Page 18 of The Little Cottage by the Cornish Sea

‘I got it! I got the job!’ I cried into my phone to Emmie.

‘Oh, Sophie, congratulations! I knew you would!’

‘And I have you girls to thank! We need to celebrate! Can I make you all dinner?’

‘Aw, you don’t need to do that…’

‘But I want to! You’ve all been nothing but generous with me and I want you to know how grateful I am.’

Only… I was giving these kind people nothing in return. Not my truth, not even my real name. I was betraying the friendship and their trust in me, I knew. But it was all to protect Baby and our new start.

‘I’ve been there, I told you,’ Emmie said. ‘You will get through whatever is ailing you. You have us now. You’re going to be okay.’

I nodded, willing the moisture out of my eyes. ‘I know that now. Thank you. Now, let me call everyone else—’

‘No need to. I’ve just added you to our WhatsApp group called Coastal Girls. Whenever you need any or all of us, just send a message to the group.’

This was beyond kind. This was indeed what friendship felt like. So I went onto WhatsApp, found the group and typed in a text message:

Hiya! Got the job, wanted to thank you all by cooking at my place tonight, are you free? Bring partners and kids!

To which I got five immediate beeps.

NAT: Oooh, I’m in! Bringing cakes!

NINA: Bringing apple ciders!

ROSIE: Bringing party favours!

FAITH: Bringing a table big enough!

So I went out and did a food shop for two meat and one vegetarian (just in case) lasagnes, loads of grilled vegetables, and a huge mixed salad.

For the kids, I made chips, and for dessert I got two huge pies, one apple and the other cherry, from The Rolling Scones.

I didn’t worry about how much it would cost me: soon I would have a regular income, even if it was only for the next few months.

For the kids, I made cupcakes with little frosted sailboats and beach huts, all in the old Cornish spirit.

I even managed to make a couple with Squally Isle in the background, and a couple with the breakwater.

For Emmie, the lovely girl who had opened her heart and shared her friends with me, I made an entire batch featuring her place, Books On The Barge, to which she later said, ‘Ooh, they’re too beautiful to eat! ’

While I was finishing up, Faith dropped in with a handsome, dark-haired man lugging what seemed to be folds of a table.

‘Hi! Congratulations, Sophie!’ Faith chimed and threw her arms around me. ‘I knew you could do it! This is Henry, my husband.’

‘Hi,’ he said with a grin as he attempted to balance all the pieces of table. ‘Nice to meet you.’

‘You, too! Come in, come in! I know you mentioned a table but this is huge…’

‘It folds down to a tiny two-seater!’ Faith exclaimed. ‘Isn’t my husband an absolute genius? He used to be a carpenter. Shall we set it up in the garden? I’ve also got a chimenea in the car in case it gets a bit cooler later!’

‘Ooh, great idea, thank you,’ I said, beginning to wonder whether I was going to make a fool out of myself. I had invited all these people with nowhere to sit them, really. It was a good thing I did have a garden.

‘And this strapping young lad,’ she said while embracing a young boy under her arm, ‘is Orson, my favourite boy in the whole wide world!’

Orson blushed and held out his hand with a bouquet of wild flowers. ‘For you, Sophie.’

I bent down to him. ‘For me? Thank you so much. You are a true gentleman, Orson!’

‘Listen, we didn’t know if you had any plates so Rosie gave me some to give you. She threw them herself in her own kiln!’

‘Oh, wow,’ I enthused, ashamed of my basic white plates and few pieces of cheap cutlery. I hadn’t been planning on hosting any parties when I’d bought them, and they paled in comparison to Rosie’s home-crafted ones.

‘Orson, do you want to help your dad set up the table in the garden?’

‘Sure!’ he said and skipped off out the back door.

‘Well, he’s adorable,’ I cooed.

Faith gushed. ‘I know, right? I cherish him. He lives mostly with us.’

I remembered something about Orson’s mother not being well but decided not to push. In good time. And again, I felt the sting of my deceit when they’d all been so open with me. I hated keeping things from them, but it was the way it had to be, at least for a little while longer.

‘Why don’t you finish up and I’ll set the table? I’ve got all sorts of pretty samples of stuff in the car.’

‘Oh, wow, thank you, that’s so thoughtful of you,’ I said.

I wished that, rather than borrowing these beautiful plates and glasses and trays that Faith was unloading onto the table outside, I’d actually had the money to buy some decent stuff for this dear little cottage that I had grown to love.

It had all I needed, i.e. privacy and safety from Will.

I’d accumulated most of the basics over the past few months, but anything else would have to wait as I was saving up for Baby’s crib, bassinette, clothes, and everything she would need for the future.

There was no money to be wasted on anything else.

It was a wonder I’d landed a job at all, and I had my new friends to thank. They had opened their hearts and homes to me and for now, this was the best I could do for them.

The doorbell rang and in spilled the rest of the gang: Emmie, Rosie, Nina and Nat, all smiles and laughter as they brought their partners and children in.

It was beautiful to see how love clung to these genuine people who hadn’t let fame and success go to their heads.

I was literally opening the door for national treasures such as authors, journalists, designers and architects, receiving them in my garden and feeding them my lasagne.

‘Congrats, you!’ Nina chimed, holding her toddler Charlie while following her two older kids, Ben and Chloe. Jack brought up the rear with a crate of his own apple cider. If only I could drink!

‘Thank you,’ I chimed back as Rosie hugged me with one arm while her son Danny arrived astride Mitchell’s shoulders. Once he’d put the boy down, he gave me a squeezing hug as if he’d known me all his life. ‘Well done, Sophie,’ he said with a grin.

Next came Emmie and Nat together with their babies and Shane’s girls, Amy and Zoey, who gave me a huge biscuit tin with a row of beach huts printed on it, the words Starry Cove Delights hand-written on the label.

They were delightful children, all of them, who seemed really happy to be here at a stranger’s house for dinner when they could have been doing their own thing at home or at a friend’s.

But here they were, so well behaved. It was obvious that these kids had been raised with love and respect.

‘Just so you know, the kids have been instructed to not post anything about us online,’ Nina assured me as they took out their phones and started snapping pictures of each other. ‘They all have pseudonyms and know that we all need our privacy respected.’

‘Thank you,’ I whispered, relieved. They had gleaned that I had left ugliness behind me in London and were always swift to reassure me.

What a way to live, with terror sitting on your shoulder all the time.

But tonight wasn’t about me, even if we were celebrating my job.

Tonight was about friendship, and it had been such a long time since I had felt this rush of affection for anyone, but these amazing women and their families literally took the proverbial cake.

I simply couldn’t deceive them any longer. It was killing me.

And another thing. Tonight was fantastic, and I was grateful.

But seeing other families, happy families, only made me more acutely aware of my own situation.

Because after I said goodbye to my friends and locked up for the night with no one to say, They’re all so nice, aren’t they, honey?

to, I felt the loneliness descending upon me as thick as the darkness of the night sky.

*

June 4th

The next morning, Justin arrived in a hatchback to pick me up.

I hadn’t expected anyone to come and get me, but I sat in the back while we listened to Vivaldi’s ‘Primavera’ from The Four Seasons .

It was very relaxing. Classical music had always been my favourite, but I loved almost every kind of music, as long as it was well-written.

After the last bend, Rosestones loomed ahead atop the giant hill, and my stomach gave a sudden lurch.

My first day had just been just getting familiar with the premises and the job tasks.

But would I be efficient enough? Intelligent enough?

I knew nothing about the job really, apart from the fact that I had to tackle daily issues regarding the running of Piers’s companies.

‘Mr Henshaw says to enjoy a nice breakfast in the orangery while he finishes up on the telephone. Mrs Watts, the housekeeper, will be waiting to meet you.’

‘Thank you,’ I said graciously. Justin was so gallant; he brought the best out in me.

Another breakfast in the orangery? I thought as I made my way down the familiar corridor. At least I had this part of the manor down pat. What was he trying to do, kill me with kindness? Or was this simply how the other half lived? I could get used to this, even though I knew I shouldn’t.

‘Good morning, Miss Graham,’ came Mrs Watt’s soft voice as I entered the orangery.

She was perhaps around fifty, and petite, with intelligent eyes and a small mouth, probably what you needed to work for someone as successful as Piers.

‘Pleased to meet you. Please come and sit down. We didn’t know what you liked so I’ve made you a bit of everything. ’

Just like the first day. ‘Oh, Mrs Watts, that’s so kind of you; you didn’t have to do that.’

‘Mr Piers’s orders. He wants you to feel at home.’

‘Thank you. It all looks delicious.’

‘Do let me know if you need anything else,’ she said before disappearing back to the kitchen.