Sam laughed. ‘Knackered, like I’ve been dragged through a hedge. I haven’t even changed yet.’

‘I was going to say happy. Happy like a lantern with a candle flickering inside it.’

Sam shook her head, embarrassed at her happiness being so transparent. ‘Don’t be silly.’

‘I’m being honest,’ said Zennor, a mutinous look on her face.

Sam’s phone beeped. Was it Gabe? She read the message in the festival WhatsApp group. It was from Chloe.

Is the marquee still standing? Got up in the night with Ruby and saw lights on top of the cliff and hoped everything was OK.

All OK, she sent back. Speak later.

Sam gave Zennor a quick hug. ‘All I know is that I need a shower, fresh clothes, some breakfast and to somehow find the energy to go straight out of here and into town on an hour’s sleep. You too. For the next forty-eight hours, my love life and our problems don’t matter. We have a festival to put on.’

Chapter Thirty-Four

Sam always loved festival morning. The moment before it all began, when the town was on the edge of waking up. Excitement was high and the mayhem hadn’t started. This moment, and it would only last for the time it took her to walk from Wavecrest to Festival HQ, was hers alone. She didn’t have to share it, or have it marred. Sam had showered while Zennor rustled up veggie sausage and egg sandwiches and then she was out.

The marquee was indeed still in place on this breezy but fine Saturday morning that promised to rapidly warm up now the clouds had blown away. That electric undercurrent running through the town as the sun rose higher over the cliff. That was her doing, hers and her team’s, and this morning it all had a fresh dimension.

The stallholders were setting up as she walked to the Institute. The ones who had arrived at the crack of dawn already had their goods on display, others were connecting up generators and gas bottles. Some were wheeling trollies full of stuff from the exhibitors’ car parks, or manoeuvring their mobile vans into place – Stargazey was already in its spot and she’d had a quick word with Stefan to check he was OK. There were always latecomers, still struggling to put up their gazebos and be ready for when the festival opened at nine thirty … shouting at each other to hurry up, while other stallholders exchanged banter and anecdotes before the masses arrived and they were flat out serving customers. It was all part of the buzz, the excitement, the joy of seeing months of hard work springing into life.