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‘I’m sorry to hear about rehab. Fair play to you for sorting yourself out. Can’t have been easy.’
Tate glances over at her then nods at Dara. ‘No, it wasn’t. So Dad said you helped out with Jove while I was away. He behave for you?’
Dara laughs. ‘He’s a handful. I’m not sure who was in control of who, but I managed to stay on him so I’m happy. If you need anyone to take him out when you’re busy just give me a shout.’
‘Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.’
‘Has the patch-up job on the hay shed roof held?’
Chloe glances over at Tate when he doesn’t immediately respond. He’s turning the ring on his thumb – something he seems to do when he’s not entirely at ease.
‘You fixed that?’
Dara helps himself to one of Tate’s chips. ‘I hope so. You might need to put another layer of sealant over the hole. I also replaced the pump to the troughs in the back field.’
‘Great. Thanks.’
‘It’s no problem at all. I can’t imagine you have a lot of free time to help out as much as you’d probably like.’
‘No. I guess not.’
Chloe tries not to attract any attention to herself as the two cousins sit in a slightly awkward silence. Tate is clearly on edge having Dara here. It probably didn’t help that his cousin mentioned rehab, especially in front of her.
Dara bangs the side of the truck and smiles at Chloe. ‘Well, I’ll leave you to your dinner. Nice to meet you, Chloe.’
She returns the smile. ‘You too, Dara.’
Tate nods but doesn’t bid his cousin a fond farewell. He silently watches as Dara gets into his car. His cousin waves and sounds his horn as he drives by. Chloe discretely looks over at Tate. His jaw is clenched and he’s playing with the ring on his thumb as he stares after the car.
‘Tate?’
He doesn’t respond, still focused on the road from the car park even though Dara is long gone.
‘Tate?’
He turns and frowns at her. ‘What?’
‘Are you okay?’
Tate seems to come out of his daze and smiles at her, but it’s a little forced. He sits back against the cab and picks up a chip before dropping it back in the tray. ‘Cold. Do you want me to grab you some fresh chips?’
‘No. I’m stuffed.’ Chloe gathers the leftover food and slides off the load bed. She throws it in the bin and leans on the side of the truck facing Tate. ‘I really need a walk after all that food. You coming?’
‘Yeah.’ He hops down from the back, closes the tailgate and locks the car. A group of girls sitting on the rocks at the top of the beach stop talking as he walks past them. Chloe hopes they don’t ask him for a photo. She seriously doubts they’d get the answer they were hoping for. He takes Chloe’s hand and that action alone seems to halt any ideas they might have had.
Tate keeps the silence going for a good ten minutes as they walk along the water’s edge. He’s deep in his head and she doesn’t know how to get him back. Any attempts at conversation resulted in either a grunt, a yes, or a no.
‘You’re wrong you know.’
He turns to look at her. Success. ‘What?’
‘I said you’re wrong.’
‘About what?’
‘The fish and chips. There’s a place at the harbour in Greystones that does really amazing fish and chips. I’d argue theirs are marginally better than what we just had.’
He stops walking and stares at her for a moment before he smiles and continues walking. ‘Is that so.’
