Summer at Little Beach Street Bakery
Page 67

‘Oh lord,’ she said. ‘Don’t ask.’
‘Ah,’ said Kerensa.
‘I can’t wait,’ said Polly. ‘I need him back! Soon! Now, in fact. I’m growing old up there on my own.’
‘Well I’ll be there at five,’ said Jayden stoically. ‘I’m going to go see if anyone else needs night work doing.’
‘Thanks, Jayden,’ said Polly. ‘You know, it’s going to be all right, I promise.’
They waited till he’d walked slowly off up the hill.
‘Is it going to be all right?’ said Kerensa in a low voice. ‘Of all the couples I never thought I needed to worry about, you two are top of the list.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Polly, hugging her knees. ‘I really don’t know.’
She remembered last year, when Huckle had just assumed she’d want to stay in Savannah with him, live the easy, sunny life of an American girl, let him look after everything. And it was appealing, no doubt about it, the thought of not having to worry about money, or deal with absolute rotters like Malcolm… Even as she was thinking this, she suddenly heard the sound of a trumpet start up somewhere in the distance, and heaved a sigh.
‘Is it worth it just to stay here?’ said Kerensa, putting into words Polly’s darkest fears. ‘If Huckle doesn’t want to come back?’
‘It has to be,’ said Polly stoically.
‘And it is lovely there,’ said Kerensa.
Polly looked around.
‘But look at this!’ she said. ‘Look at all of this! How is this not lovely?’
‘Because it’s freezing and we don’t have any money?’
‘No!’ said Polly. ‘Because it’s mine. It’s something I did and I built and it has its ups and downs, but it’s all my own work, do you see?’
‘But in America… that’s his too,’ said Kerensa, gently.
Polly swallowed.
‘But when I met him, he was just a honey seller. He was a local guy working in local food, local sourcing, creativity, just like me. Just like what I wanted to do.’
‘Yes, but back then, he was getting over an unhappy love affair, burying himself away. It wasn’t… it wasn’t necessarily who he truly was.’
There was a long silence after that.
‘Oh, K, do you really think so?’ said Polly.
‘I don’t know,’ said Kerensa. ‘But he’s not here. And I think it’s time you found out.’
Polly stared out to sea.
‘But I couldn’t… I couldn’t leave here.’
‘Why not?’ said Kerensa, softly. ‘There are lots of places you could be happy in, but at the moment Mount Polbearne is not one. It’s stressing you out like a mad thing. There are lots of places to be happy, but only one bloke I have ever seen you happy with, Polly Waterford.’
Polly bowed her head.
‘But the van is picking up.’
‘That’s true.’
‘And…’
‘And?’ Kerensa looked at her.
‘And I need to wait for Neil to come back.’
‘POLLY!’
‘I know, I know. But he will, I know it. And if I’m not there…’
‘Neil. Is. A. BIRD.’
‘He’s a very special bird.’
‘He’s off somewhere right now having an amazing time, doing whatever birds do. Okay? He has a little brain and is having the absolute time of his life being free. Like he has to be. You have to understand that.’
Polly nodded.
‘And if you let Neil get in the way of you and Huckle having a proper grown-up relationship, where from time to time you compromise on each other’s careers and let each other come and go and do whatever you need to do and support one another unconditionally – and by the way, Huckle has always supported you, even when you’re moaning about him taking on a major responsibility that must be a massive pain in the arse for him too – then you will be very, very sorry indeed. And I don’t think it’s what Neil would have wanted for you either.’
‘I know,’ said Polly.
She looked up, feeling rather hangdog, only to see Malcolm and Flora walking arm in arm along the seafront. Malcolm was gesturing expansively.
‘Oh yes, my family have been pretty important round here for a long time,’ he was saying in a loud voice. ‘Yes, we pretty much ran this town for hundreds of years. Go back a long way. It’s a great responsibility, of course.’
‘Wow,’ Flora was saying. ‘That’s amazing.’
She looked at her watch.
‘Ooh, I’ve missed the tide again.’
‘Not to worry,’ said Malcolm. ‘I’ve got a flat here too, of course.’
Flora spied Polly.
‘Oh, hello, Miss Waterford! Were you in the paper? My mam says you were in the paper. Not one of the ones we read, but still, in the paper! That’s good. They came and asked if they could take my photo too, but I said not likely.’
‘If they’d taken your photo, you’d have been whisked straight to London,’ said Polly. ‘Still not tempted?’
Flora shook her head.
‘Noooo. Full of disgusting old men trying to touch me up all the time, like always.’
Polly looked pointedly at Malcolm, but he stared impassively out to sea, ignoring her.
Flora stepped closer to Polly as Malcolm walked on.
‘I know what you think,’ she said quietly. ‘But I never meet anyone who’s just interested in me.’
‘Are you sure he’s not just pretending?’ said Polly.
Flora shrugged her shoulders.
‘Nobody else even tries,’ she said. ‘That cute bloke Jayden who worked for you. He doesn’t even say hello.’
‘Ah,’ said Polly.
Flora looked at the ground and scuffed her long, elegant foot across it.
‘I am sorry, you know,’ she said. ‘I did like it more in the bakery when you were doing stuff.’
‘Thanks,’ said Polly.
‘And your bird was amazing,’ she mumbled.
Polly looked up at her, surprised and touched.
‘That means a lot,’ she said. ‘Thank you. And don’t feel you have to —’
‘Flora!’ shouted Malcolm from further up the cobbled hill. ‘Come and show me that thing you do with the whirly machine.’