Page 17 of The Summer That Changed Us

‘Yum. I knew I married you for a reason.’ Robyn sidled up to him, snuggling under his arm so that she could get close to him.

She pushed herself onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, smelling his delicious smell: fresh and clean with a faint hint of cinnamon. So different from his days on the boat, when he’d come home exhausted late in the afternoon, bringing the smell of the sea in with him. It used to be her favourite time of the day; she’d run him a hot bath and he’d relax while she massaged his shoulders and washed his hair and if he wasn’t too tired, she’d strip off and join him. It had been their special time, just him and her and for as long as the water stayed hot enough, it was as if no one else in the world existed.

She still loved it when he came home and she still ran him a bath, but she’d stopped stripping off in front of him. Neither of them mentioned it. It was just an unspoken understanding. A self-consciousness that was permanently with her. But now part of her did want to speak about it, she wanted to know how he felt about her, needed to know if he still wanted her. The other part, of course, was frightened to death that she might not like the answer. Maybe she should simply do it; climb into the bath with him and see what happened? She bet that was what Grace would do. The thought made her smile.

She squeezed herself in between him and the kitchen worktop and forced him to put the knife down.

‘I love you,’ she whispered in his ear, touching her lips to the side of his neck. It was her secret weapon; he was super-sensitive just there and usually a few seconds of her teasing him was all it took to get him interested.

But not today.

‘Hey, you minx, I need to finish this.’ He cupped her face to give her a bristly kiss on the lips. ‘Tell me about your morning, your message was very cryptic: on an exciting rescue mission, back soon. Don’t tell me another whale has been washed up on the beach?’

‘No, it was a naked woman and a hot tub.’ She laughed at his shocked expression. ‘If I tell you the details, do I get cake?’

He pulled a face. ‘Sorry, this one is for Claudia. She’s permanently starving according to Callum and he’s asked if we can pop over with food. I’m going there now with this and a stew. I think the euphoria of Betty’s arrival is wearing off and the pair of them are knackered. There’s some vegetable soup on the hob if you want some. Hey, kiss me again.’

Robyn obliged willingly, lust stirring inside her as she deepened the kiss. Maybe all was not lost. But again, he was the one to break their embrace and stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers.

‘I thought I could smell alcohol; did the rescue mission include a drink by any chance?’ he asked, bemused.

‘Yep.’ She bit back her disappointment at being brushed off. ‘Prosecco with my new friends, Katie and Grace, to celebrate Grace moving into Sea Glass House.’

‘Really? Very nice.’ He looked impressed. ‘Well, whoever these two are, I like them already for putting a smile on my girl’s face.’

While Robyn helped herself to spicy carrot and pearl barley soup, and he decorated the top of the cake with chopped walnuts, she gave him the highlights of her morning.

‘I feel more positive than I have in a long time. Just having someone to talk to.’

Finn looked hurt. ‘You can talk to me.’

‘I know,’ she said, feeling guilty.

But there was so much she couldn’t say. Not yet. About their relationship. About family. About how they were going to manage if she didn’t pick up some work …

She stacked her empty bowl in the sink and fought to return to her happy mood. She dipped her finger in the bowl of frosting and licked it. ‘Wow, this is really good.’

Finn washed his hands. ‘I’m heading over to Callum’s with this, do you want to come? Claudia might even share the cake with you.’

‘I should probably send some emails, make some calls, put feelers out for freelance work, but that sounds like far more fun.’

‘Hmm,’ Finn frowned. ‘At least you can keep Claudia chatting while I tell Callum the bad news about the loan repayments.’

A shiver of unease ran down Robyn’s spine, but she managed a smile. ‘Ready when you are.’

The walk to Claudia and Callum’s house took no time at all. They lived at the far side of the harbour, their home was amid a row of traditional stone fishermen’s cottages and overlooking the collection of shabby boatsheds. Most of them were disused these days, but the largest of them was the headquarters of McGill Enterprises: housing everything needed to run a small fishing business, from tangled ropes, weatherproof clothing and boots, plastic crates and an often ignored desk decorated in the obligatory red tape required to comply with the regulations of the day.

The brothers had taken over the fishing business from their father, Eddie McGill, some years ago. It had been hard for Eddie to accept that he wasn’t the one at the helm anymore, and after few too many disagreements with his sons about how they should be running things, their mother Sheila took matters into her own hands and insisted she and Eddie move to the south coast where the warmer climate would be good for his arthritis. Their boys, she convinced him, could sail the ship without him. It had been the right move for the pair of them, but Robyn missed them both. She loved her in-laws dearly and had relished being fussed over, especially by Sheila who had filled the gap left by her own mother.

In theory, the brothers were equal partners, but as the eldest, Callum tended to have the casting vote on business decisions, and Finn, being easy-going, rarely rocked the boat.

Two best friends and two brothers: the two couples had been a foursome since she and Claudia were eighteen. Robyn, after fancying the pants off Finn for ages, had finally decided to do something about it when she spotted him in the pub with his friends celebrating passing his driving test. She’d done that thing of getting the barman to take him a drink over ‘from an admirer’ and had proceeded to catch his eye until he came over. Finn admitted later that he had had his eye on her too, but had wanted to pass his driving test first, so he could impress her by inviting her out for a drive in his dad’s car. Their first date was driving twenty miles to find the nearest McDonalds drive-through. Then Callum plucked up the courage to ask Claudia out, so their second date was at an open-air cinema with Callum and Claudia in the back. Their lives had been intertwined ever since.

The house was quiet when Robyn and Finn arrived. It was usually so full of chaos and noise with nine-year old

William and seven-year old Hannah racing around shouting to one another, but they were still at school. Claudia was lying on the sofa in her dressing gown with three-week-old Betty asleep on her chest while Callum was napping in the armchair next to her. Finn’s cooking was well received and after making hot drinks and serving up slices of cake to Claudia and Robyn, Finn retreated to the kitchen with Callum.

Robyn could hear the two brothers speaking in low, serious tones and her stomach lurched. The men couldn’t really afford not to be out fishing this week, but Finn couldn’t take the boat out alone. Callum and Finn had a strong work ethic and rarely had time off, but family came before profit. Claudia’s mum had been here to help for the first few days after the baby arrived. Now that she’d gone, Claudia had wanted Callum on hand for another week before being left in charge of all three children by herself.