‘Mum didn’t hate her beach walk the other day,’ he informed Leo. ‘I think she might even let me have a kayak lesson one day.’
‘Yeah? Well that is good to know. And she already told me what a great swimmer you are.’
‘My teacher says I’m a natural.’
He smiled at Jonah’s apparent confidence. ‘Swimming is a skill for life and the stronger you are in a pool, the better you’ll be out there.’ He pointed to the sea that captured anyone’s focus from this viewing point. The wind appeared to have died down a bit and the rain had already eased a little. ‘And I get why you love it – the swimming and the sea – my entire childhood involved water, boats, water craft. It seemed the whole time Adrian and I were making plans for our next adventure.’
‘What sort of adventures?’
‘The sea became our playground. One of our favourite games was to take the inflatable dingy out and playpirates. I’d be in the dingy which was the pirate ship – I could imagine it with a big sail, rocking on the waves, I even had a pair of binoculars to look out to sea and back to shore.’
‘What did Adrian do?’
‘He was the pirate. And even though I rowed like mad to get away from him and my arms ached from pulling on the oars, Adrian always caught me up in his kayak. He’d leap on board and yell “Arr!” just like a pirate.’ Jonah was laughing now. ‘He was the winner, pretty much every time. He’d fix a tow rope onto the end of the kayak, secure it to the dingy and tell me he was in charge. He’d take my oars but by then I didn’t care, I was so knackered. I was more than happy to lie back in the dingy and bask in the sun while my brother rowed me to shore making all the pirate sounds he liked.’
‘What else did you do in the water?’ Jonah asked.
‘Let me see … snorkelling, we loved looking into the murky depths to see if we could spot any creatures. We’d use boogie boards, surf. Anything really.’
‘I wish I could do those things.’
‘Some day, I’m sure you will. Let your mum have some time and I bet she’ll come around. And in the meantime learn as much as you can on land.’
‘How is that even possible?’
‘You’re already doing it. You watch me when I give lessons, you listen to the way people talk and you’d be surprised how much you’ve already learned by osmosis.’
‘Osmosis? I thought that was to do with plant cells.’
‘It is, but this is a different sort of osmosis.’ He finished off his drink. ‘Come on, it’s quiet in here, I’ll run you home or to the café if that’s where Mum is?’
‘Café, and yes please.’ He went to get his bag from behind the counter.
Leo rarely closed up early, but today he just couldn’t be bothered. He loved his cabin, he loved this shop. But did he really love his life so much he couldn’t leave it all behind and get away from the change coming his way?
Chapter Fifteen
Nina
When they were younger Nina and Leo had often strolled away from Salthaven and on past Stepping Stone Bay along the pavement on the main road that curved around and where impressive houses sat up higher than the road level, big glass windows looking out to the sea. They’d always wondered what it was like to live in one of those; they’d seen one with a telescope in the front window and Leo had talked about what it might be like to use that at night to see boats sailing in and out of the marina, to see further around the coast. But those days seemed a lifetime ago and seeing Leo at his cabin that he’d made his home, Nina felt the ground-level view fitted him just perfectly.
Nina had been thinking about Leo all day. More than once she’d been tempted to head over to the boathouse and talk to him. It was Walt’s decision whether he wanted to accept this generous offer, but it felt as though it would affect Leo so much she wanted to keep him in the loop. Nina couldn’t believe the same man had already approached him about not only his cabin but also the boathouse. His livelihood, his home. No wonder Leo was all over the place and questioning what he wanted. Buthearing him talk about perhaps leaving himself pained her more than she’d ever thought it would. She’d left, Adrian had, so had Maeve, so why not Leo?
She knew why. His cabin, the boatshed, Stepping Stone Bay. It was Leo through and through. He couldn’t leave, it would be like leaving behind a part of his soul, but she had no right to question whatever he decided.
Now, from her cabin Nina could see the lights on at Leo’s. The rain that came and went whenever it felt like it had started up again. It took her two mugs of tea, some leftover lasagne she’d made at Grandad’s, and a great deal of courage before she decided she had to head over and see him.
He didn’t look overly surprised to see her when he opened the door. He had one arm in a fleece and pushed his other arm into the garment before lifting it over his head to pull down over his broad chest. ‘Hey.’
‘Hey.’ She brightened just hearing his voice and seeing him. ‘How was your day?’
‘Miserable.’ Oh. Maybe not the right question then. ‘Everything all right? Hooks didn’t fall down did they?’
‘No, the hooks are there to stay. Thanks again for putting them up.’
‘No worries. Want to come in?’
‘I shouldn’t, it’s late.’ She took a deep breath. ‘I’ve come to apologise to you.’ She had a raincoat on, but she pushed down the hood now as she stood on the veranda a bit closer to the door. She’d had a call from the estate agent an hour ago to reiterate the offer on the table and the only thing it had done was make her want to talk to Leo more. He felt like the only person who understood about the cabins, which was silly when you thought about it. Thecabins were special to William but he had his own family and work to deal with, Walt needed the money and she couldn’t make him feel guilty if he decided to go ahead. It felt as though Leo was the only one she could talk to, and yet it felt cruel. ‘I probably should’ve kept it to myself,’ she said, ‘told you once Grandad made a decision.’
