‘What did you do this afternoon, then?’ Lily asked.
I described going to the café, which they agreed served irresistible cakes, and how my decision to read a book on the beach ended up with losing both my lunch, and the book, but gaining a lobster roll, thanks to the dog’s owner, Celine.
‘She seemed to know your family,’ I added.
‘That’s because there are three thousand and forty-one year-round residents on this piffling island,’ Flora said. ‘We all know everyone else. In far too much detail. You literally can’t fart some days without the entire population smelling it.’
‘Maybe your stinky farts!’ Jack giggled, causing Flora to reach over and tickle him until he squealed.
‘Celine was at school with Iris,’ Lily explained, slowing to turn onto the lane leading to the barn.
‘Iris is your younger sister?’
Lily nodded. ‘Ma had me, Violet and Pip in three years, then Iris four years later. Surprise fourth babies turn out to be a family trait. It’s also probably worth you knowing that Celine has the classic best-friend’s-older-brother crush.’
‘Right.’ That put a different slant on our conversation.
‘And while we’re talking about it, because I don’t want you to be on the back foot, and because my brother clearly likes you, as do I – given the limited dating pool, he and Celine used to go out.’
‘Is it overstepping if I ask if they were serious?’
‘Celine started prepping for the role of farmer’s wife with her toy stuffed sheep. Most people assumed it was inevitable. They had a few casual dates once he was back from his first stint at uni and she was old enough for the age gap not to matter, then were in a proper relationship for about a year before he left for the master’s degree. They broke up when he realised she was deadly serious, and he wasn’t ready for that.’
‘She told him that if he didn’t ask her to marry him soon, they were totally done, for good this time, and she’d find herself a man who wasn’t so effing scared of a real relationship,’ Flora said, holding up her hands to convey the drama.
‘Excuse me?’ Lily barked as she pulled to a stop by the side of the house.
‘What? I said effing.Shesaid the whole word!’
‘Are you really Harriet the Spy in disguise?’ Lily sighed.
‘It’s not like there’s anything else happening on this prehistoric lump of rock.’ Flora might have sounded sullen, but I spotted her helping Jack undo his seat belt and making sure he’d not forgotten his goose collage.
Beanie appeared at the top of the stairs as soon as we entered the house, Malcolm dashing after her to retrieve the lilac-covered paintbrush and strip off her spattered smock. I went to shower off the sand while everyone else trooped into the kitchen for snacks and general chaos. It was fair to say that hearing aboutCeline had been a drawing pin in the rapidly inflating balloon of foolish notions I’d been harbouring since Monday. I wasn’t here chasing after Pip. If anything, I was searching for clues about my mother. But I had been dreaming about him for almost two years. I’d never expected those dreams to come true, until he’d strolled up to the kiosk a few days ago. Now Blessing, and Ivor at the check-in desk, Lily and even that stupid lottery ticket had made me believe that amazing things were possible, even for someone as unamazing as me.
Celine and Pip had broken up because he hadn’t been ready to commit. But he was older now. He’d made it clear that he wanted to settle on the island, run the farm one day. There was the beautiful Celine, who’d been eager to be Pip’s wife her whole life, and here was me, a mainlander, who had no idea what she wanted. And, even if she did, neither the courage nor the freedom to go after it.
‘No,’ Lily said firmly, when I slunk downstairs an hour later. She’d changed into a khaki linen jumpsuit that showed off the gentle curve of her bump and was now sitting at the outside table, reading a recipe book. I’d swapped into the second dress Blessing had selected, which had puffed, off-the-shoulder sleeves, a fitted waist and tiered skirt in dark cream, covered in tiny leaves and flowers. It felt perfect for ambling through summer meadows or milling at a party with a glass of gin and tonic.
‘You aren’t wimping out and staying here by yourself because my brother’s ex-girlfriend made some snide comments.’
‘I never said she made any comments.’
‘You didn’t have to. Celine is fine, but when it comes to Pip, she’s completely irrational. And you aren’t letting her win.’
‘Win what?’ I asked, sinking into the chair opposite her.
‘Win at bullying you into missing a fun evening because she’s scared you’ll snag her island farmer.’
‘I don’t think she was trying to bully me.’
‘Did you feel bullied?’ She poured me a glass of iced water from a jug on the table while I considered that.
‘I’m so out of my comfort zone here, it’s easy to feel intimidated.’
Lily’s face softened. ‘Do I intimidate you?’
I shrugged. ‘Beanie intimidates me.’
