coffee. It was going to take a lot more than that for me to get over the shock.
‘Hey,’ said Hope, who suddenly burst in and set the café bell jangling. ‘What’s going on? I just had a text from Mum saying she needed me to come down. Is everything all right?’
Sophie came out of the kitchen, untied her apron and took the seat next to Dad, before telling Hope to squeeze in next to me.
‘What’s up with you?’ Hope said to me. ‘You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I’m all right,’ I croaked, wondering why on earth the four of us were sitting together when Dad and I clearly still needed more time to talk and I needed some space to think through everything he had just told me.
‘Well, you don’t look it,’ Hope said again.
‘I’m fine,’ I sniffed, ‘really.’
She didn’t push me further, but turned her attention to Dad.
‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I don’t think we’ve met.’
Now it was my turn to apologize.
‘Sorry,’ I said, finally remembering my manners. ‘This is my dad. Dad, this is my friend, Hope.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ said Hope, looking between the two of us. ‘I didn’t know you were expecting a visitor,’ she said to me, obviously trying to gauge my reaction to Dad’s unexpected appearance.
Thankfully, I didn’t have the opportunity to try and work out how to answer her.
‘Are you sure you’re all right, Tess?’ Sophie asked, noticing my pallor now Hope had pointed it out.
I nodded.
‘I’m okay.’
Sophie looked at Dad.
‘I don’t think . . .’ she began, but Dad stopped her.
‘It’s time,’ he said. ‘And I really don’t want to have to stop, not now that I’ve started.’
Hope and I looked at each other again, both of us now sporting deep frowns. The morning had already held enough shocks for me, but clearly there were more to come.
‘As I said a minute ago, Tess,’ Dad said, looking directly at me, ‘I did try my best to be a good husband.’
‘Of course,’ I nodded.
‘But no one’s perfect,’ he swallowed, biting his lower lip to stop it from trembling.
‘Please,’ said Sophie, looking first at me and then to Dad, ‘let me explain.’
Dad nodded and dropped his gaze to the table.
‘Your father,’ she said, her own voice now thick with emotion, ‘only had one lapse in his marriage, Tess, and it was many, many years ago. One moment of weakness after he discovered something about your mum.’
I was relieved that she didn’t elaborate on what that was.
‘Hope,’ Sophie carried on, now looking at her daughter as she drew in the deepest breath and her eyes filled with tears.
It was a shock to see. I’d never seen her face do anything other than smile.
‘What?’ Hope asked, sounding as unsure as Sophie looked.
Dad lifted his eyes from the table again.
‘You know I told you that your father was a holidaymaker from here in Wynmouth?’
‘Yes,’ said Hope, her eyes now tracking from my dad to her mum and back again, as were mine.
‘You can’t be serious?’ I whispered.
‘Are you telling me . . .’ Hope joined in.
‘Yes,’ Sophie cut in, her voice barely louder than a whisper, ‘Hope, this is your dad.’
Stunned silence descended and I came to the conclusion that this was all a dream. I would wake up in a minute and find myself back in Crow’s Nest Cottage, sweating and with the sheet wrapped tightly around me.
‘Say something,’ Sophie begged her daughter. ‘Please.’
‘I remember you,’ Hope slowly said, pointing at Dad and dashing all thoughts that I was in a dream-state and not really sitting next to her in the café. ‘You spoke to me, didn’t you? And I went running to Mum because I thought you were some weirdo.’
Dad nodded, clearly remembering the same thing.
‘I thought I’d worked out who you were,’ Dad said, ‘and ended up getting carried away and asking too many questions.’
‘Was that the year you cut our holiday short?’ I asked. ‘It was our last holiday in Wynmouth, wasn’t it? You said we had to leave because of work, but that wasn’t why, was it?’
‘Yes, it was that year,’ said Dad, ‘and no, we didn’t really have to go because of work. I was convinced that Hope was my daughter and thought it best if we left.’
I couldn’t believe it.
‘So, you’ve been here before?’ Hope asked, twisting around to look at me. ‘This isn’t your first time in Wynmouth?’
‘We used to come here every year for our summer holidays,’ I told her. ‘I know the place like the back