Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Thank God for the wellington boots Clemmie had insisted she borrow. Water was still running fast down the lanes, with shallow streams spilling over the pavements, and the rain didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon.
Pippa walked at Theo’s side, her arm looped through his as they waded carefully down the slick pathway.
Every few steps one of them skidded on algae-slick stone or lost their footing in a hidden dip, and the other squealed, which only made them both laugh harder.
Rain fell steadily, soaking Theo’s hair flat and dark, and Pippa took a sideways glance, annoyed to find he still looked ridiculously handsome, like he’d stepped straight out of a romcom.
‘You’ve got rain dripping off your eyebrows,’ Pippa said. ‘And why have we come out without an umbrella?’
‘Because the wind is still strong and would have turned an umbrella inside out in no time at all.’
‘And your eyelashes.’
Theo fluttered his eyelashes in an over-exaggerated way.
‘Any girl would die for those lashes,’ she teased, just as her foot slid off the side of the kerb.
She shrieked as he caught her around the waist and spun her in a tight circle.
She laughed so hard she threw her head back, rain pelting her face, but she didn’t care in the slightest. When he set her down, she was breathless and flushed, her hands curled in the front of his coat though she couldn’t quite remember how they’d got there.
Then she noticed the warmth of him. The steadiness.
The way it felt so dangerously easy to stand there, soaked and laughing, like this was exactly where she belonged.
She dropped her hands and took a step back.
This was how things happened. This was how you forgot yourself. But she couldn’t let that happen.
‘We’d only just got dry and now we’re soaked again.’
They resumed walking and Pippa began to feel a twinge of guilt. She was thinking of that FaceTime with Rob and how she would feel if someone had run out on her, only for her to see them with someone else so soon. Before she did anything else, she needed to have that conversation with Rob.
She knew she’d made the right decision, though. Since being here, she’d felt different, lighter than she had in months.
As they reached the bottom of Lighthouse Lane, she pulled her arm from Theo’s. ‘I’m going to catch you up. I need to have that conversation with Rob.’
‘You do,’ agreed Theo. ‘Remember that sometimes things feel hard to do precisely because they are the right things to do. Just tell the truth about how you feel and why.’
Pippa nodded, though her stomach fluttered nervously.
‘You’re right, and thanks,’ she said.
‘What for?’
‘Just being here when I needed someone. And making me laugh. It’s been a while.’
‘For you and me both. I’ll be over at the lighthouse, looking at all the displayed clocks, when you’ve finished.’
Pippa exhaled. ‘Thanks.’ She noticed the awning was open outside The Café on the Coast, with a dry bench underneath, and she took a seat. Thankfully, there was no one else around. She FaceTimed Rob and he picked up immediately.
‘I didn’t think you were going to ring back.’
For a moment, his face lit with something – maybe hope? Relief? – but it faded just as quickly when she didn’t smile.
He looked tired and a little rumpled.
Pippa took a breath and launched in. ‘I’d like to apologise for running from the wedding. It wasn’t kind, and I should have spoken up about my doubts sooner. But I was scared, and I just kept hoping things would get better.’
He leaned forwards. ‘So that’s it? You’re giving up?’
‘I think we were trying to make something work that never really fitted in the first place.’
Rob shook his head. ‘That’s not true. We were happy.’
‘Were we truly happy?’
He looked at her like she’d slapped him. ‘We had plans.’
‘Rob, I couldn’t be myself with you.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘Isn’t it?’ she said gently. ‘I couldn’t even have the wedding I wanted. Girls dream of their wedding day, and a ceremony in a hotel and a golf honeymoon in Portugal … they’re just not my thing. Clocks are my thing. They always have been and you … you never really cared.’
‘They’re just clocks, Pippa. You act like they mean more to you than I do,’ he said defensively.
‘You’ve never even asked why I love horology, or what I’m working on. I felt like I had to shrink parts of myself just to keep the peace.’
Rob looked away.
‘I walked on eggshells,’ she went on. ‘I never felt fully seen or understood.’
He swallowed. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t realise.’
‘I know. I wanted to be enough for you, but I think deep down we both knew I wasn’t what you really wanted either.’
Rob’s eyes glistened. ‘That’s not true.’
She gave him a small, sad smile. ‘Isn’t it?’
He pressed his palms to his forehead. ‘I’m scared, Pippa.’
She was scared too. She’d never pictured herself single, having to set up home all by herself, but underneath the nerves, there was a thrill. No more pretending, no more holding back – she could finally, fully, unapologetically just be herself.
He continued. ‘I’m scared of being alone … of not having someone. You were the constant. The plan. The person I told people I’d grow old with and now…’ He broke off. ‘Now I don’t know what comes next.’
Pippa’s heart clenched, because she understood that fear. She’d lived in it for months. But staying because of fear wasn’t love. It was survival, and that wasn’t enough.
‘I hear you,’ she said quietly. ‘But you don’t want to be with someone who’s only half-present. Who’s constantly second-guessing everything. Who ran away on your wedding day.’
They sat looking at each other in silence again. From the corner of her eye, Pippa saw Betty, the café owner, bustling towards her. Her expression was apologetic, her apron dusted with flour. She clasped her hands together as she stood at the side of the bench.
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she said, her voice carrying instant warmth. ‘But I thought you ought to know. The island’s about to go into isolation.’
Pippa blinked. ‘Isolation?’
Betty nodded gravely. ‘The weather is going to get worse. Severe storms are coming, and with the continuous rainfall the causeway will soon disappear. It will be closing in the next half-hour, and once it’s closed, there’ll be no way on or off the island until the weather clears. It could be days.’
‘Half an hour?’
‘That’s right.’ Betty gave her a kind but firm smile. ‘Things can get very tough with rough weather on the island.’
Before Pippa could reply, another voice chimed in.
Clemmie bustled up beside Betty. ‘Granny’s right.
There’s just been an announcement by the coastguard.
The last time it was closed was last winter.
Snow up to your knees. People sledging down Lighthouse Lane and the cliff path!
’ She laughed at the memory. ‘But don’t worry, they’re already stocking up on supplies.
I just passed the lorry. Bread, milk, tins of soup, even loo rolls are being delivered. ’
‘The point is, if you don’t want to be stuck here, you’ll need to leave soon. There’ll be no going anywhere until it’s over,’ urged Betty.
Pippa nodded, but the only thought to cross her mind was that she didn’t want to go anywhere. All she could think about was staying, which would give her time to breathe, if that was possible.
Betty gave her shoulder a gentle pat, then she and Clemmie retreated to the counter inside. Rob immediately leaned forward towards the camera, urgency in his eyes. ‘I heard all that. You should go right now. Go home, I’ll catch a flight back, let’s talk about this.’
‘Rob…’
‘This is our chance, Pip. Let’s sort things out, start afresh. You and me, just like before. Please.’ His voice was desperate now.
Her chest ached at the plea and for a moment, she let herself imagine it: saying yes. By nightfall she could be back home surrounded by familiar furniture and routines. Safe. Predictable. The thought made her feel suffocated.
‘I can’t. I don’t want to. I’m sorry.’
The words hung in the air between them, heavy and final.
Rob swallowed hard. ‘So that’s it?’
She nodded. ‘That’s it.’
Betty’s voice came through the open window as she hollered to the customers in the café. ‘There is a bus leaving in five minutes from the stop just outside on Lighthouse Lane. This will be the last bus off the island. If you’re not on that bus, you could be stranded for days.’
For a moment, Rob looked like he might argue again. But then something in him crumpled. ‘You’re really going to stay there?’
‘I am.’
‘You don’t have to do this.’
‘I think I do. I think I need to find out who I am when I’m not trying so hard to be everything for someone else.’ She paused and gave a small smile. ‘Besides, how many people get the excuse to be rained in on a tiny island? It’s ridiculous but it feels a bit … liberating.’
He didn’t smile back. ‘You’re throwing us away.’
‘I’m letting go,’ she corrected softly. ‘There’s a difference.’
Without another word, he hung up.
Pippa sat for a moment, the café noise carrying on in the background, but muffled.
She let the momentous decision she’d just made settle into her bones.
She’d half expected to feel wrung out, devastated, like she’d lost the last ten years of her life in one blow.
Instead, she felt … quiet. Sad, yes, but also strangely lighter.
‘Are you staying or going?’ asked Clemmie, popping her head back through the door.
‘Staying. I just hope they can extend my stay at Clockmaker’s Cottage.’
‘I’m sure that won’t be a problem under the circumstances. If you need anything just shout.’
‘Thank you, I will.’ Pippa stood up and watched people running towards the bus.
She had no desire to join them, and after watching the bus pull away a moment later, she turned and headed towards the lighthouse to catch up with Theo.
Rain was falling even more heavily now, the street already thinning of people, everyone hurrying to get home or finish their errands before the causeway closed.
She’d made her choice. She was staying. Not because she was reckless. Not because she wanted to run away from reality again. But because she needed this: time, space, and maybe even the ridiculous adventure of being stranded.
Yet she knew the real reason was that she wanted to spend a little more time with Theo.