AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘If I tell you, you are not to breathe a word to anyone at work, do you understand? I’ll never hear the end of it if you do. It’s bad enough when I see my family, I don’t need it following me here as well.’
‘Go on. You can’t say something like that and not tell me the rest.’
‘OK. My family have fished for generations and, being a boy and the eldest child, I was expected to take up the reins when my father retired.’
‘But?’
‘But I can’t do that.’
‘Why not?’
‘The truth is that I suffer from seasickness.’
‘That’s it?’ I feel let down. ‘Lots of people do, even people who work on boats. I saw this documentary once—’
‘Yeah, but I’m not talking about normal seasickness,’ he interrupts. ‘I’m talking chucking up before the boat even gets out of the harbour. Just the smell of the boat makes me feel nauseous. And, unlike most people, I never get my “sea legs”, so I basically keep chucking up until there’s nothing left to come, and even then I keep retching until we get back to shore. I went out with my dad for a week once, and I was in such a dreadful state by the time we got back that we agreed it would be better if I found a different profession. What makes it even more humiliating is that they replaced me with my sister.’
‘I thought women were bad luck on boats?’
‘Exactly. It shows how bad I was that even she was preferable to me.’
I can’t help but giggle. ‘For someone who can’t set foot on a boat, Noah is a real bummer of a name.’
He smiles. ‘The irony isn’t lost on me.’
As I continue scraping out the old mortar, I turn the conversation over in my mind. Lee would never have admitted to a vulnerability like that; he would have found a way to bluster his way out of it with half-truths and misdirection. Noah’s honesty is both refreshing and surprisingly attractive.
21
‘How’s it going?’ Ava asks. After a bit of texting back and forth, we’ve found an evening when she’s not on shift to have a catch-up call.
‘Amazing,’ I tell her. ‘I’m living in this incredible penthouse apartment, and I’m out every evening wining and dining prospective clients. I never knew the construction industry could be so glamorous.’
‘Really? I thought you were just a project manager.’
‘Justa project manager? The nerve of you! I’m pretty much running the show single-handed down here.’
‘You’re taking the piss, aren’t you.’ Frankly, I’m surprised it’s taken her this long to rumble me.
‘It’s a fair cop. Do you want to see?’ I switch the call to video mode. I’ve only just got in so I’m still wearing my work clothes. I give her a head-to-toe pan, taking in my make-up free face, fluorescent vest, dusty jeans and steel toe-capped boots.
‘Cor, get you!’ she exclaims. ‘I’d better not show this to Ben; you’re practically his wet dream. All you’d need is a hard hat to tip him over the edge.’
‘I’ve got one, but I left it at work.’
‘Thank goodness he’s downstairs watching TV and not listening to you. This would be like one of those online chatrooms to him.’ She puts on a husky, sexy voice. ‘Tell me more about your hard hat. What make is it? Is it shiny? Would you like me to polish it?’
‘Give over,’ I laugh. ‘Do you want to see my accommodation?’
‘You bet. Give me the full tour.’
‘Hang on. We need to do this properly.’ I turn the video mode off and walk outside. ‘Are you ready?’ I ask.
‘Absolutely. The suspense is killing me.’
I point the phone at the ground, so all the camera can see is grass, and turn the video mode back on again. Very slowly, I raise the camera, until the caravan and its scrubland garden come into view.
‘No. You’re kidding me,’ Ava gasps.
