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Edie
Edie rolled down the window and stuck her head outside, the wind whipping her face as the jeep sped along the road. Right there, right then in that little capsule of time she had no worries; she was just a young woman on the edge of a cliff, the edge of something new, of something thrilling and scary and stupid, and she wanted to hold onto it forever or until… until the moment came that might ruin it all. But like the wheels of the jeep, she had to keep moving on, forward. She’d come too far.
Snuffing all that out, she focused on a lone seagull and tracked its flight as it bounced on thermals and swooped towards the sea and just as she lost sight, felt the jeep slow and pull onto a small lay-by a few metres away from a large set of gates. Confused, Edie turned. ‘Are we here?’
‘Almost.’ Ace opened his door, signalling that she should follow.
Curiosity prevailed and she followed him to where he stood at the cliff edge, not so steep, more a gradual decline of crags and white rocks piercing the tufts of grass. Going to his side, she automatically took his hand as they both looked down across the bay. She knew then he wanted to kiss her. She’d wanted to kiss him for almost every second of the journey so she couldn’t help but smile when he confirmed this to be true.
‘I didn’t really want to show you the view.’ Ace glanced her way, two spots of red high on his tanned cheekbones.
‘Oh, well, for the record it’s spectacular… so why have we stopped?’ Edie’s heart was pounding.
‘Because as soon as we get to the farm I won’t have you to myself for a minute and I don’t know how I’m going to get through the rest of the day unless…’ He turned to face her, big brown eyes looking into hers.
‘Unless we do this.’ Edie stepped forward, meeting Ace halfway, then sliding her hands around his waist she waited for him to kiss her, and he did. And the weird thing was that in that second, that wonderful, brilliant collision, as he held her to him and kissed her with a passion that made her lips ache, then ache for more, she felt his power, a physical strength to match the beautiful soul inside, and to Edie, Ace changed. He became more than her boyfriend, a desire, a giggle in the dark when your imagination ran wild, he became someone she wanted more than she’d realised, or dared to imagine and the rush of longing deep inside consumed her.
When the kiss was over, their faces still touched, nose to nose, looking into one another, and when he laughed, she laughed too. ‘Get us two, kissing in public.’
Edie clung on to his T-shirt, holding on to him and the making of a memory a little while longer, made more urgent by a creeping sense of panic. ‘I feel like we’ve wasted time. I hate that, you know.’
‘I don’t know what you mean… how have we wasted time?’ Ace kissed the top of her nose.
She tried to explain. ‘In all the time it took us to get here, tentative texting, tiptoeing along, sticking to the rules when I had a boyfriend, when my feelings for you started to change and I wanted more, while we went through the stupid process of making our minds up, dancing around each other being just good friends. Then the week in Manchester, when, you know, it went so fast and we were apart again. All those days of missing you. I wish we’d known it was going to be okay. That you liked me, and I liked you. I wish we’d just been brave enough to ask. Then we could have fast-forwarded and had more moments like this – more kisses, more minutes to put in the bank of memories – and not wasted time.’
Ace smiled. ‘In the real world I don’t think it works as easy as saying, “Hey, do you like me, cos I like you”, but I get you, and I agree it would save a hell of a lot of time and anxiety. Unless someone answers no, then you’d be in a whole new world of shame and pain. And we have plenty of time to make more memories, starting now… and when we go travelling… and we have seven kids and live in a caravan in Borneo.’
Edie thought she was going to cry but instead tried out her new theory on Ace, tears blurring her vision. ‘Well, I just want you to know, and promise you will always remember this… say you promise.’
He gave her a quizzical look then obeyed. ‘Okay, I promise.’
‘Ace Jarrett, on the eighteenth of September 2022, always remember that I told you this… that even if things go wrong, what I feel for you right now is true, and you are the most beautiful, wonderful man I have ever met, and that I’m madly in love with you and yes, I would like to have seven kids with you and live in a caravan but definitely not in Borneo.’ Edie waited, aware that she might have just made a complete fool out of herself, but at the same time regretted none of it, and had never meant anything more in all her life.
When Ace let go of her denim jacket with one hand, still holding her tightly with the other as he brushed away her tears, his words wiped away her fears. ‘Okay, it’s a deal, definitely not Borneo. And I feel the same. I love you too and have for ages.’
Ignoring the warning bells in her head, she kissed him again, just for good measure, their bodies locked together on a clifftop, oblivious to the cars that whizzed by until one honked its horn making Ace laugh. ‘I think we’d better go, otherwise someone will report us to the maire and our shameful faces will be splashed all over the monthly newsletter. They’ve stopped serving people in the post office for less than this, and that’s the truth.’
Edie laughed. ‘No it’s not.’
And as Ace raised his eyebrow and gave her a knowing look, he pulled her towards the car as she questioned him further. ‘Seriously, is that what they’re like?’
‘I’m telling you; they are draconian… walking into that village is like stepping into the thirteenth century, however,’ he started the engine, ‘you are now about to enter the French equivalent of La La Land and once we drive through those gates, be prepared to face a spaced-out Mancunian, a moody Californian, a nosey nanny and her hen-pecked husband, not particularly in that order so buckle up and prepare for the ride.’
Even though Edie was laughing at Ace’s description and what she hoped were fibs about the villagers, as she strapped herself in and saw the gates of La Babinais appear up ahead, she once again experienced a moment, surreal in its clarity because she knew that in the next few minutes, one way or another her life was going to change forever.
Never had she been more nervous. Like knees-knocking-together kind of nervous. Needing-the-loo-really-badly kind of nervous, and not for a wee, either. But there was no going back, back to her nice safe life, lying on her bed in halls, behind a laptop screen, playing detective. She was in deep, in love and in a bit of a mess. And this was what happened when you didn’t listen, or when you were sick and tired of listening, when you’d spent your whole life believing, and feeling cheated, angry, then ashamed for feeling angry. Until one day, you decided you wanted to see for yourself, make your own mind up, take control and right the wrong.
Edie held Ace’s hand as he pushed open the kitchen door and led her inside. The room was warm, a meaty, cooking smell filled the air and before they’d taken two paces, a woman bustled in and she knew instantly it was Nanou.
‘Ah, you are here at last. Welcome Eedee.’ Nanou elongated the vowels. ‘I am so happy to meet you at last.’ Before she could respond Edie found herself being embraced like a long-lost child, followed by two robust cheek kisses, a swift visual appraisal, a bit of muttering in French (which Ace told her later was all about putting some meat on her bones) then before she knew it, found herself ushered and settled at the table.
Wiping her hands on her apron, Nanou fussed. ‘Okay, drinks. What would you like Eedee? I have Coke – Ace told me all the things you like – or perhaps wine, or jus d’orange.’
‘Perhaps a glass of water.’ Edie actually needed a hosepipe to quench her sudden thirst and dry mouth.
Ace came to join her at the table, and she listened as he and Nanou chatted in French. She picked up the odd word, then understood more when Nanou apologised and switched to English then back again by the time she brought the glass of water. She was just beginning to relax a notch, soothed by the ice-cold water when the sound of footsteps overhead set her heart pounding again. And by the time she saw the kitchen door swing open, Edie’s insides had begun to quake, shockwaves spreading outwards to her limbs. Quickly placing the glass on the mat, to prevent anyone seeing her trembling hands, she pushed them under the table, clenching palms while she tried to ignore the fact her tongue was once again stuck to the roof of her bone-dry mouth.
And there he was. Almost filling the doorway with his height, a dog under one arm, who she knew was Luna, then, barging between his legs came the yapper, Riva, followed at a more sedate plod by Vic and Bob. The man she had been waiting so long to see, who invaded her dreams and for the past three years had guided her life was standing right there, in the same room, at last. Joe.
