The Icing on the Cake

by Cressida McLaughlin

  There was a commotion outside the window, people running up the hill beyond the pub and someone running down, arms waving.

  Charlie grabbed Marmite and followed Juliette off the bus. They ran towards the south side of the village, passing the remaining trucks, most of them packing up.

  ‘What was that, Charlie?’ Benji called out.

  ‘Don’t know – going to see,’ was her breathless response.

  They met Hugh, his arms outstretched towards them at the bottom of the hill.

  ‘What is it?’ Juliette gasped. ‘What’s happened?’

  Hugh looked first to her, then Charlie. ‘It seems the rain … it dislodged some of the loose earth at the top of the cliff.’

  ‘Crumbling Cliff? There’s been a rockslide? Oh God, Reenie. Did it reach Reenie’s house?’

  ‘No, nothing’s fallen … yet. But he was coming too fast round the corner, slid on the wet road and went through the barrier. He’s … we’ve called the emergency services, but there’s a barn fire over near Truro; they said they would get someone here as soon as they could. We don’t know if—’

  ‘Is it Lawrence?’ Juliette squeaked. ‘But he’s been in the village all weekend. He’s here, he’s—’

  ‘It’s not Lawrence,’ Hugh said as Charlie pulled her friend against her, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. ‘He saw what happened, but he’s OK.’

  ‘Not Lawrence?’ Juliette asked, her voice shaky.

  ‘It’s Daniel,’ Hugh said, his gaze sliding to Charlie. ‘He’s stuck, hanging over the edge, apparently. I haven’t seen for myself, but—’

  Charlie didn’t listen to the rest. She was already running.

  Chapter Seven

  There was a group of people at the top of the hill by the time Charlie arrived, Marmite still in her arms, Juliette just behind. They were both panting and Charlie felt as though her lungs might burst out of her chest, but she couldn’t stop. And there was Daniel’s black BMW, close to the place where, only a couple of weeks earlier, Frank had told her off for idling. She had felt panicky then, but this time it was serious. It was very, very serious.

  His car had travelled over the verge and the patch of grass, and its front end was hanging off the edge of the cliff. She could hear the slight creak of metal as the chassis shifted. There were skid marks running from the middle of the damp road to Daniel’s current position, and the cordon that Lawrence had put in place was scattered, a strip of hazard tape flapping lazily over the BMW’s bonnet.

  Frank was crouched at the driver’s side, as near as he dared, calling to Daniel through the window. But the driver’s door was partly over the edge, so there was no chance of him getting out. The car was balanced, Charlie realized, like a seesaw, but with solid ground at the back end there was only one way it was going to tip. She could see a flash of dark hair, but Frank was obscuring her vision. At that moment, though, she didn’t want to see or talk to Daniel. She had to focus.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she demanded, walking up to the group of people. ‘What are we doing about pulling him back onto safe ground?’

  A woman she didn’t recognize shook her head. ‘We have to wait for emergency services, love. They shouldn’t be too long. And we’ve got someone turning cars away if they try to head into the village, so as not to risk upsetting the ground in the meantime.’

  ‘Why can’t we just pull the car back?’ Charlie asked.

  ‘It’s too dangerous,’ another man said. ‘He could tip and go over at any moment.’

  ‘All the more reason to get him to safety now.’ Charlie hugged Marmite against her chest. ‘We can’t just sit here and watch that happen.’ She tried to ignore the fear shivering up her spine. The BMW made a groaning sound and Frank stepped back, his face pale.

  ‘We need proper equipment,’ the woman pressed. ‘Enough weight behind us. If we don’t know what we’re doing then we could send him, and the tow car, over the edge. We can’t risk it – we have to wait for the experts.’

  Charlie turned away from them. They couldn’t stand around and wait for someone to decide this was more important than a barn burning down. She spun round. ‘It’s just about the weight of the tow vehicle? If we had something heavy, we could pull him back with more certainty?’

  ‘A fire engine,’ the woman stammered. ‘They said on the phone to wait for the emergency services. That’s what we have to do.’

  ‘No,’ Charlie shook her head. ‘No, we don’t.’

  ‘Guys!’ It was Lawrence, running up the hill, pulling Reenie behind him. She looked horrified.

  ‘Oh God, Charlie.’ Reenie flung herself at Charlie, and they embraced. Even though Marmite was between them, she could feel the older woman trembling.

  ‘Apparently we can’t try and move him ourselves,’ Juliette said to Lawrence, as he wrapped his arm around her. ‘We have to wait for the fire engine.’

  ‘It’s so risky,’ Lawrence replied, glancing at the BMW. ‘Hugh’s at the bottom of the cliff, telling any traffic that tries to come up here to turn back.’ He released Juliette and went over to Daniel’s side of the car, crouching down and peering forward. ‘You doing OK, Daniel, mate?’

  Charlie turned away. She couldn’t lose what little composure she had left. She thought of Hal, of the lessons he had taught her, his nuggets of wisdom and inspiration. If you find yourself on a sticky wicket, just stop. Stop, breathe, take a moment to compose yourself, then try again. There is nothing that can’t be overcome if you believe in yourself enough. Could she do this? Could she ignore the advice of the emergency services, or was it a terrible mistake? No. She believed in herself, and they had to overcome this. There was simply no other option

  She pushed Marmite into Reenie’s arms and called out to Lawrence as she ran. ‘Tell Daniel to hold on. We’re getting him out of this.’

  ‘Where are you going?’ Juliette shouted after her. ‘Charlie?!’

  But Charlie didn’t reply. She ran back down the hill, past Hugh, past the remaining food trucks, and onto the beach. The sun was falling as she raced back to the bus, which she’d left open in her haste to discover the cause of the bang. She ran round to the front of Gertie and checked the winch, remembering her incredulity all those months ago when she’d discovered Pete had added it. When she next saw him, she would kiss him. She climbed into the cab and started the engine. Gertie puttered into life and, for a second, Charlie felt calm. If she was with her bus, she could do anything: it was her and Gertie against the world. And now, they were facing their most important challenge of all.

  She turned the bus round and drove off the beach, then gestured to Hugh to let her past, pointing at the winch until he understood and stood back. She kept her pace steady as she climbed. She knew the bus’s weight would pull Daniel’s car back to safety, but she didn’t want it to make the cliff more unstable before she’d attached the winch. Her heart was in her throat, her palms slick on the steering wheel as she reached the crest of the hill.

  Juliette and Lawrence stared at her open-mouthed, and Reenie was wide-eyed, clutching Marmite tightly. Charlie drove the bus as far as she dared, positioning it a good way back behind Daniel’s car, and at an angle because the road wasn’t wide enough to park horizontally across it. Then she climbed out of the driver’s original door, the quickest route down.

  ‘Here,’ she said, yanking the disengage lever and pulling out the winch. ‘We can attach this.’

  ‘Charlie, you fucking genius!’ Lawrence took the end of the winch and approached the back of the BMW.

  ‘It’s not perfect,’ she said. ‘I can’t get the bus directly behind him because the road’s too narrow, and we don’t have time to set up a pivot point so, as it pulls, his car will twist to line up with the winch. But it should be enough to get him onto solid ground.’

  ‘It’s brilliant, Char,’ Lawrence replied.

  This time it was Juliette who called out to Daniel. ‘We’re going to winch you to safety, OK? If you feel a jolt, it’s not th
at you’re going over, it’s that we’re pulling you back. Hold on, Daniel!’

  ‘Is he OK?’ Charlie called, climbing back in the small door and behind the wheel. She found the winch button on the dashboard.

  ‘As much as he can be!’ Juliette shouted.

  She could hear muttering from the others, standing around and doing nothing except telling her not to rescue him. She pushed down her anger. She had to focus. Afterwards, perhaps, she would tell them that it wasn’t the man they cared about who’d been stuck on the edge of the cliff, and if it had been, they might have felt differently. But perhaps she wouldn’t. Maybe she would be too busy holding onto Daniel and never letting go. Besides, she might accidentally push one of them over the edge, and she didn’t want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Victory, victory, victory, she said to herself. This has to work.

  She watched as Lawrence spent several tense moments securing the end of the winch, the load hook, to Daniel’s car, his movements slow and measured. Then he walked backwards, never taking his eyes off the BMW. He re-engaged the winch lever on the front of the bus.

  ‘OK, Charlie!’ he shouted, giving her the thumbs-up.

  ‘Right,’ Charlie said to herself. She thought of the first time she had seen Daniel in the pub, his insolent comments about Gertie, and the last time, in his office, when their kiss had been a promise, a prelude to something more. She could replay, easily, all the meetings in between; they stood out like stars, burning brightly in her memory. Victory, victory, victory. This has to work. And then, out loud, she said, ‘Here goes.’

  She pressed the winch button, heard a clunk as it swung into action, and then watched as slowly, slowly, the cord began reeling in.

  There was a collectively held breath. She could feel it inside her and all around, as everyone watched the BMW creep slowly backwards, the silver winch cord gleaming in the evening light. It inched closer and closer, turning as it began to line up with the winch and Charlie’s bus, the passenger side coming towards solid land first. The front left-hand wheel hit the edge of the cliff and bounced up, the driver’s side of the car dipping precariously towards the sea, a long way below. Juliette squealed and Charlie gripped the steering wheel so tightly she couldn’t feel her fingers. She thought, for a horrifying, time-stopping moment, that Daniel’s weight would send it over, tumbling down the cliff, unravelling the winch as it went.

  But then the car lurched up again and, a few seconds later, seconds that seemed like hours to Charlie, the driver’s front side wheel rolled backwards onto the cliff. Then it was only the bonnet with a sheer drop beneath it. There were sighs and shouts of relief. Juliette wrapped her arms around Reenie, while the older woman looked on, aghast. But Charlie didn’t dare breathe. She wouldn’t until the whole car was at least five metres away from the edge.

  The winch kept working, the BMW got closer to the bus, and by now everyone was clapping and cheering, Reenie pressing her head into Marmite’s soft fur while the little dog scrabbled in her arms.

  ‘You’ve done it!’ Lawrence called, giving her another thumbs-up. ‘You can switch it off now, Charlie! Charlie?’ He patted the front of the bus and Charlie pressed the button. The winch stopped.

  Reenie and Juliette rushed to Daniel’s door and flung it open. Marmite jumped down inside the car and Juliette picked him up again, shushing him gently.

  ‘Daniel, my God, are you OK?’ With tears in her eyes, Reenie bent inside the car and, a moment later, Charlie saw feet on the ground; blue Converse, jeans; and then he was half pushing himself up, half being pulled by Reenie, until he was out and leaning against the side of the BMW. Dark hoodie, dark hair, face as white as a sheet.

  Charlie finally let her breath go. She gulped air in as if she couldn’t get enough, and then, her whole body trembling, she climbed out of the driver’s door into the cool evening.

  Daniel stepped away from the car, towards her. Reenie gripped his arm, but he patted her hand and she let go. He took another few steps, and she could see the rise and fall of his chest, his eyes bright with shock. He rubbed his hands together, as if loosening up his fingers. Had he been gripping the wheel, just as she had?

  ‘I didn’t know your skills extended to winching,’ he said. He sounded only slightly less in control than she was used to. Relief and desire flooded through her.

  ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘Thanks to you,’ he said. ‘Charlie, I—’

  ‘You’re OK. Thank God you’re OK.’ She rushed forwards and put her hands up to his face. His skin was cold and she felt the graze of stubble under her palms. He searched her eyes, as if reminding himself that she was still there.

  ‘Juliette said you were leaving.’

  ‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘I had to make a decision, at the end of the summer, about my old job, but I’m not going. I chose to stay here. With you.’

  He placed his hands over hers and pulled them gently away from his face, but didn’t let go of them. ‘I called you. I didn’t understand, Charlie, after the other day—’

  ‘It’s all my fault,’ Juliette said. ‘I overheard Charlie on the phone and I misunderstood.’ She had tears in her eyes, Lawrence’s arm wrapped protectively around her waist. ‘I am so, so sorry.’

  ‘It’s OK, Jules.’ He turned to look at her. ‘This was entirely my fault. I was going too fast, as usual. Especially fast, on this occasion.’ He faced Charlie again. ‘But you’re not leaving. That’s all that matters.’ He brushed his hand over her hair, traced a finger down her cheek. Charlie shivered with delight.

  ‘And that you’re OK,’ Charlie said. ‘That matters too. Quite a lot, actually.’

  His smile slipped. ‘Because of you. I would like to tell you that I wasn’t remotely scared in there, that I sat back and enjoyed the impressive view out of my windscreen, but it would be a massive lie. You saved my life, Charlie.’

  She swallowed. ‘I just … Pete, he—’

  He put his finger on her lips. ‘You did. You saved me. You and that bus.’

  Charlie tried to speak past his finger. ‘Gertie is—’

  ‘Wonderful, I know.’

  She could feel the emotion bubbling up inside her, uncorked now that Daniel was back on solid ground. She bit back a sob just as sirens pierced the air, the flash of blue lights filling the sky.

  ‘Your rescue party,’ Lawrence said quietly, and Charlie wondered if they were all thinking the same thing: if they’d waited, would the BMW still have been balanced on the cliff? She didn’t want to consider the alternative.

  ‘You should let them check you over, Daniel,’ Reenie said. ‘You must be in shock. Did you hit your chest against the wheel?’

  ‘I’m fine, Reenie.’ He bent to give her a hug. ‘But I will get checked over, just to be sure.’

  She scrunched his cheek. ‘Oh, you ridiculous man! Imagine almost getting yourself killed for an extra five minutes off your journey.’

  ‘It was an important journey, though. Even if, at the time, I was acting under false information. My intentions were good. Charlie and I have unfinished business.’ He smiled, and Charlie could see a glimmer of his usual spark. The ember was still there, even if shock had temporarily dulled it.

  She placed her hands flat on his chest, feeling him solid and warm beneath them. ‘I couldn’t leave you behind, Daniel. I love Porthgolow, Jules and Lawrence, Reenie, Jonah and his family. I could have come back and visited everyone, watched the sunsets, driven my bus around Cornwall, but I knew that if I left, if I only came back here occasionally, you wouldn’t be in my life in the way I wanted. You’d be Daniel Harper, owner of Crystal Waters, dedicated businessman, warm and kind-hearted, often completely infuriating. And I love that you’re all those things, but for me, you’re so much more. I want you to be more.’

  ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Because I want to be more than that, too.’

  His lips found hers, and his arms circled her waist until she was fully wrapped in his embrace. His kiss went through her, straight to
her heart. She held onto him and kissed him back, and it was even sweeter, even sexier than the last time. He was here, he was alive, and he was hers. It was only the sirens that broke them apart, much louder now as the fire engine, ambulance and two police cars finally reached them, coming to a stop metres from the bus and the BMW.

  Charlie stepped back, her smile mirroring Daniel’s.

  ‘We understood there was a person in trouble at the edge of the cliff. Could someone please explain what’s happened?’

  ‘Is there anyone in need of medical attention?’

  Reenie pulled Daniel away and Charlie watched him introduce himself to the paramedic and the policeman, shake their hands and start to tell them what had happened. Even after such a terrifying experience, he was the epitome of professionalism. And then a fireman approached her, asking about the bus and the winch, and she explained everything – everything except the emotions that had raged through her as she decided she was going to risk it, that she couldn’t wait for Daniel’s car to crash over the edge of the cliff when there was something she could do about it.

  By the time she’d finished, Daniel was sitting in the ambulance, his hoodie and T-shirt off while a paramedic checked his chest and breathing. Charlie hovered in the doorway, reasoning with herself that, under the circumstances, she shouldn’t be enjoying the view quite so much.

  ‘Is he OK?’ she asked.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Daniel said.

  She waited for confirmation from the paramedic. ‘All his obs are normal,’ he confirmed. ‘But he’s had a shock, so I’d like him to rest and book in with his GP next week for a check-up. If you start having pain or discomfort in the meantime,’ he said to Daniel, ‘then call 999.’

  ‘Of course,’ Daniel replied.

  ‘I can make sure all of that happens,’ Charlie said, smiling at Daniel’s surprised expression.

  ‘Oh you can, can you?’

  ‘Especially the resting part.’

  Daniel thanked the paramedic, pulled his T-shirt and hoodie back on and hopped down from the ambulance. ‘Rest wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.’