Page 32 of Love in the Air at The Cornish Bakery

She opened her eyes and looked at him. ‘I do. And thank you.’

‘Right.’ Nodding, he stood up. ‘Let’s go and get something to eat then.’

Chapter Sixteen

Nina patted her coatpockets. Envelope, check. Letter, check. ‘See you later, Elsie.’

‘See you, love. Have a lovely, if not chilly, walk.’ Elsie called from the kitchen.

Nina felt bad not offering to help Elsie with placing the orders with the suppliers for the week, but she needed to catch Ian on his own. Pulling the door open, she stepped outside, immediately pulling her hood up against the rain. Nothing was going to stop her from telling Ian who she was and passing her gran’s message on. It had been a close call yesterday with Max and now he’d noticed a resemblance between her and Brooke, he was bound to bring it up again.

She stepped around a group of people filing into the café next door. Elsie had mentioned it would be open late today.

She’d spent over half an hour staring at herself in the mirror last night when she’d got back after bowling and dinner, and she still couldn’t work out why Max had said she and Brooke looked similar. Yes, she guessed Brooke had her gran’s eyes. She’d spotted that when she’d first met her, but Nina didn’t. Her eyes were deep brown, the colour of her dad’s. Maybe it was their noses or the shape of their eyes or something. Either way, she knew she couldn’t put the inevitable off much longer.

Reaching the top of the ramp, she shrugged. She might as well walk across the sand, even if the weather was terrible. If things didn’t go well with Ian, then she’d likely be leaving tomorrow. She should make the most of the walks along the beach while she could.

The sound of the waves crashing up the sand helped relax her, and she rolled her shoulders back, trying to loosen her tense muscles. She didn’t even know why it was worrying her so much. Well, she did. Ian had been nothing but kind to her from the moment they’d met, and a small part of her had wished he wouldn’t be. A part of her had hoped he would turn out to be not very nice, or something, something which would stop her feeling so guilty. Not that she should, but she couldn’t help it. Her gran hadn’t even told him she’d been pregnant, and to see Ian well up when he’d spoken to her and Rowan about the daughter he had never got to meet and about Brooke, it made her feel guilty that her gran hadn’t told him.

She walked closer to the ocean, the water just out of reach of her trainers. Her gran had explained, had told her everything, the circumstances surrounding the baby’s birth. Her aunt’s birth. And Nina knew why she’d done it, but she still couldn’t shake the sadness that Ian hadn’t even known her aunt had been born.

Well, today, hopefully, she’d be able to pass on some answers to him. Hopefully, he’d be able to understand the circumstances that had led to her gran doing what she had.

‘Nina!’

Looking up at the promenade, Nina shielded her eyes from the rain. ‘Rowan?’

‘Have you seen a dog? Brown and white with a red collar?’

Turning around on the spot, she looked up and down the beach. ‘No. Have you lost one?’

‘Not me, a couple have, though. They came running into the pub asking if we’d seen it so I offered to help look.’

Nodding, she watched as he began running up the promenade, searching for the dog. She looked from Rowan to the lighthouse and back again. ‘Hold up, I’ll help.’

‘Cheers.’ Pausing, Rowan waited at the top of the steps, still looking this way and that.

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