he hadn’t recognized me.
For years I had put our kiss on a pedestal, the benchmark by which all subsequent snogs were gauged and it would have been nice to have it at least remembered.
‘Yes, but I have to be,’ he said, ‘whereas you, I would imagine are here on holiday. You could have been cosied up in some cottage somewhere, next to a warm fire with a jigsaw puzzle.’
I couldn’t fail to be amused by that. Crow’s Nest Cottage did have an impressive puzzle collection.
‘I take it I’m right?’ he said, flashing me a smile which made the lines around the sides of his deliciously dark eyes crinkle.
He had certainly aged well.
‘Yes,’ I conceded, ‘you’re right, but you know what they say, what’s life without a little danger?’
‘I’m not sure that’s a saying I adhere to personally,’ he said, leaning over to refill my cup. ‘So, where are you staying?’
‘Crow’s Nest Cottage. It’s next to the pub, the Smuggler’s. Do you know it?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I know it.’
‘The landlord owns both,’ I said, blowing my coffee. ‘Do you know him too?’
He didn’t answer but climbed back out again and tried to give the dog a drink of water. The mad beast had just started to settle down but lost all common sense when he thought he was going to be let out for another run.
‘You didn’t say why you had to be out in this weather,’ I reminded Joe when he got back in. ‘Were you just exercising the dog, or was there something else?’
‘I was trying to exercise the dog,’ he said, rolling his eyes, ‘but I was doing some daily checks too. My family have farmed this area forever and some of the fields run practically up to the cliff edge.’
‘But not you?’
‘What?’
‘From what you said before, I got the impression that you don’t consider yourself a local now, so I’m guessing you’re not a farmer.’
‘No,’ he said, ‘I’m not, but I do still muck in when I’m here, even if it is just a flying visit. Hence being out in this today.’
‘Are you going to be visiting for long?’ I asked.
‘Depends,’ he shrugged. ‘You?’
‘Depends,’ I shrugged back.
Joe smiled again and I felt my face colour.
‘Are you going to help with the harvest?’ I asked.
I knew that happened at some point during the summer.
‘I dunno,’ he said. ‘It’s all a bit up in the air at the moment. What about you?’
‘I’ve been here a fortnight already,’ I told him, ‘but I’m most likely going to stay for another month.’
‘Whatever have you found to do that’s so appealing that it’s made you want to stay for six weeks?’ he then asked. ‘I know why I feel a pull to the place, but it’s hardly a tourist hotspot, is it?’
‘Well, I don’t want a holiday hotspot,’ I told him, handing back the cup. ‘I’m happy with the café and beach, and the pub of course. Wynmouth has more than enough for me.’
Joe nodded, but didn’t comment.
‘Anyway,’ I said, reaching for the door handle. ‘I’d better be getting back and I daresay you’ve got things to be getting on with, in spite of the weather.’
‘That I have,’ he nodded, safely stowing the flask away, ‘but I’ll run you back to the cottage first. We can’t have you getting blown out of Wynmouth again can we, Tess?’
Chapter 11
The weather made absolutely no attempt to pull itself together during the next couple of days and the only flames I thought that June had a chance of seeing were the ones that licked up the chimney when I lit the wood burner every afternoon. The cottage was nowhere near as chilly as it had been when I first arrived and there were some days when the fire didn’t need lighting at all, but I hoped the glowing hearth might lift my descending spirits.
Confined to barracks and embarrassed that my first kiss had been forgotten, my mood had tumbled and I had fallen further into the unsavoury depths of Mum’s diary. I was managing to ignore my phone, but I was constantly drawn to her words. Sad, lonely and also embarrassed summed up her emotions and there was no disputing what the line I threw myself into doing what I now did best meant. Dad might have moaned about Mum’s colossal credit cards bills, but had he been the loyal and loving husband the world imagined him to be, she wouldn’t have felt the need to compensate for his absence by continually hitting the shops.
I