Chapter 25
Ed led Frankie along the busy road then ducked down the alley next to the cookery school. ‘Down here?’ she asked with a frown as they rounded the next corner and into the alley behind the row of shops and flats.
‘This is the only entrance to the flat,’ he told her as he set down the pile of bags and fumbled in his front pocket for his keys.
He unlocked one half of the enormous gates that secured the yard and ushered her in.
‘That’s the back door to Prime Catch.’ He nodded to the frosted door on the left.
‘We need to go up here. Watch your step.’ Although there were non-slip strips on the treads, the metal stairs leading up to the flat entrance could still be tricky.
He unlocked the door and let her in. ‘Here we are. Shoes off, if you don’t mind,’ he added quickly as he toed off his trainers and hung his coat up on one of the hooks.
‘Harry lived with Ma and Pa for a few years and now he’s worse than her when it comes to being house-proud. ’
He moved out of the way and made room for her to leave her ankle boots on the mat next to his trainers. ‘This is nice,’ she said, admiration clear in her voice as she looked around her. ‘I wasn’t expecting it to be so big.’
‘Kitchen’s through there.’ Ed nodded in one direction then turned and walked the opposite way. ‘This is Harry and Kat’s room.’ He tapped the closed door as he passed it. ‘Bathroom here, that’s storage.’ He walked into the lounge with its big skylight window that bathed the room in sunshine.
‘Oh, wow, it’s really lovely.’ Frankie paused next to the pretty tree with blue and silver decorations standing in the corner. ‘This is so cute.’ She turned in a slow circle. ‘It’s bigger than my flat in London.’
‘Really?’
Frankie nodded. ‘It’s big enough just for me and I’m away as much as I’m there.
There’s a really nice park and a Tube station within easy walking distances so I was prepared to sacrifice a bit of space for a better location.
’ She sighed. ‘That park isn’t going to seem nearly so nice after having the luxury of the beach at the bottom of my garden.
’ She laughed. ‘And having a garden itself, even if it’s been too cold to enjoy it much.
I bet it’s gorgeous in the summer when everything’s in full bloom. ’
‘It really is.’ Ed resisted the temptation to say she’d be able to see it for herself.
There was no guarantee Matt would be able to get the cottage back and even if he did, there was no guarantee Frankie would set foot back in Halfmoon Quay after she left.
And even less likelihood that Ed would be around if she did.
No looking to the future, he reminded himself as he opened the door behind him.
‘Here’s the room I know you really want to see,’ he said with a grin as he pushed it wide to show her the bed he’d made sure to make neatly that morning, just in case.
Frankie paused at the threshold, still wearing her coat and holding her wreath. ‘Was all this just a plan to lure me into your bedroom?’ she demanded, suspiciously.
‘Of course.’ He took the wreath from her and placed it carefully on top of the dresser. Then held out his hand towards her.
‘I thought you wanted to go and show your support to Harry?’
‘I do, and we will. Just come and lie down with me for five minutes. I feel like I haven’t seen you all day.’ He sat on the edge of the bed, wincing as he stretched out his bad leg.
‘Are you okay?’ Frankie hurried over to stand next to him.
‘I’m fine, it just gets a bit sore when I’ve been on my feet a long time.’ He shuffled himself back until he could lean against his pillows and properly rest both legs on the bed. He patted the space beside him. ‘Five minutes and then we’ll go back down.’
‘Five minutes,’ Frankie agreed as she unzipped her coat and let it fall to the floor before clambering up beside him.
Ed pulled her into his arms and dropped a kiss on the top of her head as she snuggled in next to him.
He didn’t want anything else from her at that moment, only peace and quiet to hold her, to enjoy her being there with him.
He stretched the five minutes a little longer, but knew they’d have to go back.
It wasn’t just that he wanted to call in on Harry, he’d promised Rick he’d do that fundraising too.
With a sigh he sat up straighter and Frankie stirred with him.
‘I almost nodded off there for a minute,’ she said, giving her head a bit of a shake.
‘Are you okay? You can stay here and rest if you want?’ There was no need for her to return to the cold if she didn’t want to.
She smiled at him. ‘No, I’ll be fine once I get back in the fresh air.’
Ed watched her scramble off the bed and gather her coat then eased himself off more carefully.
His leg was better for resting it a minute but still a bit stiff.
He lifted down the wetsuit he’d hung on the front of the wardrobe and laid it out on the bed with a sigh.
Dipping in the cold sea wasn’t going to do his leg much good either.
‘Is that for the splash-for-cash?’ Frankie said as he placed his waterproof robe next to the suit.
‘Yeah. It’s still going to be a bit of a shock to the system, though.’ He straightened his shoulders and told himself to stop sulking about it. ‘But it’s for a worthy cause so I’m happy to do it.’
‘I love how everyone is prepared to do their bit for the community,’ Frankie said as she put her arms around his waist. ‘And I think you’ll deserve a treat this evening.’
Ed grinned as he put his arms around her. ‘Really? What did you have in mind?’
‘Remember when I promised you the other day that I would share one of my bath bombs with you? I reckon a long, hot soak in the tub is just what you’ll need, don’t you?’
‘I certainly do.’ He pulled her close against his chest. ‘And will you scrub my back while you’re at it?’
‘Depends how much money you raise this afternoon. If you can get a hundred pounds added to your bucket then I’ll scrub your back and anything else you like while I’m at it.’
Ed laughed as he lowered his head and claimed a long, slow kiss from her. ‘Challenge accepted.’
* * *
It was a struggle to get through the door of the cookery school because so many people were already in there.
Harry was standing behind the cooking station nearest the door, explaining the ethos of the school, and they found a spot near the back of the crowd gathered around him to listen in.
Though he knew Harry knew his stuff, Ed was surprised at how articulate and confident his twin was.
Harry was severely dyslexic so he couldn’t rely on notes for something like this but would have spent hours practising and rehearsing to learn his spiel off by heart.
Frankie gave him a nudge and stretched up on tiptoe to murmur, ‘He’s really good. ’ Ed nodded and his pride deepened.
Harry’s passion shone through every word.
He didn’t shy away from his own troubles growing up and how big a part Russ had played in helping him navigate his way to the happy, contented life he had now.
‘If I can help just one of these brilliant young people you see behind us forge a successful career then I’ll have done my job,’ Harry concluded.
A round of applause followed, which clearly caught Harry off-guard from the blush rising on his cheeks.
Never one to pass up an opportunity to embarrass his twin, Ed stuck two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle.
Harry’s gaze locked on him immediately and the slight narrowing of his eyes even as Harry laughed told Ed there would be payback at some point.
Ed wanted to chat to him, but so did everyone else, it appeared, so he decided to wait until later. ‘Shall we grab something to eat?’ he suggested to Frankie, who nodded enthusiastically.
‘The smell of fresh pastry is driving me crazy!’
He led her over to the girl who was working at the nearest station. There was a near miss when the girl recognised Frankie and with a shriek of shock almost dropped the tray of sausage rolls she’d just taken out of her oven. ‘Oh my God!’ the girl gasped. ‘It’s really you!’
‘It is,’ Frankie agreed with a smile. ‘Those sausage rolls look amazing and I’m starving. Can I buy one?’
‘O-of course.’ The girl balanced the tray on the counter and quickly transferred the rolls to a cooling rack. ‘How many do you want?’
‘Depends how good they are,’ Frankie replied with a grin. ‘We’ll start with one each and go from there. You made these from scratch, yes? I wish I could bake but I’ve never got around to learning. How long have you been training here?’
Ed happily munched his way through his sausage roll as he watched Frankie put the girl – who they learned through Frankie’s gentle questioning was called Hannah – at ease.
Now she’d got over her initial star-struck shock and was talking about something she was confident about, Hannah was in her element.
Frankie praised the girl and it was clear she was genuinely interested in what Hannah had to say.
By the time they’d finished and Frankie had posed for the obligatory selfie, the two of them were thick as thieves and Frankie had followed Hannah back on Instagram and made her promise to keep her up to date on her training progress.
When they left her workstation, the girl was practically floating on air.
‘I’ll have to talk to all of them,’ Frankie murmured to Ed, then smiled and corrected herself. ‘I want to talk to all of them.’
He checked his watch. ‘Go for it, we’ve got time.
’ Even if they hadn’t, he would’ve waited because it was worth it to see the effect she had.
He hadn’t really thought of her in terms of being a celebrity until they’d been to the garden centre and he’d noticed people noticing her.
It had slipped his mind afterwards because they’d mostly spent time alone together, but the ladies at the wreath-making stall had clearly been fans.
Maybe it was different for him because he’d never watched anything she’d been in and had got to know the real person behind the facade.
And it was a facade, a performance he was watching.
Not that he thought she was being fake, but he knew he was seeing Frankie Webber the TV star and not his Frankie.
Her interest in the kids seemed completely genuine as she asked them about their backgrounds and talked in a down-to-earth way about how hard the job market was in a small village like Halfmoon Quay and how important something like the cookery school was for them.
They tried a bit of everything and when they finally left, they each had a bag full of food.
Ed was sure Rick wouldn’t have found time to eat and Frankie was worried Anya and Chloe might not have had a chance to get away from their stall.
As they walked down the busy street, Ed was much more conscious than before of the double takes and nudged whispers as people recognised Frankie.
She didn’t seem to notice, but he was sure she must be hyperaware of it, given what had happened to her in the past. He took her free hand and squeezed it. ‘You did a good thing back there.’
She beamed up at him. ‘They’re lovely kids. They reminded me a bit of myself growing up. If I hadn’t had drama club, I don’t know where I would’ve ended up.’
He squeezed her hand again. ‘Well, I’m glad you ended up here.’
Anya and Chloe were grateful for the food and Matt and Rick even more so.
They were only too happy to swap a collection bucket for the hot pastries.
Matt inhaled the first pasty in a couple of bites.
‘Oh, that’s good.’ When he found out where they were from he was straight on the phone to Harry, leaving a pleading voicemail for him to please make sure they saved him any of the leftovers.
They left the pair happily munching. Ed looked up and down the still-busy road. ‘I reckon we should head up towards the café, where hopefully there’s a captive audience. Will it bother you being inside where people are more likely to talk to you?’
Frankie shook her head. ‘No, I’ll be fine. We can grab a coffee while we’re there and then head back down the other side of the road. How long have we got until the event is due to start?’
Ed checked his watch. ‘A couple of hours.’ He shook the bucket and it gave a loud rattle. ‘Hundred quid, you said?’
‘That’s right.’
An easy grin spread across his face. ‘Get that loofah ready because I’m going to make the most of it.’