Chapter Fifty-Two
‘Tammy!’
Over the roar of the waves, she caught her name borne on the breeze. From the town end of the beach, a man in a dark suit sprinted across the sand to where she stood with her rake.
‘Tammy!’
‘Ruan?’ she murmured, transfixed by the running figure, his feet splashing through shallow pools, droplets spraying up around him.
She was frozen to the spot as he kept on running towards her.
He doubled up, sucking in breaths. ‘M-my G-God,’ he said between breaths. ‘I’m n-not as fit as I thought I w-as.’
Tammy could have told him differently. His hair was tousled by the wind, his tanned face taut with effort. When he straightened up, her heart squeezed at the sight of this tall, gorgeous man wearing the most ridiculous outfit ever for running along a Cornish beach.
‘Your shoes are soaked,’ she said in a kind of stupefied wonder.
‘Are they?’ He glanced down in amazement at the smart black brogues.
‘You’re right, but I don’t care. Your message only just came through on the hands free while I was stuck in the bloody traffic.
I left my phone in the office while I had a pasty in town and forgot it was on silent after my meetings. ’
‘A pasty?’ Tammy echoed.
‘Yeah. I’d had no lunch and Tammy – I’m sorry I missed it and I’m so late.’
‘You’re not late. Well, you are late, but—’ She turned around. ‘I did a design on the beach and I wanted you to read it but the tide has come in and it’s gone.’
He groaned. ‘Argh, no. I am so sorry. What did it say?’
‘It said …’ She hesitated. ‘It said something I need to say and couldn’t so I wrote it in the sand.’
Ruan looked at her with an expression of joy that made her heart soar. ‘You can tell me now. Face to face.’ He put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Say it out loud or I’ll never know.’
‘It was a kite, a kite flying free.’
He dropped his arms, and his eyes widened in unease. ‘Flying free? Was it a final farewell?’
‘No. No, I hope not. It was meant to be you – and me – letting go of the past. If you still want to. You see, I was afraid that I might be turning into Walter. Too afraid to take a chance again. Too afraid to trust. All my life, I’ve wanted the people I love to stick around and now when they offer to do exactly that, I find it hard to accept. But I want to trust and believe.’
‘You do?’ He stared at her with incredulity. This time, he was the one who wouldn’t believe and that filled her with sadness.
‘Yes. I want someone to stick around. Someone to rely on. Someone who isn’t going to make me love them and then disappear. I want that someone to be you .’
Her eyes stung with salty tears. She tried to blink them away, but they wouldn’t be held back. They spilled down her cheeks, hot and unstoppable.
He enfolded her in his arms, pressing her against the warmth of his body. ‘No. Oh, God. No. I didn’t mean to upset you. That scares me too but I’m not going to let it stop me from making you see how much you mean to me.’
‘Please d-don’t say stuff l-like that. I’ll bl-blub.’
He leaned back and looked into her eyes. His face was blurry through her tears. ‘I think it’s too late for that.’
‘Why do you always make me cry?’ she asked, half laughing too.
‘I don’t mean to. I want to make you smile and laugh.’
Tammy burst out in a grin. ‘You have. I’ve never been happier because now I’m glad you missed the message and I can tell you face to face.’ She took a breath. ‘It said, “I love you”.’
His eyes filled with pure joy. ‘I feel the same,’ he murmured. ‘I’m saying it out loud now. I love you!’
If anyone nearby heard, Tammy had no idea because she and Ruan were too busy kissing each other.
All she knew was the warmth of being held in his arms, how sweet his mouth felt against hers …
how amazing it was, finally, to hold nothing back and give herself up to the pure joy of being with a man she loved with her whole heart and who loved her back.
When the kiss ended, when she could breathe again, she held him and said, ‘I want you to stay in Cornwall. Move in with me, or I’ll move into the caravan with you. We can live in a tent for all I care, as long as you stay and we can be together.’