The Perfect Hero (36 page)

Kay didn’t say anything for a moment. She bit her lip, knowing that she wanted to push this further but also knowing that Nana Craig wasn’t going to be pushed and so she left the little cottage.

As she walked down the pathway through the garden, she turned back and saw Nana Craig standing in the doorway, her face as pale and anxious as she was sure her own was.

Kay didn’t like to admit it but she knew that there was some sense in what Nana Craig had said. She wasn’t being fair on Adam. She
had
just been thinking about herself but that didn’t mean that her feelings were muddled and confused. She’d never felt more sure of anything in her life and the thought of waiting to see Adam was unbearable. But, as she returned home, she had an idea. There was one way she was sure Adam would see her – and sooner rather than later too. He’d promised to help her with her book and he was a man of his word.

All she had to do now was finish it.

Chapter Forty-Six

Kay wasn’t sure how many hours she spent finishing her paintings but it was the end of June when she had something that she was happy with. Sitting at the dining room table, she surveyed her work. Adam was going to be surprised, wasn’t he?

Kay sat back in her chair for a moment. It was quite an achievement, and even if nobody else in the world so much as glanced at them, she could feel proud.

Now, the question was, what to do with them?

During the last few weeks, Kay had followed Nana Craig’s advice and had thrown herself into her work. Not only had she been working on her paintings but she’d been making progress with the B & B, advertising it locally and nationally and creating her own website too. The bookings had come flooding in and three of the rooms were booked now and the summer holidays looked as if they were going to be very busy indeed. Her future in Lyme Regis seemed assured.

But, other than leaving a message for him telling him that she was okay, she hadn’t spoken to Adam. Not that she hadn’t wanted to, but she’d respected Nana Craig’s advice and had given both him and herself time to think. She’d half-expected to bump into him around town and was always disappointed when she didn’t. She’d spent hours walking around the harbour and the Cobb, and on Monmouth Beach at low tide. She’d even driven to the beach at Charmouth a couple of times, hoping to see his figure bent double in search of fossils, but it was as if he had disappeared from the world entirely.

‘Like Oli,’ she said to herself. She hadn’t heard from him either, which didn’t come as a surprise. Since he’d gone, she hadn’t been able to look at her sketches of Captain Wentworth because they’d all resembled Oli. She’d hidden them all away in the chest at the end of her bed. She hadn’t been able to read
Persuasion
either – until last night.

This is ridiculous,
she’d thought. How dare she let a man who obviously didn’t care a jot for her ruin one of her favourite reading pleasures. And so she’d spent the entire evening reading her beloved book again, trying desperately not to picture Oli as Captain Wentworth. Instead, she’d imagined someone with dark hair and kind eyes. Someone who looked a lot like Adam.

Now, scraping her chair back, she raced to the phone in the hall. It was time to ring him. She picked up the phone and swallowed hard. She put the phone down again. Her throat was suddenly horribly dry. She ran through to the kitchen and quickly filled a glass of water, downing its contents, and then she returned to the phone. Why was this so difficult? Adam was her friend, wasn’t he? No, she thought, he wasn’t. They’d passed the barrier of friendship and things were different now.

‘But I can make this work,’ she said, picking up the phone again. ‘I have to make this work.’

She heard the phone ring and willed it not to go to voicemail. It didn’t.

‘Hello?’ a voice said. Adam’s voice.

‘Hello?’ Kay croaked.

‘Kay?’

‘Yes!’

‘How are you? I’ve been thinking about you.’

‘You have?’

‘Of course I have. I’ve been worried. You never called again,’ he said.

‘You never called again either!’ she said.

‘I thought you needed some time – you know,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I guess I did.’

‘Is everything okay?’

‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘I just wondered if I could see you.’

There was a lengthy pause and Kay felt the full weight of it. He didn’t want to see her, did he?

‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘I understand.’ She was just about to put the phone down when he interrupted her.

‘No, Kay! It’s just . . . I can’t get away from home. It’s Sir Walter. He’s on some medication at the moment and is a bit groggy. I don’t really want to leave him.’

Kay sighed in relief. ‘I can come out to you if you like.’

‘Really?’

‘Only I don’t know where you live.’

Adam quickly told her the address, giving her some obscure directions involving wooded tracks she wasn’t to mistake for roads and cattle grids she wasn’t to drive over.

‘Are you sure I’ll find the place?’ she asked.

‘I hope you will,’ he said and that was encouragement enough.

‘Right,’ Kay said once she’d put the phone down. Her paintings were in tip-top order, but was she? She looked at herself in the hallway mirror and grimaced and then ran upstairs to run a brush through her hair, instantly sending it into flyaway chaos. Next to go were the paint-splattered jeans and the shirt she’d put on once her bed and breakfast guests had left for the day. She opened the wardrobe and had the usual dilemma of having absolutely nothing to wear. Making the best of a bad lot, she reached in and pulled out a white cotton dress printed with sepia flowers and butterflies. Placing her feet in a pair of pale gold sandals, she went back downstairs and put her paintings into a neat portfolio. She was ready.

Driving through the Marshwood Vale was far preferable a task in the day than it was at night. The woods were bright and Kay looked in wonder at the acid green beech trees that lined the lanes.

She was glad that she had Adam’s directions otherwise she might have taken one or two wrong turns by now. The endless lanes were labyrinthine and it would be easy to end up going round in circles but, finally spotting the cattle grid, she knew she’d reached her destination: Willow Cottage.

It was the sweetest house she’d ever seen. Okay, so it wasn’t picture-perfect like Nana Craig’s thatched cottage but it had a strength of character that was very appealing with its rosy red bricks, sweet chimney pots and tiny windows.

She parked the car in the driveway behind Adam’s and got out, straightening her dress and flattening down her hair which had no doubt gone flyaway again as she’d been driving with her window open. Going round to the boot of the car, she opened it and retrieved her portfolio.

Adam had told her to go round to the back door and she did, finding it open.

‘Hello?’ she called, popping her head into a tiny but bright kitchen. It had a terracotta tiled floor and pale wood cabinets and Kay smiled as she saw a beautiful royal blue Aga. She could easily imagine early mornings in this kitchen, warming her bottom against the Aga whilst nursing a cup of tea in her hands and looking out across the garden to the fields.

I’m not to do this any more,
she told herself.
I’m not to daydream! It’s real life for me from now on.

She took a deep breath and called again. ‘Adam?’

She heard a sudden sound of footsteps on stairs coming from somewhere in the heart of the cottage.

‘Kay?’ He appeared in the kitchen wearing an indigo-coloured shirt which made his eyes dark and intense behind his glasses and his hair looked damp. ‘I’ve just had a shower,’ he explained. ‘Been digging in the garden.’ He nodded to a patch of bare earth. ‘There’s a lot of work to do.’

Kay turned round. ‘It’s a lovely garden,’ she said. ‘That’s one of the downsides of living in town – my small courtyard only has room for a washing line and a pot of geraniums.’

‘Come in!’ he said, staring at her portfolio. ‘What’s that?’

‘Some paintings,’ Kay said. ‘You said you’d take a look at them for me.’

‘Oh, right,’ Adam said. ‘Of course.’ He led the way through to the dining room but Kay didn’t quite get that far.

‘Oh, is this Sir Walter?’ she asked as a very furry animal wound its way around her legs.

‘Ah, yes – this is him.’

Kay bent down to tickle his head. ‘He’s gorgeous! How’s he feeling?’

‘Still a bit groggy but he’s just had something to eat which is a good sign.’

‘He’s not at all snooty like Sir Walter in
Persuasion
,’ Kay said.

‘That’s because he’s charming you,’ Adam told her. ‘But he does a very fine line in snooty, believe me!’

She followed Adam through to the dining room and Sir Walter decided that he would join them.

Adam motioned to the table and Kay placed her portfolio on it, opening it up for his inspection. She twisted her fingers together as he flipped through the paintings. What would he think of them? Had she been fooling herself all these years with her dream of becoming an artist?

Adam’s forehead furrowed in concentration and Kay bit her lip. His eyes looked so intense and she was anxious that meant she was no good and that he was trying to form the right words to tell her.
Oh, God,
she thought.
I’ve made an absolute fool of myself. These silly watercolours should be no more than a hobby – a secret hobby which I shouldn’t inflict on other innocent people!

Finally, Adam looked up. ‘These are lovely,’ he said. ‘All of them. They’re beautiful.’

‘You think so? You
really
think so? You’re not just saying that to be polite?’

‘No!’ he said. ‘Why would I do that? But what happened to the illustrations you were doing? I was expecting to see your book
The Illustrated Darcy
here.’

Kay waved her hand. ‘I’ve put those away,’ she said.

Adam frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’m afraid I got a bit disillusioned with fictional heroes. I think it’s time I stopped daydreaming about Mr Darcy and Captain Wentworth. I want to paint something real now, you know? And I just felt it was time to move on and explore something new.’

Adam nodded. ‘And they’re wonderful. Look how you’ve caught the Cobb here. The early-morning light is just perfect. And Monmouth Beach too. And this one of Charmouth. They’re all lovely, Kay.’

‘I’ve sold some too.’

‘Really?’

‘Just to guests,’ she said. ‘But I was wondering if you knew of any galleries round here that might be interested. That’s why I’m here.’ She stopped and looked down at the floor.

‘What is it?’ Adam asked her.

Taking a deep breath, Kay looked up at him. ‘That’s not why I’m here,’ she said. ‘Well, not really. I mean, I do want your advice and I’d love to have your help with this because I really don’t know what I’m doing but it’s kind of an excuse to see you.’

‘Did you need an excuse?’ he asked. ‘I told you to call me whenever you wanted. You don’t need an excuse, Kay.’

‘But Nana Craig told me you need some space – you know – after the film crew left.’

‘Did she?’

Kay nodded. ‘And I guessed that was true when you didn’t call me again.’

‘But I thought
you
need some space.’

‘Well, I guess I did but I really wanted to see you too.’

‘And I wanted to see you!’ He smiled, a beautiful shy smile. ‘Look,’ he said after a pause, ‘I’ve been wanting to say sorry about – well, I shouldn’t have – you know – made a move on you.’

‘You didn’t!’ Kay said. ‘I made a move on you. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I mean, I
should
have because you’re wonderful and . . .’ She covered her face with her hands. ‘Oh, I’m making such a mess of this!’

Adam took a step towards her. ‘No you’re not.’

‘It’s just that I don’t know what to say to you. I feel so embarrassed about the way I’ve behaved.’

‘You don’t need to be embarrassed,’ he said, ‘and you don’t need to keep apologising either.’

‘But I do! I’ve been so rude to you, Adam, and so blind too! And you’ve been nothing but kind to me. I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. I guess I was so busy trying to fix you up with Gemma that I didn’t see how perfect you were for me.’

They stared at each other for a long moment and Kay suddenly felt very shy. Adam was the first one to speak.

‘I know I’m not a hero,’ he said. ‘I know I’m not in the same mould as the Oli Wade Owens of the world—’

‘But that’s a good thing!’ Kay interrupted. ‘I don’t think I was ever really in love with Oli. I think it was Captain Wentworth I fell for.’ She sighed. ‘Anyway, I fictionalised Oli. I turned him into a hero that he clearly wasn’t. Or, at least, he wasn’t
my
hero. I don’t know – I seem to have spent my life fantasising about fictional men. But I want something real now. I want something . . .’ She paused but she never got the chance to finish her sentence because Adam stepped forward and took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Kay felt herself sway but not because she was tipsy this time but because she was deliriously happy.

‘Was that real enough for you?’ Adam asked a moment later.

Kay laughed in surprise. ‘I’m . . . I’m not sure. I think you might have to run that by me again.’

And so he did.

Chapter Forty-Seven

Three months later

Kay and Adam walked along the Cobb hand in hand. It was a cool September morning and Kay stuffed her other hand in the pocket of her jacket. Her fingers found a small round metal object and she instantly knew what it was. It was Captain Wentworth’s button. She took it out and glanced at it briefly before throwing her arm back and flinging it into the sea below them.

‘What was that?’ Adam asked.

‘My past,’ Kay said and she rested her head on his shoulder for a moment.

She felt him kiss the top of her head and she couldn’t help picturing them walking along the Cobb together in the years to come. She could just imagine two little children – miniature images of themselves with their tiny hands clasped in theirs. Maybe they would even bring grandchildren here one day with her and Adam shuffling along the length of the Cobb behind their Zimmer frames.