“We’ve actually managed to wear him out.” She passed me a plastic tumbler of cool lemonade, and brushed at something on Alex’s shoulder as he collapsed onto the blanket next to her.
“That was exhilarating,” Alex said. “Magnificent. I may have to come down every weekend while the weather’s like this.”
“And in the winter,” Ruth said.
“Whenever I can.” He smiled.
“Come and visit me in the week sometimes,” she said, herfingertips resting on his smooth forearm. “It’s so tediously boring here in the week.”
Dominic grunted from his prone position. “I like the way you pretend you’re stuck out here against your will.” He yawned. “You know your mother’s lusting after one of those luxury apartments in Kensington, darling. We can move into Winterbourne whenever you like.”
Ruth angled her hat brim between herself and her husband. “You know how I feel about the city. It’s much better for Edwin to be here.”
Dominic hauled himself up onto one elbow and lifted the lid of a cool box. “Beer?” he asked Alex, pulling out a bottle. Alex waved a hand to decline.
Ruth frowned. “Promise me you’ll come down in the week sometimes, in the winter.”
“I do have a life in Leeds, you know,” Alex said. “A little thing called a job. I can’t spend my whole life driving up and down the motorway.” He took a breath as though about to say more, but then gave a small laugh instead. “Much as I’d love to spend all my free time here.”
“Move down here then,” Ruth said.
Alex pulled a face.
A seagull flapped down onto the edge of my blanket, making me jump. It grabbed a discarded lump of pastry and stalked away to shake it apart on the sand. Ruth sprang to her feet.
“Right, time to head back. I can’t bear this heat a minute longer.” She scooped paper plates and detritus into coolers and slammed on lids.
“Ruth, Edwin’s still asleep,” Dominic said.
“You can carry him, can’t you?”
“Well, yes, but not himandeverything else.”
“Well, come back for everything else.”
She picked up a bag and her hat, and marched off toward the steps, calling out, “I have a headache. I’ll see you back at the house.”
Dominic groaned. “Sorry, guys.”
“Do you want me to carry Edwin back?” Alex asked.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll carry him. If you can both bring a bag or two, I’ll come back for the rest later.”
We barely spoke on the way back. I stumbled once at the top of the cliff steps, and Alex stepped closer to steady me with his forearm, the bottles sliding and clinking in the cool box he carried.
“Steady,” he said, and he waited for me to regain control of my clumsy limbs, his smile making my heart rattle. I mumbled an apology, but I carried the glow of our skin contact all the way back along the cliff path, through the trees, past the blushing dahlias and starry-headed asters in their neat-edged beds.
The back doors were open, Ruth’s hat abandoned on the kitchen table. Alex declined Dominic’s offer of a drink.
“Thanks, but I’ll be off. I’m driving home tonight. No furniture at the cottage yet.”
“You can sleep here—” Dominic waved a hand vaguely, but Alex shook his head.
“It was a great day. Really. Nice to meet you, Laura. Give me a bell in the week, Dom.” He let himself out.
Edwin was stirring, and I suggested that I toast some crumpets for his tea, and find him a quiet activity in the day nursery for an hour or so before bedtime.
“You sure you don’t mind?” Dominic asked.
