‘Never say never,’ he smiled.
‘There are all sorts of things you could do to improve it and make it yours…if you want to, that is.’
She was probing, he knew, and he wondered whether part of that was to do with Jade. He’d noticed Harvey clocking them dancing together and wouldn’t have minded so much if Jade hadn’t well and truly rejected him before the end of the night.
‘Where are you off to anyway?’ Melissa noticed the bag at his feet as she stroked Winnie’s head after the dog had turned her attentions away from Linc now one of her most trusty companions was free.
‘For a swim in the sea.’
Melissa laughed. ‘Well, you, Linc, are far braver than I am. It’s a gorgeous day out there but the water is usually freezing, no matter how much the sun is shining. And I’m only saying that as someone who dips no more than a few toes in there as I walk Winnie in the mornings.’
‘You mean locals don’t swim there all the time?’
She shook her head at his sarcasm. ‘Enjoy yourself, it’ll freshen you up if nothing else.’
He set off out of the house, sliders on his feet, a slight nip in the breeze but otherwise a beautiful day. He crossed the road, followed the track running parallel to the chapel and made his way down to the cove remembering his first visit down here with Jade. It was certainly far easier in the daylight. And when he jumped down onto the sands and found it deserted apart from a lone dog walker about to head back up to the village and a scattering of people too far away for him to call out to, he was happy he’d come.
He stripped off his T-shirt and already felt the cool air against his chest. He wondered briefly whether a wetsuit would’ve been a wiser choice than board shorts, but it was summer – what kind of man would he be in that kind of get-up in England’s warmest months of the year?
But already he sensed this was going to be harder than he’d anticipated. And so he did the only thing he could do under the circumstances – he ran as fast as he could across the sand, down to the water, and didn’t stop until he was almost thigh-deep, when he dived head first into an oncoming wave.
He emerged somewhat refreshed the other side, gave a shiver and swam around to let his body get used to the temperature. It wasn’t long before he relaxed and lay on his back floating like a starfish, squinting when the sun peeked out from behind a cloud and took its time to creep behind another. He swam almost the width of the curved cove three times, back and forth, his limbs cutting through the water, the salty tang leaving him refreshed, until he began to tire and headed back for shore.
With a towel draped around his shoulders, he wiped the droplets from his face and rubbed his hair at the sides to stop the water snaking its way across his face. The sand felt warm beneath his feet, the cry of a gull up above had him watching it soar the same way he’d swum but at twice the speed, and he shook off a piece of seaweed that had attached itself to his left calf. It was beautiful down here, its relative seclusion likely what made it so, and swimming this morning after his final clinic appointment and with just a few weeks to go until his move to the cottage and the new job awaiting him, it felt as though he’d marked out his fresh start. His breathing settled but he felt more alive and clear-headed than he had in a long time.
He stood enjoying the feel of the sun as he looked out to the cove but didn’t miss something in his peripheral vision. Or rather, someone. And when he turned to look more closely, he realised it was Jade. But she hadn’t spotted him. She must’ve been down this way walking and was finally coming into view from behind the slippery rocks covered in seaweed that led away from the cove to a small patch of sand unseen from here, the part people rarely ventured to, according to Etna, as there wasn’t much sand there at all with the way the tide curved around the cove itself and trickled into any inlet it could find.
He raised a hand to get her attention but she wasn’t looking. And it wasn’t until she got even closer that he saw she was upset.
He jogged over to her. ‘What happened?’
She clearly hadn’t seen him approach and startled a moment before she said, ‘I’m fine, honestly.’
‘I’ve got enough experience of kids lying to me that I know the signs,’ he said, bending his knees a little in an attempt to have her meet his gaze. It didn’t work.
‘And what might those be?’ She was trying to be nonchalant and failing miserably.
‘Mumbling, turning your head in the hope of shifting focus to something or someone else. Not maintaining eye contact,’ he added when she still wouldn’t do that. ‘I’ve got a can of Coke in my bag. I’ll give it to you if you come and sit down with me for a bit.’
She seemed about to turn him down flat and reiterate what she’d told him at the ball last night but instead she at last looked at him and began to walk over to where he’d left his things.
As promised, he found the can of Coke, flipped the ring pull and handed it to her. ‘You need sunscreen?’ She had the palest of skin, it suited her, he’d hate to see it turn pink.
‘Already done,’ she said but then relented. ‘I’ve been here a while so if you’ve got some?’
His skin tanned easily but he still had factor 30 when he was stripping down, swimming and drying off beneath the midday sun. He found the bottle and after she’d pushed the can of drink down into the sand so it would stand up by itself, he squirted enough onto each of her forearms for her to rub in, more in her hands for her legs and then some more again for her to do her face, although she did have a straw hat that she’d been carrying and she pulled it on now as they sat with no shade, the water lapping gently, and him patiently waiting. He put some sunscreen on his chest as she looked out to sea sipping from the still-cold can of drink and when he was done, sat down beside her.
‘Any idea what they raised for White Clover this year with the Wedding Dress Ball?’ he asked after they’d sat in silence for a few minutes – anything to break the ice.
‘I don’t know but if it’s anything like last year it’ll be in the thousands.’
‘It goes to show what a village can do when everyone pulls together.’
It fell quiet between them once again. He was about to start up conversation, talk about the cottage he was soon to move into, perhaps talk about anything other than what was bothering her, when she suggested they walk.
He looked back at the rocks. ‘Let me put my bag out of sight. If anyone nicks it, good luck to them – there’ll just be a soggy towel inside and sloppy sunscreen, and a squashed empty can of what was once a fizzy drink,’ he added, taking the finished Coke can from her and crushing it down.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t save any for you.’
