Coming Home To Clover Cove (Clove Cove 06) by Maggie Finn

Author:Maggie Finn [Finn, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Sunflower & Co
Published: 2020-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The wind off the harbour was bracing on Christmas morning, numbing Nicole’s face, but she was still smiling. Down below, from her position near Tessa’s studio, a rag-tag choir consisting of Bishop Ray and St. Augustine’s best singers along with Raff, Mikey Carrol and some regulars from the pub were belting out a spirited version of ‘Once In Royal David’s City’. Even Sir Charles from the castle was adding a deep baritone. It was both chaotic and moving at the same time and took Nicole back to her Christmases as a child when the carols would be playing from the radio in the kitchen as her Mam and Da cooked side by side. She still felt the excitement but today, this morning, she also felt relief. Relief that for twenty-four hours she wouldn’t have anyone hassling her on the phone. Although now she thought about it, she wouldn’t put it past Gary Barnes to demand a video conference right in the middle of Christmas lunch.

She looked down at the water, the wind sending ripples with white peaks across the surface. When the singing finished, it would be time for the Clover Cove Christmas morning tradition of The Plunge, when anyone mad enough would jump into the icy water from the harbour wall. Supposedly it was a local tradition that went back to the days when the Cove was a fishing community, that it was all about giving thanks for the bounty of the ocean and for bringing the fleet back home safely, but Nicole suspected it had more in common with rollercoasters or bungee-jumping: the raw human desire to scream your head off as you did something stupid but thrilling. There was no way anyone was getting her in there, that was for sure.

‘Nic! Hey Nicole!’

She looked around and frowned as a woman in a black wetsuit and pink goggles came running up.

‘Nicole Garvey, is that you? It is!’

For a moment, Nicole was at a loss until the woman pulled of her goggles and swimming cap, releasing a cascade of blonde hair.

‘It’s me, Roisin. Roisin Brown. Well, Roisin O’Reilly now.’

‘No way!’ Nicole threw her arms around her old friend. Roisin had been one of her closest pals at school. For a good chunk of those crucial teen years, they had been inseparable. Nicole couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought to look her up. Too busy, she scolded herself. Always too busy.

‘I didn’t recognise you in those goggles.’

‘Ah, we all look the same today, like seals flopping about on the beach. Every year I tell myself this is just another stupid tradition and every year I join in and almost freeze to death.’

Roisin and Nicole had bonded over a love of ponies. In truth, Nicole hadn’t been all that interested in horses at the start, but she loved hanging out in Roisin’s bedroom cutting pictures out of magazines.

‘Of course it’ll be like ice in there,’ said Roisin, looking towards the harbour. ‘But I’ve got a tot of gin to warm me up for when I get out.

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