‘I’m glad to do it. Emma wanted to come, too, but she had to work.’
‘Did you and Emma have a good time the other night?’ I asked. ‘I so wanted to be there with you guys.’
He cleared his throat. ‘Nina, there’s something you should know—’
The Cornwall county border sign flashed by and our beautiful green hills and hedgerows came into view.
‘Oh, how I’ve missed Cornwall!’ I cried under my breath.
‘Well, it wasn’t the same without you. Even Alf has had a few bad moments.’
‘No! What happened?’
‘He went out and got lost. Hugh the postman found him on the coastal path at Soapy Cove.’
‘Oh my God, he could have—’ I didn’t even want to finish the thought.
‘So the Ice Cream Ladies have stepped up to the plate as usual, keeping his business open while he recovers.’
‘Will… he?’ I asked.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. ‘He seems fine again now. It just comes and goes, you know?’
‘I’ll go see him tomorrow morning. I’m so sorry!’
‘See what happens the minute you leave us, Nina? Everything just falls apart.’
‘Well, luckily, I won’t be going anywhere.’
He turned to me. ‘You’re not going back to Los Angeles? To write the script?’
‘Me? No, Luke O’Hara will be coming here.’
‘Really? A Hollywood star in our midst? That should be interesting.’
‘And at my dining room table, to boot.’
‘You’ll do a proper job.’
‘You think?’
‘I know.’
‘What did you want to tell me just now?’
His eyes lost their twinkle and his mouth clamped shut. ‘It’ll keep.’
When we got in, loaded with our bags, Emma and Chanel were there with a Welcome Back, Hollywood! banner.
‘It’s so good to see you,’ Emma cried. ‘My best friend, the scriptwriter!’
I hugged her back, catching a glimpse of Jack beaming at her, while Chloe dragged Chanel upstairs to tell her all about her adventure and Minnie and Callie were yapping for all they were worth as they jumped and licked our faces.
‘Hello, my beauties!’ I cooed as Ben sank to his knees and let them lick him.
Compared to Luke’s place, the house seemed dreary, and the furniture dark, but it was my home, my safe place.
‘Sit yourselves down, I’ll be ten minutes with dinner. Jack, would you crack the wine open please?’ I said as I pulled out the freezer bag that I had prepared for this very evening: cannoli, parmesan eggplant, rosemary-baked potatoes with caramelised onion and carrots and a tiramisu to top it all off.
‘Ah, I’d love to, Nina, but can it wait until tomorrow evening?’ Jack said regretfully. ‘I have an early meeting with some organic distributors in Bude in the morning.’
I stopped, eyeing Emma who was looking over Chloe’s gifts to Chanel, and pulled him closer to me, using the fridge freezer door to screen us. ‘You have to. Why do you think I made sure I was back today of all days?’
He blinked. ‘Why, what’s today?’
‘The thirteenth of July?’
And then it dawned on him. ‘Shit. Sorry, I completely forgot.’
‘No worries. We just need to keep her from getting too drunk again. That’s when she reaches the stage of self-pity.’
‘Right – let me make a call, then.’
‘Thanks, Jack. You are the best friend a woman could ever have.’
He raised his eyebrows critically. ‘Not sure if that would be read as a compliment by most men.’
‘Of course it’s a compliment. Now go make your call and get that bottle open. Chloe? Come and set the table please!’
As promised, exactly ten minutes later we were all seated around a table full of food and laughter, and Emma, despite her mind alighting on that bad memory every once in a while, was determined to celebrate my good news like the great friend that she was, pushing her own woes aside.
‘Is it okay if Chanel stays the night?’ Emma asked. ‘She’s missed Chloe.’
‘Of course!’
‘Thanks,’ she said, then hissed, ‘I need a break!’
After dinner, the girls absconded to Chloe’s room while Ben – wide awake and wired yet delirious with jet lag – migrated to the dining room to watch his science documentaries on TV.
It was late, and we were all tired for our own reasons, but the pleasure of being with one another after an entire week, and sharing the good and the bad moments beat everything else.
‘This is nice,’ Emma slurred, and after a while of companionable silence, fell asleep against Jack’s shoulder.
He shot me a glance. ‘I daren’t move.’
‘Poor Em, it gets her every year. She’s been through a lot.’
‘So have you,’ Jack whispered.
‘We all have. Even you, with your own divorce.’
He made to shrug, but sat still under Emma’s body.
‘Do… you still think of Clarissa?’ I ventured.
Jack looked at his feet that were propped up on the coffee table before him.
‘Only when I hear someone say her name. Otherwise, I have completely erased her from my memory.’
‘And are you happy, Jack?’
He slanted me a lazy, tired look, but there was a smile on his lips. ‘Happier than I’ve been in a long time, Nina. You?’
‘I’m definitely working on it.’
‘I don’t know why she left you, but I do know that it was her loss, in any case, Jack,’ I said and truly meant it.
What kind of idiot would dump Jack? He was kind, intelligent, and quite frankly, very easy on the eye, with his dark hair and dark eyes. He was a jeans and T-shirt kind of bloke who worked hard for a living, using both his muscles and his brain, and his appeal to all the women in the village was his sexy smile and his easy-going attitude and manliness. And the funny part was that he wasn’t even aware of the effect he had on them. His was a power that he kept banked under years of self-control. He was never loud, never angry, never overly silly.
He gave a light toss of his head because he couldn’t shrug. ‘She hated the countryside – all the mud in the winter, the harvest with all these damn apples and pumpkins that needed harvesting.’
‘Uh, duh?’ I said