AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They spent ages in the sea, swimming until they were out of their depth. Rik moved effortlessly through the water, lithe and streamlined, his skin gleaming gold. Despite his perfection, Nikki felt no self-consciousness next to him, even though her skin was pale against her red swimsuit. She was a strong swimmer and easily kept up with him. They lay floating on their backs and looking up at the vast expanse of sky.
‘I could lie here forever,’ said Rik.
‘You’ll get wrinkly fingertips,’ said Nikki, but she understood why he might want to. Out here, with nothing to do but float, life seemed easy and uncomplicated as any worries drifted away on the tide. Not that she had many, but she worked hard and it was the place that always relaxed her and made her forget lists and schedules.
Afterwards, they stretched themselves out on the flat rock that was just big enough for two and let the sun dry the water on their skin. Behind it were a series of interlinked caves, just about head height. No one would know you were in there unless they knew about them. Centuries ago, they were used by smugglers to store brandy, though you’d have to know the coastline well to make your way in by boat without coming to grief on the rocks.
‘I’d do anything for one of those grapes right now,’ said Rik, his arms behind his head.
‘Anything?’ Nikki sat up, rummaged in the shopping bag and found the bunch he’d bought earlier. She pulled them off their stalks and dropped them into his mouth, one by one, laughing. He kept his eyes shut, but he was laughing too.
‘Enough!’ he pleaded, opening his eyes wide. He put his hand up to hold her wrist, and she felt a jolt as his fingers touched her skin, and his grip tightened around her. They froze for a few seconds, him gazing up at her, her looking down at him, then he released her and put his arms behind his head again.
She sat beside him, her heart hammering. All she wanted to do was roll on top of him, feel the full length of her body against his, but she had no real idea if he was into her or if this was just two people enjoying an afternoon on the beach and messing about.
Instead, she pulled two cans of cider out of the bag and passed him one, resisting the urge to press the cold metal against his skin to make him jump.
‘No, thanks,’ he said. ‘I don’t drink.’
‘Oh.’ She hastily put the cans back in the bag. ‘Sorry.’
‘There’s no need to be sorry. It’s just … my dad died of the drink, as they say. It’s kind of put me off.’
‘I guess it would. I’m really sorry,’ she said, aware she was repeating herself.
‘It was his own fault. He’d had enough warning. But I worry it’s, you know, in the blood. So I just avoid it.’
‘That makes sense.’
‘I always wonder what my life would have been like, if he hadn’t been such a slave to it.’ He stared up at the sky. ‘My mum and dad met in the South of France when he came to deliver a yacht. They had a passionate fling, and my mum came back to Kinsale with him, thinking she was going to live the Irish dream. They got pregnant with me, and it all fell apart pretty quickly. My dad refused to marry her and she was gutted.’
‘I’m not surprised.’
He shrugged. ‘He was young. He didn’t want to get tied down. And I think he knew he couldn’t cope with the responsibility and things would turn bad.’ He mimed drinking from a glass. ‘So Mum went back to Toulouse. I spent my childhood bouncing between the two of them. He’d come over to France to get me, take me back to Kinsale, and I’d spend the summer there. Dad would throw me the odd ham roll and the odd sausage. He wasn’t great at looking after me but he taught me a lot about boats. I loved it. Come autumn, I had to go back to school in France. I went back to Kinsale when I was sixteen to live with him, but I realised my dad was falling apart. The drink was making him pretty sick.’
‘Oh dear.’
‘Yeah.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘He died a couple of years later. I didn’t cope very well. I went back to France, fell out with my mum because I was drinking too. Then I got my act together, went and collected The Lady Stardust. And I’ve been drifting about ever since. Trying to find my place in the world. Trying to find my people.’
‘Oh,’ said Nikki softly, her heart going out to him. ‘That’s a sad story.’
‘I spent my life wondering why I wasn’t enough to keep them together. Why he loved drinking more than he loved me.’
Nikki felt tears spring into her eyes. She wanted to reach over and hug him, but she didn’t quite dare, for he seemed a little tense, as if there was a barrier round him. He turned to look at her, his eyes half closed in the afternoon sun.
‘Your turn.’
‘Oh. Um – really boring. Mum and Dad were born and bred here and are as happy as anything. There are three of us. My older sister’s a nurse, and I work for my dad, and my brother will probably take over from him when he finishes college. Dull as ditchwater.’
‘No.’ Rik sat up. ‘You’ve got it cracked. You’re all in it together, in the most beautiful place on earth.’
‘Speedwell?’
‘Can’t you see that?’
‘It’s pretty, but it’s not very exciting. Not very glamorous.’
‘Trust me, I’ve seen glamorous in the South of France. All they worry about is money and being thin and who’s got the biggest boat.’
