It was all he was going to get right now. Time to change tack. ‘So Nina’s back.’ Leo could feel the weight of his brother’s stare as Adrian turned in his chair to face him. ‘I spoke to her, but I was a bit of an arsehole.’
Adrian waited before he answered. ‘I’ll never understand why she left.’ He swigged his coffee and winced at the heat of it. ‘I mean, me leaving was one thing, but she had you, a whole life here for her.’
‘You had a life too.’
‘Not the same. And life for Rhianne ended that night,’ he added more gruffly.
‘It didn’t mean it had to for you too.’
Adrian looked like he was about to reply but instead advised, ‘Drink your coffee.’
After a pause he added, ‘Seriously though, you and Nina need to talk. Properly.’
‘I’m going with the ignoring her approach. Works for me,’ he shrugged.
‘Bit hard to do that given the proximity of your home and work to their family cabin.’ Adrian ran his hand across his head the way he used to do when he was thinking, his shaved hair so short now that there was nothing to tug his fingers through, nor many strands for the salt water to cling to if he ever ventured back into the sea. ‘I wonder if she’s back for good, I wonder why now?’
‘No idea, bro. No idea.’ Part of him hoped she had come back on a permanent basis, he couldn’t deny it, and it frustrated him no end that he thought that way. She’d hurt him so badly, he’d glued himself back together, and he hated that here she was undoing him all over again despite his determination not to let her. She’d stirred up feelings he’d convinced himself he’d moved on from and he didn’t like it one bit.
Leo remembered what he was meant to do. ‘I saw Rhianne’s mum earlier.’ His brother visibly stiffened in his chair. ‘She said to pass on a hello, she’s glad you’re back.’
Adrian simply nodded. Rhianne had been only twenty-two years old when she died, younger than Adrian, and given they’d dated a while, that must’ve made it even harder for Adrian to deal with his grief. How could it not?
‘I dread bumping into them you know,’ Adrian admitted.
‘I avoided them for a long time as well.’ Again Leo felt his brother shift his focus from the view to him. ‘I talked to Mum about it a long time ago. The boat was yours, you were the skipper, but I was there, I’m a Magowan, boats are our business.’
‘You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about.’
He finished his coffee. ‘And neither have you. Remember that.’ And with a brief clench of his brother’s shoulder as he took his mug to the kitchen he said, ‘I’d better get back to the boathouse. Join me anytime you like.’
But Adrian didn’t move from his spot, he merely kept his focus on that view.
Back at the boathouse Leo was straight into work when he found local surfer Steve waiting for him outside. He climbed out of his truck. ‘Not been here too long I hope?’
‘Ages.’ But good-humouredly Steve lifted up his coffee cup. ‘Don’t worry, only five minutes and I’m still finishing this anyway. I came to collect the wetsuit I ordered.’
The keys jangled as Leo reopened the boathouse and let them both inside. ‘It came this morning.’ He found the delivery and pulled back the clear wrap so Steve could check the size.
‘Looks good to me,’ Steve approved and as Leo rang up the purchase on the till he admired the surf watches in the display cabinet, behind glass because they were way too expensive to lose to wandering hands. ‘Might put one of these on my Christmas list.’
‘I’ve sold four already,’ Leo told him. That was another reason to put them right by the till. As he packaged up purchases the watches caught the eye of the buyer andsome hadn’t been able to resist. ‘I don’t think any of them actually came in for a watch specifically.’
‘Neat trick.’ Steve looked closer at the purple one, a more basic model that would do the job. ‘Jess needs a new one and it’s her birthday coming up.’
Leo took the watch out and went through its specifics. Jess was Steve’s girlfriend, they’d been together for a while now and since he introduced her to surfing she’d been hooked.
‘I’ll take it,’ said Steve once he had the details. He was already brandishing his card.
‘Good man. Love an impulse purchase. And I’ve seen her surfing, she’s pretty good, she’ll love the gift.’ As he popped the watch into another bag he asked, ‘Has she persuaded you to try winter skiing yet?’ That had been more her thing before she fell for Steve.
Steve raised his eyebrows. ‘The lure of the sunshine is too much and let’s hope it stays that way. Falling in the water is one thing, but falling on snow? Not for me.’ He winced as though he could predict the sort of pain it might involve.
Leo took payment for both purchases as Steve talked more about surfing, using terms Leo was vaguely familiar with – well you had to be, working in the boathouse. Not that Leo was a surfer himself. He was much more of a kayak enthusiast or a paddleboarder. And he knew that with so much beauty around Salthaven and Stepping Stone Bay he’d never walk away from it all, no matter what life threw at him.
‘You seen much of Adrian since he got back?’ Another of Steve’s usual questions when he’d exhausted the surfing conversation with a mere novice. He and Adrian had always been friendly.
‘Just had lunch with him as a matter of fact.’
