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Tammy looked out acrossthe ocean as they made their way along the beach. ‘It really is beautiful here. Do you come to the beach a lot? Before you moved to the bay, I mean.’
‘Well...I...’
Shaking her head, Tammy felt the quick flash of heat across her cheeks. How could she have asked that? ‘I’ve just realised I’ve asked a lighthouse keeper if he comes to the beach often.’
‘Haha, the answer is yes. If you were still wondering.’ He held his arms out by his sides and shrugged his shoulders.
Looking across at him, she met his gaze and tried to keep a straight face. ‘That’s good to know, then. It sounds as though you’re doing a good job.’
‘Why, thank you.’ Grinning, he nudged her shoulder. ‘How about you? I’m presuming you don’t always work at bakeries with an ocean view.’
‘No, unfortunately, I don’t. Maybe I should put that in the search bar on the job sites.’ She took a deep breath. ‘No, apart from a super super brief visit to Weston-super-Mare last year, I’ve not been to a beach in years.’
‘How brief are we talking? A couple of days brief or a few hours brief?’
‘Try a few minutes.’
‘A few minutes?’
‘Yep.’ She shrugged. ‘It was raining and the person I was with didn’t understand that it doesn’t matter what the weather is like when you visit the ocean.’
‘Too right. Besides, the windier and rainier it is, the more refreshing it can be.’
‘Exactly.’ She nodded. That was exactly it. As they carried on walking, she looked down, watching the sand covering the toe of her trainers with each step. ‘You were about to tell me why you’d ended up bringing so many boxes when you moved?’
‘Ah, yes, I was, wasn’t I?’ He looked down at the ground, seemingly engrossed in the sand he was kicking up.
‘You don’t have to tell me. I only asked because I thought you were going to, that’s all.’
‘Oh no, it’s fine. I was.’ He looked back up at her. ‘As you know, I had to move all my things from the last place I worked, so that accounts for some of the things. The other boxes though - and there’s a few of them - are my ex-girlfriend’s.’
‘Right.’ Tammy nodded, trying not to show the shock she felt. That was the last possible explanation she’d thought he’d say. ‘Sorry to hear about your break-up.’
‘Thanks, but it was a long time ago now. Well, a while ago anyway. We’ve been split for nine months now.’
‘Oh, right.’ She frowned. If they’d split up that long ago, then why was he carting around her stuff? And so much of it?
‘Don’t worry, I’m not holding her belongings to ransom.’ He chuckled. ‘After we split, she went travelling, and I said she could leave some of her things behind at mine. Of course, shortly before we’d split, I moved for that job I told you about and so I assumed I’d be there for a while and not moving on quite so soon.’
‘Ahhh. Does she know you’ve moved and taken her stuff with you?’
‘Yep. I promised her I wouldn’t abandon it and it was an amicable break-up. She wanted to travel, and I didn’t.’ He shrugged. ‘We’d ended up more like friends by that point, so it was just natural to offer to look after it all.’
‘How long were you together?’ Tammy shook her head. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t be asking twenty billion questions. You don’t have to answer. It’s none of my business.’
‘No, I don’t mind. It is really rather strange dragging your ex’s belongings across the country. We were childhood sweethearts, met in secondary school and we had been together since then.’
‘Wow, that must be so difficult then, not having her around after all that time.’ She swallowed. Why did it concern her? Why was she so interested? But she was. She suddenly felt as though she needed to know.
‘Yes, and no. Like I said, by the end of the relationship we’d been more like friends than partners and, if I’m completely honest, that had been the way for at least a year before we decided to part ways so our feelings towards each other had changed over time, but you’re right, it was still a shock to the system her not being there.’
‘I can imagine.’
‘Now, can I ask you a question?’ He paused and looked across at her.
‘I guess so.’ She shrugged. He’d answered enough of hers, hadn’t he?
‘In the cafe, you seemed utterly disgusted about the idea of helping out with the wedding planning that Elsie’s bakery offers.’
