28. Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
May stumbled along the beach, determined not to look back. What an idiot she’d been, allowing herself to get carried away in the moment. She should never have drunk those free drinks at the wedding fair. She shouldn’t have gone with that stupid man.
For a second, just a second, she had seen a glimmer of hope in her future.
Who was she kidding? She could never be part of the life of someone like Cillian McDonaugh.
And he didn’t know the real her. He didn’t know what a mess she really was.
Nobody knew that, and the effort of concealing her failures was proving exhausting.
The wind whipped her hair into her face as she took a back route off the beach, scrambling up the cliff side and ignoring the way brambles tore into her legs.
She emerged onto Cliff Lane and took a deep breath, the air sharp in her lungs.
Rolling back her shoulders, May fixed a smile, ready to share all she’d found out at the wedding fair with Alice.
When she walked up to Sea Shell Cottage, she glanced through the window. Alice was sharing a bottle of wine with Maz. The lamplight glowed warm inside, and the sound of laughter drifted faintly through the glass.
The already fake smile slipped from May’s face. She leaned against the wall, blinking away threatening tears. It was one thing to make an effort, but Alice cosying up to Maz was more than she could handle.
A tear slipped free, and May brushed it away on her cardigan.
She couldn’t go to Paige’s house because she was out on a date with Ted.
The only other place May could think of was Grandpa Jack’s.
It was a trek up the hill, and what she really wanted was her bed.
That wouldn’t happen with Maz in the house, so, with a deep sigh, May pressed on up the hill.
By the time she reached Saffron Manor, she had blisters on the backs of her heels. Her thighs screamed from the unusual amount of activity she’d put them through, and she had given up stemming the tears, which had no doubt smudged mascara across her face.
May knocked on Jack’s door. When he answered, there was no flicker of surprise at the state she’d turned up in. He simply waved her inside. The comforting smell of wood smoke and tea drifted through the cabin hallway as Jack made his way to the kitchen and filled the kettle.
May kicked off her boots, rubbing her swollen feet and wincing at the blisters, then curled up in Jack’s comfiest armchair, her head in her hands.
The cushions smelled faintly of pipe tobacco and old books.
She had almost dropped off to sleep when Jack reappeared with two mugs, steam curling into the lamplight.
‘What’s this?’ May peered into the mug, which was not tea.
‘Hot chocolate,’ he said. ‘You look like you need something sweet.’
‘Thanks,’ said May, with a watery smile.
‘Is it your mother?’ Jack settled into a chair opposite her.
‘Among other things.’ May scowled as a teardrop slipped from her nose into her mug. ‘Sorry. I’m being ridiculous. I’m overtired, that’s all.’
‘You’re going through a huge upheaval,’ said Jack. ‘You’ve just finished university. Your mother’s turned up out of the blue. You’re trying to plan a wedding while also working out what’s next in your future. You could do with being a little kinder to yourself, I think, May.’
May smiled at him. ‘I never knew you had such a soft side,’ she said with a grin.
Jack snorted. ‘Don’t get too used to it,’ he said. ‘Can’t have people thinking I’m turning soppy in my old age.’
‘Never.’ May sipped her hot chocolate. The warmth spread to her fingertips. ‘Oh, this is good.’
‘I’ve been perfecting my recipe,’ said Jack. ‘A dash of boiling water to make a paste, the freshest milk from the neighbouring farm, a drop of cream and a splash of Baileys.’
‘Now you’re talking my language,’ said May.
‘So what specifically drove you to my door this evening?’ asked Jack.
May sighed and settled deeper into the chair. ‘I was going to go home,’ she said. ‘I’ve been at a wedding fair all day and I’m shattered, but when I got back, Maz was there drinking wine with Alice.’
‘So it’s going well between the pair of them, then?’ Jack’s tone was cautious, testing the waters.
‘Seems so, although I’ve no idea why Alice is being so generous to her. Has she been up to see you yet?’
‘Alice?’
‘No, Maz.’
Jack laughed, the sound low and rough. ‘I still can’t get used to calling her that. She’ll always be Tilly to me. And in answer to your question, no, she hasn’t. I get the impression she’s avoiding me, which, to be quite frank, I’m not too upset about.’
‘You will at least make sure things are civil before the wedding, won’t you?’ That would be the last straw, to have Alice’s granddad and mum brawling at her wedding.
‘Don’t you worry about that.’ Jack leaned across and patted May’s hand. ‘Now, tell me about the wedding fair. Did you come away inspired?’
‘I’m not sure inspired is the word I’d use. It was interesting.’ May swallowed the lump in her throat and forced her lips into a smile. ‘Do you want to see some photos I took?’
Jack stood and shifted his chair closer to May’s. ‘I’ll have a look at your photos, if you don’t expect me to know what I’m looking at.’ He shook his head. ‘I had nothing to do with planning my wedding, and it was so long ago I barely remember it.’
May handed over her phone, explaining to Jack what he was looking at as he flicked through. When he reached a photograph of May and Cillian posing beneath a floral archway, he paused and looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
‘I thought you went with that Cillian chap? Did you find yourself a new fellow while you were there?’
May laughed. ‘That is Cillian. He went in disguise.’
‘Ah, that explains it. The pair of you look as though you’re getting on better these days.’
May frowned at the picture. Cillian had his hand on her waist, and she was staring up at him with a goofy smile on her face. ‘We were playing the part of a couple planning our wedding, that’s all.’
‘I see. Well, you both look very convincing.’ Jack’s eyes twinkled, and May’s neck grew warm.
‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘moving on, look at these amazing cakes we found. They were delicious.’