‘You’re smiling and there’s a glow about you. Is that the first flush of love I’m detecting?’ Clemmie narrowed her eyes.

  ‘I’m just enjoying spending time with him,’ Verity replied, but she knew it was more than that. Already Sam was constantly on her mind and every time she set eyes on him every inch of her body began tingling.

  ‘Mmm. I’ve known a lot of women stranded on that causeway over the years but he’s never taken any of them in.’

  ‘What can I say?’ She grinned. ‘But…can I ask you something in confidence?’

  ‘Of course.’ Clemmie took a step closer and leaned in.

  ‘What happened between Sam and Alice?’

  ‘It’s no secret that Sam was engaged to Alice. Sam could have the pick of any girl, and many tourists had tried, but when she walked on to this island, she managed to get his attention. They were in the same line of business – they both had restaurants – and it seemed she fell in love with Sam, but Puffin Island wasn’t enough for her. They had a very public proposal but their engagement fell apart when she chose her career over him.’

  ‘Could she not have had both?’

  ‘You need to ask Sam that. Anyway, since Alice there’s been no one. He’s thrown himself into work, become part of the Puffin Island committee, which is all about doing what’s best for the people that live here, and stayed away from women…until you.’

  ‘He’s not interested in me. He’s quite clearly stated he’s better off on his own.’

  ‘And you believe that? I saw the way he was looking at you in the pub.’

  ‘Any type of heartbreak is difficult to get over,’ replied Verity. The past six months had been difficult for her, but Puffin Island had started to put her heart back together so quickly. She was excited about the future for the first time in ages. ‘I’d best get going. I’m off counting puffins!’

  ‘I wouldn’t like to be in your shoes if you’re late. Pete is a stickler for timekeeping. I’ll let my grandmother know you’ll pop in later.’

  ‘Perfect.’ Verity couldn’t wait to hear what Betty remembered about the past and she couldn’t wait to ask her about the postcard’s secret.

  It took a little over ten minutes to reach the top of the cliff. Surrounded by such stunning views, the walk was very therapeutic. Verity could hear nothing except the slapping of the waves against the rocks and the shore below, and the calls of the gulls circling above the whitewashed cliffs. She took in the magnificent view and thought about her conversation with Ava. She’d joked about staying on the island, which prompted a host of other questions. Where would she live? What would she do for a living? And what did she have to go back to Staffordshire for? Yes, she had a house, but she didn’t have to live in it for the rest of her life. Home was where your heart is, after all, and she was coming to realise that her heart was no longer in that place. Twelve months ago, if anyone had told her she would be single, giving up her job and renting out her house, she would have thought them deluded. But now here she was, and the street she’d left behind couldn’t compare in excitement with this island. Ava had convinced her to be brave and embark on this journey, and now being here seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

  Hearing voices carried by the breeze, Verity looked ahead to see the group of rangers standing outside Cliff Top Cottage, each holding a clipboard. As soon as Pete spotted her he smiled. ‘Here she is, I told you she wouldn’t let us down. Everyone, this is Verity, a fully qualified veterinary assistant who will be helping us over the next few days.’

  After all the introductions were made, the rangers began walking slowly towards the cliff top. ‘We’re going to be working together,’ Pete informed her as he handed her a clipboard and a pen. ‘Have you got a drink? And you may need sun cream.’

  Verity held up her bag. ‘Drinks and snacks are in here and I smothered myself in sun cream just before I left.’ She pulled on Sam’s hat and they followed the other rangers. ‘Have you always been involved in the census?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Pete replied, looking out over the cliffs. ‘And always been obsessed with puffins. I can sit and watch them for hours and most days that’s exactly what I do.’ He pointed. ‘We’re heading that way. We have the same routine each year: we split off into the different areas and each take a section. We start at the lowest point and work our way up to the highest.’ Verity noticed that the rangers had scattered in different directions. ‘Watch your footing as we descend – sometimes the gravel can cause you to slip.’

  He pointed to the route they were taking and they began to follow the narrow path.

  Suddenly Verity stopped in her tracks and grabbed Pete’s arm. She swung a glance around the cliff top, petrified.

  ‘What is it?’ Pete’s eyes widened in concern.

  ‘Cows, I can’t do cows. I’m terrified of cows.’

  ‘Cows?’

  ‘There it is again! That loud mooing. Pete, I really can’t do cows. Why are they up here on a cliff?’ Verity was still clutching Pete’s arm for dear life. ‘They chased me once through a field and I honestly thought I was going to die. Like they say in the movies, my life flashed before my eyes. I ended up scrabbling through a pile of nettles to escape.’

  ‘What are you going on about? When was the last time you saw cows up on the cliffs?’

  ‘It’s not that unusual, surely? You get sheep and goats all the time.’

  ‘Usually in the mountains, not on the cliffs on Puffin Island, otherwise we would have had to rename this place Cow Island.’ He smiled at her. ‘And you can let go of my arm. It’s about to be bitten to death by puffins, never mind you squeezing the life out of it first.’

  ‘Sorry, sorry… Woah! There it is again.’

  Pete was still smiling.

  ‘It’s not funny. Look.’ Verity held out her hand. She was visibly shaking.

  ‘That’s not cows. That loud mooing noise you can hear is the puffins! They sound a lot like cows but I promise you the only cows are on the farm on the other side of the island. There may also be a painting of one in the art gallery, but I promise that’s as far as it goes.’

  ‘Puffins? That’s the puffins?’

  ‘That noise is definitely the puffins,’ he confirmed. ‘Some people actually think they sound like a muffled chainsaw. Come on.’ Pete carried on walking. ‘You’re safe.’

  Relieved, Verity exhaled then threw back her head and let out a peal of laughter. ‘I can’t believe I thought it was cows.’

  This time Pete stopped in his tracks and turned back towards her. He stared at her closely.

  Verity had her hand on her chest. ‘Sorry, I’ve been told on many occasions that my laugh is a little loud.’

  ‘Never apologise for laughing.’ He was still looking at her oddly.

  ‘To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I properly laughed. Laughter has been knocked out of me for a quite a while… Is there a reason you’re still staring at me?’ she asked, starting to worry.

  Pete’s face was suddenly pallid.

  ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

  ‘Sorry, sorry, you just took me by surprise.’ He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow. ‘I didn’t mean to stare, you just reminded me of someone I used to know.’

  He carried on walking and the path widened. Verity walked beside him.

  ‘Was she someone special?’

  Suddenly Pete looked a little tearful.

  ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be nosey.’

  ‘You’re not. And yes, extremely special. I think about her every day.’

  ‘Where is this special person of yours now?’

  ‘She’s out there somewhere. Hopefully one day I’ll see her walking back up that cliff top so my life can restart. I have every faith.’

  There was sadness in Pete’s voice and Verity began to realise the reason Pete had never married or had children. He was waiting for the love of his life to return.

  ‘Was she a groupie? I’ve heard all about your famous band,’ she said, trying to lighten the sombre mood.

  ‘You know about the band?’

  ‘The Men from Puffin Island!’

  Pete smiled again. ‘Such an imaginative name. Do you know it took us nearly three months to come up with it?’ He gave a little chuckle. ‘We’d been performing together for at least six months and called ourselves “the band with no name” as we couldn’t decide on a name between us. We could write songs but coming up with a name was the hardest thing ever. Our following⁠—’

  ‘Your groupies,’ Verity interrupted.

  ‘Groupies – were increasing every day. There were even girls trying to swim across the causeway because they knew we lived on the island. All of a sudden everywhere we went became manic. Girls would hide on the cliffs, camp out on the bay and hire boats just to try and get a glimpse of us. This one night we were due to play a gig at The Olde Ship Inn but the pub was that packed we couldn’t even get to the stage so we ended up performing on the beach, just down there. I think that’s when it hit the news and word started to spread. That night Joe introduced us as The Men from Puffin Island and the name seemed to stick. I wasn’t sure I was keen on it as first, thought it was a little daft …’

  ‘The Beatles called themselves The Beatles, so it’s not as daft as that.’

  ‘That’s very true…and it did what it said on the tin. We were the men from Puffin Island and each one of us was proud of where we came from. We were young, early twenties, and we all had the biggest egos you could ever imagine and dreams of being a global band, bigger than The Beatles. We could play as good as them, too. Joe and I wrote all the songs together.’

  ‘There’s nothing wrong with having big dreams.’

  ‘But it wasn’t meant to be.’ Pete stopped on the edge of the cliff and looked over towards the bay, lost in his own thoughts. Verity knew he was probably thinking about Joe. ‘And what are your dreams, Verity?’

  ‘To experience more in life. I’m nearly thirty and on my own in this world.’

  ‘No parents?’

  ‘A mother, but she’s never championed me. The only time I was flavour of the month was when I found a man who she thought was successful and could show off to her friends. The funny thing was, he didn’t like her one bit. When I found out about his infidelity, that was the time I needed someone the most. I was so alone, and even though she was living across the Channel, I reached out to her, hoping she would be there for me. Maybe she’d invite me to France, maybe build some bridges.’ Verity’s voice faltered. ‘But no. I should have known better. She was cold towards me, said it must have been my fault, claiming he would never do that and I’d never be anything without him. That was the last time we spoke. I didn’t make the decision lightly to cut her out of my life – it was a build-up of things over the years’

  ‘That must have been difficult. I can’t imagine a mother not putting their own child first.’

  ‘I’ve learned from all this – it’s okay to cut off toxic family members. She was never good for my mental health but I let her affect me for years because she was my mother. She’d rather go to her grave than take responsibility for how she treated me, but I’m happy to say I’ve largely made peace with it. I’m certainly getting over all the heartbreak of Richard’s infidelity.’

  ‘And your father?’

  ‘My mother always kept his identity hidden. For what reason, I’m really not sure.’

  They carried on walking down a steep part of the cliff. ‘You must have had some good influences in your life, I hope?’ said Pete.

  ‘Yes, my granny and granddad. They took over my upbringing from an early age. We were so close. My granny is the reason I became a veterinary assistant, as she was obsessed with animals. But going back to your question, my dream is to be happy and live my life the best I can. I’d like children one day.’

  ‘From what I’ve seen of you so far, I think you’ll make a wonderful mother.’

  ‘Thank you, that’s a lovely thing to say.’ Verity took a sip of her water and pointed towards the bay. ‘What are they doing over there?’

  ‘It’ll soon be fifty years since we lost Joe and they’re setting up for his remembrance service.’ Pete took off his hat for a moment and clutched it in his hand.

  ‘You miss him, don’t you?’

  ‘Every day I wish I could talk to him one last time,’ he admitted.

  ‘You’re going to the remembrance service, aren’t you?’ Verity could see by the sadness in his eyes how much he was still hurting. Maybe she could talk to Sam again and encourage him to chat to Pete before the service. It was possible that if they spoke to each other and let each other know exactly how they were feeling, they could move on and help each other through the undoubtedly emotional service.

  ‘Even though I know I probably won’t be welcomed by certain members of Joe’s family, I’ll stand at the back and pay my respects.’

  ‘Everyone has the right to pay respects to someone they loved dearly.’

  Pete nodded and pointed to the burrow in the ground. ‘This is your first burrow. Let’s start counting those puffins.’

  Verity looked at the hole in the ground. ‘Have I got to stick my hand in there?’

  ‘You do, but first put this on.’ Pete handed her what looked like a sleeve of a jumper. ‘They may nip your hand or scratch your arm. This is just a little bit of added protection.’

  Verity slipped it on then knelt on the ground.

  ‘You’ll need to lie on your stomach and slide your hand in slowly. Try not to panic.’

  ‘It’s the fear of the unknown that worries me,’ she replied, wriggling onto her stomach.

  ‘You’ll be fine. You’re just feeling for puffins and eggs.’

  Slowly and nervously, Verity slipped her hand into the burrow, biting her lip in anticipation of being nipped at any moment. ‘I can feel an egg,’ she said excitedly. ‘Oooh, and another.’

  Pete smiled. ‘I can remember the first time I felt an egg in a burrow. It’s like when the chickens lay for the first time, you feel like a proud parent.’

  ‘Two eggs, two puffins. OUCH! And one nip of the beak,’ she exclaimed, quickly retracting her hand. ‘Gosh, that really does hurt.’ She rubbed the back of the hand.

  ‘The top of your hand will soon be that numb from the all the nips that you won’t feel a thing by the time you finish today.’

  ‘And I volunteered for this job because…’

  ‘Of your love of puffins.’

  ‘I’m beginning to wonder,’ she said, sliding her hand into the next burrow. ‘Ouch!’

  Pete chuckled. ‘I can remember the very first time I was bitten by a puffin. It was the same day I was bitten at work by a chihuahua. I’ve come across some big dogs in my time, and ones that looked as if they weren’t very friendly, but they were a walk in the park compared to this tiny creature. It was brought in in a designer handbag because it didn’t like walking on wet ground when it was raining.’

  ‘What a diva!’

  ‘“Twinkle”, she was called, “because she was a little star”.’ Pete rolled his eyes.

  ‘Aww, she sounds adorable.’

  ‘There was nothing adorable about her or the owner. She would make any excuse to visit the surgery with that dog. Every time I saw her name on the list for the day it filled me with dread.’

  ‘And the reason why the owner brought her in was…’

  ‘She thought Twinkle had a cold as she’d sneezed a couple of times. I was going to suggest maybe it was the perfume the owner was wearing. It was that strong it made me sneeze the second she walked into the surgery. Anyway, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the dog but as usual I went through the motions, giving her the once-over as the owner gave me the once-over. I turned towards the computer to write up the notes and something took a huge bite out of my backside. I wondered for years whether it was the dog or the owner.’

  Verity laughed. ‘I know who my money would be on.’

  Pete stopped at the next burrow.

  ‘I thought I’d miss the routine of my job but I have to say, at the minute I’m not missing it at all,’ she said.

  ‘That’s probably because it feels like you’re on holiday.’

  ‘You’re not the first person to say that and it’s probably true, but being in such a beautiful place, I have begun to question where I really want to be.’

  ‘You and every other tourist want to live here once they’ve visited, but unfortunately – or fortunately, if you’re a curmudgeon like me – it’s not very often a property comes up for sale.’ He looked up towards his cottage, now high above them on top of the cliff. ‘I’ve been offered ridiculous amounts of money for that place.’

  ‘Ever tempted?’

  ‘Never.’ He pointed to the next burrow.

  Verity got down on her stomach again. ‘How come it’s me that’s constantly getting bitten?’

  ‘Because I’m chief supervisor, and if I’m honest with you, if I get down, I’m not sure I’d get back up at my age,’ said Pete with a laugh.

  For the next few hours they continued to count the burrows and record their findings. Verity soon forgot the number of times she’d been bitten. Pete was right, after a while you became immune to it. In the early afternoon Pete called time on the count.

  ‘We’ll be burnt to a crisp and will be suffering from sunstroke if we carry on. Let’s reconvene early tomorrow morning.’ He blew a whistle and waved at the other rangers as a signal to quit.

  ‘I’ve really enjoyed myself today,’ said Verity. ‘Thanks for letting me tag along.’

  ‘It’s my pleasure.’

  Back at the cliff top, they headed towards the cottage. Nathan was walking towards them, holding up the keys to Hetty.

  ‘She’s all yours, along with the bill,’ he said apologetically. ‘I wasn’t sure where to send it.’

  Verity smiled. ‘Thank you, It’s great to have her back. I’ll sort out the payment and get it to you.’

  ‘Much appreciated. Oh, and Pete, I’ve just noticed Cooper up at the old surgery. He was asking if you were around.’