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“Me too.” She waved and then turned towards home.
She still couldn’t quite believe she’d come across Aidan Whitlock on the beach. She hadn’t even run a comb through her hair yet, and no doubt had morning breath. He looked like he’d stepped out of a sports magazine, with his perfectly mussed sun-bleached locks and his athletic physique.
He’d moved back to the island. That was a piece of news Dad could’ve shared with her. Not that it would’ve impacted her life in any way, but it would’ve been nice to know that the man who broke her heart twenty-seven years ago was back and working at the school where they’d met.
She risked one last glance back at him and found him still watching her, his dog standing close by, dripping sea water onto the sand. With a pounding heart, she ducked her head and broke into a run around the rocks and across the cove.
Seven
When she got backto the house, her father had already mixed up a batch of pancakes and was frying them on a griddle on the gas stovetop. Dani sat at the enormous split timber table in the dining room, the tall, double-story windows overlooking the view behind her, as she told her grandfather all about her life. He listened and nodded, occasionally grunting in response. Dani seemed to have warmed to him instantly and was confiding in him more than she had anyone other than Bea.
“So, I realised social work wasn’t for me after all. And now I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t want to waste money and effort studying something I hate.”
“Makes sense,” he replied.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all of this on the phone.”
“Fine with me.”
“I was feeling a bit fragile over the whole thing.”
He grunted.
“You’re feeling better, then?” Bea asked as she wiped her sandy feet at the door.
“Good morning, Sugar Pie,” Dad said as he flipped a pancake. “Nice walk?”
“Lovely walk. It’s so beautiful down at the beach this time of morning.”
“I wondered where you were,” Dani said. “Until Pa told me you’d probably gone walking. He said you always loved walks on the beach. Used to do it all the time when you were a teenager. Is that right?”
“I’ve spent many an hour on that sand. It helps me clear my head, think things through.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take a beach walk alone,” Dani said.
Bea hesitated before responding. “I prioritised your father for a long time and he doesn’t like walking on the beach in the morning — says the sand is too cold. He liked to have breakfast together instead.”
“You should do what makes you happy.”
“I’m beginning to come around to that way of thinking,” Bea replied, kissing Dani on top of her head. “That looks delicious, Dad. I’ll wash my hands and help you.”
They finished making the pancakes together while Dani set the table. Then they sat on the bench seating around the table and ate. The pancakes were hot and fluffy. Coated with lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar, just like she’d eaten as a child, they made her nostalgic, and her tastebuds tingled.
She couldn’t stop thinking about running into Aidan. He’d taken her by surprise. Aidan Whitlock was the last person she’d expected to see there. She hadn’t kept up with the celebrity gossip over the years or she might’ve known more about his life.
There was a time when he was regularly on the cover of magazines or splashed across the socials, a media darling as the hottest new football player in the league. But it’d been too hard for Bea to see his smiling face and lithe form as the media discussed romances, achievements and every aspect of his life in painstaking detail.
She’d learned to avoid looking at the magazine racks when she went to the grocery store, and ignored the news. And then when the children were born she had no time for magazines or gossip. If she’d kept up with the news, maybe she would’ve heard about his wife and realised she might run into him on the island.
A memory drifted across her thoughts. Aidan holding her hand in the dark on that very same beach. The feel of his lips on hers, then his fingers winding through her long hair. Heat rushed up her spine.
“I saw Aidan Whitlock on the beach,” Bea said suddenly.
Her father arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“He says he moved back to the island three years ago. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dad chewed a piece of pancake slowly, then spoke. “I didn’t think it mattered.”
