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I hate the idea. Why would they risk it? “If all we need is to find out how far that beach extends, why not do it from the sea?”
No one answers me.
“Gibb,” Pierre says. “Don’t be stupid, it looks really dangerous.”
Both men push their way through the trees until they find the start of the path. “I’ll go first.” Hal lowers himself carefully off the edge and lands with a faint thump on the rock below. Gabriel bends to look over then follows.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Pierre blows out a shaky breath.
I’ve never heard her swear before.
“I can’t watch.” She moves back the way we came and disappears.
I lie down on the ground again and slide to the edge so I can keep an eye on them.
And wait, my fear battling with my compulsion to watch in case something happens.
It takes forever, walking slowly. Occasional bushes and rocks hide them from my view. The way down takes an age. Then, I see them walk around the strand at the bottom, wade into waves, check the high-water mark, back and forth, back and forth, sometimes disappearing from view round the bend in the beach before they come back and start the climb up. I die a hundred deaths waiting, trying not to think of wet shoes and sand that might make their feet slippery.
When Hal finally places two hands flat on the rocky edge and vaults over, I feel weak with relief. He flops on his back on the soil and broken green cedar fronds, his chest rising and falling with deep panting breaths. Gabriel joins him a moment later and he too lies down on the ground to catch his breath.
Hal’s face tells me nothing. Not success or failure. He just lies there, eyes closed.
“What did you find?” I ask after a couple of minutes.
“Let’s just get away from here first,” Gabriel says, and they both flip over and get up on their hands and knees to crawl out through the trees.
When we emerge back into the clearing, Pierre comes flying out of the cottage and flings herself into Gabriel’s arms.
“Don’t you ever do this to me again. Ever. Or I’ll kill you myself.”
He holds her close, half laughing. “I’m okay. I’m okay. It wasn’t as bad as it looks.” He kisses her and she responds by clinging on to him.
I look away while they stand there, kissing like there’s no tomorrow. My eyes sting because it’s exactly what I want to do.
My gaze, against my will, swings towards Hal, and just for an instant, our eyes meet. He quickly looks away and makes himself busy brushing dirt from the back of his cargo shorts and dusting his knees.
“So?” Pierre asks.
It must mean they’ve stopped kissing and she has use of her mouth again. “What did you find?”
“Hard to tell without very careful measurement,” Gabriel answers. “The beach extends quite a bit to the west, but it dwindles to a thin strip, probably about a foot, and that’s at low tide.”
“Maybe less,” Hal says in a flat tone. “I’m not sure it’ll make a difference. It’s just sand and not particularly relevant to the Montague story. If they landed on this beach, it would be on this side where there is enough room to pull up a boat and disembark.”
“It’ll give us a little more time,” Gabriel says. “An extension on the original Stay of Process until the beach can be measured properly.”
Even I can see this is just delaying the inevitable. All this effort and hard climbing, for what? Another two weeks?
“Well…” Pierre says, and her tone suggests she knows something we don’t. “Come and see what I found inside.” She swivels on her heals and starts towards the little house.
We follow, Gabriel and I, but not Hal.
“You coming?” Gabriel sends him a quizzical look.
He shrugs. Defeat in every line of his body. If it’s inside the cottage, it won’t affect the boundary issue.
Pierre stops inside the door. “Hal, you, of all people, will want to see this.”
