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Gus nodded as he devoured his before wiping crumbs from his mouth.
‘You were hungry.’ Heather raised her eyebrow.
‘I’ve always got room for a cheese and onion pasty.’ Gus chuckled before glancing out of the viewing slot and lowering his voice. ‘Look, can you see?’
Finishing off her pasty, Heather squinted into the darkness. The moonlight glistened off the surface of the river in front of them, the gentle hooting of an owl somewhere above thempunctuating the night. She scanned the area in front of them. ‘I can’t see them.’
‘Here.’ Gus pulled a pair of binoculars from a hook on the wall of the hide, looked through them and adjusted them before passing them to Heather. ‘Over there.’
Holding the binoculars to her eyes, she blinked as her eyes adjusted to the magnetised vision and scanned the area again.
‘A little more to your right.’
She felt Gus’s hand on her shoulder as he gently guided the binoculars to the right. ‘I see them!’ Two otters were swimming in the river, lying on their back, their flat tails sculling from side to side. ‘They’re so elegant.’
‘They are, aren’t they?’ Pulling another pair of binoculars down, he shifted on his stool and watched with her.
Heather pointed towards the bank of the river as another otter scuttled through the reeds. ‘There’s another one.’
‘That one’s on a mission, isn’t he?’
Smiling, she watched as the new otter slipped elegantly into the water before disappearing beneath the surface. ‘What’s he doing?’
‘Watch.’ Gus nodded towards the river as the otter emerged again, a large fish failing in mouth and scuttled back up onto the riverbank. Following suit, the original two otters twisted around onto their bellies and disappeared beneath the water again. A few moments later, one appeared and, again, scuttled across the riverbank, a fish in its mouth.
Gripping the binoculars, Heather kept her eyes on the area the otters had dived below the surface. Where was the other one? Frowning, she began fiddling with her necklace, the silver heart smooth against the pads of her fingers. ‘Is it okay?’
‘It’ll be fine. River otters can hold their breath underwater for up to eight minutes.’
‘Seriously?’ Lowering the binoculars, Heather looked across at Gus.
‘Yep. They can also swim as deep as sixty metres. Not that this river is that deep.’
‘Wow.’ Widening her eyes, Heather looked through the binoculars again and watched as the missing otter surfaced before joining its mates onshore. ‘I had no idea they could hold their breath for that long. They look bigger than I imagined too. On the TV they always look so small, but these look really compared the reeds and that.’
‘Yes, they’re surprisingly big. They can grow up to three or four feet long.’
‘Wow, that’s like, over half a human!’
‘Yes.’ Gus chuckled. ‘Do you fancy a hot chocolate?’
‘I’d love one, please.’ Lowering her binoculars, Heather watched as Gus poured the hot chocolate into two mugs and passed her one. ‘Thank you.’ Taking a sip, she rolled the rich creamy taste in her mouth. ‘This is delicious.’
Gus smiled. ‘You seem to have woken up a bit from earlier.’
She grinned. ‘Yes, I’ll probably regret this when I’ve got tp get up early tomorrow though.’
‘Charming.’ Gus raised his eyebrows.
‘You know what I mean.’ Laughing, she gently nudged his shoulder.
‘I know.’ Turning, he looked at her. ‘I’m really glad you came.’
Meeting his gaze, she smiled. ‘I’m really glad you invited me.’ And, suddenly, she really was. ‘I know I didn’t meet you that long ago, but I feel as though I really know you.’
Gus nodded slowly. ‘Me too.’
Without thinking, Heather leaned towards him, the small gap between them closing quickly, and pecked him on the lips. Pulling away just as quickly as she’d leaned towards him, shepicked up the binoculars and looked back out towards the river. ‘Sorry, I should have done that.’
