Chapter Twenty-Five
Tammy glanced at her phone for the umpteenth time and a cold sweat broke out on the small of her back.
Where was Ruan? And this Polly person? It was amazing of him and the client to help, but realistically, how could they?
As instructed, she’d carried her equipment a hundred metres down the road to a farm gate very close to the pub and now all she could do was wait.
Unusually, Ruan had been very sketchy about the details of the plan on the phone, merely saying he and Polly would pick her up – but how was it possible and then how was she going to get from here to the festival?
Since the accident had happened, she’d called her insurer and spoken to the police, but her van was off the road and would have to stay in the ditch until the recovery truck could reach it, which wouldn’t be for some time.
She didn’t have long left until it would be too late to even bother starting the design, so she scrolled to the emergency contact given by the organisers. It was time to phone and say the installation wasn’t going to take place so they wouldn’t need the stewards and cordoned-off area on the cliffs.
It made her feel sick to let down the festival, the audience – and to have to call off her big break.
Even though she’d probably be able to do the other two pieces, this first one for the festival sponsor was so important.
No matter how good her excuse, some people might think that she’d left them in the lurch.
For the first time, the icy fingers of despair clutched at her and an image of her father sprang into her mind.
He’d told her several times over the years that he thought he’d let her down.
She’d always denied it fiercely, hugged him and said: ‘Never.’ How she needed someone to do that now, even if, like her dad, she probably wouldn’t believe them.
She pressed the festival emergency number and listened for the first ring.
A low rumble in the distance drew her attention to the field.
Over the gate, she saw a large white horse galloping towards her.
For a moment, she thought Ruan was on its back but then realised it was a woman.
The horse and rider were followed by a Land Rover bumping its way down the rutted track at the edge of the field.
Tammy ended the call.
The vehicle and horse stopped in a spray of mud and the rider slid swiftly to the earth.
‘Hello!’ the woman said, slightly pink in the face yet beaming. ‘You must be Tammy. I’m Polly. Ruan’s with me.’ She looped her horse’s bridle over the gatepost and the huge creature snorted as if keen to be off.
Ruan climbed out of the Land Rover and jogged over, slightly out of breath, yet his eyes were bright with excitement like a child’s.
Tammy was still processing their miraculous appearance. ‘B-but how did you manage to get here?’
‘Across my land and with the help of a few farmer pals,’ Polly declared. ‘Now, chop chop. We need to get you to this festival. Jump in the Land Rover with Ruan.’
‘All the roads are blocked,’ she protested, even as Ruan took her rake and tools and slung them in the back of the car.
‘We’re not going by road,’ he said mysteriously. ‘Wait and see.’
Moments later, while Polly jumped on to the horse again, Ruan closed the gate and climbed back in behind the wheel.
Tammy stared straight ahead, dumbstruck. ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’
‘Neither could I until Polly told me the plan. I had a job to keep up with her and Lucifer.’
Tammy watched in amazement as, perched on her horse, Polly bellowed at the stationary drivers. ‘Clear the way, please. VIPs coming through. Thank you.’
The queuing cars and vans, with their wide-eyed and grumbling occupants, shuffled forward and backward until there was a gap big enough for the Land Rover to squeeze across the blocked road and through a gate on the opposite side.
‘What now?’ Tammy said.
‘No idea. Follow Lucifer. Hold on tight. Off we go.’
Twenty minutes later, after a hair-raising off-road drive over field and farm and moor tracks, Ruan dropped Tammy off in the performers’ space at the festival car park.
The music from the main stage was pulsating and there were thousands of revellers dancing and waving flags and milling around the stalls and smaller stages.
Tammy was too worried about getting started to think of the scale of the festival.
Even with Ruan’s help, it was going to be a race against tide …
but now they’d made such an effort to get here, she was going for it, even if it was a rush and the waves would wash away her creation sooner than she’d intended.
‘I’ll park then I’ll join you on the beach. You do your stuff,’ Ruan said once she’d grabbed her tools from the rear of the Land Rover.
Heart pounding, she jogged down to the sands as fast as she could, flashing her lanyard at the security guards and shouting, ‘Sorry, emergency!’
They could run after her if they wanted. She wasn’t hanging around for anyone.
By the time she reached the sand, she was gasping for breath, exhausted at the dramatic turn of events.
However, she couldn’t afford to waste a single second now she was here.
The surf was thundering in the distance, already on the turn by the sound of it.
Spectators had gathered in a thick line along the cliff edge but there was no time to be nervous.
She allowed herself a few calming breaths; then she took out her rake and made her first mark on the sand. When she looked at the shoreline, the waves seemed worryingly close, and she glanced at her watch. She had to get a move on or she might not even finish before the surf erased it.
‘Tammy.’ Ruan jogged up. ‘Can I do anything?’
She made a split-second decision. ‘Pick up the other rake. I’ll show you what to do.’
Tammy collapsed on to her bum on the sand, breathing hard. Her arms burned and her whole body glowed with effort. Scores of people had now been allowed on to the beach and were gathered behind a roped-off area, taking photos and videos of the surfer girl riding the giant wave.
She could hear the oohs and aahs, the admiring comments of ‘spectacular’ and ‘amazing’ and the whirr of a drone above her head, but was too overcome to truly take them in.
Even with Ruan’s help, she’d only just finished the logo in time and reckoned she had barely half an hour before it was washed away.
‘Have you seen how many people are watching?’ Ruan asked, pointing at the crowds gathered on the cliffs. The drone buzzed, taking aerial videos of the design for the festival website. The operator had already messaged some of the shots to Tammy’s phone.
She showed Ruan the video. ‘Do you want a look at our handiwork?’
‘ Your handiwork.’
‘I couldn’t have finished it in time without you,’ she said firmly. ‘Or at all, if you and Polly hadn’t ridden to the rescue.’
‘It was sheer luck that I was at her place. My boss tried to change the appointment to this afternoon, but I wasn’t missing this for anything.’ He grinned. ‘I turned up early anyway and lucky I did because Polly was able to help.’
‘It was fate!’ she said, laughing with joy. Now that the design was complete, she felt high on the relief and endorphins.
She and Ruan stood together, finally able to relax after the madcap dash and with just enough time to watch the sea roll in.
Ruan looked hot in the shorts and vest top he’d changed into before joining her.
Mind you, he’d looked hot in his jeans and polo shirt.
He’d looked hot in his suit, and with ice cream running down his shirt.
Her glow turned into a more powerful feeling that made her tingle from her head to her toes.
It wasn’t only fate that he’d been at Polly Tremain’s today: it was fate that he’d walked into her life just when she was ready – even if she’d fought hard against that feeling – to start thinking of the future and commitment.
A foaming wave ran up the beach and brushed the edge of the surfer’s hair.
‘It’s started,’ Tammy said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘Don’t you want to stay and watch until the end?’ Ruan asked. ‘Talk to the spectators?’
‘No. I have a better idea.’ She took his hand and held it firmly. ‘Come with me …’
Was it a request or a command? All she knew was that her body was going into meltdown, nerve endings zinging.
She nodded down the beach. ‘I know a place where no one will find us.’
She picked up her bag of rakes and they ran along the sand towards the gigantic sea stacks that were all that remained of the fingers of land they’d once been.
They splashed through shallows already pooling around the sea stacks. Ahead of them, two more stacks loomed, the sea already swirling around their bases as waves advanced and retreated and advanced again.
Ruan slowed and Tammy didn’t blame him.
‘I hate to delay your plans for a second, but will we get cut off?’
Tammy laughed. ‘Yes. That’s why no one’s following us. This part of the beach does get cut off. But trust me,’ she said.
They waded thigh deep through the gap between the next two stacks. The water was cold, but Tammy relished the coolness on her hot skin. Ruan laughed and suddenly, as if they’d entered through a magic portal, a large open stretch of beach appeared.
Once on the other side, Tammy led Ruan to the rear of the beach, where the sand was dry and the cliffs were rippled with folds and crevices. She found the place she wanted and stopped outside a dark entrance like a mouth in the cliffs.
‘In here, quick,’ she said, desperate to keep moving before she changed her mind.
‘Wait.’ Ruan dropped the bag and reached for her, pulling her into his arms.
‘Whoa!’
The sand fell away under her feet as he swept her into his arms and carried her into the dark privacy of the cave. He set her down on the soft sandy floor and lay next to her, looking down into her face from those deep blue eyes.
‘Do you know how much I’ve wanted this since the moment I saw you?’ he said.
‘Me too …’ she murmured, pulling him against her body. ‘Even in that ridiculous suit.’