Page 59 of Forbid It

“Found one, love?” Sian asks. I shake it in the air and love the way her brows raise with a wicked grin. “Well, we definitely won’t lose you.”

I snicker as I cross to the counter, keeping my eyes lowered as the elderly woman behind the counter rings it up. I pull out my shiny black card, the only one I actually have with me apart from the cards on my dead phone that I purposefully left back at the house.

“Cash only,” the woman tells me, and I fiddle with the card in my hand.

Who doesn’t take card nowadays?

Sian hands over a handful of notes, and the owner accepts it without complaint, opening the cash register with a ding.

“Sian, you didn’t have to.”

She waves her hand. “Don’t be silly, flower.”

“Thank you,” I tell her, already preparing to pay her back tenfold.

By the time I’ve slipped into the bathroom to pull on the bikini under my dress, the others are waiting outside, arms laden with folding chairs, boogie boards, and beach bags.

“Catch,” is the first thing I hear when I approach, and I raise my arms instinctively to grab whatever the hell Robbie has just unceremoniously chucked at my face.

It’s a faded green hat, the logo just a faint outline of a dragon. I glance up at him, and he shrugs. “I thought you might want it.”

I pull my hair into a ponytail and thread it through the back, settling it on my hair. “Thanks.”

“Have we got everything?” Iwan asks us all, hoisting an umbrella into his arms. “I’m not making two trips up those steps.”

“Let’s do it,” Arthur replies.

25

ROBBIE

Before today, I’d only been on one ‘beach trip’ with my family. I spent the whole time with a fleece zipped up to my nose and a baseball hat pulled over my forehead. I’d just been cleared to regular movement, but not football, and it was my Mum’s birthday so I had no excuse not to join them. Plus, Ffion loves playing on the beach even when it’s fucking freezing. She’s going to love visiting me in California where the water is actually warm instead of just above glacial.

Back then, I’d spent all my time slumped in my mother’s deck chair with trainers and socks on, eating a soggy ham sandwich and occasionally rolling the ball to Sammy with my good foot.

This time, I’ve already batted back the ribbing from Iwan, let Sammy hitch a ride on my back down the endless stairs to the beach, and have helped Gwen coordinate setting up a bright blue windbreaker.

“She seems like she’s having fun,” Mum tells me, nudging my shoulder with her knee and gesturing to where Iwan is diving into the waves with Ffion clutching her neon pink boogie board. As soon as we unpacked and set up, Ffion was off like a shot to the waves, her boogie board dragging behind her.

We watch her from our spot as she keeps struggling to keep the board steady and jump on it.

“She reminds me of someone,” Cassie drawls from beside me, her long arms resting behind her on the towel. When I first went to her house and saw her curated interiors and expensive furnishings, I’d never expected to see her lounging on a faded cartoon towel wearing a beach store bikini. I can see it peaking out from the straps of her dress and I’m desperate for a look. What color is it? Green? Black? Gold?

This woman could wear a paper bag and still be the most beautiful woman in the world. She’s redone her hair into a thick braid hanging down her back, and my old Wales hat rests on her head. Faint freckles are dotted across her shoulder blades, and all I want to do is count them with my lips.

“She seems to know how to balance a bit better than you though.” The shade from the brim of Cassie’s hat doesn’t stop the sun catching the sparkle in her green eyes, and I have to look away.

My niece is now spluttering in the face of her father as he tries to help right her. The water only goes up to his knees, but she’s soaked head to toe in sea water.

“You going to give her a lesson?” I ask, mirroring her position and leaning back on my hands, my finger accidentally grazing her pinky. There’s a cool breeze in the air, sending a shiver across my spine.

She leans in conspiratorially. “A nine year old will probably be a better student.”

Before I can lean any closer, whisper that I’ll happily take her orders, a ball hits me right in the gut, nearly causing me to break in half as agony shoots through my groin.

“Sammy, be careful.” Gwen chastises as the boy follows the ball.

He’s cute, but he’s also a cockblock. And a ball breaker.