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‘I’ll start there then.’
She watched as Heidi’s colleague head away from her towards the ramp. She didn’t know him and yet he was taking his time out, probably out of his lunch break to help a complete stranger look for her mobile. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the task in hand, kicking at the sand slightly with the toe of her trainer. Where could it have gone?
‘Got it!’
Looking up, she grinned as Heidi’s friend ran back towards her, brandishing her missing mobile in the air.
‘Here you go.’ Stopping in front of her, he passed her the phone before tucking his shoulder length hair behind his ears.
‘Thank you so much.’ She turned it over and over in her hand. It was fine. No cracks. Nothing. Putting it in her coat pocket, she drew the zip up, securing it inside before holding her hand towards him. ‘I’m Heather.’
‘Gus. Pleased to meet you.’
‘Not as pleased as I am that you walked this way.’ She laughed as she felt his hand grasp hers, his grip strong yet gentle. ‘Really, thank you.’
Shrugging, he shoved his hands in his coat pockets. ‘It was nothing. You’d have found it soon enough.’
‘Maybe. Maybe not. Thank you all the same.’ She glanced across at him as they walked back towards the ramp. ‘You work with Heidi, right?’
‘I do, yes. I’ve not long joined the team. How are you finding Penworth Bay? It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ He looked across at her.
‘Yes, it is. I’ve got to admit, I only arrived here yesterday so this is my first venture out but what I’ve seen so far is gorgeous. The people seem really welcoming too.’
‘Don’t they just?’ He glanced up the ramp and back towards her. ‘I’m just going to get some chips for my lunch. Did you fancy joining me?’
‘Yes, why not? I was planning to get some too and eat them on the beach, proper tourist style.’ She laughed.
‘Great.’
‘SO, YES, THAT’S WHATI do. I work in conservation and the project we have at the moment happens to be at the local nature reserve just outside the bay.’ Gus popped a chip in his mouth.
‘That must be interesting. I design websites and worked with a local wildlife charity to create theirs last year. I found it really interesting learning about all the work they do. If the project protecting a specific animal or just like an overall thing for the nature reserve.’ Heather scraped a chip along the outside of the paper cone, loading it with grains of salt.
‘It’s animal specific. Heidi, actually, discovered the Great Crested Newt, which is a protected species, living at the nature reserve, so my team have come in to try and develop a better understanding of their habitat and why they’re thriving there in the hopes that what we learn can give us a better understanding and even possibly help us to encourage them to live elsewhere, build their numbers back up again.’
Looking across at him, she noticed his eyes gleaming as he spoke about the work he did. He was passionate about his job. That could be rare. Smiling, she nodded. ‘That sounds really interesting.’
‘It is. It really is. Anyway, enough about me, how about you? You design websites you said?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘And what sort of websites do you design?’
‘All sorts. I’m self-employed so I get to pick and choose the projects I work on, to a certain degree depending on what work’s about, of course. So, a few of the projects I worked on last year were for that charity I said about, a website for a local museum, one for a portrait artist, a band.’ She picked up another chip. ‘It can be really interesting.’
‘It sounds it.’ Gus nodded. ‘I can imagine working in a bakery must be completely different to your day job.’
‘Oh, it is. I’m completely out of my comfort zone.’ Heather grimaced. ‘You should have seen me this morning, I dropped an entire bowl full of icing onto the kitchen floor.’
‘Oops. That sounds like something I’d do.’ Chuckling, Gus checked his watch. ‘I’m sorry, I’d better get back.’
Pulling her sleeve back, she checked hers. ‘Yes, I’d better get back too. Thank you again for finding my phone, and for these.’ She nodded towards her cone of chips. ‘It really should have been me treating you to them though, not the other way around.’
Grinning, Gus chucked his empty cone into the bin. ‘No worries. You can get them next time.’
‘Deal.’ Finishing her chips, she watched as Gus headed down the road.
Chapter Five
