Chapter Twenty-Six
The people of Polcarrow took their Easter egg hunt more seriously than Effie had imagined possible. When they arrived at the church hall, tables were set up with registration forms on one side and on another someone was patiently waiting for the returners to come in and count their eggs.
‘They’re not real eggs,’ Jake explained as they lined up to register for the event, ‘just little wooden ones that have been kicking around for donkey’s years. The person who collects the most gets the prize. Mum’s had Dad up since the crack of dawn helping to hide them.’
They shuffled to the front of the queue. ‘So, you know all the best hiding places?’ Effie asked.
Jake nodded. ‘I like to think so. Hi, Mum, Effie and I are entering.’
Jan glanced up at them, her eyes swinging from Jake to Effie and back again, something hopeful gleaming in them. ‘Jake, you know the rules,’ she warned.
‘But it’s Eff’s first year. It’s only fair she has a go.’
Jan cast her eye at Jake’s bucket. ‘You’ll have to leave that behind. I don’t want to be accused of favouritism.’
‘Oh, come on, Mum, just this once. Anyway, I was planning on letting the kids win. They’ve already had a head start.’
Jan considered the entry lists. ‘Oh, go on, but I made sure your dad hid the eggs really well,’ she said as she wrote their names on the list. ‘Meet back here at four for the grand reveal.’
‘Three hours?’ Effie asked as they walked away, ‘How many eggs are there?’
‘Lots. Mum takes this very seriously. It’s always been run by the family. My grannie did it before her. Come on, let’s get out of here, time to go hunting!’
‘Who painted all these?’ Effie asked as she plucked an egg out of a flower pot. It was chipped and slightly worn, but the purple dots still showed against the yellow background.
‘Mum and Grandad. I spent school holidays helping him touch them up. Mum now does it. Think my great-grandparents were involved as well.’
Effie dropped the egg into her bucket along with the others she’d found. Judging by the scant few rattling around in the bottom, the village children must’ve swept through already. ‘That’s really sweet. It’s nice to have something like this in the family. Will you carry it on one day?’
Jake paused. ‘I hadn’t really thought about that.
Gosh. I mean, it’d be a shame to let it stop.
Mum has a few years in her yet, but she definitely dropped enough hints about settling down and getting involved in village life.
I don’t know . . . it’s . . . a lot. Do you fancy an ice cream? ’ he asked, changing the subject.
‘Sure, I think we’ve earned one,’ Effie said as she followed him down to the harbour where an ice cream van was doing a steady trade. ‘What are you having?’ she asked as they perused the menu.
‘A ninety-nine with chocolate sauce and sprinkles,’ Jake said.
‘Ooh chocolate sauce? Hmm . . . I’m a raspberry sauce girl.’
‘Do you want sprinkles?’
‘Why are you even asking?’ Effie feigned outrage.
Jake paid for the two ice creams and they wandered down the harbour wall to where it was a bit quieter. Perching on it, they kept one eye on the seagulls as they tucked into their ice creams.
‘First Mr Whippy of the season,’ Effie groaned happily, ‘so, so good. Oi, shoo, shoo, Mr Seagull. So, I take it your mum wants you to settle back here then? What do you want?’
‘Yeah, she does. Jason runs a surf school in Newquay, so he’s still on Cornish soil. Has a girlfriend but no sign of a ring yet, even with baby Cara on the scene. Mum is desperate for a wedding.’
‘Was she disappointed when you split up with your fiancée?’
Jake considered this. ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure she ever liked Tara that much. Thought she was a bit flash. And she was. But she knew what she liked and what she wanted, you have to admire that.’
‘What happened?’ Effie asked gently, curious to know what had really led Jake back home, what had really gone on between them.
‘I think I grew out of it to be honest. Everything became more about the brand than who we were. It didn’t feel equal.
To start with, it was about the two of us, but as commissions came in I was relegated to being the cute boyfriend, I stopped having a personality of my own in a way.
Tara’s just overtook everything.’ He gave a hollow laugh.
‘People loved us together but all that did was drive us apart. We met at university, one of those couples who got together in freshers’ week and were then inseparable.
I know! So annoying,’ Jake chuckled as he licked his ice cream.
Effie’s heart caught as she watched the fond memories scudding across his face. She felt a sharp pang in her chest from not having found love at university like everyone else seemed to.
‘After graduating we tried to settle down, act like grown-ups, but we both desperately wanted to see the world. So, that’s what happened.
Tara started off with a blog and slowly opportunities to endorse products and places came in.
I’m not going to lie, it was fun, so much fun, but after a few years, well, it was a job.
Yes, the locations were pretty, but the hours were long.
People don’t see all that. Early mornings, outfit changes in little Italian alleyways, catching all sorts of flights.
Twenty-four hours to fit in three cities, make it look like we were there for a week.
Still, we earned enough to buy our own place in Bristol.
‘I thought that would slow things down for both of us. We were successful and comfortable. We’d come back to the UK and within weeks, get itchy feet again.
I know Tara’s contacts helped me develop my photography following, and I am grateful for that, as I wanted less and less to do with being in front of the camera but sometimes I’d have liked to have earned it on my own merit.
’ Jake turned to Effie and gave her a long look as he considered what to say next.
He paused to lick chocolate sauce off his fingers. ‘Mum’s been great. I think because she finally has me home. I never thought I’d end up back here. I always wanted to see what was over the horizon.’
‘Cornwall can seem very small and far away from the rest of the world when you’re younger,’ Effie said, her voice strained as she tried to sort out her own feelings on Jake’s reveal.
‘I’m sorry your relationship didn’t work out.
It couldn’t have been easy.’ She didn’t ask the questions she really wanted to: was he still in love with Tara?
Were they actually over for good? She couldn’t help but feel he was holding something back from her.
Jake shook his head. ‘No, it wasn’t. It’s tricky to have to pack up and start again. Find my feet.’
Effie considered him as she crunched through her chocolate flake.
Her heart had been swelling more and more each day with feelings for him, but was he ready for a relationship?
She had to stop with the wild fantasies until she knew where they both stood.
She’d been burned before. Instead, she asked, ‘Do you think you’ll stay here? ’
Jake glanced at her, taking her in, his eyes skimming down her face thoughtfully.
‘Honestly? I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on coming back permanently but now .
. .’ He trailed off with a shrug. ‘I’m weighing up my options.
It’s tempting to stay, I mean, look at it—’ he signalled to the view ‘—but, am I throwing away possibilities? There’s still so much stuff unfinished with Tara.
It’s not easy to talk or sort it out when she’s in different time zones. ’
‘It must be hard for a relationship to be over after you’ve been through so much together,’ Effie said.
Beside her, Jake shifted awkwardly. ‘The thing is, Effie, I don’t know if we are over.’
Her heart skidded to a halt. ‘What do you mean?’
Jake’s eyes skittered everywhere else other than meeting hers.
‘The thing is . . . well . . . there is so much to unpack. So much to sort out. We’ve been together over ten years; it didn’t feel right just to throw it all away because I was feeling a bit lost. So, we decided to take a break, see how we felt when everything had calmed down. ’
‘A break. Right.’ Effie swallowed down the truth, her heart sinking as he threw cold water over her romantic hopes.
At least she knew where she stood. Realising their split wasn’t quite as clear cut as she’d previously believed, Effie drew back.
As she fumbled around for the right words, a seagull swooped in and snatched the remainder of her ice cream cone from her hands.
With a scream, she jumped, half off the wall and half into Jake’s arms.
‘Woah!’ He steadied her. ‘You OK? He was a bruiser.’
Effie righted herself, clinging to his strong arms, feeling safe in the way he was gripping on to her, anchoring her. Her heart raced. ‘Yes, I think so now,’ she exhaled, her legs a bit wobbly. ‘I should’ve been paying attention.’
Jake cracked a smile. ‘I shouldn’t have been distracting you.’
‘Oh, I don’t know, it was a nice distraction,’ she dared.
Jake seemed to soften. Effie watched him chew over her words.
Their gazes tangled and the heat from his fingers was charged against her hips.
Effie leaned in ever so slightly, just at the same time as Jake did.
The natural urge to kiss him buzzed on her lips.
Jake swayed forward slightly before jolting back.
‘Effie, I—’ he began, his energy jittery.
Before Jake could finish what he was going to say, another seagull swept in over their heads, cawing and snatching at the ice cream cone Jake had discarded as he’d leapt to Effie’s defence, saving her from making a huge mistake by giving in to the temptation to kiss him.
‘I think we better get out of here.’ He gave her hips a squeeze before stepping back and gathering up their baskets.
Effie watched him head away from the harbour, feeling adrift now that their cosy afternoon of Easter egg hunting had turned slightly frosty.
At least he’d been honest, she guessed, albeit in a roundabout sort of way.
Effie zipped up her jacket to keep out the chill and followed him, sneaking a glance back at the pesky seagulls as she went, who were devouring the ice cream cones as if they’d never seen food before.