Page 5 of Summer at the Cornish Garden Café

Thomas swallowed hard. ‘They could find out. They have their ways.’

‘But we’ve kept your name quiet, and we have different surnames because I’m married, so they wouldn’t have found you via me, would they?’

‘Not via you, no, but they could have found me easily enough. I’ve been stupid and naïve to walk around without a disguise. These people dig into your lives and uproot everything like moles. They don’t care how much mess they make or whatcarnage they leave behind. They’re scumbags. Filthy rotten scumbags.’ He picked up his glass again, dismayed to see his hand trembling.

‘Hey… Thomas,’ Marnie said, sliding off her stool and coming to stand in front of him. She placed her hands on his shoulders, her big belly between them like a large beachball. ‘Breathe. Slowly in and slowly out. Do your counting. I guarantee this seems worse than it is right now. Everything will be OK, I promise you. I’m here and I’ve got you.’ She tried to lean closer to hug him but her belly was in the way, so she made do with holding his hands while he focused on his breathing. ‘There you go. Nice and calm.’

Thomas nodded as his heart rate slowed again. ‘Thanks. And sorry. I just got a bit stressed and worried that I was going to be harassed and worse, that they might come after you, Bligh and the girls.’

‘We’ll be fine, and they wouldn’t dare come after us, not with Bligh being the way he is.’ Marnie chuckled as she manoeuvred herself back onto her stool. ‘He terrifies people.’

‘That’s true.’ Thomas laughed too. Bligh was a gentle giant but his appearance led people to make assumptions about him. As a result, it was rare that anyone messed with him or his family.

‘So are you going to tell me what happened to unsettle you today?’ Marnie asked.

Thomas told her about meeting the woman at the café and his sister listened without interrupting.

‘The only thing that makes you think you might have been found is that she was, or is, a journalist?’

‘Yes. I… I got a bit anxious, and I didn’t really listen to her properly so I could have muddled things up.’

‘You could have. And it does sound like you were a bit rude, so perhaps you need to apologise to this woman if you see her again.’

Thomas sighed at the thought, but he knew his sister was right. ‘I guess so.’

‘What was she like?’ Marnie asked.

He frowned. ‘In what sense?’

‘What did she look like and sound like?’

‘She had a clear accent like she’d gone to a good university, and she was… I don’t know…’ Heat climbed his neck and flooded into his cheeks and his scar stung. He rubbed it absently.

‘So she didn’t sound like us with our Cornish accents then?’ Marnie bit into another strawberry. ‘Was she pretty?’

‘I guess so.’

‘Very pretty?’

‘She had dark red hair and pale skin and freckles. She had grey eyes… grey as pigeon feathers.’

Marnie laughed. ‘Nice comparison.’

‘I don’t know. I’m not good at this stuff. They were very grey, and I was trying to think of how to describe them.’ He hung his head. ‘Don’t make fun of me.’

‘Oh baby brother…’ Marnie reached for another strawberry then handed it to him. ‘Were her lips as red as strawberries?’

‘Cut it out!’ He smiled. ‘But, yes they were.’

They both giggled then like when they were children and Thomas felt the tension fading away. His sister was a good witch, he was sure of it, because she was always able to work magic on him.

‘Did you find her attractive?’ Marnie asked.

‘She was very pretty but it was the last thing on my mind. You know I’m not interested in anything like that now.’ He stared down at the cane that he’d propped against the island and touched the scar on his face again, thought of the ones beneath his clothes and how ugly they were.

‘You are a wonderful man, and you deserve to be loved,’ Marnie said gently.

‘I’m not interested, Marnie. You know that and you know why.’

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