Page 43 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay

Ted strode away from the house feeling a mixture of anguish and fury.

He didn’t consider himself a deep thinker– Peggy was much smarter than he– and sometimes he said things he hadn’t thought through, like this morning with Liam.

He knew he’d been less than generous and was ashamed of his behaviour, recognizing Peggy had been unfailingly patient and kind to his own daughter.

What Peggy didn’t realize was that something else was winding him up that morning, something he’d really needed to tell her…

but really didn’t want to. His hangover was making him tense and inarticulate, say the wrong thing, and he knew she was still annoyed with him from last night’s row– perhaps from his late and drunken return.

But he’d been trying desperately to find the right moment to reveal what he’d heard in the pub.

Sensing how upset she’d be, though, and horribly aware of the threat hanging over him– Peggy declaring she couldn’t stay another moment in Pencarrow Bay– he’d dragged his heels like a coward instead of coming out with it.

But with every word he uttered, he seemed to be digging himself in deeper.

So, feeling the hole was now deep enough and sure his head was about to explode, he’d simply fled.

Better , he thought, to get away– from both Peggy and Liam .

Let things settle before he added to Peggy’s woes with his news.

After the fight about Felix last night, Ted had gone down to the Wisket.

Tina and Emerald had been there, ensconced at a table close to the bar.

Emerald– unusually, because she never really acknowledged him– had pulled at his sleeve as he passed.

Her dreadlocks were tied back in a loose ponytail, and if it hadn’t been for her aggressive black ink neck tattoo– reminding Ted of a photo he’d seen once of a collar-bomb and which he’d found grimly fascinating– she would have looked quite attractive with her large blue eyes and handsome features.

Especially as tonight she was actually smiling.

‘Hey, Ted. How’s it going?’

‘Fine,’ he said, immediately wary.

‘Sit with us?’ Tina suggested.

He didn’t feel he had a choice– Tina was such a sweetheart– so after he’d paid for a glass of single malt from Dean, the landlord, he took it to their table and sat down on one of the wooden stools.

‘Dean showed us the layout of the new menus earlier,’ Tina had told him. Everything in the community pub had to be passed by the committee, on which Tina sat. ‘They look good. Way more modern, more stylish than the last ones.’

‘Great,’ he’d said. They had asked him to be on the committee when he’d first invested.

But it already boasted nearly twenty people, and he balked at the thought of the long-winded meetings, everyone arguing and banging on about their own pet enthusiasm.

He loved the thought of the community owning the pub– especially in the face of corporate greed– but it wasn’t an easy thing.

‘So,’ said Emerald, casually, as she sipped her pint, ‘seen your Tripadvisor page recently?’ Her clipped South Kensington accent made her sound nonchalant and aloof.

Ted frowned. ‘No. Why?’

‘Hmm…’ Emerald said, giving a knowing smile.

Tina looked stricken at her partner’s grin.

‘It isn’t funny, Ems.’ Turning to Ted, she went on, ‘You obviously haven’t seen them, but there’s a bunch of mean reviews right at the top of your page.

’ Tina had clicked on her phone and scrolled for a bit, then turned the screen so he could see.

‘Here, take a look.’ He’d taken the mobile and begun to read.

Bitter coffee and stale buns. This place is a pretentious con, even if it is in a cool setting. And the preening owner is so offhand, obviously thinks he’s God.

Don’t bother with ‘Henri’. Nice old van, but way overpriced and crap coffee, my sausage roll was really greasy. Plus the man who runs it only chats to his pals. Felt very let down after all the hype in the village about the place.

The other reviews– he counted five– were all in the same vein. He groaned, dismayed.

‘Check the dates they were posted,’ Emerald said– with a continuing amount of glee, Ted thought. ‘All on the same day last week.’ She waited while he confirmed this. ‘You’re under deliberate attack.’

His business had never had anything but four- or five-star rave notices so far. The star rating was still very high, despite the one-stars of the recent posts. But these were the reviews anyone checking out the van would now come to first.

As he read through the posts again, he trawled back in his mind to his customers the previous week.

He couldn’t remember a single person who’d appeared upset or unhappy with their purchases.

And he was always– genuinely– happy to chat to anyone and everyone.

He loved his customers, their coffee quirks, the snippets of lives offered to him, the compliments about his latest blend and Pam’s delicious homemade treats, the often nerdy interest in Henri– where the van had come from, how it was powered up, if it moved, what sort of coffee machine he favoured… It was his lifeblood.

‘Christ,’ he said, handing back Tina’s phone. Is this connected to Peggy’s trolling? Is someone after us both? None of the reviews mentioned her.

As if Emerald could read his mind, she’d cocked her head and gazed at him for a long second. When she did speak, though, her tone was surprisingly sympathetic. ‘Maybe something to do with those emails people are getting about Peggy bullying her pupils at the hospital.’

‘How do you know about that?’ Ted blurted out.

Tina glared at her partner. ‘For God’s sake, Ems.’

‘Well, he should know– it’s all around the village– shouldn’t he?’

‘Complete lies,’ he’d felt the need to say.

‘I’m sure,’ Tina agreed hastily.

‘Funny someone choosing to say it,’ Emerald mused, although she seemed genuinely puzzled rather than to be needling him. ‘Disaffected youth?’ she queried, with a wry shake of her head.

‘Who told you?’ he asked again, staring hard at Emerald, wanting to see if there was any smidgen of guilt in her eyes.

It was Tina who answered. ‘Gen. Jake told her.’

Ted was puzzled. How the hell did Jake find out? He was baffled, finishing his whisky in one gulp and getting up to order another. Not a good idea– he didn’t have a great head for spirits– but everything seemed to be getting so out of hand in his life.

Now, in the clear light of day, the thing that frightened him most was the insidious rift that appeared to be opening up between him and Peggy.

He couldn’t blame Liam– he’d just been fuel to an already established flame.

Ted’s initial secrecy over Lindy was when it had all started, he accepted that– although maybe when the truth finally came out about Felix he would be vindicated in Peggy’s eyes.

We’ve always been so solid, right from the off , he thought anxiously, as he walked on down the hill in the fierce morning sunshine, going nowhere.

But if Peggy was no longer happy in the village, worrying about what people thought of her, would their love be strong enough to ride out the storm?

Strong enough to keep the woman he adored in the place he had come to love with an almost equal passion?

Is it even fair to ask her to stay under those circumstances?

It felt as if the entire structure of his life was swaying dangerously on its foundations, beyond his control.

Ted suddenly came out of his fugue to notice he was passing Lilac House.

He’d had no awareness of his surroundings– he realized he hadn’t even checked the works in the car park as he passed– his head so swimming with worries.

But he stopped now, wondering if he should go and check on Lindy.

No one was in the garden, but the front door was ajar, so someone must be at home.

He nearly kept walking. But then an image of the bruise on Lindy’s wrist flashed into his mind.

‘Hello?’ he called, at the entrance to the house. ‘Anyone home?’

He waited, his heart hammering. If Felix is here, I’ll have to say something , he decided.

‘In the kitchen,’ a voice shouted back: Lindy’s.

Ted found her sitting calmly at the table, eating brown toast and marmalade, a large cup of milky coffee cradled in both hands. She looked fine, although a little surprised to see him.

‘Ted! Come in. To what do I owe the pleasure? It’s barely nine.’

Glancing up at the large kitchen clock, he saw she was right– the day already seemed like such a long one, and he hadn’t had a coffee yet. His stomach rumbled at the sight of the toast.

‘Umm…’ Ted was flummoxed by the calm domestic scene– lurid violence being uppermost in his mind.

He couldn’t clear his muddled thoughts sufficiently to reply.

Attempting a grin, he noticed Lindy’s face– bare of her usual immaculate makeup so early, but still beautiful– creased with concern.

He realized his smile wasn’t quite working.

‘Has something happened? You look upset.’ She bustled him into a seat. ‘Coffee?’ She cocked an eyebrow. ‘Or don’t you trust me with a brew? It’s only a pod, I’m afraid.’

‘Pod’s good,’ he replied, feeling a little queasy, his head pounding, the whisky from the night before taking its toll.

She got together a large cup of black coffee with extreme efficiency. ‘Toast?’

He nodded. ‘Thank you.’

After she’d supplied him with crockery, cutlery, a cloth napkin from a drawer in the table, delivered the toast and pushed the butter and marmalade across to him, she sat down, hands folded in front of her and eyed him keenly.

Ted didn’t know what to say. He took a gulp of coffee– he was gasping, so any port in a storm– and began to butter his hot toast, taking a large bite before he’d even spread the marmalade he was so hungry.

Then he found himself, quite unintentionally, telling her all the things he’d heard in the pub that he hadn’t dared tell Peggy.

Lindy looked horrified. ‘Goodness me.’ She frowned.

‘And everyone knows about Peggy.’

Her eyes widened. ‘I haven’t told a soul. So nobody heard it from me.’

‘Oh, God, of course not, Lindy.’

In the quiet that descended, he was suddenly aware of the silent house. ‘Where are the others?’

Lindy seemed far away for a moment. When she answered it was almost dismissively. ‘Ada’s at school, of course. A friend of a friend who started a winery near Penzance has taken Felix and Kim off for the day. They’ll probably come back drunk and foolish.’

Ted was slightly relieved to hear Felix wasn’t at home.

No need to confront him today, then , he thought, knowing he wasn’t in a fit state for such a delicate mission.

He felt a bit guilty, too, sitting there eating Lindy’s toast and spilling the beans to her instead of Peggy.

Lindy didn’t appear threatened or anxious this morning, he noted.

Perhaps because she has the house to herself .

‘I worry Peggy might not want to stay here, if she doesn’t find out who’s behind all this soon,’ Lindy was saying, her tone thoughtful. ‘I wouldn’t blame her. It must be horrible not knowing.’

Shocked, Ted felt his body jolt at the articulation of his own misgivings.

‘What would you do if she does want to go?’ Lindy persisted, when he didn’t reply. She gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘I mean, your life is here now, isn’t it, Ted? I can’t imagine you giving all this up– the house, dear Henri, your friends… Everyone loves you both, of course.’

Alarmingly, her eyes seemed to mist as she spoke.

‘Not everyone, clearly,’ he said tersely.

It was eating him up, the idea that people were thinking the service he so lovingly provided might be in any way substandard.

It was deeply personal. This was his home now, as Lindy suggested, and he never, ever– to his dying day– wanted to live anywhere else. Never thought he’d have to.

Lindy waved a hand imperiously. ‘Oh, don’t panic about those ludicrous reviews. I’ll get on to it this morning. Tell everyone to post good ones so they supersede that negative rubbish. I won’t let anything bad affect your business, sweetheart. Believe me.’

Her unwavering support buoyed Ted. He was really touched that she should offer to undertake such an arduous task. ‘Really? You’d do that?’ He was certain, with the influence she wielded in the village, that she’d be able to achieve what she promised.

She nodded.

‘That would be amazing, Lindy,’ he said. ‘It’s incredibly kind of you.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Maybe you could tell them at the same time that the rumours about Peggy are rubbish.’

‘Oh, absolutely,’ Lindy said, giving him a bright smile. ‘Right, well, better get going.’ She began to clear the table, whisking the remains of breakfast onto the side and into the dishwasher.

Ted felt as if he were being taken over, his life suddenly– and soothingly– in Lindy’s hands. It felt strangely reassuring. Then his thoughts returned to Felix. ‘How are things?’ he asked as he stood.

Lindy turned to him. Her smile was brave as she said, ‘Much the same. I will never , while there is breath left in my body, let Felix get his hands on a single penny of my money. I’m signing nothing!’ She broke off, her chin wobbling as she tried not to cry.

Ted was stricken. Despite her assertion, he felt he had done nothing to improve her situation. And here was Lindy, enduring with such fortitude the cuckoo in her nest, who was attempting to trick her out of her savings, possibly even her home, her family, her life.

He strode across the kitchen and, on the spur of the moment, gave Lindy a fierce hug. ‘God, Lindy, I’m so sorry I haven’t been more of a help. I can’t bear what Felix is doing to you.’

She clung to him, turning a tear-stained face up to his. ‘You’ve been a hero, Ted. My absolute hero.’ Then she placed a long, soft kiss on his lips. Full on his lips.