They smiled at the caterers, who were coming back from the house to the barn with more containers of food. Sensing it wasn’t a moment to interrupt, they didn’t even acknowledge Melissa apart from with quick nods of their heads.
‘You’ve got a whole life in Windsor, Melissa.’ He leaned back against the wall, their gazes drifting over to the barn where music played out as though nobody else had a care in the world.
‘I know I have. But it seems I still have one here.’
‘Does this have anything to do with the guy you were dancing with when I arrived?’ Before she could answer he held up a hand to stop her. ‘You know what, I don’t need to know. And I won’t beg you to reconsider. That would be a waste of time for both of us.’
She didn’t dare look at him to see whether he meant it kindly or whether he was seething more than his voice let on. ‘I’m really am very sorry, Jay. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’
And without another word or a backwards glance he put the ring box in his pocket and strode over to where his car was parked at the end of the lane leading into the courtyard. There wasn’t anything she could say to lessen the hurt for him. And if she hadn’t ended it tonight she’d have hurt him even more in the long run, he didn’t deserve that.
She waited for Jay to leave. She looked over at the barn, people milling around with plates of food. Lois was laughing as she danced with Fred, Barney was having a rest at one of the tables flocked by people wanting to talk to him. But Harvey wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Melissa checked around the back of the barn, she looked down the lane that led the back way to Barney’s, she looked inside the house, but he was gone.
And there was only one place he could be.
She ran, from the house, out the front gate, which predictably took an effort to undo, along the pavement and around the bend onto The Street. It was a nightmare doing this in heels and it was more of a trot than a run, so she kicked off her shoes, picked them up in her fingers and instead carried on in bare feet, hoping she wouldn’t stand on anything untoward.
She reached the end of the lane that would lead down to the cove. In the dark it would be terrifying if the last vestiges of sunlight weren’t still visible over the water ahead and the bushes that concealed the way down. The dirt track became part sand and she kept going until eventually she was at the end. She took the steps down to the beach, her hand finding the barrier every now and then before she remembered how wobbly it was. And when she reached the bottom, her bare feet moulding around the rocky formation before the last jump onto the sands, she saw him. In the fading light she made out the lone figure, his arm hooked in the telltale way that said he was holding a collection of stones, skimming each and every one of them in an effort to get it to skip over the water’s surface better than the last.
As she walked her feet sank into the damp sand that in a couple of hours’ time would be completely covered by the tide. The foam had already crept up, they wouldn’t have long before they’d have to get back up the steps to avoid the sea. The bodice of her dress restricted the movement of her chest that she needed to recover from the exertion of charging down here but in silence she stood beside Harvey as her breathing returned to normal and he skimmed the last few stones in his palm.
When he ran out he turned to her, eyes full of sadness. The bow-tie his mum had told Melissa he’d spent forever nervously perfecting had been yanked undone and hung loose around his neck, his dark brown hair was more dishevelled than usual and she could picture him raking a hand through it when he first came down here to think, the spray from the water leaving its salty remnants behind.
He looked away, out to sea instead. ‘Tide will be in soon, you don’t want to get caught down here.’
‘I could say the same to you.’
‘Why aren’t you at the ball, dancing?’
‘Because I wanted to find you.’
‘Relax, I’ll be back by the end of the event, you know I wouldn’t let Barney down.’
‘I know.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
‘The problem is, you owe me a dance.’
He harrumphed. ‘And you think your fiancé would be happy with that?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Then stop playing games, Melissa.’
She moved in front of him so he was forced to look at her. Her feet were submerged in the water and it was freezing, but she scared away her chattering teeth the best she could. ‘I’m not playing games.’ She threw her shoes back onto the sand in case she dropped them. ‘Stop being so stubborn and talk to me.’
‘Said all there is to say.’
‘Well I haven’t.’ The noise of the crashing waves behind her made it impossible to talk quietly. ‘I’m sorry for running away from you five years ago, I’m sorry I never got in touch until now. But I don’t regret going. I needed to see who I was without my parents, without this village, without you.’ She saw his jaw twitch in frustration.
‘Good for you, glad your head’s all sorted.’
‘It is, at last. And it’s over with Jay.’
He stared at her as the skies darkened and the only light now came from the moon casting its silvery glow across the water.
‘Aren’t you going to say anything?’ She almost lost her footing when a gentle wave lapped behind her.
