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“Well, it wasn’t. Time’s passed—things have changed. And it’s time you realised that. Welcome home, Sugar Pie.” He dipped his head, picked up his cup, and walked out.
Six
The next morning,Bea rose early and looked at her phone. The pet-moving company she’d hired intended to deliver Fudge to the house later that afternoon. With a yawn, she changed into running gear and headed out before her father and Dani woke.
The morning was cold and yet beautiful in a way she’d forgotten the island could be. The wind had died down overnight, and everything was still. The sky was a deep blue. There was dew on the grass. Birds chattered and dived, catching the first insects in the early dawn.
The house perched happy and peaceful like a sentinel on the hill. She wandered around to the other side of the structure and located the pathway she recognised like an old friend. It meandered down the cliff in a lazy way and she followed it easily, hoping her knees wouldn’t give her any trouble on the bigger vertical steps.
Overhead, a seagull squawked and circled, moving out on the air current to hover above the surging ocean. The sun sparkled on the peaks of water as though dancing across its surface. Waves curled to shore in a steady rhythm of sighing and shushing.
Bea ran the last few steps onto the sand. It was cold and damp underfoot, and she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She wore shorts and an oversized knitted jumper, and the cold travelled right through it. But the sun had already risen and would soon warm the sheltered sand. The cove was a small half-moon of beach with imposing cliffs surrounding it like a giant ice cream scoop had been there long ago. The sand lay in solemn shadow while the water was inviting.
She jogged towards the waves and dipped in her toes. It was warm and comforting. She sighed and raised her arms over her head, enjoying the feel of the sun on her face. This was exactly what she needed. It was good to get out of the city.
One end of the cove was blocked by black rocks. The other end had a thin wedge of sand around the outside of the rocks. The waves lapped the sand, but the water was shallow enough to walk through between sets. The long beach that stretched out into the distance on the other side of the rocks was already warm. Her feet revelled in the soft, dry sand. She filled her lungs with sweet fresh air. In the distance, she saw the outline of another of the Whitsunday Islands, its forested edges meeting the water like an emerald gown.
There was only one other person on the beach. A tall man threw a stick for a dog, who bounded into the waves to bring it back. She strode in that direction, watching in delight as the dog clambered from the waves and shook its long golden fur, soaking the man in the process. He shouted and ducked, but it was no use. Then with a laugh, he picked up the stick that’d been dropped at his feet and sent it sailing into the water again.
She marched by him, her gaze set firmly on the horizon. How far should she walk? There was no pressing need to be back at any particular time other than the fact that it was her first morning with her father. Even though they’d talked through dinner the night before, she wanted to spend more time with him.
“Good morning,” she said to the man on the beach, with a nod of her head.
He was handsome. Muscular beneath a long-sleeved shirt. His legs were tanned under his board shorts. And he wore a cap pulled low over his eyes. He seemed young, but perhaps that was because everyone looked young to her these days. Sometimes she felt as old as Methuselah. And at other times, she forgot she was no longer twenty and tried to do something like jump on the old trampoline in their backyard — a move she’d instantly regretted when her internal organs seemed to shift positions with each bounce.
“Bumble Bea?” The man’s voice shocked her out of her reverie and brought her back to the present.
She turned and looked at him with curiosity. There was only one person in the entire world who’d ever called her that name. But she hadn’t heard it in decades. “Yes?”
He took off his sunglasses and sent her that wide, white smile she knew so well. It made her heart lurch the way it had since she was ten years old and he’d grinned at her on the school playground.
“Aidan Whitlock, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” She laughed and went to give him a hug. Something deep down inside her broke open, and she wanted to cry with delight. It’d been so long, too long, since she’d seen her childhood sweetheart.
He stepped back and gazed into her eyes. His were blue and green with flecks of yellow. They crinkled at the edges. “Ditto. How long has it been?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see… I saw you after I finished university at that one party.”
“But then you moved back to Sydney and out of my life forever.” He pressed a hand to his heart in mock tribute.
She playfully slapped him. “You mean you moved to Brisbane to become a professional football player.”
He shrugged. “That too. How are you?”
“I’m good. Actually, no, that’s not true. I’m so used to saying that, I forget that there are other possible answers. I’m surviving at the moment. That’s far more truthful.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” His brow furrowed.
She waved a hand. “Don’t be—it’s fine. Well, it’s not, but it will be. I’m going through some things, but I’ll manage. How about you? What are you doing here? Taking a break from fame and fortune?”
He chuckled. “Didn’t you hear I retired?”
“I don’t really follow professional football. I watched a few of your games, though. Even though you played for the enemy, I barracked for you every time. Quietly, so my friends and family didn’t disown me.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said. “But I left the sport five years ago. Forty is pushing it to be a pro athlete in any sport, let alone Rugby League. I had a few injuries one after the other and decided to call it a day. I moved back to Coral Island after my wife died, and now I work as the PE teacher at the primary school.”
An image of the school flashed across Bea’s mind. She remembered it clearly, as though it’d been only recently that she’d attended there with her long blonde pigtails and her button nose. It was where she and Aidan first met. They were in the same year four class, with Miss Plimpton. He’d helped her up when she fell and grazed her knees, then took her to see the school nurse.
It was corny to think about it now, but at the time, it’d been love at first sight. The two of them were friends until year ten when he finally asked her out. They dated for two years, only parting ways when he was recruited to the Brisbane Brumbies and she was accepted into Macquarie University to study business. She hadn’t lasted long, withdrawing after her first semester to enrol in culinary school instead.
