The Cottage on Sunshine Beach: An utterly gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy Read online

  Sirius leapt towards a seagull barking and yapping and Jamie stopped taking photos and knelt to reprimand the puppy.

  ‘Sirius Black. That seagull has every right to be on this beach, in fact he probably has more right than you do. You can’t bark at him for being in his own home.’

  Sirius sat down and cocked his head as he stared at Jamie, as if he was really listening to him and taking on board everything he was saying. Melody suppressed a giggle as the lecture continued.

  Jamie stood back up and sighed. ‘There’s puppy training classes starting on Saturday, in the town hall. Thought we could go together?’

  Her heart leapt at what sounded like a date but then dropped again when she realised it wasn’t a date at all. Having puppies that were brothers, it made sense to go with one another, especially as they had bonded over the last two months with nursing the puppies together.

  ‘That sounds like a good idea.’

  ‘I need to start leaving Sirius at home soon. As much as I love having him at work with me, Harry, Ron and Hermione are getting jealous that he gets to come to work with me every day and they don’t,’ Jamie said, talking about his three other dogs. ‘And don’t even get me started on Dobby.’

  Dobby was Jamie’s pet turkey who, having been raised with three dogs, was clearly convinced he was one too.

  ‘Is Dobby jealous of Sirius too?’ Melody said, trying not to laugh.

  ‘He’s not exactly happy about there being a new arrival at Meadow Cottage; he keeps stealing his dog food. Sirius loves him of course – well, loves to chase him – and Dobby isn’t happy about that either.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ Melody said, trying and failing to keep the smirk from her face.

  ‘It’s carnage in my house right now; I barely get a moment’s peace.’

  They were approaching Starfish Court, a small cobbled courtyard just off the beach that held a collection of arty shops: her jewellery shop, Jamie’s art studio, a shop that sold glass pieces, pottery, paintings, handmade chocolates, even a tattoo studio. It was a beautiful place and very inspiring. It was popular with tourists too; they always came here when they visited.

  Melody and Jamie were just about to head inside their respective shops, after which they probably wouldn’t see each other until the end of the day. And maybe not even then, as Jamie sometimes stayed late in the art studio to finish his work – he couldn’t take his sculptures home the way she could take home her jewellery.

  So here was the opening she so desperately needed.

  Jamie handed her the rucksack and moved over to the door of his studio. She could see his business partner Klaus already wandering around inside.

  She took a deep breath and, before she could change her mind, she asked him.

  ‘Well, if you fancy a night off from the mayhem, you’d be welcome to come round my house for dinner tonight?’

  That wasn’t what she’d planned to say at all. Not even close. But it was out there now. She had asked him out on a date. She had done it. And it felt wonderful.

  She watched his face for any sign of delight or, worse, shock or horror, but he didn’t give any indication that this was something out of the norm for him.

  ‘Oh, that would be great,’ Jamie said, casually as he pushed open his door. ‘Shall I come by around seven?’

  Melody nodded, and he gave her a wave and stepped inside his art studio with barely a look back.

  She stared after him for a moment and then quickly unlocked her door and let herself into her little shop, settling Rocky into his basket and moving to the tiny kitchenette out the back to make herself a cup of tea.

  That hadn’t sounded like he’d just agreed to go on a date with her. That sounded like he’d just agreed to spend some time with her as a friend. Just two mates hanging out together.

  She thought back to what she’d said to him. Her offer had sounded very casual as well, it was no wonder he had taken it like that. Still, he was coming for dinner at her house. With no distractions, some nice food and wine, maybe she would be brave enough to tell him exactly how she felt for him that night. And, as she resolved to do just that, her head and her heart got carried away with imagining his reaction. She couldn’t help the big smile from spreading on her face.

  2

  ‘Hey Jamie,’ Klaus called from the far side of the studio as he continued to build his driftwood sculpture. This one looked like it was going to be a wolf.

  Sirius yapped his excitement at seeing Klaus and he turned and beamed, scooping the puppy up into his arms. Sirius licked his face as if they had been parted for months, not just a day. Jamie smiled. Klaus was so huge, and with his long biker beard and penchant for piercings and tattoos, he looked like someone you would cross over onto the other side of the street to avoid. Seeing him be all gooey over a puppy was such a contrast to his hard-man image, but Jamie knew that Klaus had a heart of gold and had never raised his voice to anyone, let alone his fists.

  Klaus looked mischievously over the puppy’s head at Jamie and Jamie quickly moved to the kitchenette, keen to avoid the topic of conversation they had every morning – well, every morning since he’d started walking with Melody to work.

  ‘Shall I make a coffee?’ Jamie said, noisily filling the kettle.

  ‘I’ve already had one, just made one for you too, it’s on your desk. Was that Melody I saw you walking with?’

  Jamie sighed as he moved over to his desk. ‘You know it was.’

  ‘That’s becoming quite the habit,’ Klaus said, a big grin on his face, his driftwood sculpture completely forgotten.

  ‘She lives near me, of course we’re going to bump into each other on the way to work some days,’ Jamie said, knowing that he always used to arrive at work a lot earlier than he had over the last few weeks. These days he timed his commute so he could walk with her instead and he knew Klaus knew this too.

  ‘And now you have a date tonight,’ Klaus said, and Jamie’s head snapped up to look at him.

  ‘It’s not a date.’ It wasn’t a date, was it?

  ‘It sure sounded like she was asking you out on a date,’ Klaus said.

  Jamie thought back to the very casual way Melody had invited him to dinner that night. It hadn’t sounded particularly romantic.

  ‘Hang on, you’ve totally misread this situation. She was just asking me if I wanted to hang out, as friends. There were no big declarations of love.’

  ‘Men and women can’t be friends,’ Klaus said.

  ‘Of course they can, that’s ridiculous. I have lots of female friends.’

  ‘That you hang out with like you do with your male friends?’

  ‘Well, no.’ He thought about Tori, his brother’s girlfriend. He hung out with her sometimes but mostly when he was with Aidan, so he guessed that didn’t really count. He wracked his brains for any other girls that he hung out with and came up blank. ‘But why can’t we be friends? She makes me laugh, we talk a lot, she’s great company.’

  ‘Because at least one person in the friendship always wants more. Case and point, she’s just asked you out. Though she’s probably regretting that right now.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Jamie asked.

  ‘“Oh, that would be great,”’ Klaus said as he quoted Jamie’s casual reply back to him, making Jamie sound a lot lamer than he thought he had. ‘No girl wants to hear that when they’ve been brave enough to ask you out in the first place.’

  He remembered Melody’s face when he had replied. She hadn’t looked particularly overjoyed by his response, but then she wouldn’t be if it had just been a casual arrangement. He groaned – the very last thing he wanted to do was hurt Melody. Maybe he should go over and say how much he was looking forward to tonight, to reassure her. But did he want to go on a date with Melody?

  ‘Your face,’ Klaus laughed. ‘Anyone would think you’ve been asked to eat a jellied eel or clean out a septic tank. Why do you look so terrified at the prospect of going out on a date with Melody Rosewood? She’s wonde
rful, funny, sweet, intelligent. And I thought you were insanely attracted to her.’

  ‘I am, but…’ Crap, he hadn’t meant to give Klaus any encouragement, but truth be told, he’d had feelings for Melody for a long time, feelings that went way beyond friendship. ‘I don’t do relationships, you know that. I’m lousy at them. You know what happened with Suzie, I broke her heart.’

  God, he still felt awful about that. She had told him she loved him, and he’d very kindly tried to explain he didn’t see her like that. He remembered walking into the pub the night after they’d broken things off and finding her sobbing at a table. She was surrounded by all her friends who gave him death stares as he ordered his pint. Every time he’d seen her after that, she’d burst into tears and hurried away.

  ‘You didn’t do anything wrong with Suzie, you didn’t string her along. You realised after a few weeks that you didn’t feel that connection you were looking for and you ended it. It’s not your fault she fell in love with you,’ Klaus said.

  ‘I know, but…’

  ‘Is it really Suzie that’s putting you off, or is it what happened with Polly?’

  Jamie winced. Because he’d been in Suzie’s shoes himself, falling completely head over heels in love with someone who just didn’t return those feelings. He’d fallen hard for Polly Lucas. He’d thought that what they had was forever and when he’d told her he loved her, and she’d laughed and said it was nothing more than a bit of fun to her, he’d been absolutely heartbroken.

  ‘You’ve known me for a long time,’ Jamie said. ‘Not one of my relationships have lasted. Polly was my longest and even that was only a few months. You know what she said about me, what quite a few women of the town say about me actually. I’m too nice. How can someone be too nice?’ He thought about his other brother. ‘Leo, who sleeps with women once and never calls them again, has girls falling over themselves to go out with him. As a teenager, he smoked, drank way too much and got all lairy. He skipped school, got into trouble with the teachers and police and the girls absolutely loved him, still do. Don’t get me wrong, he’s kind, fiercely loyal and I love him to bits. He has changed a lot since then but why is someone who has such a bad reputation when it comes to women so attractive to them? I can’t treat women like that.’

  He picked up his mug and blew on the steam that billowed from the top.

  ‘Polly wasn’t the first to finish with me, but I decided she was definitely going to be the last. I decided I wasn’t interested in having any kind of serious relationship any more. I wonder if it’s just easier not getting involved with anyone. Then no one gets hurt. I can’t get involved with Melody because I know I could fall in love with her so easily and what if she thinks I’m just too nice for her, it would ruin our friendship. Equally, I never ever want to do anything to hurt her either – she’s my friend and I like her too much to do that. She’s had enough hurt to last her a lifetime, with Matthew dying in that horrible car accident, I certainly don’t want to add to that. We really are better off staying just friends.’

  Klaus placed Sirius down in his basket. ‘Love is a crazy, wonderful thing, it’s not something to run away from, it’s something you run towards. Yes, it’s painful if it doesn’t turn out the way we want it to, but you can’t shy away from it for the rest of your life because it might hurt. Love has a way of catching up with you anyway, and then to do nothing, to stand on the side-lines staring at the thing you want most in the world, that’s got to hurt too. So surely it’s better to be hurt over the things you did do rather than the things you didn’t.’

  ‘But this is Melody,’ Jamie said, quietly. ‘She’s… special.’

  ‘Then isn’t she worth the risk?’

  Jamie thought about this. He couldn’t go out with Melody. She was one of his closest friends and he didn’t want to lose that. He was rubbish at relationships and one or both of them would end up getting hurt.

  ‘Well, if you really don’t think you can go ahead with it, then you need to talk to her about your date tonight. Don’t let her cook you a meal, go all out with candles and romance if you intend to treat the event as just two friends hanging out. You better go over and make clear the parameters,’ Klaus said.

  He sighed but he knew Klaus was right. This was why he shied away from relationships – because people got hurt. Going over to Melody’s shop and telling her he didn’t want a date would hurt her. And if it wasn’t a date and it was just two friends hanging out then that would be a very awkward conversation.

  Melody pushed open the door to The Cherry on Top, her favourite beachside café. It was owned by Emily, Jamie’s sister, and in Melody’s opinion she made the most amazing food in all of Sandcastle Bay. A view which was obviously shared by most of the residents because, even on a Monday lunch time, the place was almost full.

  It had been a busy morning for Melody in her shop too. Although the schools didn’t break up until later that day, Sandcastle Bay had seen a steady increase in tourists over the last few weeks. The hot weather had sent the holidaymakers to the beach in their droves and many of them wanted souvenirs of their stay.

  She noticed her best friend Tori was already at a table waiting for her and she gave Rocky a little tug on the lead and made her way over. She noticed Agatha, Jamie’s crazy aunt, sitting at a nearby table with her puppy, Summer, curled up in her lap. Agatha’s hair was a bright turquoise today and it matched the sun hat Summer was wearing perfectly. She really liked Agatha, but interfering was almost certainly her middle name. She was desperate to see her and Jamie get together. Agatha would be over the moon if she knew they had a sort-of date that night, something she definitely didn’t want to share with her.

  Tori stood up to give her a hug and, as Melody moved to hug her, she knocked the mug on the table over, somehow catching it with her arm. She sighed with frustration. How could one person be so completely inept and ungainly? Tori quickly grabbed the mug and put it back down on the table; thankfully it was already empty, so there was no mess this time. To Tori’s credit, she didn’t even bat an eye as she moved to hug her again. Melody held her tight. She was so glad Tori was a permanent fixture of Sandcastle Bay now. They had been best friends all her life, even living together in London for several years, but after Matthew’s death had brought Melody to Sandcastle Bay, she had left Tori behind in London and she had missed her so much. Now Tori was living here too, mainly because of Jamie’s brother Aidan, and it meant she got to see her for lunch most days, although she hadn’t seen her over the weekend as Tori had been so busy helping out at Heartberry Farm.

  ‘How’s it going?’ Melody said, sitting down and settling Rocky at her feet. She noticed that Tori was already tucking into a big slice of red velvet cake.

  ‘Good. The fruit-picking season is well underway, we’re busy with the tourists picking raspberries, apples, blackberries, and even some of the strawberries are still ripe at this time,’ Tori said.

  Melody smiled. Life had changed for Tori as well and, to judge from the big smile on her face, it was for the better too.

  ‘Who’d have thought you’d be working here on a fruit farm after living your whole life in London. Do you miss it at all?’

  Tori thought about this for a moment. ‘The coffee is better here than the chain stores, that’s for sure. I never thought I’d say that but it is. I suppose I miss the variety, the different restaurants, the shows and the entertainment. But for me, London was always defined by the time I spent with you, Matthew and Isla. Once you all left, my life was pretty empty without you. This is my home now. I have this amazing view to enjoy every day, I get to spend time with you. I now have two dogs to look after, when I could barely look after myself back in London. It also helps that I get to share my bed with my sexy fruit farmer every night.’ Tori grinned.

  Melody couldn’t help but smile. Tori had closed herself off from love and it had found a way into her heart anyway. She had never seen two people so in love as Aidan and Tori. Tori deserved someone lovely like
Aidan and she couldn’t be happier for her.

  ‘I could say the same about you too,’ Tori said, interrupting her thoughts. ‘I never thought you’d call somewhere like this home. You used to love London. Do you miss your life there?’

  Melody shook her head. ‘Not any more. I did. When I first moved here I thought I would go crazy, life was so different. I couldn’t get over how quiet it was. I missed the noise, the shops, the people. I missed the little bakery I’d pop into at lunch time and Mrs Gillespie who always gave me free cookies and told me about her life in America. I missed the next-door neighbour’s dog, who always greeted me when I got home. I even missed Tom, the postman who I had a little crush on and was never brave enough to do anything about. Mostly, though, I just missed you. Over time, you were the only thing I missed. I’ve been here over a year now and I cannot imagine living anywhere else. Everyone important in my life is here. I guess my priorities changed.’

  ‘I never knew you had a crush on Tom,’ Tori said. ‘Why didn’t you do anything about it?’

  ‘Oh god, you know I have zero confidence around men. I can never pluck up the courage to ask them out.’

  ‘But you’ve been out with quite a few men over the years.’

  ‘Yes, but they’ve always asked me out; I’ve never asked them.’ Until today and that hadn’t exactly been a huge success. ‘And only two of those have been serious relationships. Well, semi-serious. The others all seemed to fizzle out before they’d even got started. Men want someone they can be proud to have on their arm, not someone who will throw their dinner down themselves every time they go out to a restaurant or knock their drink over.’ Melody nodded pointedly at the mug she had knocked over minutes before.

  ‘Don’t say that,’ Tori said. ‘Any man would be lucky to go out with you. None of your dates or relationships fizzled out because you were clumsy. They fizzled out because you weren’t right for each other.’