Tammy watched in amazement as, perched on her horse, Polly bellowed at the stationary drivers. ‘Clear the way, please. VIPs coming through. Thank you.’
The queuing cars and vans, with their wide-eyed and grumbling occupants, shuffled forward and backward until there was a gap big enough for the Land Rover to squeeze across the blocked road and through a gate on the opposite side.
‘What now?’ Tammy said.
‘No idea. Follow Lucifer. Hold on tight. Off we go.’
Twenty minutes later, after a hair-raising off-road drive over field and farm and moor tracks, Ruan dropped Tammyoff in the performers’ space at the festival car park. The music from the main stage was pulsating and there were thousands of revellers dancing and waving flags and milling around the stalls and smaller stages.
Tammy was too worried about getting started to think of the scale of the festival. Even with Ruan’s help, it was going to be a race against tide … but now they’d made such an effort to get here, she was going for it, even if it was a rush and the waves would wash away her creation sooner than she’d intended.
‘I’ll park then I’ll join you on the beach. You do your stuff,’ Ruan said once she’d grabbed her tools from the rear of the Land Rover.
Heart pounding, she jogged down to the sands as fast as she could, flashing her lanyard at the security guards and shouting, ‘Sorry, emergency!’
They could run after her if they wanted. She wasn’t hanging around for anyone.
By the time she reached the sand, she was gasping for breath, exhausted at the dramatic turn of events. However, she couldn’t afford to waste a single second now she was here. The surf was thundering in the distance, already on the turn by the sound of it. Spectators had gathered in a thick line along the cliff edge but there was no time to be nervous.
She allowed herself a few calming breaths; then she took out her rake and made her first mark on the sand. When she looked at the shoreline, the waves seemed worryingly close, and she glanced at her watch. She had to get a move on or she might not even finish before the surf erased it.
‘Tammy.’ Ruan jogged up. ‘Can I do anything?’
She made a split-second decision. ‘Pick up the other rake. I’ll show you what to do.’
Tammy collapsed on to her bum on the sand, breathing hard. Her arms burned and her whole body glowed with effort. Scores of people had now been allowed on to the beach and were gathered behind a roped-off area, taking photos and videos of the surfer girl riding the giant wave.
She could hear the oohs and aahs, the admiring comments of ‘spectacular’ and ‘amazing’ and the whirr of a drone above her head, but was too overcome to truly take them in. Even with Ruan’s help, she’d only just finished the logo in time and reckoned she had barely half an hour before it was washed away.
‘Have you seen how many people are watching?’ Ruan asked, pointing at the crowds gathered on the cliffs. The drone buzzed, taking aerial videos of the design for the festival website. The operator had already messaged some of the shots to Tammy’s phone.
She showed Ruan the video. ‘Do you want a look at our handiwork?’
‘Yourhandiwork.’
‘I couldn’t have finished it in time without you,’ she said firmly. ‘Or at all, if you and Polly hadn’t ridden to the rescue.’
‘It was sheer luck that I was at her place. My boss tried to change the appointment to this afternoon, but I wasn’t missing this for anything.’ He grinned. ‘I turned up early anyway and lucky I did because Polly was able to help.’
‘It was fate!’ she said, laughing with joy. Now that the design was complete, she felt high on the relief and endorphins.
She and Ruan stood together, finally able to relax after the madcap dash and with just enough time to watch the sea roll in.
Ruan looked hot in the shorts and vest top he’d changed into before joining her. Mind you, he’d looked hot in his jeans and polo shirt. He’d looked hot in his suit, and with ice cream running down his shirt. Her glow turned into a more powerful feeling that made her tingle from her head to her toes.
It wasn’t only fate that he’d been at Polly Tremain’s today: it was fate that he’d walked into her life just when she was ready – even if she’d fought hard against that feeling – to start thinking of the future and commitment.
A foaming wave ran up the beach and brushed the edge of the surfer’s hair.
‘It’s started,’ Tammy said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘Don’t you want to stay and watch until the end?’ Ruan asked. ‘Talk to the spectators?’
‘No. I have a better idea.’ She took his hand and held it firmly. ‘Come with me …’
Was it a request or a command? All she knew was that her body was going into meltdown, nerve endings zinging.
She nodded down the beach. ‘I know a place where no one will find us.’
