‘Yep. Do you want a quick peek while you’re here?’
Did he? He wasn’t entirely sure why he had stopped. ‘If that’s okay,’ he found himself saying.
‘I’m an estate agent, of course it’s okay.’ The man told him his name was Geoff as he handed out his card. ‘Recent price drop, just so you know.’ He leaned in his open car window and came back with a flyer. ‘Here, take this.’
Spencer glanced down at the info about the old house, remembering entering a few times as a child with his aunt.
Geoff rattled off house prices, comparing Kathleen’s old home with others in the area while he went from room to room, splaying his arms left, right, and centre.
It made little difference to Spencer what the man was going on about. All he could hear was Archie’s content sounds and see Beth’s smile. Had things not gone so wrong, they could be viewing properties together.
He remembered the last time he was in the house. Rebecca had brought Kathleen some groceries, as she wasn’t well and there was no one else to help her since her children had grown and moved away.
‘Bit of plastering,’ said Geoff, coming back into focus.
‘Hmm? Oh, yeah.’ Spencer laughed to himself at the attention the place needed. ‘And the rest,’ he mumbled, heading for the front door. He shook hands with the man, then went backto his car, still wondering why he had bothered to check out the home for sale.
With the engine purring, and his hands clasping the steering wheel, he took a deep breath and lowered his head to his fingers for a moment.
‘Bloody hell!’ he muttered, feeling agitated on every level. Snapping out of his haze, he made his way to the Sunshine Centre, as the boys would be waiting. He didn’t feel much in the mood for fossil hunting, but it was planned, and the children were looking forward to another badge.
It wasn’t long before Spencer swapped his van for the centre’s minibus and was heading to the seafront with buckets and spades and three eager lads. It was nice to see how much more they smiled since he first met them.
‘Right, now the chance of finding a fossil is slim, but if we can find some unusual shells, that’ll be good enough,’ he told them as he parked.
‘Or sea glass,’ said Leo, gasping at the thought.
‘Knowing my luck, it’ll be an old boot we dig up,’ said Jax, collecting his spade from the back seat.
Ryan laughed. ‘Skeleton bones.’
‘Pirate treasure,’ said Leo.
Spencer shook his head as he followed them down to the shingles, thankful it was a lovely day and the sea was calm. The gentle whooshing sound soothed his weary soul, and the boys laughing brought back his joy. Before he knew it, half an hour had passed.
Jax pulled him over to a small pool nestled by a circle of rocks someone had built up by a wall. ‘Do you think they tried to make a castle for a fish?’
‘Probably just someone playing with—’
A yell ripped through the air, coming from the shoreline. It took a moment to notice Leo’s red cape flapping in the breeze.
‘Leo,’ shouted Spencer. Following the boy’s pointing finger out to sea.
‘It’s a dog,’ said Leo. ‘Looks like it’s struggling to swim.’
Ryan went to move closer to the sea, but Spencer pulled him back. ‘But I can save it,’ said Ryan.
‘I’m sure you can, but you’re not going out there.’
Leo frowned at Spencer. ‘Can I go?’
Spencer shook his head. ‘No one’s going in the sea.’
Jax started to coax the dog to the shoreline, patting his knees and whistling.
The little dog was paddling furiously as wave after wave rolled over its head.
Spencer knew he had to help, as the poor thing looked exhausted. ‘I’ll go.’
