Celeste locked up again and turned off the lights in the bakery as Jade went around doing the same in the kitchen and then locked the back door behind them. Back in the cottage Jade headed for the shower first and when she was dressed and it was her sister’s turn, she poured a couple of glasses of wine.
By the time Celeste came downstairs Jade had positioned the deck chairs outside as sunset approached.
‘Imagine if we didn’t have this garden space.’ Jade had chosen jeans and a pale blue shirt that tied at the waist this evening and an open-weave cardigan that was just enough with the light early-September breeze.
‘Plus a business and a home of our own, and so close to each other, no commute – that’s the best part.’ Celeste relaxed into her deck chair.
‘Remember your commute in London?’
‘I would rather forget. I was knackered before my working day even started.’
‘Lois and Barney looked well, didn’t they?’
‘They did. But I’m not interested in talking about them.’ Celeste checked her watch. ‘We don’t have long before we have to leave so you need to tell me everything you’ve been holding in. I’ve done well not to ask,’ she said, congratulating herself before admitting, ‘I saw you with Linc the day of my spa appointment.’
‘Why didn’t you ask me about it?’
‘Because I’m learning that while we share a lot, we can’t always expect each other to disclose every detail, sometimes we might need to keep things to ourselves to process.’
‘Thank you.’ She enjoyed another sip of the crisp white wine. ‘I was walking on my own down at the cove and we bumped into each other. He’d been swimming and caught me a bit upset.’
‘Because of Dario leaving?’
‘No. Him leaving was for the best, it was a final goodbye.’
‘So why were you upset?’
‘You really don’t know?’ The way Celeste waited patiently told Jade that her sister had a pretty good idea even before the admission that was to come.
‘I was so sure of my decision to go it alone and have a baby. But when Linc turned up in the Cove I liked him right from the start and it’s been difficult to push away those feelings. I was determined because I didn’t want anything or anyone clouding my judgement. Then when Dario turned up it was even worse. If he’d proposed in Venice I would’ve said yes and a tiny part of me thought about it, only for a second, because he was offering me everything. But it never would’ve worked, we both saw that in the end.’
‘So where does this leave Linc?’
‘I told him at the ball that I couldn’t get involved.’
‘Why not? It’s obvious how he feels.’
She leaned back in her chair. ‘The problem is that I do want a family but I don’t want to trap any man into my plans.’
‘But you wouldn’t be. You like him, he likes you, it’s simple.’
‘It’s not.’
‘Jade, it might well be, if you let it. I know you’ve always been very good at making decisions and following them through, but sometimes you may just need to go with the flow.’ She downed the rest of her wine, stood up and held out a hand.
Jade almost didn’t want to move she was so relaxed, but knowing Linc would be there tonight, perhaps it was time to pick up their conversation from where they’d left off on the beach that day.
*
The sun crept lower towards the horizon as they made their way down the track to the cove, watching their footing, soaking up the pleasant evening temperature that wouldn’t last much longer now another summer was preparing to draw to a close. They could make out people congregating on the sands as light faded, the flames from a campfire flickered to illuminate part of the way and plenty of laughter and chatter greeted them as the guests of honour regaled the crowd with tales of their honeymoon to the background tones of music playing softly from a stereo Jade couldn’t even see.
Harvey’s dog Winnie was doing the rounds for a fuss and had settled at dog walker Gracie’s feet. Benjamin helped Tilly hand out beers and if Jade wasn’t mistaken, those two looked as though they were getting friendlier by the day. A few nights ago she’d seen them talking outside the chapel so perhaps it wouldn’t be long before another romance was announced in the Cove. Patricia was standing gossiping with Etna as though they didn’t get to talk every single day at the tea rooms, and Valerie and her husband had come alone having found a last-minute babysitter. Celeste quizzed Daniel about the latest changes at the waffle shack, and others who had brought chairs down here were busy having chitchat over drinks.
Jade accepted a glass of fizz from Patricia, who’d suddenly taken over distribution of the good stuff when nobody else seemed to be doing it and the bottles lay forlorn, poking their necks out of the ice in the cool box. Lottie, who ran the convenience store in the Cove, was next to appear and you couldn’t miss the big crate of packets of marshmallows in her arms as she assured the younger members of the crowd who were very interested in her offering that yes, of course, she’d brought skewers.
‘He’s good, isn’t he?’ Etna had somehow come to Jade’s side without her realising.
Confused, she looked around. ‘Who is?’
