The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,110

said. ‘I’m a bit boring really.’

‘No you’re not,’ Sadie said. ‘You’re amazing.’ She turned to Lucy. ‘This is the man who saved Ewan and Declan and me from drowning.’

Her sister’s eyes widened. ‘That guy?’

‘It wasn’t like that at all,’ Luke said. ‘We all sort of didn’t drown together.’

‘Yes, but if you hadn’t jumped in after Declan then he’d definitely be dead. Me too, probably, because I would have jumped in to get him and drowned with him. And then you went back in for Ewan—’

‘So did you.’

‘Yes, but I was crap. You were the real hero.’

‘I think the lifeboat crew were the real heroes.’

‘Oh, stop being so modest,’ Sadie said, smiling at him with such warmth and pride that Lucy looked vaguely surprised to see it.

‘I have missed a lot since I last came over,’ she said. ‘I must try to visit more often.’

‘Oh, you must,’ Sadie said. ‘Have you seen Mum and Dad and Gammy yet?’

‘Not yet – Kat picked me up from the airport and we came straight here. In fact, I’d better go and find them. Catch you later.’

‘Yes!’

Sadie turned to Luke as her sister went off to find the rest of the clan. By now, the beach was filling up with more locals and a few curious tourists too, keen to join the fun. Little fires were dotted along the sand where some families had decided to cook their own food rather than buy from the official barbeque. At the far end of the beach, close to the shelter of the cliffs, the fireworks were getting last-minute safety checks.

‘I’m just too excited,’ Sadie said. ‘It feels like forever since Lucy was here. I mean she came to Gampy’s funeral but that was horrible and she literally just went to the church, spent a couple of days at home with us and then flew back so it wasn’t really a visit at all. I wonder how long she’s staying – I must ask.’

Luke took her face in his hands and gave her a tender kiss. As he broke away she smiled up at him.

‘What was that for?’

‘You know, when I dreamt of that perfect life here, all those months ago when it felt as if I’d never be happy again, I never imagined that it would be this perfect. I never imagined anything could be this perfect. And I never imagined a woman could be as perfect as you.’

‘Oh, I’m not perfect.’

‘Well no…’ he said, giving a solemn nod. ‘But you’re as near as anyone can be.’

‘I…’

For once, Sadie was lost for words. Nobody, not even Declan, had ever told her she was perfect. She wasn’t, but she’d soak it up anyway and enjoy the illusion of being perfect, for a few hours at least.

‘Your family are coming back over,’ Luke said, staring out across the beach. Now he looked faintly alarmed. ‘All of them, en masse like a huge army. Do you think they saw me kissing you and are pissed off?’

Sadie giggled. ‘They’re just coming to talk to us.’

‘So I shouldn’t be running at this point?’

‘Don’t you dare!’

‘Hello, darlin’,’ April said to Sadie. She glanced up at Luke. ‘Hello. I don’t think we’ve met before – I’m April, Sadie’s grandma.’

They had met before, several times now, but Sadie just smiled and Luke dipped his head in acknowledgement. Graham had taken his mother to see the family GP, who had suggested that April was displaying the early signs of dementia and had ordered hospital tests. They were still waiting for an appointment date, but they were working with the provisional diagnosis and everyone was altering their behaviour around April accordingly. It wasn’t what they’d wanted to hear, but in some ways they’d all been expecting something along those lines. At least now they could make some sense of what was happening and deal with it. Graham and Henny were already making plans to care for her and, when the time came, everyone would do their bit – even Luke had told Sadie he would give help and support in any way he could. Sadie had offered him a teary smile in return and tried to make light of the moment by telling him that maybe he was a keeper after all, but they both knew that his words had meant so much more to her.

‘I’m Luke.’

‘That’s a good strong name,’ April said.

‘Isn’t it?’ Sadie replied.

‘Sadie…’ Lucy began. ‘Do you have a moment? We need to talk to you…’ She glanced at Luke, as if uncertain that