both their hands shaking as they clutched it, and Jude managed a total of one word.
“Dad?”
He sounded all of eight-years-old at that moment, his voice reedy and unbroken only to crack like a teenager’s as soon as his father responded.
“Jude.”
His dad’s voice was just as he remembered, that single word conveying what Jude felt too in that moment—relief so pure it hurt to hear it. Him saying any more was redundant; Jude heard everything he needed, his dad still alive and breathing. Just a few more words could make this phone call perfect, which his dad promptly delivered.
“Your mum wants a word.”
Susan quizzed him later, but it was hard to remember what his mum had said, the Anchor’s bar crammed with friends and strangers sharing a spontaneous party. Even the guy from the car lot appeared as if their good news had crested the brow of Porthperrin’s steep hill, their joy a rising tide that showed no sign of ebbing. Luckily, Louise didn’t seem half as fazed as Jude still did, hours after taking that life-changing phone call. She repeated everything Jude had heard, summarising what their mum had asked of them both. “She wants us to come and get them.”
“Of course she does, pet. And don’t either of you worry about this place. We’ll all pitch in to help Rob.” Then Susan added, “And we’ll all pitch in with some cash to help you get there as well.”
That last remark was almost enough to shift Jude’s smile, one which hadn’t let up yet. Paying for flights—two tickets out instead of one this time, and four for the return journey—would take more than a whip-round from friends and neighbours. Jude ran through options, coming to financial dead-ends maybe as Louise had after the storm that winter, and like her, Jude’s thoughts drifted in Rob’s direction. Perhaps he could think of a creative way to fly them both halfway around the world and back for next to nothing.
Jude scanned the bar, gaze shifting from table to table, half expecting to find Rob, smile blazing as it had since that call of what felt like seconds ago, but—Jude checked his watch—was hours now. Instead, he finally glimpsed Rob as he headed outside with someone, the door closing between them and Jude just as they shook hands. Trevor left then too, his hug before he went home to St Ives nearly tight enough to leave bruises.
For him, Jude at least managed two words. “Thank you.” It didn’t seem nearly enough.
Trevor didn’t agree. “It was nothing,” he insisted, his voice still a little shaky, almost drowned out by the revelry around them. His embrace somehow lingered long after he let go, Jude’s breathing constricted by so much shared emotion that continued after Rob came back into the bar, expression pensive. It lightened as he met Jude’s gaze.
How could one look say so much, Jude wondered as Rob had his back clapped by more than one tipsy celebrator. How could that dark gaze he’d taken ages to trust now mean the whole world to him?
Rob maintained eye-contact as he skirted crowded tables, making his way across the room with purpose just as Jude decided that maybe those were questions for tomorrow, along with trying to figure out how to finance their flights. Tonight wasn’t for worry. Tonight was living every moment to its fullest. Rob reached him just as Jude came to that conclusion. His eyes widened as Jude followed through on his decision in the one place he never dreamed that he could.
He kissed Rob in full view of everyone in the Anchor’s main bar, and the world didn’t come to an end. Not a soul seemed to notice, so Jude kissed him again. They parted, Rob looking dazed and lovely. He’d do anything to keep that expression on Rob’s face forever, although forever was a concept Jude still strained to picture. Their future past the end of the summer was hazy as if sea mist obscured it, but Jude had one prayer granted already so he could work on another just as soon as he steered his parents home for good. For now, he thanked everyone in the bar who added cash to a pint mug that was brimful by the time the church bell struck midnight, Marc and Louise the last to go home. He carried it through to the office to count in the morning, thinking that Louise seemed happy enough to float up the hill rather than walk, only to