip over a rock in the surf and she did drag him out of the way of the waves but the paper has obviously made up the story they want.’

  Polly snorts. ‘I bet you a pound to a penny this “onlooker” works for her or had been paid by her.’

  I agree with Polly but I don’t want to get into a bad-mouthing session about Mawgan with the staff watching. None of them likes Mawgan but I’m not sure it’s professional to start slagging her off, no matter how much I want to.

  ‘Can I have the paper, please?’

  Polly pushes it towards me. ‘Course you can. There’s no mention of you and Cal in there.’

  ‘That’s fine by me, and we didn’t do anything. If Mawgan wants to take the credit, then let her,’ I say calmly, while fuming inwardly. Mawgan was in the right place at the right time and she did help Ben but it’s obvious she’s engineered the situation so that it looks like she saved the day. She must be trying to worm her way into Lily and Ben’s world even more closely. It must be for financial gain or to piss us off or for the publicity – or all three.

  ‘Thanks for bringing the paper. We’re opening shortly so I’ll have to get back to work but we can have a natter about it all later at the farmhouse. Come round for a bite to eat if you’re not going to Zumba,’ I tell Polly.

  ‘Thanks, but it’s my belly dancing night,’ Polly says. ‘Much more fun than Zumba and the instructor is gorgeous,’ Polly says.

  ‘You have a male belly dancing instructor?’

  ‘He – she – was. She’s transgender and absolutely fabulous. You should come along. There’s all ages, from twenty to ninety, and some men too. It’s not just a bunch of middle-aged women shaking their booties like Beyoncé, you know.’

  ‘Thanks,’ I say, with multiple images of belly dancing pensioners seared on my brain. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  After Polly leaves, the cafe is busy with walkers and surfers making the most of some early spring sun and surf. It’s two p.m. before I have a moment to scan my tablet for more news of the drama. I find a video clip on a local news website. After witnessing Ben and Lily’s argument at the hospital, I was slightly worried the wedding would be off so I’m relieved to see them all smiles in the video.

  In the clip, they’re so tightly entwined you’d think they’d been sewn together. They appeared at the hospital entrance to flashbulbs lighting up the night sky and giving a statement thanking the medical staff, the emergency services and ‘their friends and family’ involved in their rescue.

  The reporter wraps up the video by saying that the couple had already made a large donation to the RNLI and air ambulance. It ends by them being whisked away by Harry in their BMW, with Lily smiling through the half-open rear window, waving one of Louie’s paws. It could all be a show for the cameras, of course. I’ve no idea what to believe any more.

  I’m also still thinking of Cal’s news about Esme. I’m glad he shared the news with me so I can support him. I hope these reports turn out to be true. Ever since he told me what happened to him in Syria, I’ve thought about the little girl too. When I see Freya, I think how lucky she is to be safe. I can’t imagi
ne her or any of us having to live through a nightmare like Esme and her family have had to.

  Back at home, Cal puts a steaming bowl of homemade lentil curry in front of me, and a plate of Peshwari naan. It’s awesome to have someone cook for me at the end of a busy day in the cafe kitchen. I’m also ready for a break. By the time we got to bed last night, it was almost midnight. Even after Cal and I finally finished what we’d started in the kitchen, I still couldn’t sleep for a while. I lay awake, listening to Cal breathing softly.

  He joins me at the table and clinks my bottle of cider. Mitch brushes against my legs, hoping for some scraps.

  ‘Busy day?’ Cal asks.

  ‘Yes, the nice weather brought out the walkers and the book club met again in the afternoon. Mind you, we almost had to separate two women. They were screaming at each other over a novel about kidnapped children. How can people come to blows over a book?’

  Cal stops with a chunk of naan halfway to his mouth. ‘Beats me. I thought book clubs were meant to be gentle affairs with Earl Grey and cake.’

  ‘Not this time. We had to bring out extra brownies to shut them up. I also arranged for Rachel to come over for a council of war before we meet with Lily and Ben again.’ I hesitate but know we need to discuss what Cal told me last night on the way home about possible sightings of Esme. ‘How was your day? Any more news from Carolyn?’

  ‘Not yet but I’ve suggested I should go to London and she’s going to get back to me. She didn’t specifically tell me not to go. By the way, this morning I had a call from a tabloid asking me if we’re holding the wedding for Lily Craig and Ben Trevone. I didn’t tell them anything after Jade warned us not to make any comments.’

  ‘Shit. I’ve had a couple of unknown missed calls on my phone. I thought they were spam calls but they could be from newspapers, though I don’t know how they got my personal mobile number.’

  ‘Does Mawgan have it?’ Cal asks.

  ‘Yes … yes she does, she’s had it for a while.’

  ‘Then you have your answer.’

  ‘Shit.’