Page 100 of One Cornish Summer With You
‘Yeah. Don’t say I’m mad. It’s eaten me up to have to say no.’
Lola nodded. ‘OK … that makes sense. I’m still guttedyou and he aren’t together, but it makes more sense that the old place is up for sale.’
Tammy’s pulse speeded up. ‘What old place?’
Lola frowned. ‘Thehouse. Ruan’s house. Your old house, whatever. I drove past it yesterday evening. Well, I was a passenger actually, because Erin from work wanted me to take a look at a pottery studio with her on our way home. She’s thinking of buying it, though what the eff do I know about pots? She wanted some moral support, I think, after her husband went off with that barman from the golf club. That’d be a bloody big shock for anyone—’
‘Lola!’ Tammy said and then forced herself to keep her voice to a murmur. ‘I’m sorry about Erin’s husband, but please get to the point. What about Rosewarne being for sale?’
‘Shit …’ Lola muttered. ‘You really haven’t heard, have you? I wish I was wrong, but I saw a “For Sale” board on the road at the top of the access lane. Erin mentioned it too. I thought it might be for a different place, but I looked it up on the estate agent’s website and it’s on there. Ruan must be selling up. Hun, I assumed you knew … Tammy? Tammy? Say something, for God’s sake.’
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
FOR SALE
Those two short, stark words sucked the breath from Tammy’s lungs as she slowed the van at the top of the track to Rosewarne.
Like Lola, she’d also visited the agent’s website before she’d set out from the studio. Not that she doubted her friend, but she had to prepare herself for the reality of what was in front of her eyes.
A period property in need of complete renovation … a unique opportunity … a rare gem in an unparalleled location … one of the most evocative coves on the Cornish coast …
She’d read the description three times.
Rosewarne was all of those things but none of them did justice to the fact that it – part of it – had been her home. None of it did justice to the memories, happy and sad, that were embedded in every stone with its crumbling mortar.
She waited for a couple of seconds to steady her breathing, when a lorry appeared in the rear-view mirror and she was forced to make a decision and turn into the track.
She’d chosen not to warn Ruan but to take a chance that he would be at the caravan after work, though she didn’tknow what she was going to say to him if he was. She hadn’t even told Lola that she intended to confront him. Lola had already been reluctant to let Tammy go back to the flat alone, saying that she’d gone as white as a sheet.
No one could go as white as a sheet, but when Tammy had glimpsed her face in the mirror at the flat, she’d been shocked. She hadn’t ever been pale, spending all her time out of doors in the elements, but there was something despondent in her eyes. Once again, Ruan had made her feel too intensely.
This time her emotions weren’t pleasant: anger, confusion and loss all over again.
Rosewarne was his and he could do with it what he liked – and she’d already rejected it, but why sell it now?
He wasn’t there. The Audi was missing and the caravan shut up.
She got out into the evening light. A high tide was running up the beach. The wind was stronger than earlier and, through the freshly cleared shrubbery, she could see sea foam spraying into the air as it crashed against the rocky shore. When she was young, she’d found it exciting and imagined being out on it in a boat, battling the wind and waves.
Today it seemed threatening and discordant.
She looked up again at the building, her spirits plunging further at the sight of its dilapidation. The sound of an engine made her heart pound, and a moment later, Ruan drove into the cleared area and parked next to the van.
He got out, the expression on his handsome face asserious as she’d ever seen it. Her emotions surged, threatening to overwhelm her like the tide running up the cove.Stay calm,she told herself,stay calm.
‘Why are you doing this?’ The words surged out before she could stop them. She walked towards him and held his arms. ‘Why are you selling?’
‘Because I have to. It’s meaningless without you. I am selling and I want to give you half the money. I’m begging you to accept it.’
‘I can’t but I don’t want you to sell either.’
He sighed. ‘I care for you, Tammy. I want to be with you. Live with you here or wherever. Work doesn’t matter – nothing does but being with the person you love. I have learned that since I arrived here. But if you don’t want me in your life, then I have to get away because this beautiful place would remind me of you every second – remind me of what I’ve lost and I couldn’t bear that.’
‘No. I can’t be rushed. I can’t be blackmailed. I’m not ready to give someone everything – and I refuse to cling to anyone or ask them to stay for me. Sean tried that.’
He reeled as if she’d slapped him. ‘I am not Sean.’
‘No. No, I didn’t mean it like that. You aren’t like him, but I can’t cope with being … railroaded into a decision. I can’t explain but I’m not ready. I might never be ready to rely on anyone or even explain how I feel. Where will you go?’ she demanded. ‘You only arrived at the start of the summer. What about your job?’
