On one level – her crazy romantic dreams level – she wondered if it meant that they were meant to be together. On a more rational, and more fearful, level she doubted they could have a Happy Ever After. Were they not too different? He was organised; she was… um, slightly more free-flowing. He was sporty; she definitely wasn’t. That daydream earlier of her sewing whilst he surfed was lovely, but was it even a teeny bit realistic? Indulging her crush would lead to too many complications. Pure and simple. Regardless of all of that, her tingling had proved to be correct, his presence confirmed seconds later as his mother barked out her rat-a-tat-tat call again, waving at him to come over.
‘Hello everyone, nice to see you’ve all met. Welcome to Penmenna.’ He gave his sisters a kiss on the cheek. ‘You must be Mrs Parkin. Pippa only says good things. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.’ He held out his hand and Jan took it and shook it whilst looking at him appraisingly.
‘You’re the man who came into the garage and said you knew Pips. I saw you on the CCTV.’
‘Well, in that case, it probably was me. I certainly came in and met your husband and, I believe, your son soon after I had first met Pippa. Your husband was kind enough to help me with my car.’
‘You didn’t tell me you had car problems. Why didn’t you call and tell me you had problems with the car?’
‘Honestly. Mum, it was nothing.’
‘Oh, they never tell us anything. Pippa, why did you not tell me about young Mr Choudhury being the new teacher, huh? All these weeks and you haven’t said a word!’ Jan joined in with Mrs Choudhury’s complaint.
Because you would have piled bags of unnecessary pressure on me and I rather like keeping my crush as it is at the moment without you smothering it to death with over-enthusiasm and frigging heart biscuits, thought Pippa.
‘Mmm, didn’t I?’ is what she said.
‘He’s very handsome,’ Jan said.
‘Yes, I think so,’ Kam’s mum agreed, nodding at Jan in approval. ‘And your daughter is very beautiful. She has a classic style, an elegance.’ It looked like a friendship was being forged whilst Kam’s sisters just shook their head at their mum whilst nudging, pinching and making silly faces at Kam who, with a quick wink at his three siblings, changed the conversation quickly.
‘Let’s get these tables set up then, shall we? How many do you need for the cake stall, Mrs Parkin, is two enough?’
‘Oh, I normally have three. Penmenna prides itself on its cakes.’
‘It’s important, isn’t it? Binds a family in love, a little bit of baking,’ Kam’s mum nodded her agreement as she spoke.
‘And tooth decay.’
‘Abuja!’
‘Here you are then, three…’ Kam dragged one table after another and another. Jan’s eyes developed a gleam: she did like a man who was happy to do physical work. ‘…tables just for cakes and I was thinking… oh, do we need to check with Marion? Should we put my sisters next to the cake stall, and then, Mum, you can keep an eye on them and stop them damaging whatever professional reputation I have?’
‘Yes, yes, that sounds like a very sensible idea. Put them next to us, so I can keep an eye on Anuja and make sure she doesn’t embarrass you.’
‘Embarrass him? That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?’ Kam’s younger sister objected.
‘I’m a woman who likes to prepare for every eventuality, and Anuja, with you that is very wise. Now help your brother with that table over there and you can set up next to us. That’s okay isn’t it, Mrs Parkin?’
‘Jan. And of course it is, Mrs Choudhury.’
‘Excellent, we’re going to be great friends, so you must call me Geeta. Where are you going to be, Kam?’
‘Ah, Miss Parkin and I…’ Pippa watched as Kam didn’t quite make eye contact with any member of his family. ‘…Miss Parkin and I are out on the field, up the back with the horses.’
‘Up the back with the horses? What does that mean?’
‘Is that some kind of euphemism?’ his youngest sister asked.
‘Anuja!’ Both Kam and his mum were in unison on that one. Pippa heard the laugh burst from her lips; she liked Anuja.
‘It is not. Can I remind you this is my workplace?’
‘Uhuh and Miss Parkin is your colleague,’ Hema noted, faux sincerity at the fore, making it quite clear that, along with her sister, she suspected there was more.
‘Yes, she is and you’re never coming back again if you can’t behave.’
‘I haven’t done anything. Mum, what have I done? Tell him!’
‘Space hoppers, what do we need to do with them?’ Pippa jumped in before World War Three broke out between Kam and his sisters in the school hall. She was aware that he wanted Sarah Fielding’s job next term and she wanted him to have it as well – which was not going to happen if he and his sisters had a throwdown fight in the middle of the May Fayre, surrounded by the PTA and other Penmenna school well-wishers.
‘Blow them up, sit on them and bounce to the finish line?’ Kam responded, at which point Hema burst out laughing until her mother leant over and pinched her just under the arm.
‘I’ve got that bit. That’s the easy bit,’ Pippa said, deliberately not making eye contact with any of the sisters. ‘But shouldn’t we go set them up? We need to pick a good space or else our racetrack could become an obstacle course with the odd gift from Davinia’s ponies in each lane.’
‘Yeah, good point. Right, Mum, are you okay if I leave you here with Mrs Parkin to sort out the cakes?’
‘Jan,’ Pippa’s mother simpered.
‘Jan.’ Kam bestowed on of his smiles on her, the one that lit up his deep brown eyes and radiated charm out like a heat-seeking missile. Although of course that was only an opinion, and quite possibly no one’s but hers.
‘Of course. You must go and do what you need to do.’
‘Brilliant, and if you could keep these three in check for me, Mum, I’d appreciate it. I really like it here.’
‘Yes, of course. Now girls, your brother is a teacher and we are in his place of work. You must respect your brother and his position or you will pay the price.’ Geeta looked terrifyingly stern as she delivered these words, and Pippa realised even she was gulping and deciding to behave.
‘Brilliant, although if you could tone down the whole flay-you-alive discipline, that would probably be helpful,’ said Kam. ‘Right, what do we need, Pippa?’
‘Just you and me, I think, at the moment. Everything else should be there.’
‘Just you and me? Sounds pretty perfect, let’s go.’ And Kam and Pippa headed out of the big old wooden door, knowing that five pairs of keen female eyes were watching them go and drawing all sorts of conclusions.
Chapter Twenty-four
The two hours of the May Fayre whizzed by, although Kam had forgotten how draining the extra-curricular school events could be, especially after a full day teaching. However, in this instance he didn’t mind. He hadn’t had as much fun in ages.
He and Pippa had giggled non-stop on the space hoppers, guiding the children and shouting ‘bounce, bounce, bounce’ in an encouraging way, both adopting kids to support and then racing them against each other. People had fallen off, and others had bounced their way to victory but everyone had giggled. After a while even the der-der-der-der-der-der of the fairground music blaring out across the field faded into familiarity, and Kam swore Pippa’s laugh when they took their turns on the space hoppers – she beat him four to two – was even louder. He had had to wipe the odd tear away as he raced her, the children all shouting to spur them on. So much fun. Although he was quite pleased his mother was far away in the hall, he knew she would have very firm views on the appropriate behaviour of teachers and he was fairly sure laughing riotously whilst racing on inflatable rubber balls with silly faces was not one of them.
When he had mentioned the fairground music to Pippa, she had confided that the PTA invested in the fairground organ because it could be operated without too much huma
n intervention and still create a carnival atmosphere. It turned out that Penmenna used to have a DJ at their fayres, but a couple of years ago he had done nothing but repeatedly play ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ and sob into the microphone, exhorting the children to never love and never entrust their heart to anyone. There had been a stand-off with Marion cutting the power and hauling him out, and ever since then only allowed a carefully curated soundtrack, as compiled by Marion, was allowed to play in the school hall, and the sounds of a Wurlitzer in the school field to create some party spirit.
True to school fayre form, there was still a fair amount of troubleshooting amongst the hilarity. The ponies had accidents all over the field, and Kam, unused to the country and its blasé attitudes to poo, spent a fair amount of time picking it up and binning it so no small children could fall into it. Davinia didn’t seem at all fussed, just barking phrases like ‘Only natural, eh?’ as she ignored the heaps piling up around her, and Pippa sat on a space hopper giggling at his face as he wrinkled his nose. She had the cheek to suggest it was a good thing he was a teacher because she didn’t think he’d be much good as a vet or a farmer.
There had been fisticuffs over the hook the duck where Pippa had weighed in and saved Harmony from a parent convinced they should have won a huge purple teddy and who wondered why they didn’t get a goldfish in a bag any more. Pippa had positively sprinted to the stall as she heard that, to try and stop a full-on raging debate between Harmony and the family, who had now gathered to see why she wasn’t unhooking the purple bear.
Then there was a fallout over a penalty shoot-out, which one of the fathers was managing in a slightly aggressive fashion, but none of these things could spoil the fun of the evening. Kam and Pippa had taken it in turns to go and get Pimm’s from the cocktail tent and, as the evening progressed, both got a little swooshy. Kam was not sure that he should be drinking whilst at work but Pippa pointed out that what he shouldn’t be doing was breaking with Penmenna tradition: everyone was expected to be half cut by six. Besides, it was only Pimm’s, not absinthe or Special Brew. How wrong could it go?
The second half of the evening had been far less frenetic. The stalls began to wind down a little, everyone’s money had been spent and people were milling about, chatting. The children, realising they had no chance of getting more pennies out of their beleaguered parents, had given up and were playing on the playground equipment or kicking a ball about on the other side of the field.
Pippa and Kam had taken the chance to sink to the ground, where they both lay down, feeling the softness of the grass and clover on their backs, and staring up at the light evening sky. Pippa started picking daisies to make herself a daisy chain as they recalled the events of the night. The alcohol had made them relaxed and Pippa gave him the biggest grin as she rolled over onto her front, her calves swinging in the air as she spoke.
‘I think our mums might get on alright, you know.’ She gave him a hazy half-lidded look that summed up the languor of a summer night, and he wanted so much to roll himself over as well, capture her lips with his and see where this evening took them. He knew he couldn’t, not on the school field, and he knew he wouldn’t because until he had completed his five-year plan he was in no position to start any kind of relationship and the way he felt about Pippa indicated it could get very serious very quickly.
‘I think so too. But then they would, wouldn’t they?’ Kam replied, smiling but holding his body back, not allowing the distance between them to be closed in the way he would have liked.
‘Do you think? Apart from their obsessive baking I’m not sure they have much in common.’
‘You’re bonkers. We have everything in common so why wouldn’t they? Our world views are pretty similar, don’t you think?’ Kam’s eyebrows raised. Did she really not think so?
‘I hadn’t thought about that. I guess they are. Family is really important to me, and community, but then so is my freedom to be who I want to be and have fun. That’s still high on my list and now I’m thinking it I’m realising that um… yes… maybe we are a bit?’ Pippa’s tone was one of gradual realisation and he could not believe that it was only in this moment she was joining the dots to something he had found so obvious from fairly early on.
‘I am. I’m with you on all the solid things, the building blocks that make up for a good life. And we both love the sea…’
‘We do.’
‘And music, and dancing.’
‘True, but we haven’t done that yet. We will though. Soon.’ Her certainty cheered him.
‘Only difference is that your mother isn’t trying to ferociously marry you off,’ Kam sighed.
‘Are you joking?’
‘Eh?’
‘My mum is an absolute nightmare. She’s doing exactly that. It seems to be her favourite thing at the moment.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh yes,’ Pippa nodded ferociously. ‘Relentless.’
‘So we have that in common too: we’re both really busy trying to keep our mums from marrying us off.’ Kam was flustered, he hadn’t meant it like that. ‘Um… not to each other obviously, that’s not what I meant. It sounds like we both have a lot of pressure from our mums to settle down, even though we’ve reached an age when they should have backed off by now! Mine just doesn’t listen. It drives me mad but I’m not prepared to be forced onto a path I don’t want to go down. I have to balance the love and the respect I have for my mum with my need to do my own thing in my own time.’
‘Okay, I admit it. I admit defeat.’ Pippa rolled over again, onto her side this time. She had a string of daisies in her hand, and was looking him fully in the eye. ‘We’re twins.’
‘Hahaha, maybe.’
‘You know, joking aside, I do understand. My mum did exactly what you’re describing, last week. I was trying to talk to her about why I don’t want a serious relationship right now and that, when I find the person I want to settle down with, I have to know for sure because I want what her and dad have, that in-it-for-life thing. I know she loves me, accepts me but it doesn’t feel like she listens to me.’
‘Truth. Tell me about it. What was she saying?’
‘She was saying, in her coded way, that I need to stop looking for Mr or Ms Right and settle for Mr Right Now.’
‘Really?’ Kam was shocked. Surely that wasn’t advice anyone should give? He wondered if her mother was referring to the blonde guy he has seen her out with, but decided against asking. He didn’t want to spoil the intimacy of the moment, plus he figured that if Pippa wanted to give more detail than she would.
‘I think her point was that I’m looking for perfection and I suppose, in a way, I am. I’ve never been prescriptive when it comes to who I’m looking for, I think I’m a relatively open-minded person and if I’m attracted to someone then I’m attracted to them. Gender, background, that’s not important to me. The way someone thinks, the way they behave, that’s what makes me like them. Mum is fine with that but she wants me to hurry up with it all, preferably with someone she chooses. She seems to agree with my friends that I have some kind of commitment issue, which I don’t by the way. And it’s not so much that I’m looking for perfection, but I am looking for someone I can throw all my eggs into one basket with. Someone I can settle down with, and yes, have kids with, but that someone has to be of my own choosing and in my own time, and that’s not right now. I don’t really understand why the timeframe seems more important to her than getting it right.’
‘This could be – it is – a conversation that I have my mother all the bloody time. I know it’s not about control, it is about love, but wow! They do want you to do what they want you to do. I sometimes think maybe parents can’t accept we’re adults, and mine will still be treating me like I’m twelve when I’m fifty.’
‘So why don’t you want to do what your mother says?’ Pippa laid her daisy chain onto the grass, more caught up in the conversation they were having. A conversation he was enjoying; it felt like they were talking h
onest truths about their lives, rather than the surface giggling they did every day in the classroom.
‘I think it’s as simple as her not trusting me to choose my own partner. She thinks me being single is because I don’t know what I want. But I do. I want a woman who gets me, who shares my views and with whom I can carve out a life. Before that can happen, I want to be settled, secure in myself, in a steady job, doing what I love and knowing that I have something to offer.’
‘Oh Kam, you have so much to offer!’
He felt a warmth flush up his neck and across his face as he tried to answer that in any way that didn’t make him look insecure or arrogant. Nothing came to him so he turned the spotlight back on her.
‘So basically, you won’t settle. You have a smorgasbord of humanity to choose from and you’re scared of making the wrong choice. I would have never thought of you as scared of anything.’
‘You are focusing on me to detract from you! That’s my trick so you won’t get it past me. But yup, that’s about right. And you’re saying you need a job, security and status before you’re prepared to fall in love.’
‘Ha, yep. Sounds like we’re both being a bit daft.’
‘True and yet we’re both utterly right, and should be allowed to find the right partner in the right time.’
‘True again. You are a positive fount of wisdom today, Miss Parkin.’
Pippa lent over and his heart sped up. She picked up the daisy chain and closed its final link, placing her handiwork on his head. He felt his breathing slow down as her face came so close to his he was sure she could feel his breath on her. Thoughts of job security and self-knowledge went straight from his head. Thoughts of him and Pippa being together flooded his mind and he found himself holding his breath. She relaxed back onto the grass and his breathing returned to normal. He felt relieved that he had been too shy to pull her towards him; she had just told him she didn’t want a relationship yet.
The Cornish Village School--Summer Love Page 14