“Five minutes!” Ruth called. “Are you all set, you two?”
I waved and nodded. She disappeared back inside.
“Can you carry my truck, Missus Laura Silvey?” Edwin asked, patting my arm with his sandy hand. He was trying to make me smile. I hugged him, transferring sand onto my T-shirt. “Of course I can, lovely boy.”
Between us we carried the picnic essentials to the top of the cliff steps. Dominic retrieved a large beach parasol and a faded fabric windbreak from the folly tower, and the two men made an extra trip up and down the cliff steps to bring everything onto the beach. Ruth directed the placing of picnic blankets and coolers, and then she settled in the prime spot under the parasol, kicking off her sandals. The coral pink nail varnish on her toes and fingers matched her dress perfectly.
A lightweight sailing dinghy borrowed from one of the neighbors rested at the base of the cliff, and Edwin repeatedly asked his parents to let him play on it.
“Daddy will take you out on it later, darling,” Ruth said. “Why don’t you see what you can find in the rock pools now with Laura?” Dominic was settling himself on the blanket on one side of her and Alex on the other, and for a brief moment all three of them squinted up at me. I reached for Edwin’s hand.
“Let’s go!” I said, grabbing a bucket and net, and we raced over to the rocks. I kept my back to the picnic spot while Edwin poked through the first pool, and I hunched my shoulders against the laughter that drifted over the sand toward us. I wouldn’t have wanted to sit with them, even if they’d asked me to. I had no desire to share their conversation about house prices, or their in-jokes, or their champagne.
“Don’t forget your sun cream,” Edwin said, peering at my cheeks.
“Let’s find the biggest crab ever,” I said, and set to work lifting the loose rocks, shredding my fingernails in the process, so that he could scoop underneath them with his net. Eventually, Dominic ambled over to admire Edwin’s catches and to tell us lunch was ready.
Alex declared the picnic a triumph. It’s not the word I would have used. Soggy puff pastry cases containing limp prawns, too big for one mouthful but too fragile to sink your teeth into. Wild rice salad laced with gritty husks. Baguettes with sharp crusts and wispy interiors. Edwin and I sat on our own blanket and polished off the cold roast chicken drumsticks between us.
I declined Dominic’s offer of champagne, but watched surreptitiously as both Alex and Ruth sipped theirs slowly, while Dominic knocked back his first glass and poured himself a second.
Ruth reached out a hand as he went to pour a third. “Don’t you think you should save that for after the Topper?”
“Fine. Twenty minutes to let your lunch go down, young man, and we’ll take the boat out, okay?”
Edwin bounced up and down. “I’m going to run to the rock pools twenty times. Watch me, Uncle Alex!”
“Where does he get his energy from?” Alex asked, watching him, and Ruth caught my eye and we smiled briefly at each other.
“Goodness knows,” she said.
Eventually, Edwin slowed down and lost count, throwing himself onto the blanket at Ruth’s feet. Dominic yawned and stretched.
“We must remember coffee next time—should have brought a flask,” he said.
Ruth didn’t look at him. “Feel free.”
I agreed with him privately, although I’d have preferred tea.
Alex helped Dominic drag the dinghy to the shore, and then the two men shed their clothes down to their trunks and slid the boat into the surf. Edwin nestled in the central section, bundled into an orange life jacket, and the men’s voices floated back to us as they pushed the boat toward deeper water.
Ruth stretched out in her patch of shade, propped up on her elbows, and sighed.
“Isn’t this just the perfect day?”
I hugged my knees without replying, watching Alex’s arms steady the boat while Dominic hauled himself onto it. The breeze carried Edwin’s shrill chatter to us. The vessel looked flimsy on the choppy surface, and I marveled at the little boy’s confidence.
“He’d love to have children of his own, of course.”
I knew who she meant. I nodded, and took my sunglasses off to rub a smear of sun cream from the lens, half shocked at this glimpse into Alex’s desires, half wanting to hear more. Ruth yawned and sipped her champagne.
Dominic fiddled with the sail, and suddenly, the dinghy leaped into life, shooting away from Alex and bouncing across the waves. Down in its hollow center, Edwin whooped. Alex shouted encouragement as Dominic swung the boat round and raced back again. Ruth clapped, and we watched them zigzag back and forth for a while.
Alex threw up his hands as he strode out of the sea. “Your son’s an adrenaline junkie!” He shook salt water over the picnic remnants as he toweled his hair. Ruth tilted a glass at him, and he dropped onto the blanket next to her.
I fixed my gaze on the little boat zipping back and forth, burrowing my toes under the sand at the edge of the blanket.
“So, am I going to have to go shopping with you?” Ruth said. “Make sure you don’t turn this cottage into a sad bachelor pad?”
