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In response I cough up some croissant crumbs.
‘Just for a little bit,’ he explains. ‘I know we’re here to spend time with the group but, well, the group is a bit intense. I wouldn’t say no to some breathing space.’
‘I get that,’ I say truthfully. Because as much as it’s good to hang out with everyone, I find myself craving Joe’s company more and more, even though it does strange things to my heart rate. Truth is, when we’re together life feels easier.
‘You do?’ Joe looks so relieved it’s adorable. ‘There’s a beach nearby, maybe we could go for a walk.’
‘I’d like that,’ I say as Tally walks into the kitchen with a green juice in her hand.
‘Morning!’ she calls, looking unbelievably perky after what I hear was a late night for everyone except me and Joe. ‘Can everyone be ready for ten a.m.? The masseuses will be here by then, ready for us all to have couples’ massages, and then after lunch we’re doing a gong bath.’
Joe shoots me a look and I nod.
‘Tally, would you mind if we skipped the couples’ massage?’ he asks. ‘I was planning to steal Sophie away for the morning.’
‘Oh sweet.’ Tally beams. ‘Of course I don’t mind.’
Within seconds of getting out of Joe’s car I’m buffered by a bracing wind which pins me back against the bonnet.
‘Oof!’
‘Winds from the Atlantic,’ Joe calls over as he locks the car and pockets his keys. ‘It’s why this beach is so popular with surfers. Come on!’
I zip up my rain jacket and trot after him, through the car park, down some steps and straight onto a wide expanse of golden sand. The tide is out and I can just make out surfers on brightly coloured boards out at sea. The roar of the wind and the smell of salty air fill my senses.
‘What is it about the beach?’ I wonder as we walk. ‘There’s something mesmerising about it.’
Joe rubs his forearms in a bid to warm up. It may be late April but it is chilly by the sea. ‘It puts everything into perspective. When you come to the coast you can physically see that there is something so much bigger at work out there. I always feel like whatever problems I have melt away when I’m by the sea. It’s the power of the ocean.’
‘That’s very poetic of you, Joe.’ I grin as my trainers squelch on the increasingly soggy sand.
‘I’m a poetic kind of guy.’
We find ourselves walking towards the water and there’s something so nice about being able to drift aimlessly, to just take a break from the sheer admin of life as a single parent. When the sun bursts through the clouds I reach into my bag for sunglasses, squinting into the brightness. We’re standing side by side, staring out at the ocean, when Joe turns to me with a glimmer in his eye.
‘Dare you to go in,’ he says, his voice a challenge.
‘Are you kidding? It’s approximately no degrees out here today.’
‘Wimp.’
‘I am not!’ I protest, moving closer to the water’s edge and reaching down to test the temperature. ‘I can confirm that it is freezing.’
‘First one in the water gets an ice cream.’ Joe’s kicking off his trainers and socks now.
‘I quite clearly am not coming in with you, you fool!’ I laugh happily. ‘So you’re basically competing with yourself.’
By now Joe is striding barefoot towards the water in his shorts.
‘I can see the headlines now,’ I call after him. ‘“Cocky Irishman perishes after ill-advised April dip in Welsh seas”.’
Joe turns and gives me a thumbs up, until his feet hit the water and his face falls.
‘Jesus Christ this is cold!’ he shouts. ‘Maybe I’ll stick with a paddle rather than a full-on swim.’ The sight of him hopping from one foot to another as the waves push against his calves makes me howl with laughter.
‘Come on in!’ he calls. ‘It’s fun.’
And then something weird happens. Practical Sophie takes a back seat and I find myself pulling off my own shoes, rolling my jeans up as high as they’ll go and wading in after him. I can’t decide if it’s my competitive nature, the fact that Joe had the sheer audacity to call me a wimp, or simply just because I want to be a part of the fun.
