‘I’m sorry!’ he yelled, but she’d disappeared.
He was about to head back to his cabin when he heard the door to her cabin open and when he turned she was peering out at him from her position on the veranda, a long mauve cardigan wrapped around her body, her bare knees showing.
‘I’m sorry,’ he called out again, ‘it’s just, the storm … I didn’t know if you were here.’
‘What are you doing creeping around in the middle of the night? I heard something and you scared the crap out of me.’
Another funny thing was the day she announced to her grandparents that she knew what the C word was – their faces had fallen until she spelled it out – c-r-a-p. And they’d collapsed into laughter, hugging their granddaughter to them.
‘Once again I apologise.’ This time he yelled it louder,as the wind howled in protest at anyone daring to come outside while it had its say. ‘I couldn’t sleep, thought I’d check on you.’ But he shook his head. They were nothing to one another any more, she’d made that clear when she left without a word. He held a hand up to wave and began to retreat, embarrassed he still couldn’t rid himself of the nightmare that came back now and then like an old reel of film stored in the attic brought out and replayed when you least expected.
‘I couldn’t sleep either.’ Her voice stopped him from stepping onto the first stepping stone and he turned to face her, her smile coy, her expression cautious as though she didn’t know how much to reveal. ‘The storm,’ she added by way of explanation as if he needed it.
‘Yeah.’ By now he had rivulets of water running down his face, and his fleece would need squeezing out when he got to his cabin. ‘The storm.’
He wasn’t sure how long they stood that way, him getting drenched, her in the relative safety of the cabin’s veranda, slender legs showing out of the bottom of her cardigan which was firmly held against her body by her arms folded across her chest. But long enough until she said, ‘Goodnight, Leo. Thank you for checking on me.’
‘Goodnight, Nina.’
He turned and took the stepping stones back to the safety of his own cabin where he left his sopping clothes in the bathroom, dried himself off and slept an uninterrupted sleep until the sunshine woke him in the morning as though nothing had ever happened.
Since the night of the storm Leo had seen Nina on and off, and rather than dirty looks or avoidance, they’d slowlybegun to wave at one another, sometimes offering up a cautious smile, and there was even a cordial hello the time he was putting out his rubbish and she’d just come back from a walk. He hadn’t tried to make her talk other than those brief greetings and she hadn’t encouraged him either, but with their tentative exchanges Leo had begun to feel less angry at her for leaving or at least more comfortable in her presence now, he wasn’t sure which. He’d even begun to think fondly of the days as kids when they’d first met, nostalgia winning with the reminder of the day they’d met by the water when they were six. Nina had made a magnificent sandcastle and the waves rolled in and destroyed it. He’d seen her, this girl crying beside the sandcastle’s remains, and he hadn’t said much other than asking her whether he could help rebuild it. She’d accepted the offer and they’d been friends ever since, way before it got more complicated.
What Leo was asking himself now was whether he was only interested in friendship with her or did he still have deeper feelings, the feelings he’d thought he’d buried a long time ago? And would she ever explain why she left him the way she did? Did she regret doing it and wish she hadn’t now they’d seen one another? He supposed he’d always known that one day she’d probably show up in the bay again, or at least he’d assumed she would, but he’d also thought he’d have no problem ignoring her and not questioning much about her and her life the way it had turned out.
In the boathouse he refocused on his customer. He didn’t have time for daydreams, to think of what might have been and what could still be, only time for business, something he could control to a better extent. ‘Goodchoice,’ he told the woman who’d come in today and picked out a neon green buoyancy vest he’d only just had delivered. ‘Nice and bright, it’ll keep you safe.’
‘Hopefully I won’t need it,’ she smiled, ‘I’d like to stay in the craft if I can.’
The kayaker went on her way from the boathouse and Leo removed the plastic from the other vests he’d got out of the box but hadn’t had a chance to sort through. He hung like colours together, in size order, even though they wouldn’t stay that way for long, and by the time he’d finished Jonah had shown up.
‘Good to have you back, sport.’ They high-fived and Jonah’s smile was as bright as the buoyancy vest Leo had just sold.
Leo, comfortable to have Jonah here now he not only knew that a parent was aware of his whereabouts but that that parent was Maeve, reiterated that Jonah would be helping out, but staying away from the water until his mother was ready. Jonah seemed happy with the arrangement and knew he had to be patient, and while Leo had promised Maeve they wouldn’t go near the water, he wouldn’t hold back on his enthusiasm for the sea and talking to Jonah about whatever he wanted to know.
‘Let’s get to work,’ Leo told his young helper. He took a pair of scissors and slit open the top of another of the boxes, this time a smaller one, that had come in the delivery. ‘Could you hang these waterproof phone covers up for me?’
‘Sure.’ Jonah took the box while Leo unpacked a box of t-shirts and organised those on a rail. It was good to have his comrade back, he’d missed the company.
Once the new stock was sorted Jonah swept up andwiped down the glass cabinet by the till, Leo took a couple of calls and bookings for paddleboards, and by the time he had to lock up the boathouse to go down and take return of a couple of kayaks it was almost time for Jonah to go. But not before he positioned the sign outside to let customers know where to find Leo.
Leo locked up the top of the boathouse and was about to wave Jonah off before he went to retrieve the kayaks when he saw Nina, the sunshine highlighting her blonde hair in a way that was a sudden reminder to him of what it had been like when they’d take a boat out, just the two of them, not a worry in the world it had seemed.
‘Did you walk to the paint shop?’ he asked her as Jonah shrugged on his backpack. She looked as though she was struggling with a couple of paint tins, one in each hand, tugging her arms downward with their weight.
‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘Could’ve been a mistake,’ she added, shifting each tin in her grasp.
It was the most they’d really talked since they’d begun to be civil to one another. The dream he’d had, or rather the nightmare, had acted as a bit of a reminder that no matter how much he’d been hurt since she left, he was alive and so was she, so was Adrian. And knowing that had the power to rein in any anger and allow him to be much more of a glass half-full guy rather than the opposite.
He didn’t ask permission, just stepped towards her and scooped both paint tins from her hands. ‘Let me.’
‘Thanks. I thought the exercise would be good,’ she said, ‘but it turns out paint tins that don’t feel too heavy at first, really do after twenty minutes.’
Jonah had followed Leo over to Nina and Nina smiled. ‘Hello Jonah.’
‘You two already know each other?’
‘We met the other day near the end of the pier when I was out walking.’
