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The house was simply but beautifully furnished, wooden furniture polished until it glowed, colourful rugs on the floor, cushions on the grey sofas, pictures on the white walls. Everything was well made and no doubt expensive but also clearly chosen because it was wanted, not because of how much it cost, a landscape next to an abstract, hand-thrown vases next to a stack of books. The scent of coffee permeated the air as she led him through to a light-filled kitchen with French windows that led into the garden, the lake visible beyond.
‘Your house is nice,’ he said.
‘Thank you. I always loved the Cornish house and wanted a similar vibe; I don’t have Simone’s eye or taste but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.’
‘It’s very different to the palace.’
‘Oh, dear. I had you put in the Mendoza Suite because it’s the least formal, but the décor can be a bit much.’
‘Theleastformal?’
‘Can’t you tell? The gold leaf is pretty pared back.’ Her mouth was twitching as he nodded solemnly.
‘I thought so.’
And with that the ice was broken and Jack found himself at the table, a coffee in his hands and a plate of pastries before him, his appetite returned, but she was careful to step around him, and he waited for her to take a pastry before he took his, both equally careful not to touch even by accident.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Rosy said, taking the seat opposite him. ‘We realised that telling the world about Clem would send the press sniffing around Polhallow and her life there, but I hadn’t really factored in my unmasking. I guess I thought I lived so quietly I’d slipped under the radar. I’m not usually that naïve. Regardless, I should have prewarned you and Sally. Planned for this in advance—to be fair, my father cautioned me that I might be recognised in retrospect and of course he was right.’
But Jack didn’t blame her. ‘Youdidwarn me—you made it clear that getting entangled with you came with risks. As for Sally, her family have been taking full advantage. They’ve put tables all over the pavement and any member of the press trying to get a picture or a quote is forced to buy food. They’ve even introduced a Princess Afternoon Tea in your honour.’
‘I’m glad someone’s getting some benefit from this mess. But I am truly sorry, Jack. The attention must have been scary for the girls. Are they okay?’
‘They are. And thank you for having them here. It’s made the whole thing into a huge adventure.’
‘But to be missing school when they were so looking forward to getting settled in.’
‘All the headteachers agreed that taking the next couple of weeks off before half-term made sense, it was hard to settle with press at the school gates. They’ve been set work. It’s fine.’
‘And you? Are you okay?’
Okay? The whole experience had brought back memories of Lily’s death, the most private, difficult moments chronicled in the headlines, but he knew Rosy was feeling guilty enough.
‘I’m fine. If it wasn’t for the girls, I would have ridden the whole thing out, but it was all a little intense for them.’
‘We can make it up to them now they’re here. There’s loads of fun things for them to do here on the estate and Henri is a master at smuggling people out the gates. I’ve thought of loads of activities.’ Her smile was hopeful.
Jack was sure the girls would want to do every one of them—but the fine line he and Rosy trod was already too blurred. ‘I’m sure, but look, you don’t have to worry about running after us, you must be far too busy. Just point us in the right direction and we’ll be fine. We don’t want to encourage more speculation about the two of us after all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the seamless way your guys extracted us, but the last thing we want to do is encourage any more rumours. No one knows we’re here and I’d like to keep it that way. Being seen out with you would be the quickest way to heap fuel onto the fire.’
‘Of course. I totally get that. But...’ She hesitated, twisting a tendril of hair around her finger.
‘But?’
‘I can see that you want to just lie low and wait for all this to pass, but there is a good chance that your stay here will leak despite our best efforts.’
That had occurred to him, but he hadn’t been able to pass up the chance to give the girls a safe place—or, if he was honest with himself, the chance to see Rosy and make sure she was okay.
‘If it makes it easier, we could go somewhere else.’
‘Or...’ She hesitated again. ‘We could give them what they want.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Look, the reason everything has gone so crazy is because the press think they are cracking this huge secret. But if we take control of that secret then there’s no reason for them to hound you.’
‘Okay,’ he said cautiously, trying to figure out exactly what she meant. ‘In what way?’
‘Well, we could give an interview, say we met through Clem and have been dating for a few months but wanted to keep it quiet until we knew if it was going somewhere. We are seen in public a few times then you go back to the UK and after a few weeks we say it didn’t work out and we called it off. It won’t stop the press interest completely, I get that, but we control the story. You know, make it all open and out there until they lose interest.’
