Page 52 of The Perfect Gift

‘Pleasure doing business with you!’ Frankie swept the money into her hand and beat a retreat back towards where Ed was waiting at their table. It took her a while as several people nearby stopped her to press money into her hands.

‘My daughter loves you in Ton!,’ one woman said as she handed Frankie a tenner. She leaned closer and added, ‘Worth every penny to watch you put that Aidan Reilly in his place.’

Frankie grinned, but didn’t say anything as she accepted the money and moved on. She finally sank into her chair opposite Ed.

‘Have fun?’ he asked with an amused smile.

‘Very much so.’ Frankie opened her cupped hands and the money she’d collected spilled out onto the table. Ed began to count it out but he had to keep stopping and starting as more people came over and added a donation. A few wanted photos and Frankie obliged so it was probably ten minutes before everyone who’d wanted to chat to her had done so.

Frankie glanced across the café and wasn’t surprised to see the table where the five men had been sitting had been vacated. She hoped Aidan wasn’t too cross with her, but perhaps he’d learned his lesson. Issy came over and leaned down to give her a hug. ‘You were amazing!’ She pulled back and studied Frankie with a frown. ‘Are you okay, though?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ Frankie was surprised to find it was the truth. The adrenaline surge had helped her shake off her earlier tiredness and the positive response she’d received made it feel like she’d done the right thing. She glanced over to where Ed was settling the money into a neat pile. ‘How did I do?’

‘Nearly three hundred and fifty pounds! Looks like I’ll be the one scrubbing your back later.’

‘And that’s my cue to leave.’ Issy laughed and turned away, then stopped and turned back. ‘Hey, it might be a bit big on you but I’ve got a wetsuit if you want to borrow one.’

Frankie had been so caught up in the moment that she hadn’t considered the logistics of actually going in the water. Though she’d never worn one before, a wetsuit had to be infinitely preferable to running into the sea in just a T-shirt and her underwear. ‘Oh, that would be brilliant, if I could.’

‘Just let me tell Nan and then I’ll run up and grab it for you.’

Ed tucked the money they’d raised into the slot of the bucket. ‘We’d better get this back to Rick and tell him what’s going on. He’ll want to spread the word, I’m sure.’

Some of her earlier nervousness returned, but she pushed it away. She’d made the choice to put herself out there so all she could do now was own it. ‘Maybe he can get someone to film it and post it afterwards. Do you know if the lifesavers have a Go Fund Me or JustGiving page for fundraising?’

Ed’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. ‘If they don’t, we’ll make sure there is one!’ He stood and pulled her to her feet. ‘You’re a bloody genius!’ He leaned down and dashed a quick kiss across her lips.

‘None of that in here,’ Issy said, approaching them with a carrier bag. ‘I run a respectable establishment, I’ll have you know.’ She offered the bag to Frankie with a smile. ‘I put some talc in there as well because they can be tricky to get into. Good luck and we’ll be there to cheer you on!’

27

In spite of his best efforts to persuade her, Frankie had refused Ed’s offer to help her into the wetsuit and had shut Harry and Kat’s bathroom door firmly in his face. By the time he’d managed to get into his and pulled a pair of jogging bottoms and an old hoodie on over it, she’d emerged from the bathroom. Her cheeks were flushed from the exertion and he thought she’d never looked prettier. She’d put her T-shirt and top on, but was holding the jeans she’d been wearing in one hand. ‘There’s no way I can get these back on over the top.’

‘I’m sure Kat will have something you can borrow. Why don’t you give her a call?’

They were saved from having to do that as Harry let himself into the flat at just that moment. ‘God, it’s been mad all day. We’ve finally run out of food and I’ve had to leave Kat supervising the clean down so I can come and get changed.’ He raised his eyes in surprise when he spotted Frankie’s neoprene-covered legs. ‘What’s this, then?’

‘Aidan Reilly tried to embarrass Frankie earlier in the café but she turned the tables on him and made him and his pals sponsor her to do the splash.’

‘Well, good for you! Give me a couple of minutes to change and we can head down to the beach together.’

‘I was going to call Kat and see if she had some leggings or something I could borrow,’ Frankie said. ‘But I won’t bother her if she’s busy.’

‘I’ll find you something,’ Harry assured her then looked over at Ed. ‘There are loads of beach towels in the airing cupboard in your bedroom. Can you grab some?’

Five minutes later and the three of them were on their way. Harry had found a pair of navy yoga pants that he assured them Kat wore only for lounging about at the weekends and Frankie would be fine to borrow. The crowds had thinned out on Harbour Road as many of the stalls were either closed or getting ready to shut up shop. The splash-for-cash was the last programmed event for the day as Rick and the other organisers wanted to get everyone away before it got dark.

There were a few people lining the wall along the seafront, but not perhaps as many as Ed had expected. He’d hoped people would turn out and support them, but he supposed it didn’t matter that much as long as the collection buckets had got filled. As they reached the top of the steps leading down to the beach it became clear where everyone was. Rick had planted a couple of the tall bright-green flags he used in the summer to advertise his water-sports hire company to mark out their starting area. A huge horseshoe-shaped crowd had formed around them, several people deep. More people had chosen vantage points just above the water line. ‘It looks like half the village has stuck around to watch us make fools of ourselves,’ he said to Harry.

‘At least half,’ his twin agreed.

Ed took Frankie’s hand and kept her close to him as Harry moved ahead to make a space through the crowd. It took them a couple of minutes to break through as so many people wanted to wish them luck but they finally made it to where Liam, Rick and Matt were already waiting in the semicircle of empty sand, towels and waterproof robes resting at their feet.

‘Whose stupid idea was this?’ Rick joked as they dropped their own towels and robes on the pile.

‘Definitely not mine!’ Matt grumbled as he raised his eyes to the heavens. ‘At least it’s not raining, I suppose.’

‘Or snowing,’ Liam added with a grin as he swung his arms out and back around himself in an effort to keep warm.