‘Time to give those cobwebs a dusting, Barnaby,’ Cara says, walking through the living room and scooping her hair into a ponytail. Needing no further encouragement, the Labrador gets off his bed and trots across the room after his mistress.
It’s a quiet and still day on The Lizard. Cara stands at the open porch door and breathes in the scenery. She never tires of this view. In any season it offers solace and a realigning of the soul. The tide is out and the beach is empty, apart from a lone dog walker and a young family setting up camp for a picnic. Powder-puff clouds dot an ice-blue sky and a weak sun attempts to provide warmth to the people on the beach. Will America offer this? She banishes the thought from her mind. Nothing is going to spoil this moment.
Following in Barnaby’s wake, she sets off towards the steps leading down to the beach and smiles at the dog’s ungainly movements as he copes with the wooden treads. Once at the bottom, the Labrador races towards a flock of gulls at the water’s edge, scattering them into the air. With that game over, he turns and wags his tail at a West Highland terrier and a springer spaniel fast approaching to investigate the newcomer on the beach.
Cara steps onto the sand at the base of the cliffs. Turning in the direction of the café, she walks to firmer sand, left wet by the outgoing tide, and breaks into a jog. Barnaby tears himself away from his new-found friends and races across the sand towards her, the spaniel in hot pursuit. Together, the dogs run wide circles around Cara.
This is good. This shakes things up and helps her to see her way forward more clearly. Greg’s keen, that’s for sure, but he cannot expect her to make such a major decision without giving her time to digest all the permutations and ripples it would cause. Moving the family to the States is not something to undertake lightly. She understands his reasoning where her career is concerned – he has the influence and contacts – but is it fair to pluck the children from all they’ve ever known? She hears his voice in her head. ‘Cara, children adapt. It’s only fair you think on a bigger scale for your offspring!’ He used blackmail – in that suave, sophisticated way of his, which never feels like blackmail until after the event – suggesting a lack of imagination on her part might scupper her children’s chances and she owed it to them to expand her horizons. ‘No gain without pain,’ he said, as if she’s never experienced pain in her life. Cara frowns. It’s generous he also thinks of her children, not just her, so why is it so frightening? As her throat constricts, she feels as if she’s suffocating. Slowing her pace, she jogs on the spot to catch her breath. Barnaby and the springer have now been joined by the Westie. This is what it’s all about – out on the beach, being part of nature and enjoying all that the world has to offer for free. For now, she will put Greg’s latest demand out of her mind and simply concentrate on the moment. She sets off once again and the dogs bark with excitement as Cara powers on towards the beach café, her ponytail bouncing from side to side.
*
Sitting on the open decking, protected by the surrounding glass panels from any hint of a breeze, Oliver unzips his leather biker’s jacket. His mouth has turned dry and his heart hammers against his chest. It is her jogging towards the café. He was looking along the cove towards The Lookout on the cliffs when he saw her appear on the sand at the far end of the beach. At that distance he wasn’t sure if it was her. Was it just wishful thinking? But when the Yellow Labrador joined her, he knew for sure.
Oliver watches Cara jog along the sand, circled by Barnaby and two other dogs, and his heart swells with love for this woman who so unexpectedly entered his life. She looks so natural – a free spirit, at one with the elements – and he remembers how she seemed to him as a guardian angel fallen to earth. As she runs towards his end of the beach, talking and playing with the dogs, he notices how each animal responds to her. It doesn’t surprise him, the effect she has on all creatures. Cara’s beauty transcends skin-deep. All species recognise it.
‘Can I get you anything else?’ Janine asks, approaching his table.
Coming down to earth with a jolt, Oliver glances up. Before he’s had a chance, his face gives away his emotions.
‘Oh!’ Janine says, her eyes opening wide. Turning in the direction of the beach, she sees Cara running towards the café. ‘Windows to the soul, Oliver,’ she says, turning back to him. ‘You have to do something. Go to her.’
Oliver shakes his head sadly.
‘Look, I know it has nothing to do with me,’ Janine says, briefly hesitating before hurrying on, ‘but I can’t just sit by and let two beautiful souls screw up the opportunities presented to them.’ She moves to the edge of the decking as if to shout to Cara.
‘No, Janine,’ Oliver says more harshly than intended. ‘Let it be.’
Janine turns to him, a look of consternation on her face. ‘But why? It’s so obvious to everyone who knows you two.’
‘As you know, I’m married… with a family.’
And I’m a good-for-nothing depressive. I can’t offer her anything.
An anguished moan escapes Janine’s throat.
‘Timing,’ says Oliver sadly. ‘It sucks.’
Turning back to the beach, Janine sees Cara drawing nearer by the second. ‘Well, if you don’t want her to see you then I suggest you move inside now.’
With his heart screaming to stay and his feet reluctant to move, Oliver rises to his feet.
‘Now, Oliver!’ Janine says through the side of her mouth.
Forcing his mind to override his emotions, Oliver slips behind the open archway just as Cara arrives at the steps to the decking.
‘So, what’s with the gruelling workout?’ asks Janine in as casual a voice as she can muster.
Bent double, Cara glances up at her friend. ‘Hang on a mo…’ she pants.
Arriving at the decking seconds later, Barnaby trots up the steps and weaves his way through the tables.
‘Barnaby, here!’ Cara calls out after her dog. ‘Sorry, Janine.’
Janine watches as the Labrador looks round the pillars of the open archway leading to the café.
‘Hello, Barns, old boy,’ whispers Oliver, crouching down and holding out his hand. The dog eyes him soulfully, and then its tail wags vigorously as it moves towards him. ‘Don’t give me away. It’s our secret,’ Oliver says, affectionately rubbing Barnaby’s head. Immediately, the dog rolls onto its back with its legs in the air.
‘Barns, come!’ Cara calls out more forcefully. ‘Honestly, Janine, I don’t know what’s got into him.’ She makes to step up onto the decking.
‘Oh, don’t worry about him,’ says Janine, blocking her move. ‘He’ll come back when he’s ready. So, how are things? How’s that commission coming along?’
‘It’s the largest piece I’ve ever done and quite a challenge, but I’m getting there.’
‘So you thought a run would give you a break from it?’
‘Greg’s putting on the pressure and I needed to clear my mind.’
‘Oh, tell him to go hang,’ says Janine with some passion. ‘Seriously, who does he think he is?’
‘Only a highly respected art critic and someone who’s opened up the art world for me, Janine.’
‘I guess so, but he shouldn’t manipulate you so.’
‘I think “manipulate” is being a bit strong,’ Cara says, giving her friend an odd look.
Janine arches an eyebrow. ‘Probably. What do I know? I’m just the owner of a beach café.’
‘You’re a lot more than that, and you know it.’ Glancing at her watch, Cara rises up onto the first step. ‘Where is that dog? I have to pick up the kids soon.’
‘How’s that darling little man of yours?’ asks Janine, aware that Oliver can hear every word.
‘Oh, just gorgeous! I have never known a baby so happy and content. Beth and Sky were pretty good at that age, but Toby wins hands down. He hasn’t been a moment’s trouble. I am so blessed.’
Behind the pillar Oliver stops breathing.
Janine smiles kindly. ‘Yes, you are.’
‘Where has that dog got to?’ Cara peers around Janine’s body. ‘Barnaby, here!’
From lying supine, the Labrador clambers to his feet. Gently, Oliver pushes him away.
‘Oh, there you are!’
Barnaby halts in the archway and glances back at Oliver before taking a step towards his mistress.
Cara frowns. ‘Barns, what have you been up to? Come here.’ Placing her hand on the fur at his neck, she steps down onto the sand. ‘Bye, Janine.’ Without looking back, Cara sets off at a jog once again.
‘You can come out now,’ says Janine.
Oliver steps out from behind the pillar. ‘What pressure is Greg applying?’ he asks.
‘Not entirely sure,’ says Janine thoughtfully.
Standing together on the decking, they watch Cara run along the sand with her faithful dog at her side. From out of nowhere, the spaniel joins them.
*
Cara is almost at the end of the beach when a middle-aged man approaches. He calls to the spaniel, and she stops.
‘Thanks for exercising my dog!’ he says with a smile.
‘He’s a handsome springer,’ says Cara.
‘That he is,’ the man says, ‘and he knows it.’
Against the ice-blue sky, a bright red kite skitters on a high breeze. It catches Cara’s eye and she follows its journey through the air, observing the young lad holding onto the end of its string. Suddenly, beyond the boy, a figure in the café’s car park grabs her attention. A helmeted biker, dressed in black leathers, straddles a shiny black motorbike. There’s something familiar and it niggles frustratingly at the edge of her consciousness.
‘Come on, Rex,’ says the dog walker, grabbing hold of the spaniel’s collar. ‘Time to go home.’
Cara can’t take her eyes off the figure on the bike. She’s certain the biker’s not casually looking along the beach but keenly regarding her. Tristan rides a motorbike, but it’s not him. Anyway, he would have ridden straight up the track to The Lookout. Who is it? She doesn’t feel threatened by the biker’s interest. Suddenly, the figure turns away and, the next minute, the motorbike crosses the car park towards the lane leading out of the cove. With a throaty roar, it disappears up the hill.
Cara surveys the now-empty scene, feeling strangely bereft. She turns in the direction of The Lookout.
‘Come on, Barns,’ she says, glancing down at the Labrador waiting patiently at her side. ‘Race you to the steps. First one there gets a biscuit.’