JOE
After a chilled morning looking after the animals, followed by both of them searching online to try and find out more about C. Ferreira, Joe suggested they take a walk across the fields.
‘I love this place,’ Skye said almost to herself.
Joe’s hand brushed against hers as they both went to open the lower meadow gate at the same time. He wanted desperately to take her hand in his but didn’t want to do anything to cause her to withdraw from him. He cringed inwardly at the thought of how much worse her reaction could have been when he had walked into the shower room.
Joe opened the gate and once they were both on the other side, closed it. He sensed Skye watching him and hoped it was because she was beginning to trust him a little. He was relieved he had been successful in making some headway to locate her father. It wasn’t much, but it was a tentative link that he sensed might lead Skye to the man she was longing to track down.
If only she didn’t see him as just a friend, although he was grateful for that. Thinking back to how they had first met and then again seeing each other at the farm and realising they would be living and working together, he knew things could have been far worse between them. He might wish there could be more between them but friends was better than nothing and at least they could enjoy each other’s company.
He stopped walking and breathed in the fresh sea air. How unfair was it though that only he seemed to feel the chemistry between them? Or was it simply a one-way thing coming from him and there wasn’t really any chemistry at all? Probably. Then again, maybe he had been single for too long and had lost the ability to pick up on subtle nuances being sent his way. He looked at her but she was lost in thought about something and by the look on her face it wasn’t anything romantic. It was just wishful thinking on his part that there could be anything more between them.
He noticed the slowly rising moon over the fields and was taken aback by the magnificence of it.
‘Does the moon look bigger than usual to you?’ he asked, wondering if it was one of those Hunter’s Moons occasionally mentioned in the newspaper.
‘Hmm?’
He realised Skye hadn’t heard his question. ‘The moon,’ he repeated, not wanting her to dwell on whatever was bothering her. ‘Do you think it’s one of those special moons?’
She looked up and gasped. ‘Wow, that is big, even for a full moon.’ She stared at it silently for a moment. ‘Actually I read earlier that this one is a Flower Moon.’
‘It is?’ He had no idea what that was and presumed it must be due to the colour. It did seem rather pink, he supposed.
‘Apparently, or so it said on the news platform I came across yesterday. Beautiful, isn’t it?’
It was. Joe went to take his phone from his back jeans pocket but found it wasn’t there. ‘I wish I’d thought to bring my mobile to take a photo of it,’ he said, disappointed that he must have left it in his bedroom.
‘I don’t have mine either,’ Skye commiserated. ‘Not that my phone ever takes decent photos of faraway things like that.’
‘Neither does mine, come to think of it. The number of sunsets I’ve hoped to capture always come across with completely different colours, so I mostly don’t bother trying any more.’
‘Maybe we’re simply supposed to enjoy it rather than try to capture it?’
He liked that idea. ‘I agree.’
She was quiet again, staring across the fields and taking in the pink and purple sky to the west. ‘Do you really think we’ll be able to track down my father?’
‘I don’t see why not.’
She looked at him and Joe couldn’t miss the hope in Skye’s beautiful dark eyes.
‘It must be strange not knowing what your father looks like,’ he said without thinking, immediately cross to have voiced such a thoughtless thing. ‘Sorry, that was an odd thing to say.’
‘I don’t think it was at all,’ Skye said, slipping her hand into his and giving it a gentle squeeze.
Taken aback at her unexpected touch, Joe glanced down at their hands.
‘Sorry,’ Skye said, obviously mistaking his reaction. She snapped her hand away before he managed to think what to say and immediately began walking again.
He didn’t want her to get the wrong impression about his reaction and went after her. ‘Skye?’
She raised a hand but didn’t slow down. ‘It’s fine,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘I don’t know why I did that.’
Joe caught up with her in a few strides and took her gently by the arm, pulling her to a stop. ‘Hey, I was just surprised, that’s all.’ When she kept her gaze downwards, he placed a finger under her chin and raised it. ‘Look at me.’
It took a few seconds before she did. ‘Can we just keep walking?’
