Summer at Buttercup Beach: A gorgeously uplifting and heartwarming romance Page 2

  He took a bite of his sandwich and glanced out the window at the little town square and the multi-coloured bunting that fluttered in the gentle sea breeze.

  ‘So tomorrow is two years since you came to work for me,’ Rome said and took another bite of his sandwich.

  She watched him in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to remember the date. She knew it was exactly two years. The date had been etched on her memory as it was the day she had been supposed to get married to Jake.

  After finding her fiancé in the throes of passion with Lizzie, his best friend, two days before the wedding, Freya had fled the little village she had lived in with her fiancé and ended up going on her honeymoon alone, heading to the Scilly Isles where she had spent many weeks on childhood holidays.

  On the day that was supposed to be her wedding day, she had headed over to Hope Island on a day trip, wondering what she was going to do with her life. She had no home to return to, no job as she had worked with her fiancé, no friends because all her friends were his friends and no idea what she was going to do next. All she did know was that she was never going to let herself get into that situation again, where her whole life had centred around the man she loved.

  She had wandered into Rome’s shop and been struck by the complete beauty of his stained glass panels, pictures, mirrors, lamps and boxes. She remembered the sun glinting off the coloured glass in a way that seemed ethereal and magical, as if she had stepped into a different land. She had also been struck with what a state the studio was in, mirrors stacked behind lamps, panels upside down, all the stock in some kind of higgledy-piggledy mess. Rome hadn’t even noticed she was there, so intent on his work at the back of the shop that she had quietly wandered deeper between the shelves, admiring each piece.

  Then he’d got up and left the studio, unwittingly locking her inside. When he came back several hours later, he’d found the shop had been completely reorganised, with definite sections for each of the products, which were now all displayed beautifully in the best places to catch the light. He had jokingly offered her a job and she had taken it, even though it wasn’t really on offer. Unable to backtrack, Rome had offered her a few hours a week, which had quickly extended to a full-time job. She spent the night in the empty flat above the shop since she’d already missed the last ferry off the island and never left. She quickly fell in love with the beauty of the island, the friendliness of the islanders and just how peaceful the place was. Since then, not only had Rome become her boss, he had taught her everything he knew about stained glass. But more than that, he’d become her best friend. He had saved her in more ways than one.

  ‘I knew it was two years, I just didn’t expect you to remember our anniversary,’ Freya teased.

  ‘I first met you on the fourth anniversary of Paige’s death. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that date.’

  Freya’s smile fell from her face. ‘Oh God, Rome, I’m so sorry. I never knew that date was so significant to you.’

  He shook his head. ‘Don’t be sorry. It’s fine. We were only together eighteen months, she passed away six years ago. I will always miss her and I think I will always carry a piece of her in here but I promise I’m not about to break down in tears because the anniversary of her death is tomorrow. I remember the day me and you met because Paige and I once had a jokey conversation about what we would do if the other died. Paige told me that she would expect me to grieve for her for a certain amount of time and then I had to move on, find someone else, fall in love again. I asked her how long would she expect me to grieve over her and she told me that as she was so brilliant and sexy and funny then four years should do it.’

  Freya smiled. She’d never met Paige but, from what she’d heard, she’d been sweet, kind and had a brilliant sense of humour.

  ‘That day you walked into my shop, I’d been down at the graveyard and I told her that even though it had been four years, I still wasn’t over her. That nothing had changed, that it still hurt. Every day I’d wake up in our bed and I’d miss her. I’d go to work alone and sit in my studio and I couldn’t seem to snap out of it. I… slept with far too many women in an attempt to move on but none of it made any difference. I told her something needed to change and I couldn’t see what to do about it. Then I got back to my studio and my whole life changed. There you were, dusting my shelves, rearranging my shop and eating my sandwich.’

  Freya laughed. ‘I was hungry.’

  ‘I didn’t realise it at the time, but you were the change I needed. I looked forward to coming to work, the nights that you came round to my house for dinner made me feel alive again. You’ve turned my business around, made it a huge success, and I will forever be grateful that I locked you in my studio that day. You make me laugh so much and for four years I never laughed at all. You literally saved me.’

  Freya swallowed the lump in her throat, not wanting to tell him that she felt the same way. Was this his way of finally telling her he had feelings for her too? She thought back to the way he had held her after she had fallen off the roof. She remembered when he had cancelled a date the week before so he could look after her when she was ill. In fact, the number of women he dated had been getting fewer and fewer lately; he seemingly preferred to spend time with her instead. Was he finally falling in love with her too? Freya had never imagined that he would feel the same way before but now… Was he trying to tell her he loved her?

  ‘I think we should go out tomorrow to celebrate,’ Rome said. ‘I have a question I want to ask you and I’d like to do it over a nice meal and a bottle of wine. Will you join me at Envy tomorrow?’

  Envy was her favourite restaurant on the island; the food was amazing, the atmosphere was cool, all black and silver and chic, and she always felt like she was at some exclusive restaurant in London every time she went there, instead of the furthest corner of the Scilly Isles.

  ‘I’d love to,’ Freya said, unable to keep the excited tremor from her voice.

  He smiled. ‘Good.’

  Chapter Two

  ‘So I hear you nearly died today?’ Bella, Rome’s youngest sister, said as she came back from the kitchen with bowls of ice cream for the three of them. She passed one each to Eden and Freya and sat back down on the sofa.

  Freya laughed. ‘I did not nearly die.’

  She took a big spoonful and let the creamy flavour melt on her tongue.

  ‘The way I heard it was that Rome saved your life,’ Bella giggled.

  Freya knew what the islanders were like. If there was any kind of gossip floating about, it had already been discussed, dissected, embellished and exaggerated by the time you heard about it. A twenty-inch fish that had been caught in the harbour in the morning had already tripled in size by the time the fishermen had left the pub that same night. It was something that Freya would never get used to. She loved it here on Hope Island and never wanted to leave, but the fact that everyone knew each other’s business and felt they were entitled to an opinion on it was something that Freya was not entirely comfortable with.

  They were sitting in Eden’s tiny cottage having spent the evening chatting and eating pizza. She adored Bella and Eden and she loved how easily the Lancaster family had adopted her as their own. Rome had given her so much more than a job the day they’d first met, he had given her a home, friendship and a family.

  ‘I also heard that Rome is taking you out for dinner tomorrow night,’ Eden said, her eyes lighting up with happiness.

  Freya choked on her ice cream. ‘How on earth did you hear that?’

  ‘Barbara Copperthwaite was sitting at the next table to you two at lunch and she heard him say he wanted to take you to Envy. She said it sounded very romantic.’

  Freya sighed. Bella and Eden knew about her inappropriate crush on their brother. She didn’t think they knew quite how deeply her feelings ran but she knew they would like nothing more than to see them together.

  ‘It’s not like that. Well honestly, I don’t know what to think. He said the
sweetest things to me over lunch, said how I had changed his life and how grateful he was for me and I got the sense he was talking about more than just work. And I got all excited and thought that perhaps he had feelings for me too, but then we spent the rest of the afternoon as normal, just chatting and laughing and he showed no signs at all of being head over heels in love with me.’

  ‘He adores you,’ Eden said. ‘And you did change his life. He spent the four years after Paige died barely existing. He moved on autopilot. You changed all that.’

  Bella nodded, swallowing a spoonful of ice cream. ‘He doesn’t have what he has with you with anyone else. He didn’t even have that with Paige.’

  ‘He didn’t? It sounds like they were very much in love.’

  ‘Maybe they were. But they didn’t have that friendship as a base. They had passion and lust. Theirs was a whirlwind affair and I don’t honestly know if it would have lasted. They met, fell in love, he proposed after one month,’ Eden said.

  ‘A month?’ Freya was stunned. She knew that things had moved quickly for Rome and Paige but proposing after a month was crazy. But was it? She had fallen in love with Rome within the first few days of meeting him. Maybe for some people you just know. Rome clearly did.

  ‘He was young and they had that crazy, can’t keep their hands off each other kind of love,’ Bella said.

  ‘You mean like you and Isaac,’ Freya teased.

  Bella blushed and Freya laughed, knowing that Bella could hardly deny it. They had been together only for a few months but to say their relationship was passionate was an understatement.

  ‘Yes, I guess they were like me and Isaac in the beginning. They had one month together where they saw each other every day, that wonderful honeymoon period where everything is perfect, and then she went off to work in London supposedly for one year but it ended up being a bit longer. So he proposed to her before she left. I think he was scared that she would go off to London and forget all about him. Credit to them both, they kept the relationship going. He’d go up there, she’d come back here on a regular basis. But whenever they’d meet up they would just spend the weekend having sex before returning back to their respective jobs and homes on Monday morning. This kept going for eighteen months before she sadly died in that terrible accident. They never had a proper relationship, never really had the time to get to know each other properly. Never became friends like you and Rome. What you two have is really special. You work with each other, you spend all your spare time together, maybe this could be the start of something more for you two. What better way to start a relationship than two years of being friends?’

  Freya stared at her bowl, at the puddle of ice cream as it slowly melted. There was nothing she wanted more than for Rome to fall in love with her too. She had a great job, brilliant friends and lived in the most beautiful place in the world, but her life was missing love and it wasn’t just love with anyone she wanted, it was Rome. He was the missing piece that didn’t seem like it would ever be filled.

  ‘But he has to want that too and I really don’t think he is looking for love,’ Freya said.

  ‘I think he is,’ Eden said, finishing off the last of her ice cream. ‘A few months ago we were talking about love and relationships and he said that, although he preferred to only have casual relationships with women because then he could never get hurt, he said he missed the companionship and intimacy of being in a real relationship. You know what he listed as things that he wanted in a real relationship? Those long, stay-up-late-into-the-night conversations, laughing hard with someone, being with someone you know inside and out. You have all those things and my guess is he’s starting to realise that.’

  Freya’s heart bloomed with hope. Was that really what tomorrow night was going to be about? Could it be the start of a beautiful relationship? She allowed herself to dream for a moment. She imagined him holding her hand and telling her he was in love with her, that he’d always been in love with her. And then they’d kiss. Their first kiss. Would that happen at the restaurant or would they wait until they went back to his place or hers? What would it be like to kiss Rome? Would it be hard and passionate or slow and gentle? Would the kiss lead to something more? The thought of making love to him filled her with so much joy and nerves and excited anticipation all at once. She could be making love to Rome Lancaster this time tomorrow night. OK, maybe that was moving a bit too quickly. If he wanted to date then he might want to take things slowly. But at least they might share a kiss.

  Bella took her hand. ‘I think Eden’s right. This time last year he was going out with a different woman every week. These last few months I could probably count the women he has dated on one hand. And I think it’s because no one fulfils what he is looking for like you do. No one makes him laugh like you do. He can’t talk for hours with anyone like he does with you. You are everything he needs and wants. My heart says he is in love with you but he just doesn’t realise it yet. So if he does ask you out tomorrow night, then take things slowly. He hasn’t been in a proper relationship with someone for years and I don’t honestly think you could call what he had with Paige a proper relationship either so… be patient with him.’

  Freya nodded. She could do that. If he asked her out, she was happy to give him all the time in the world to get used to the idea of being in a relationship again. She would go as slow as he needed.

  ‘You’re staying in the same room as him at the Under the Sea carnival next week, aren’t you?’ Eden asked.

  Freya nodded. The Under the Sea carnival happened every year in Penzance with a float to represent every town or village in Cornwall. This year’s float from Hope Island had been decked out with dolphins and waves made entirely from her and Rome’s glass work so they were going along to help oversee their float in the parade. They had both worked so hard to get the decorations for the float ready. Rome had given her free reign over how she wanted to design the dolphins and she had utilised all the skills he had taught her over the last few years to showcase what she could do. She was so proud of how it had turned out. The carnival was something she was really excited to be a part of.

  ‘Maybe something might happen between you then,’ Eden said, her eyebrows wiggling mischievously.

  ‘It was the only room left, and it’s a twin. Hardly romantic,’ Freya protested, not wanting her heart to get too carried away. She had been looking forward to the Under the Sea carnival for weeks and going away together felt very romantic, even if it wasn’t like that. She’d been looking forward to it even more since she’d found out she’d be sharing a room with him. Even though she’d repeatedly told herself it was just work and that they were just friends, it didn’t seem to be sinking in.

  ‘The fireworks after the carnival, the sea views from the hotel window, both of you walking around in your pyjamas, or the lack of them. It could be very romantic,’ Eden said, dreamily.

  ‘Take protection, just in case,’ Bella said, practically. ‘You don’t want to get pregnant the first time you make love to him.’

  Freya cursed the sudden wonderful image of her holding a tiny baby with black curly hair and grey eyes. Talk about not getting too carried away.

  ‘I’m on the pill anyway, so no babies happening here,’ Freya said as the image dissolved in her mind.

  Just then there was a knock on the door and Bella shot up as if she’d been electrocuted.

  ‘That will be Isaac,’ Bella said excitedly, rushing to the door. She answered it and threw her arms around him as if it had been weeks since she had last seen him, not just a few hours. He kissed her briefly, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight.

  ‘Hello, beautiful. Did you have a good night?’ he said, quietly, staring down at Bella with complete adoration in his eyes.

  Bella nodded. ‘Always do with these two lovely ladies.’

  Isaac tore his eyes away from Bella and smiled at Eden and Freya. ‘Evening, ladies.’

  Freya waved and Eden got up to give him a hug. Bella was a
lready pulling her jacket on as she came over and gave Freya a kiss on the cheek. ‘Let me know how it goes tomorrow.’

  Freya nodded.

  Bella hugged Eden and then she and Isaac left.

  Eden came and sat down on the sofa next to Freya as they watched Isaac and Bella outside. Isaac said something to make Bella laugh and then he kissed her as if she was the air he needed to breathe.

  Freya couldn’t take her eyes off them. She had never seen two people so completely and utterly in love as Bella and Isaac.

  When they parted, he placed a kiss on her forehead and then took her hand and led her off home.

  ‘God, I want what they have,’ Freya said.

  Eden sighed next to her. ‘Me too.’

  Chapter Three

  After running a circuit of the island, Rome paused for breath at the top of the hill. He stood with his hands on his hips as he looked down on Hope Island. The view was incredible from up here, he could see the whole island, from the tree-lined Mistletoe Cove to Blueberry Bay all the way over on the other side. Over in the western corner of the island, the white-domed roof of the observatory glinted in the darkness. The moonlit-covered sea stretched out in front of him and the lights of the town sparkled in the darkness.

  He looked up at the endless starlit canopy. There was so little light pollution on the island that the stars seemed so much brighter here. He had studied books about astronomy when he was younger and he could identify most of the constellations in the sky. He could see Ursa Major and Minor, Cassiopeia, Hercules and Pegasus, Draco – which looked more like a serpent than a dragon – and several of the constellations that made up the zodiac signs. Although he held no stock in stars trillions of miles away having any kind of influence over someone’s life, he still liked to pick them out. It was one of the things he’d once thought he could impress women with; if they were into horoscopes he thought he would point out the relevant star signs in the sky. Sadly women didn’t really like geeks and when he started explaining about light years to them, he could see their eyes glazing over with boredom.