“I’ll have a Sandy Cove Blonde.” Kirsty got up, too. “Let me give you a hand.”
As if responding to that request, Saffron held out her hand.
Without thought, Kirsty took it. A zap of desire rocketed up her arm. She paused. What the hell was she doing? She knew oysters were an aphrodisiac, but one taste and she was holding Saffron’s hand?
“I see those oysters have worked their magic!”
She must not shout at her mother.
Kirsty shivered, then dropped Saffron’s hand as quickly as she’d taken it, bundling her away from the table and the spectators.
What was happening? She was acting like she was a teenager. She was 49, for goodness sake.
“Everything okay?” Saffron’s cheeks were pink. She wouldn’t look Kirsty in the eye.
Kirsty gave her a look. “Let’s just get to the bar.”
They stood in the queue, Kirsty searching her brain for something to say, but she couldn’t think of anything. Not a single, solitary word. All she could think was, “We held hands!” Like she was 12.
Saffron turned her head to face a woman standing six feet away, her phone poised. Saffron held up a hand. “Sorry, no photos today, thanks. I’m just here enjoying the festival, the same as you.”
Kirsty stared at her. Then she leaned in. “She wasn’t taking a photo of you,” she whispered, pointing at the life-size plastic fisherman Saffron was standing next to. Standing on the other side of it was the woman’s toddler son and her partner, both giving the woman cheesy grins.
Saffron’s cheeks coloured even darker as she turned away. “Can we pretend that never happened?” she whispered to Kirsty.
Kirsty shook her head. “Oh no, I’m logging that.” She paused. “Remember when you said I could tell you if you were being a tit?” She quirked an eyebrow. “Stop being a tit.”
Chapter 14
Aman and woman arrived at the tables outside the Poseidon Inn with an older scruffy dog, the two pups under the table across from them wiggling their behinds in the adorable way puppies do when unable to contain their excitement, but desperately trying to behave. The eldest greeted each excited pup with nose held high, but Saffron spied the scruffy dog’s tail whip back and forth with youthful vigour.
All the owners exchanged laughs and smiles, as the man gently guided his senior dog to a table across the way, the puppies hiding out under theirs, rolling on the pebbles, not a care in the world.
“I wonder what it’s like to greet each new day and experience with puppy energy.” Kirsty opened a bag of salt and vinegar crisps, undoing the seam of the bag to spread it out completely open for Saffron to share.
“I think it’s one of the reasons why I want a dog.” Saffron crunched into a crisp.
“To live vicariously through one?”
“That and to have all eyes on the adorable pup and not on me.”
“That’s a tall order for a dog.” Kirsty stared past Saffron at the water behind but ever so slowly dropped her gaze to meet Saffron’s.
Saffron wanted to take a gulp of air, but didn’t want to be obvious, even if Kirsty’s penetrating eyes plucked her heart strings.
As if noticing Saffron needed a lifeline, Kirsty stuck to the dog conversation. “Do you think it would be possible for one to help you maintain your privacy?”
“It might be here.” Saffron tapped the top of her baseball hat placed on the table, not her head. “For the most part, everyone has been leaving me alone. Even today, with the extra bodies for the festival, I’m just one of the crowd. Not the one causing people to huddle together to catch a glimpse.”
“Is that good or bad? In my life, that would be a tick in the good column. No, make that great. I’m adding great to my imaginary chart.” Kirsty made a swoosh in the air. “I hate being the centre of attention. I’m wondering, though, if a movie star would want the same.”
“My agent would be freaking out if she knew. She always wants snaps of me on social media.” Saffron mimed taking photos. “Me smiling, with my arms around people I don’t know, acting like I’m having the time of my life. For her, I have to stay in the front of the public’s mind, or what if they forget my existence and don’t flock to my next movie on opening weekend? The horror!” Saffron placed her hands on her cheeks and acted out the paintingThe Scream.
“Ginger mentioned you get tense whenever you talk to your agent.”
“I think she has that effect on most.” Saffron glanced back towards the puppies, one biting the other’s ear.
“Nice evasion on that, and since I’m feeling generous, I’ll leave it there. Also, I have to admit, I’m curious about my original question, not from Pearl’s perspective but from yours. Do you”—Kirsty aimed a crisp at Saffron’s chest—“want adulation wherever you go?”
