Page 45 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay

‘You seem a bit distrait , my lovely,’ Quentin observed, as she threw herself onto the deep navy sofa in the cosy sitting room and let out a long sigh. ‘What’s up?’

Peggy, who had shut her eyes for a second, opened them and pulled a face at him. ‘Where to start? There is so much wrong with my life at the moment that I might as well scrub out the whole damn thing and start again.’

Quentin’s eyes widened in alarm. ‘Oh, God, don’t do that, darling. You’d have to go through acne and Pythagoras and spotted dick and custard… although I did rather enjoy the latter.’

Peggy couldn’t help laughing. ‘Showing your age, Quentin. They’d moved on to chocolate pudding and pink custard in my day.’

‘Sounds filthy. Let me get you a cuppa and I’ll tell you what I remembered.

’ He hobbled on his stick, back bent, obviously in pain, through to the kitchen in the rear of the open-plan room, which had once been the village dairy, old white tiles still covering one wall above the sink, and propped himself against the counter while he boiled the kettle.

When they were both seated, each with a cup of tea and a squishy chocolate-chip cookie from Hicks’s, Quentin levelled his gaze at her. ‘Right. Are you ready?’

She nodded, tried to concentrate as he waited a theatrical second before he went on: ‘The company you mentioned that day on the beach, one of the three your sinister technophile was linked to?’

She nodded.

‘Well, it came back to me, why I’d heard of Redmayne Capital.

You see, Rory was telling me about an interesting sex-discrimination case he saw on his online newsfeed yesterday…

And that triggered my ageing brain.’ He was spinning out the story.

‘This was a while ago, which is why I’d forgotten.

But we were all in the pub one evening and Lindy was complaining about sex discrimination at the company she’d worked for.

The company in question, I’m pretty certain, was Redmayne Capital.

’ Quentin sat back, looking expectant as he waited for the penny to drop.

Peggy sat up. ‘Wait, I thought she worked for one of the big multinationals?’

‘She did. This was before that,’ Quentin said.

She stared at her friend. Bunny’s words from that morning came back to her with force: What do you have that someone else wants?

… pure and simple jealousy . Peggy had finally come to the conclusion that Lindy was not telling the truth about Felix’s abuse.

But sending the emails? When the thought had briefly flashed across her brain as she sat on the beach wall, she had quickly dismissed it as nonsense, beyond the pale.

‘Could be just coincidence,’ Quentin was saying. ‘Never wise to jump to conclusions.’

Peggy’s throat constricted. She had a sinking feeling in her gut as a montage of the past few weeks with Ted and Lindy flashed before her eyes. She couldn’t speak.

‘Look, it may be absolutely nothing to do with Lindy,’ Quentin went on. ‘The circumstantial connection is flimsy, at best. And I may have got it wrong… although I don’t think I have.’

‘The lawyer speaks,’ Peggy muttered, her body wired with the thoughts teeming in her brain.

The image of Lindy’s smile that morning– was it smug?

– when she realized Ted had shared things with her that he hadn’t told Peggy.

Her almost gleeful possessiveness of Ted’s review problem.

Thought back further to the crazy car ride and coffee, to the secret drink in the Wisket, the dry robe, the endless intimate chats Lindy had insisted on over the past weeks.

She felt sick. Dense. Stupid. ‘I know she’s got a bit of a thing for Ted,’ she said lamely, ‘but actively trying to ruin my life?’

There was silence for a minute between the friends.

‘You can imagine how it would sound if we confronted Lindy, though,’ Quentin said, with a frown.

He adopted a sonorous, finger-wagging tone as he went on, ‘Look, we think you sent those emails, Lindy, because we think you worked for Redmayne Capital yonks ago and we think this Albanian no-good might have too. Or, at least, we’re not sure about his link with the company, or even if he has one.

But still…’ He snorted. ‘Never stand up in court.’

Peggy gave a heavy sigh. ‘I honestly can’t get my head around it, Quentin… Could Lindy really be the emailer?’ She swallowed hard. ‘I’d rather it turned out to be Emerald.’

‘Emerald would be a better villain, I agree. Although it does seem quite extreme behaviour for either woman,’ Quentin commented.

‘Not sure what to do with your information,’ she told her friend quietly, quite unable to think clearly right now. ‘It’s so bizarre, the whole thing.’

Quentin shrugged. ‘Not sure either. Forewarned is forearmed, I suppose.’

Her phone buzzed with an incoming text, interrupting them. Where r u? x It was Liam.

‘Oh, goodness, I’m supposed to be meeting my son at the ferry at twelve.’ She saw it was already seven minutes past– although Quentin’s house was only a three-minute dash from the quay if she was quick.

‘To be continued,’ Quentin said, with a warm smile, as she thanked him for the information and the tea and hurried out.

Peggy ran past the phone-box-cum-book-exchange on the way to the ferry.

As she drew level with it, she slowed. Emerald was propping open the heavy red door, gazing at a paperback in her hand.

She looked up as Peggy passed, brushing her dreadlocks out of her eyes, and their gazes met for a fraction of a second.

Emerald gave Peggy a cool stare, then smiled, waved the book.

‘Found a good one,’ she said. Which took Peggy aback.

She smiled in return, then ran on towards her waiting son.

Liam was lurking by the top of the slippery, uneven stone steps– probably hundreds of years old, there since the first fishermen built the jetty– that led down to the ferry.

The jolly, blue-painted boat was already packed with holidaymakers, the ferryman standing patiently below, holding open the metal gate with his body as he waited for stragglers.

The boat was due to leave on the quarter and it was nearly twelve minutes past when Peggy ran across the tarmac to her son– who was waving two tickets as he smiled a welcome.

Liam looked relaxed. She knew he was not someone who worried about missing trains or planes or ferries, unlike Peggy, who usually preferred with planes, at least, to be at the airport the week before.

It drove Ted mad. He calculated his travel plans to the last second and so far had never missed a flight.

‘Hey, Mum. Thought you’d done a bunk,’ he said, giving her a quick kiss as he ushered her down the steps in front of him.

The chunky, ginger-haired sailor held out a meaty paw to Peggy as she stepped onto the boat, guiding her to the steps on the other side.

She and Liam found a seat, squashed together on the edge of one of the varnished wooden benches against the hull.

It was bright on deck under the midday sun and Peggy wished she’d brought her sunglasses, or at least a hat as they sat watching the ferry pull away from the high stone wall of the harbour.

Her mind was so full of what Quentin and she had discussed, she almost forgot Liam was beside her.

Could it really be true that Lindy’s obsessive behaviour towards Ted had crossed over into something more sinister?

She has just lost her husband of forty years , she thought, remembering what Ted had said about her just wanting a bit of support.

It wouldn’t be unusual to behave oddly under those circumstances.

To maybe feel unprotected, open to attack from people– like with Felix.

But to deliberately organize a smear campaign against me?

That was on a whole other level. She gave a disbelieving shake of her head.

‘What?’ Liam asked, watching her.

‘Oh, nothing. Just having some crazy thoughts.’

Liam grinned. He was being jostled by a huge, scrabbling Bernese, way too big for the narrow bench but being held there by his owner, who clutched the wriggling dog to her chest with anxious ferocity.

‘Do you think we’ll see dolphins today? I heard a woman in the queue saying she’d once seen a whole pod from the ferry.

’ Her son looked excited and Peggy saw echoes of boyhood in his face. ‘I’ve never seen a dolphin up close.’

‘Well, keep a look-out, then. I think this is the right time of year for them.’ Her attention was diverted by a text, Where are you, Pegs? xxx , from Ted. She didn’t reply.

Neither of them spoke as the boat took off out of the bay and into the open water.

There were no dolphins, unfortunately, just a stiff breeze ruffling the sea, the sun glinting blindingly off the wavelets.

Peggy loved the ferry. She always wished it lasted more than the fifteen to twenty minutes it took to reach the other side.

As Peggy and her son walked along Falmouth quay– passing a crusty busker, his guitar slightly out of tune to her keen musician’s ear– Liam linked her arm in his. ‘Okay, so I’ve got something important to say, Mum. Me and Danny have talked and we both agree I should speak up while I’m here.’

Peggy glanced up at him, waited for him to go on with a touch of alarm, his face was so serious.

Liam hesitated for a long moment, took a deep breath. Not meeting her eye as they walked, he said, ‘The bottom line is, neither of us thinks it’s a good idea you staying in Cornwall. It’s clearly not working out for you. Our dream is for you to come back to London… with Ted, of course.’

Peggy gulped. She was shocked by her son’s words. They’d obviously been rehearsed with his brother, and he’d just been waiting for the opportunity to let them loose. She’d had a brief chat with Dan the other morning, but he’d given no hint about them wishing she would give up her life in Cornwall.

Before she had time to reply, Liam went on, ‘Granted, it’s a stunning part of the world, Mum.

For a holiday . But you’re a city girl, aren’t you?

Me and Dan wonder how on earth Ted persuaded you to move down here in the first place, so many miles from us, from your friends, from all the things you’re familiar with. ’

Peggy wanted to protest, but the words died on her lips. At that precise moment, with all that was going on, she found herself unable to mount a coherent defence.

‘You went along with it initially. I get that,’ Liam continued, his tone becoming more emphatic. ‘You were in love. And Ted’s flying high here, clearly. But is it working? For you? ’

There was a momentary silence. Then Peggy replied tartly, ‘Well, not right now, obviously,’ as she finally found her voice.

But the thought of leaving Pencarrow and going back to the city left her with a dull sadness around her heart.

It would, she knew, be a terrible wrench.

She’d become more attached to the bay than she realized– the atmosphere of the village so distorted, in her mind, by recent events.

Liam didn’t say more as they turned left up the cobbled main street, lined with shops and cafés on both sides. Peggy’s heart was beating out of time, her breath shaky in her chest. She didn’t want to be having this conversation. Not now, not ever.

‘I mean, Ted seems so taken up with his own stuff,’ she heard her son say. ‘He’s always working or running or sailing… or arguing.’ He shot her an apologetic frown.

Peggy came to an abrupt halt, letting go of his arm as she faced Liam.

It was hard for her to iron out the quaver from her voice as she replied, ‘Look, I really appreciate your concern, sweetheart. And I hear what you’re saying.

But my relationship with Ted is strictly between him and me.

It’s not up for discussion.’ She took a deep breath– knowing she was sounding fierce– and tried to smile.

‘Please, can we just have a pleasant lunch somewhere, enjoy the day?’

Liam’s expression was contrite. ‘Sorry, Mum. I didn’t mean to upset you.’

She nodded her acceptance of his apology, patted his shoulder.

But her son hadn’t finished. He stood his ground, didn’t move on as she had hoped. ‘It’s just we feel it’s like you’re clinging on to the bay and Ted as if it’s the only show in town when neither seems to be making you happy… We’re worried about you.’

Peggy, stricken, mentally got down off her high horse. Her dear, caring boys, observing her life– from up close in Liam’s case– had found it wanting. But the truth was, they were only articulating her own fears. It brought tears to her eyes.

‘Oh, Mum,’ Liam said, his face a picture of consternation before he wrapped her in his strong arms in the middle of the street, the stream of shoppers and wanderers and tourists parting to get round them.

Pulling away from her son, she mopped the tears with a tissue. ‘My life isn’t usually this topsy-turvy,’ she muttered, dumbfounded anew at the sorry state of things, now Liam had highlighted them.

He eyed her, his gaze dubious. ‘Well, I’ve said my piece. Please, don’t suffer in silence, Mum. Me and Danny will support you all the way if you decide to make a change in your life.’

Peggy breathed in, didn’t say a word for a very long time. ‘The thing is… I love Ted,’ she said eventually.

Her son nodded, his expression neutral. But he was nothing if not persistent, Liam.

Peggy remembered him being the same as a child.

Like a dog with a bone, nagging on and on until he was satisfied in his mind.

So, for example, if they were watching a film and he didn’t understand why a character had said or done something, he would keep questioning Peggy.

‘Yes, but… Yes, but…’ driving her nuts until he was finally content and she was tearing her hair out.

‘Yes, but,’ he said now, ‘you could both go somewhere else. Somewhere that suits you better, no?’

Peggy flinched. She couldn’t help silently reiterating the question she had asked herself before, and to which she had no answer: If I said I wasn’t happy, that I couldn’t live in the bay, would Ted come with me to another place?

She contemplated him dismantling all that he’d achieved with Henri, the community of friends who loved him, in a place he truly loved, and doubted he would ever leave.

Doubted she could even ask him to. She didn’t reply to her son.