‘You’re kidding, right?’

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I’m kidding.’

He went to move again.

‘Must be a nice problem to have though,’ he said pointedly, ‘too much time.’

I wasn’t really listening.

‘I suppose I could lend a hand,’ I said thoughtfully as the cogs started to whirr. On my walk back along the beach I had been mulling over the importance of not shutting myself away. If I couldn’t help Sophie get the café online, then perhaps I could help Sam pull in some extra punters.

‘Are you being serious?’ he frowned.

‘Yeah,’ I smiled up at him. ‘Why not? But only if you agree to me staying on in the cottage.’

Sam looked at me for a long moment. He seemed to be weighing something up. I steadily returned his scrutiny and once he’d settled on an answer, he held out his hand.

‘All right,’ he said as I firmly grasped it, that increasingly familiar tingle shooting up my arm as our skin touched, ‘you’re on. Although why anyone would want to spend their holiday helping this place out is beyond me.’

Part of the reason I had agreed to help was because I wanted to see Wynmouth thrive. The little village wasn’t quite the place I had always idolized but it was still wonderful, not that I could tell Sam that. And neither was I prepared to share the more personal reasons behind my desire to keep occupied.

He squeezed my hand a little tighter, obviously expecting a response.

‘Let’s just say getting away and switching off hasn’t quite worked out,’ I began.

‘Getting away from what?’

‘My job. I’m a bit of a workaholic and going cold turkey hasn’t gone according to plan.’

‘So, in helping me out, you’d be helping yourself?’

‘Exactly.’

He seemed to accept that as a good enough reason and let go of my hand.

‘All right,’ he said, ‘you come up with some ideas and we’ll compare notes.’

‘Excellent,’ I smiled.

‘But no bloody karaoke or Abba tribute band, all right?’ he laughed.

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing along with him.

‘I tried that a couple of Christmases ago,’ he grinned, ‘and it was a total flop.’

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was delighted that Sam had agreed to let me come up with some ideas to entertain the fine folk of Wynmouth, even though working with him was going to play havoc with my libido, but there was one thing capable of taking the edge off my enthusiasm for the venture.