A Perfect Cornish Escape by Phillipa Ashley Page 0,14

Tiff tried to cross her heart. ‘Anyway, I already have made myself useful. Those leaflets for Troy and Evie Carman that I mentioned, I gave them to one of your neighbours on my way here.’

‘Really?’

‘Some lifeboat person called Dirk ’n’ Stormy.’

‘Dirk?’ Marina sounded surprised.

‘Mmm. Quite a character …’

The image of Dirk leaning in his doorway with his bare torso on show threw her off kilter and wine sloshed onto her linen top, wetting her bra. ‘Damn.’

Marina threw her a tea towel and Tiff dabbed at her top.

Marina smirked. ‘You know, if you really want to integrate and help the community, I have the perfect solution.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. You could help out at the fundraising day on the harbour. All the money will be split jointly between the lifeboats and the Wave Watchers. There should be quite a few visitors because it’s May bank holiday weekend.’

‘OK,’ Tiff said, slightly regretting her offer. ‘What kind of help?’

‘Running the tombola, selling raffle tickets, fetching and carrying, publicity … a woman with your skills could be very useful and we need all the money we can get to keep the station going.’

Tiff envisioned herself standing behind a table full of cheap plonk and out-of-date chocs but hid her dismay with a wobbly salute. ‘Aye aye, Cap’n.’

‘And,’ said Marina, picking up Tiff’s empty plate, ‘Dirk will be at the fundraising day, if you need an added incentive.’

‘Really? I’m not interested, obviously.’ She pretended to inspect her nails before giving Marina a wry smile. ‘Once upon a time I would have been but not at the moment. I feel … a tad battered and bruised, if you know what I mean.’

‘I do. Even though it’s been years, there’s been no one since Nate. It’s been hard to let go.’

‘I’m sorry, my love.’ Tiff squeezed Marina’s shoulder. It was so much easier to turn the attention away from herself and pretend Marina needed the comfort way more than she did. ‘But what about the lovely Dirk? How can you resist him?’

Marina laughed. ‘Very easily. We’ve been friends for a very long time and he’s showed no interest in anything more in all the time I’ve known him.’

‘Hmm. That’s not a definite “no” then.’ Tiff searched Marina’s face for a hint that she was hiding a secret crush on her hunky neighbour.

‘It’s a definite “not likely”.’

After ushering Marina out of her own kitchen, Tiff loaded the dishwasher and cleared away the other pots and pans. Dirk was etched on her mind and, pre-Warner, she might not have been backward in coming forward – but she really meant what she said about being battered. Dirk was hardly the man to soothe her. She had a feeling he would be … challenging.

She would try to ‘integrate’ with the community, but as for integrating closely with Dirk ’n’ Stormy? Judging by the terse reception she’d received, it was more likely that Elvis would turn up in Porthmellow singing with the town band on a Sunday night.

Chapter Four

‘So, this is the marine radar and the automatic ship identification system. We have radios to communicate with vessels and call the coastguard. And, of course, we have these.’

Marina had been surprised and delighted when Tiff had accepted her offer for a tour of the lookout station. She showed Tiff the high-powered fixed binoculars that they used in addition to their portable sets and how to fill in the shipping and incident log, along with the procedure for reporting possible emergencies.

Tiff had listened intently, asking pertinent questions. ‘Can I try those huge binoculars?’

‘Of course.’ Marina helped her adjust the focus. ‘Can you see anything yet?’

‘Can I see anything? Bloody hell. These are amazing. You could see a pimple on someone’s arse with them. They’re better than a long-range lens.’

Marina rolled her eyes. ‘Hey, don’t get any ideas.’

Tiff pulled her head away from the twin eyepieces. ‘I won’t.’ She added, sombrely, ‘Wow. The responsibility. Not sure I can handle it. Get something wrong and you could kill someone.’

‘Not kill. Not unless you ignored a Mayday from a vessel that couldn’t get hold of the coastguard or some obvious sign, like a lilo drifting out to sea or a windsurfer in trouble.’

‘That still sounds like a big responsibility.’

‘It is, but you learn not to miss anything. It’s amazing what you can train yourself to notice, if you’re looking hard enough in the right places. Remember, there was no one here for years before we re-opened the station so anything is an improvement.’

Tiff slid her a sympathetic glance. ‘It’s wonderful