‘Please, Dad,’ she begged.
‘Please, Dad,’ I repeated.
‘Fine. But seriously, Margot, you watch them like a hawk and ifanythinghappens to either of the girls – anything – that’s it. No more surfing.’
Rue and Wren cheered, and I saluted Dad before we sat at the table and I enviously watched them eat my pastries.
On our way back to the beach, Wren spotted Felix, who was untying an apron from round his waist.
‘Felix! Felix!’ Rue shouted. Loudly. Shamelessly.
He looked up, smiled and walked over to us.
‘I’ve been drawing this morning with my new colours,’ Wren said, beaming.
‘That is fantastic!’ Felix smiled and she leaned into my side.
‘Come with us to our surf lesson!’ Rue tugged on his hand.
‘Oh no, I do not really go to the beach,’ said Felix cautiously.
‘Why not?’ Rue pushed.
‘Rue! Felix, we’ll see you later? I will anyway.’ I pulled Rue away, but she turned back towards Felix.
‘Please?’ she begged. ‘You can see how good we are at surfing. Mostly me. I’m really good.’ She grinned extra hard. And I mouthed ‘sorry’ at Felix, who was clearly trying really hard to think of a way to say no.
‘OK,’ he said.
I noticed Delphine flick her head towards us when he agreed.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked, feeling bad for letting Rue pressure him. But in my defence, I didn’t actually have any control over Rue. Getting Rue to do what you wanted required thought, time and a lot of reverse psychology.
‘Yes. I will be OK,’ he said. But the look on his face said otherwise.
30
It wasn’t until we were halfway down the sandy lane that it struck me how awful this could be for him. Going to the same beach his brother died on. The exact same stretch where he’d pulled me out of the water.
‘Felix, are you sure about this?’ I asked, concerned, when the girls were out of earshot.
He inhaled. ‘I think so …’
I nodded, followed his lead, and matched his slow steps, just as reluctant as he was to go to the beach, but for very different reasons.
I spotted Antoine a mile off, in his black rash vest, board shorts and black aviators, lining up surfboards.
I looked back at Felix. The girls had taken one of his hands each and he was smiling at whatever they were saying. But behind the smile, he looked edgy. His shoulders were high and tense, and he walked with slow, reluctant steps.
‘Wait until you see me, Felix. I’m going to be a real surfer like Margot,’ Rue shouted.
And as we got closer to the hut – to Antoine – my heartbeat sped up. Antoine was waxing a board on the sand. And then,when we were a few metres away, he looked up. And for a split second, he stopped what he was doing before scrubbing the board again. Harder this time.
‘Antoine! Antoine!’ Rue called and walked over to him.
‘La guerrière et le petit oiseau!’ Antoine said, then stood up. But the smile that Antoine usually reserved for the girls was missing something.
He stared at Felix. Then turned to me. ‘I did not know we would have an audience today.’
