Page 35 of Autumn at the Cornish Garden Café

Christopher shook his head. ‘I have everything I need here. Come over around six and I’ll have everything ready.’

Rosa and Henry hugged Christopher, and Bobby, then walked back to the bookshop. When they got there, she was surprised to see that Peter and Hattie were already waiting for her. Meanwhile, along the street, people worked with brushes and hose pipes, cleaning the road and pavements and windows of houses and shops. She unlocked the door and let Peter and Hattie inside while she went to the counter and leant against it, then looked around.

‘It’s a bit messy, but nothing we can’t fix,’ Henry said as he stood next to her.

‘You already did some of it earlier or it would look a lot worse.’ Rosa hugged herself as she gazed at the shop that had seemed so full of promise and dreams just two months ago. How quickly dreams could sour and how quickly life could change.

And then she looked at the man standing at her side, at his solid form and the way he was rolling up his sleeves ready to get stuck in, and she knew that whatever life threw at her, she would be OK. She’d been through a lot already, not as much as some but more than others, but she was still here. She was starting over and this was just a blip, a test of her resilience, and goodness only knew she had plenty of that to keep her going.

Rosa Resilience Lake, her aunt had often called her, and now the thought made her laugh.

‘Oh!’ Henry said as he patted his jacket pocket. ‘I almost forgot about this.’

He pulled a small velvet bag from his pocket and held it out. ‘I found this in the cave when I was looking for Bobby and I thought you might like it.’

‘What is it?’ She eyed the bag.

‘Take a look.’ He handed the bag to her, and she loosened the drawstring and peered inside.

She pulled out a small carved wooden rose the size of her palm. ‘This is beautiful.’

‘I thought you could put it up in here. A rose for Rosa.’ His cheeks coloured, and he lowered his gaze to the floor. ‘Only if you like it, that is.’

‘Is it OK for me to keep it, though? If you found it in the cave, I mean.’

‘I guess so. It could have been dropped there or washed up from the sea at some point, just like anything we find on the beach. It’s not necessarily an antique of any financial value.’ He gave a small shrug, and she smiled.

‘It is of value to me because you found it and now you’ve gifted it to me. I will treasure it.’ She held it against her heart and reached out her free hand and touched his cheek. ‘Are you always this sweet and kind?’

He blinked, and the blush in his cheeks deepened. ‘I uhm … I don’t know.’ He looked down, then back up again and held her gaze. ‘Perhaps you bring it out in me.’

‘Well, I think you’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met.’ She looked over at the doorway where Peter and Hattie were measuring the opening. ‘But I also feel scared because … I wonder if this could end up going wrong. I’m so scared of being hurt.’

She clutched the rose tighter, the confession hard to share, but she felt that now was the right time.

‘I won’t hurt you,’ he said. ‘You have my word.’

She exhaled the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding and stepped closer to him, rested her head on his chest. Trusting others wasn’t easy, and she didn’t know if she could fully commit to trusting Henry, but she knew she owed it to him to try. He was a good man, and he’d done nothing to suggest otherwise, but then she also knew that sometimes people weren’t what they seemed to be.

He stroked her hair, then whispered, ‘Come on. Let’s get this shop spick and span so we can enjoy dinner with Christopher.’

She nodded, then stepped back and placed the rose on a shelf behind the counter where she could see it every day. Where, when she looked at it, she would be reminded of the first Cornish storm she’d experienced and how she’d overcome it with Henry’s help and support. He was proving himself to be a supportive friend to her, and she hoped she was reading the signs correctly that there could, perhaps, be something more growing between them.

How wonderful that would be…

23

HENRY

It had been ten days since the storm, and Henry had seen a lot of Rosa as he’d helped her to get the bookshop back to the way it had been. He’d been at school for some of the time, but now it was half term, so he’d be able to spend more time with Rosa, taking her food and drinks and making himself useful.

Rosa was, he thought, an incredible woman. She’d grown up living with her aunt after losing her mum. Her father was absent, demonstrating a lack of love and affection, and that would be hard for anyone to deal with. Henry knew firsthand how difficult it was to have a father who could be hard and cold, but to have no sign that you mattered to a parent would be even worse. Listening to Rosa speak about her mum had made him believe she admired her bravery, but regretted what it had cost them both. He suspected it had bled into Rosa’s romantic life and made her scared of trusting someone with her heart. Her mum had been there one day and gone the next, and that would understandably make a child wary of loving again. If the one person you’d loved as a child was suddenly gone, then how was that supposed to leave you feeling? Alone. Scared. Isolated. Bereft. Her aunt had taken Rosa in and they’d had a good relationship from what she’d told him, but now she’d lost her aunt too. So apart from a distant father, she had no one left. Rosa deserved so much more than that and Henry wanted to see her happy and secure, safe and loved. He was thinking — and wishing — that he could be her person, but he also suspected she would find it hard to trust him with her heart. Add to that the feeling that she was also hiding something else, something that had happened to her that she hadn’t yet divulged, and she was a deep river.

And this was why she loved books so much, he was certain of it. He knew how they could provide a refuge from the world, a place where a reader could escape and find comfort. Having that in common with Rosa gave them a special connection, and it was something he believed they could build on together. As he knew, relationships were not easy, but having shared interests and goals gave a couple something special. He hadn’t felt that with his ex, but he did feel it with Rosa. With her, he already felt that he could commit to a future, but only if she wanted that too. If not, he would have to be content with friendship. That would be a challenge when he found her so beautiful and wanted to kiss her every time he saw her, but still better than not having her in his life at all. Being around Rosa had made him realise exactly what had been wrong in his relationship with Shona. Committing to her for life had been something he’d been unsure about, but the idea of committing to Rosa made his heart sing.

Before leaving home, he looked in the mirror one last time. He hoped she was going to like what she saw because he’d spent quite a bit of time getting ready this afternoon, and he felt rather silly. But it was Halloween, and they were going to the fancy dress party at the café, so he’d done his best with his costume.

He walked to the bookshop and peered through the window that was decorated with fake cobwebs, pumpkin lights, and small velvet pumpkins. The display featured a range of new books with ghost stories, vampires, and zombies, and horror classics includingFrankenstein, DraculaandThe Shining.Rosa was behind the counter with Vinnie and a life-size skeleton wearing glasses and holding a book. He smiled at their costumes. It was like being catapulted into a parallel universe, watching them tidy up and chat away like it was just a normal day like any other. Unable to resist any longer, he opened the door and went inside.

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