Argh!
I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the view. ‘No noticeable difference at the moment. But it was probably a good thing to get some food inside me.’
‘Pretty sure that was a big fat porker.’
I pulled another face but couldn’t help smiling.
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought.’
‘All right. Don’t let it go to your head.’
‘I’ll try not to.’ He gave me a look. ‘But I’m glad you’re feeling better. What do you want to do now?’
‘I don’t mind. Any thoughts?’
‘We could just go for a walk if you were up to it? And I know a little teashop down the back lanes that serves the best cake for later, you know, just to keep up your strength.’
‘Oh, so the cake would purely be for my physical well-being.’
‘Of course. I mean, I’ll have some too, in the interests of politeness. You know, just to keep you company. Be rude to let you eat alone.’
‘Ah, that’s sosweetof you.’ I put a big emphasis on the word and poked my tongue out as punctuation.
‘I’m all heart.’
‘OK, let’s go and walk this off and make room for cake.’
The tide was out as we made our way along the coastline at the base of the cliffs. The summer sunshine bleached out the whiteness of the chalk, making them almost too bright to look at. At least too bright when you still had the remnants of a hangover. We walked further out and began climbing over the rock pools, peering in to see what creatures we could find in each one.
‘There’s nothing in here,’ I said, squinting at where Charlie had pointed. I’d been peering into pools on my own for the past twenty minutes whilst Charlie had wandered around taking photos, crouching over pools and getting so close that I was worried he was going to tip in head first. I’d wandered off across rocks warmed by the sun, leaving him happy in his pursuits, but he had now caught up with me and, upon hearing how little luck I’d had in spotting any sea life, was trying to help.
‘Yes, there is. He’s just buried himself in the sand a little.’ Charlie crouched next to the pool and pointed.
‘Doesn’t sound like a bad plan to me. Maybe he had too much champagne last night as well.’
Charlie straightened up. ‘Are you all right? I can take you home if you’d prefer, and you can get some rest.’
I stood up and tilted my head back to look up at him, the brim of my hat shading me. ‘No, this is good. Honestly. It’s nice. I can’t remember the last time I did this.’
Actually, I could. It was exactly two weeks before Mum died. I’d never been rock-pooling since. Not until today. Of course, Charlie had no idea about any of that. Despite my chattiness, I rarely opened up to anyone about what had happened with Mum. Even my ex only knew that she had died young, and unexpectedly. Despite nearly two years of dating, I had never felt that I wanted to open up about that. And he’d never asked.
Charlie took off his sunglasses, his beautiful eyes focused on me. ‘I’m pretty sure that was another big fat porker, Libby.’ His voice was soft. ‘Is everything OK?’
I felt the tears prick my eyes, hidden still behind the oversized glasses I’d grabbed on the way out of the flat. Suddenly I wanted to tell Charlie everything, and I didn’t know why. But I did know that it had nothing to do with last night’s champagne and everything to do with knowing I could trust him completely and utterly. And with wanting him to know.
‘I’m fine!’ I said, bailing at the last minute, squishing the tears back down.
‘You’re really on a roll with those fibs today.’
He held out a hand and I took it, my sandals dangling from my other one. Stepping across the rock pools, with Charlie steadying my way on the slippery rocks, we headed out to where the sand had formed into little ripples from the outgoing tide. We walked along next to each other, content in silence, the wash of the tide drowning out the sounds of families having fun as we walked further from the main beach and moved along the coastline.
I bent and picked up a large shell, washed clean by the waves. Turning it over in my hands, I smiled at the perfection of its shape.
‘Isn’t nature amazing? I mean, look at this. It’s just so—’ I let out a squeal as a mollusc began poking its head out to see what was going on with its home. Quickly, I brought my arm back and lobbed the shell out to sea.
Charlie raised his eyebrows. ‘Impressive throw.’
‘Yes, my brother is the one that throws like a girl in our family. My nephews hate playing ball with him.’
