Page 95 of The Cornish Cream Tea Holiday
‘The blue ticks of doom, though?’ Finn raised an eyebrow.
Thea nodded, thinking how much Ben would have loved this platter.
‘He doesn’t help himself,’ Finn said. ‘I’m going to send him a photo, so he knows what he’s missing.’
Meredith laughed. ‘That’s cruel, Finn!’
‘No, it’s what he needs. Pose behind it, Thea.’
‘No, I—’ she tried to slide out of the way, but Finn waved his hand at her, gesturing for her to move back.
‘Sometimes you need to be cruel to be kind. And I promise I’ll go around tomorrow and check he’s OK, but right now he needs a bit of tough love, because he’s missing out on a lot.’
After a bit more coaxing Thea moved back behind the huge plate. She didn’t want to be part of the teasing, but she trusted Finn when he said he’d follow it up with kindness.
‘There,’ he said. ‘Perfect.’ He typed on his screen, and Thea looked out over the dark, glistening water. The sky was a rich blue high above, while the setting sun lit up the horizon like molten gold.
‘We’d better dig in.’ Meredith handed out chunks of bread, and Thea gave them each a pot of butter.
Finn held his phone screen out to the two of them. There was the photo of Thea, smiling but not entirely comfortable, the right side of her face turned orange by the sunset. She read the message underneath and her heart contracted.
We’re all missing you, buddy. How are we meant to get through this monster without you? Hope you’re doing OK. Call me if you want to talk. F.
‘You’re a sweetie, Finn,’ Meredith said, squeezing his hand.
Thea’s smile warmed, and he gave her a quick nod, then put his phone away. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘The three of us can at least give it a good go, and what we don’t finish we can ask to be put in dogfishy bags.’
Meredith laughed. ‘That sounds gross.’
‘We’d better try not to leave any, then. Up to the challenge?’ Finn held up his beer bottle and they all clinked.
Thea thought that this night, with the gentle chatter of other diners, the evening breeze dusting their bare skin and a feast laid out before them, was almostperfect. Add one council decision and an honest chat with Ben that led to him forgiving her, and it would have been one of the most blissful nights of her life. Still, she thought, as she sipped her wine and smeared butter onto the home-made bread, there was still time for those stars to align. In the meantime, she would enjoy everything she had, every moment of this delicious – thiscongenialandscintillating –evening, and keep a small section of her heart reserved for hope that those other stars might, one day, slide into place.
