Page 24 of One Cornish Summer With You
‘Hi!’ she called, hurrying to meet Ruan, eager to shake off the shackles of the past and give herself fully to this moment.
Ruan’s hair was dripping wet and his eyes were shining bright with adrenaline. His shorty wetsuit showed off his broad shoulders and muscled legs and her pulse went haywire at the sight. Back in his element after his accident, he reminded Tammy of some sea god emerging from the waves.The broad grin on his face told her exactly how pleased he was to see her.
‘You survived, then?’ she said, joking because she didn’t know how to handle her powerful reaction to him.
He laughed. ‘Yes! Both days, which is a good start.’
‘How’s the shoulder?’ she asked, still marvelling at the sight of this … deity in front of her, who was so very different to the serious Suit on the sea wall. His city pallor had gone, and his face was golden after a weekend on the water.
He smiled wryly. ‘Tell you tomorrow … I need to shower and change. Fancy a coffee and a pasty afterwards?’
‘Yes please to coffee, but I ate breakfast before I came out.’
‘So did I, but I’m ravenous after being on the water.’ He grinned. ‘See you in ten minutes?’
In the end, Tammy was unable to resist the aroma wafting from the pasty kiosk so they both got a takeaway to eat on the beach. She was also quietly laughing at her earlier reaction to Ruan striding across the beach like Neptune. What was she like? He was just an ordinary man eating a pasty, albeit a very tasty pasty indeed …
‘Now, that iswaybetter than any Michelin-starred feast,’ he said, holding the paper bag up with an appreciative sigh. ‘Then again, I’ve never had one.’ He laughed. ‘But you can’t beat proper Cornish food.’
They ate in silence for a while, and then Ruan turned to her with a look that gave her a delicious shiver. ‘Thanks for coming. I wasn’t sure you would.’
‘Oh?’ she said, trying to act cool. ‘Why was that?’
‘I don’t know. I thought it was a strange thing to ask someone to do: watch me enjoying myself.’
‘Were you secretly hoping I wouldn’t come?’
‘No! I mean, of course not …’
‘But?’
‘I did think twice after I’d asked you. This was only my second session after the accident and I wasn’t sure I’d be up to it, physically or mentally.’
‘Ruan. I didn’t come here to watch you kitesurf. I wouldn’t have cared if you’d never gone on the water.’
Although he laughed, he said, ‘I would.’
‘I don’t blame you. I’d be devastated if for some reason I had to stop creating my designs or if I had to move away from the sand, the sea – from Cornwall. I’d be a fish out of water in a city or the countryside.’
They both paused until Ruan broke the silence. ‘Hey. These pasties are going cold and that’s a sin.’
They sat on the sand and ate, talking about the best fish and chips they’d ever had and debating about the best places to buy pasties. He swore it was Philps in Hayle while she argued for Lavender’s in Penzance.
All the while, the sun shone and the kitesurfers danced and whirled over the white horses. The tide retreated, exposing pools of water on the rippled sand that reflected the clouds and blue sky. The causeway to the Mount started to reveal itself, its stones glistening with shining green weeds. Visitors had already started to make their way to and from the castle, some going barefoot through the shallows.
Tammy hadn’t enjoyed an afternoon so much for a long time, and that thought brought emotions bubbling up again.
‘It’s hard to beat as a place to enjoy lunch,’ Ruan said, screwing up the empty paper bag and shoving it in his jeans pocket.
‘It is … You know, this was where I created my first ever proper design.’
‘You did?’ When he looked at her, his eyes bright and lit with interest, he was either genuinely fascinated or he was a very good actor. Perhaps this man might not let her down or vanish from her life in a heartbeat.
‘Feels like yesterday,’ she said, looking up into the sky. ‘I even remember the shape of the clouds scudding across the sky. They were like fluffy meringues topped with clotted cream.’
‘It must have been a good day if you can remember it so clearly.’
‘Like yesterday. It was the school holidays. I was only ten.’
