@Porthmellowchick: @CornishMaid OMG. I saw #Gabe outside the old Net Loft. You will not believe what I found out about him. Will DM u. #summerfestival #gossip

At the Wednesday committee meeting, Chloe took some teabags from the cupboard in the Institute kitchenette and popped a carton of milk next to the coffee pot, along with a packet of local shortbread from the small supermarket in town. They didn’t normally have biscuits at the meeting, but it seemed like a special occasion, so why not? It had given her a small moment of pleasure to choose them, in the absence of anyone else to treat.

She’d been determined to be first after turning up late to the previous one because of her phone call with Hannah. Chloe hadn’t tried to contact Hannah again, no matter how tempting it had been. Even though she’d been sure that Hannah had only broken off the call because Jordan had come into the room. Hannah had plenty of opportunities to get in contact if she really wanted to and for now, Chloe had to sit on her hands and wait for her to make the move.

And now she had another thing to worry about: her birthday party.

She’d been delighted when everyone had seemed so enthusiastic. Right up until the moment Drew had made the joke about the Big Four O.

Chloe had a sense of humour, she didn’t mind the banter. That wasn’t the problem.

The thing was that she wasn’t going to be forty. She’d passed that milestone a long time ago.

No, her party was to celebrate being fifty.

So why, oh, why hadn’t she just come out and said it?

She didn’t want to entertain the possibility it had something to do with Drew. For a start, he was so not her type. So not Fraser … yet she’d found Drew stealing into her mind more often lately. She’d even dreamed about him; something involving being alone with him at sea, and having to take the helm while he climbed up the rigging. Goodness knows what that was supposed to signify. Chloe wasn’t going to share that. Maybe she liked him because he was so different to Fraser, and not only in looks. Fraser was driven and ambitious, totally at home in the boardroom cut and thrust. Drew was quiet, passionate about the sailing, but ambitious only in as far as it might help the trust. Other than that, he was focused on his family, his music and the festival.