‘I wasn’t that long,’ she grinned and ignored the look Nina sent her way when Adrian came in to the cabin so soon after her that it looked as though they might have arrived together.
Adrian greeted everyone with a raised hand as he said hello. His voice didn’t wobble at all, as Maeve thought it might have done. He’d gone quiet the closer they got to the cabin and she knew, just like she’d had to do when she first came back, he was preparing himself for seeing these people after so long away. The reality was, they all welcomed you back, they had their own lives and knew youhad yours. And Adrian was soon chatting away to anyone and everyone. He’d always been that way, one of his best qualities.
‘How’re you doing?’ Nina came to Maeve’s side.
‘I’m good. How’s the party going?’
But Nina wasn’t fooled. ‘Did you two arrive together?’
‘No.’ And then she added, ‘I went down to the beach for a bit of space and he came down there too.’ She grabbed a slice of pizza. Must be all the sea air making her hungry.
‘I’m glad he came.’
And with her mouth full Maeve nodded. She wasn’t sure how to feel about him right now.
Camille initiated a discussion about the sofa covers and asked Maeve whether she’d had to furnish her flat, and with Jonah happily talking to Surfer Steve about his surfboard collection she tried to put any worries about her son aside and talked about her new home. Every now and then she glanced around the room and her eyes fell on Adrian. He even looked across at her once or twice and smiled. She hoped he wasn’t facing a barrage of awkward questions. She hadn’t had to, so she doubted it, and he did seem relaxed.
‘He’s fine,’ said Nina coming to her side.
‘Jonah?’
Nina grinned. ‘Yeah, Jonah.’
She must have been staring more than she realised. But lucky for her, Nina’s questioning didn’t progress when Camille came over to offer her thanks for the party.
‘Are you leaving already?’ Nina asked.
Walt came over and heard what she’d said and with a chuckle informed his granddaughter, ‘We’re old, we’ll leave you youngsters to it.’ He reached out and huggedNina. ‘Thank you for doing this. I don’t mean just the party—’
‘Which you’re running out on,’ she said.
‘I need my beauty sleep … and I mean it, thank you for everything, for coming here after all this time and doing up the place. I’ll be sad to see it go.’ He looked around at the newly painted walls, the gathering inside of family and friends, absorbed the laughter and the chatter, the way the balloons swayed in the breeze coming through the open door or perhaps from the movement inside. The whole cabin was alive tonight, welcoming and warm.
‘You all right?’ Leo asked when Nina had hugged her grandad and waved goodbye as he and Camille headed off into the evening air.
‘Yeah. I always knew this evening would be a joy, but difficult at the same time.’
Nina might be on high alert for Maeve when it came to Adrian but she had her own story that definitely hadn’t ended with the younger of the Magowan brothers.
Nina went back to hostess mode and got Steve and Adrian another beer and when Maeve realised she’d looked once too often at Adrian and that others might start asking questions, she pitched in and began to clean up, even though when she’d offered earlier Nina had said there was no need.
She filled the sink with hot water, added detergent and swished the water to get the bubbles going before she dumped a whole pile of cutlery into the depths.
‘I’ll dry.’ Adrian had come into the kitchen and picked up a tea towel.
‘Thank you.’ Maeve wasn’t sure she’d ever been this nervous washing up. It wasn’t like she had to do it in afancy way, but he was so close, her head was all over the place.
And now Jonah came to join them and he had other ideas that didn’t involve cleaning up.
‘Please play a game with me,’ he pleaded with his mum.
‘I’ve told you, not at a party, Jonah.’ He’d asked her earlier because there was only so much adult-talk a kid could do. ‘You could dry up if you like.’
Her suggestion was met with the expected grimace. And Nina must have overheard because she came in and said, ‘Jonah has helped out a lot around here. I think he’s off the hook for the clean-up. Did you bring your iPad?’
He shook his head. ‘I wasn’t allowed.’
‘Fair enough.’ She pulled a face as though trying to think of something and then smiled. ‘Wait here.’ She disappeared off but was back moments later. ‘I found this when I was clearing everything out for the makeover.’ She held out a game in a box – Frustration. ‘It’s old but it works.’
