“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Positive. Go.”
“What about getting home?”
“I’m a big girl, I’ll be fine.” She nodded toward the door.
He gave her a half smile, made to leave, then doubled back and kissed her cheek, and then he was gone.
She switched off the music, blew out the candle, and stood for a moment listening to the crunch of his boots on the pebbles as he hurried away. “Fuck,” she said, and then set about clearing up the boat.
22
Half an hour later, theslow cooker, crockery and all other evidence of their evening was neatly stacked in the crate. She was glad to have something to do to take her mind off worrying for Diggory and Ryan, and hating herself for sticking her oar into something that was none of her business anyway. She was also faced with the problem of how she was going to get Benj’s boat back to the marina. She picked up her phone.
Aunt Aggie answered on the second ring. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Does anyone in the Pine Bluff Jezebels know how to drive a boat?”
“Most of them, I shouldn’t wonder. What do you need?”
Fred explained the situation.
“Sit tight, we’ll have someone with you shortly,” said her aunt, and hung up.
Fred sat in the captain’s chair and switched off the lamps, the better to see the sea. The moon fought to emergefrom behind a lone cloud, and patches of ocean gleamed silver on the horizon each time it broke free. She called her mum; she’d want to be there for Martha.
“I’m on my way to the hospital now,” said Bella.
“Are you driving?” Fred asked. Her mum’s voice seemed too crisp to be on hands-free.
“No, Liam’s driving, we were together when Martha called.”
“Oh. Okay. Listen, if you see Ryan…” If she saw Ryan, what? What should she ask her mum to say on her behalf? Sorry my daughter’s an idiot? “Just, um, tell him I’m thinking about him.”
“I will. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
The wind howled around the boat, whistling in through the windows, and the rocking became bumpier. Fred sat looking out at the inky-black waves, wishing for all she was worth that tonight had played out differently. When the north wind shoved the cloud aside and the moon shone out again, Fred focused her mind on it, shutting out everything else, so that it was only her and the moon, and for the first time in what felt like forever she reached out to the universe. She asked it to watch over Diggory, and she sent positive vibes out into the ether for him. And she asked for guidance and wisdom to help set her on her new path. “Please,” she said to the moon, as her final request, “please help me to stop fucking things up—”
The door slammed open, making her jump.
“The cavalry hath arrived!” Aunt Aggie declared.
Mina came in behind her.
“You’re a Pine Bluff Jezebel?” Fred asked.
“Of course,” Mina replied. “All the best people are. Though I’m in a slightly younger chapter. Right, let’s get this baby to bed.” And with that, she began barking out orders that Fred and Aunt Aggie diligently followed, and soon they were chugging their way around the bay toward the marina.
Once the boat was safely moored, and Mina and Fred had hauled the equipment out of the sheds and back onto it, they made their way over to the car park where Mr. Bishop’s tractor was idling. Aunt Cam waved from the seat beside him.
“All aboard!” Mr. Bishop called, thumbing behind him to indicate the trailer hooked up to the cab.
Fred and Mina helped Aunt Aggie up into it, and they just had time to settle themselves between hay bales before the tractor began chugging away from the beach. It was bumpy, but better than walking, and the hay was surprisingly good insulation.
They dropped Mina off first. Bettina came out of her house in tartan pajamas and boot slippers to meet her girlfriend at the gate. The two of them stood arm in arm at the picket fence and waved the tractor off.
