‘I was meeting Mum,’ Jonah explained. ‘What are you painting?’ he asked Nina.
She pointed to her cabin. ‘This place. I need to get it all shipshape ready to sell.’
‘Why are you selling?’ Jonah rambled on as Leo led the way over to the O’Brien place.
‘I have to, it’s for my grandad and he needs the money now he’s a bit older.’
‘If this cabin were mine,’ said Jonah as they reached the steps leading up, ‘I would want to keep it forever. It’s right near the sea.’
‘If I could, I would.’ As she said it her gaze locked with Leo’s and he wondered whether she’d been thinking of all the memories they’d made there too.
As talk turned to what colour she was painting the walls and the ceiling Leo set the paint tins down inside the front door.
‘I love painting,’ Jonah went on. ‘I could help. I helped Mum paint my room in our apartment in Toronto. I want to paint my room here but we’re renting so I’m not allowed.’
‘No, I don’t suppose you are.’ Nina looked to Leo. ‘Can you spare him from the boathouse? I’ve heard he’s been your little helper.’
Leo smiled. ‘He’s finished up with me. But you’d have to check with Maeve as he’s supposed to go and meet her.’ He looked to Jonah who was hovering, waiting for an answer. He suspected all the kid had lined up was sitting in the café waiting for his mum to clock off.
‘I’ll give her a call.’ Nina had already pulled her phone out from her back pocket. ‘We had a long talk in the café the other day and swapped numbers.’
‘That’s nice.’ What else could he say? That he wished they’d been able to do the same?
‘It was really nice to see her after all this time.’ She scrolled through her phone contacts.
‘I’m glad you talked.’ Leo told her. ‘Can you believe she has a kid?’ He ruffled Jonah’s hair and the boy ducked away but laughed. ‘A good one too.’
But all Jonah was interested in now was stopping the grown-ups from talking and having Nina call Maeve for permission.
The fact that Nina had been to the café, a local haunt, pleased Leo. It meant she hadn’t completely written off the town and the bay. Part of him knew he was leaving himself open to hurt by being hopeful, by being kind to her, but being an arse wasn’t going to help, was it? Especially when he didn’t really know how he felt any more, something he wouldn’t have laid claim to this time a few weeks ago when Nina O’Brien had been gone long enough for him to assume he’d never have feelings about her again.
‘I’m sorry, Jonah,’ said Nina when she’d called Maeve’s number and heard it ring a number of times. ‘I don’t want to leave a message on voicemail, best to speak with her first. Make sure she’s happy for you to be here.’
Jonah shrugged and took out his own phone from his backpack. ‘She’s working, she’ll answer if it’s me.’
Nina smiled at Leo. ‘Didn’t think about that.’
Jonah made the call and passed the phone to Nina. It was nice, hearing the relaxed tone of Nina’s voice, the way he remembered her.
‘She says yes,’ Nina told them both when she ended the call. ‘She’ll pick you up from here in an hour and a half.’
‘Cool.’ Jonah zipped his bag up again after popping the phone inside.
‘There’s some orange juice in the fridge,’ Nina told him, ‘go help yourself and we’ll get to work.’
When Jonah went inside Leo leaned in closer to Nina so he wouldn’t be heard and did his best to ignore the smell of the same perfume he’d inhaled up close for years. She was still wearing it and it was still just as tantalising. ‘Are you sure about this? You don’t mind?’
‘Don’t worry,’ she confided, her blonde hair brushing against his face, they were so close, until she realised and took a step back. ‘I won’t let him loose on anything major until I know where his talents lie. Nothing that can’t be painted over again very quickly and easily.’ She put her thumb up when Jonah called out that he needed to use the toilet in her cabin.
‘By the sounds of your phone call you and Maeve are getting along well.’
‘She’s nice, I can’t believe we lost touch.’ And she looked at the ground when she realised what she’d said.
‘Nina, it was a long time ago. I wasn’t pleasant when I first saw you––’
‘I took you by surprise.’
‘You could say that.’ A moment hung between them. ‘But we’re both adults. And I don’t want things to be unpleasant while you’re here.’
