‘All she did was spend time with her grandad. She had a full-time job, shifts all over the place, but between that she slotted in time with Walt and was at his side whenever she could manage it. I saw her a couple of times and she asked I didn’t mention it to anyone that she was around. I’ve honestly never seen a young girl look so drawn, so flat, so exhausted. She had dark circles beneath her eyes so large you could’ve curled up in them to sleep. I caught her crying one day too – Walt and I had become friends by then, he’d given me a key for emergencies, and I’d used it when she hadn’t answered the door.’
His heart went out to Nina, thinking she’d gone through all of that without him.
‘I nearly told you, but not after the way she’d left. I knew you didn’t need to know it then. But I think you need to know it now. She burst into tears on me once. Said she couldn’t go on like this. That was when Walt heard her. He realised that he needed to see he still had a life to be lived, he still had people to love and who loved him. He felt terrible for being the cause of Nina’s stress and over a few days we looked after her rather thanthe other way around. I had her tucked into bed with a hot water bottle, I cooked for her and Walt and by the time she left that time both she and Walt were a lot calmer.’
‘He seems happy enough whenever I see him.’
‘He is. He’s content. He still has a wobble every now and then, we all do. It’s hard at our age. It’s scary. Knowing the end is near.’
‘Don’t talk like that, Gran.’
‘Well it is and more so for Walt. Me, I have you and your mum and your dad, all by my side. Walt doesn’t have the same. Although he has me now and I’ve found a friendship I treasure.’
Granny Camille was right. She did have the family by her side, but it was still nice to have someone of her own age to spend the days with. Leo couldn’t imagine feeling so bereft when someone left you in this world that you didn’t want to function. When Nina had left, his world had crumpled, but he’d picked himself up and carried on somehow. He couldn’t imagine how Walt had felt so bad yet not reached out. He couldn’t imagine how Nina had kept up caring for her grandad when she had a life away from the bay, a job to do, and no support from her mother by the sounds of it.
‘Come on,’ Camille urged, ‘the smell of dinner is making my tummy grumble.’
He stood up, gave her a hug. ‘Thanks Gran, you always know the right things to say.’ Because despite the outcome at the bank, she’d told him a little bit more about Nina and it made him see past his own pain to how hard it had been for Nina too, even though she’d been the one to run off. She hadn’t just pushed him aside and startedover. She’d still had to deal with pain, loss, grief and family issues, and all of it had been without him.
And that made him sadder than ever.
Chapter Seventeen
Adrian
‘About time,’ Adrian declared when his brother finally came through to the kitchen. ‘Heard you arrive ages ago.’
‘I’ve had him chatting,’ Camille apologised. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘I was beginning to think we’d have to give your portion to the dog,’ said Adrian.
Leo greeted his brother with a manly hug – distance and slaps on the shoulder blades – ‘We don’t have a dog.’
‘Guess you’ll get to eat it then,’ Adrian grinned, flicking a tea towel over his shoulder as he set down the lid he’d taken off the cook pot.
It felt good to have the whole family together tonight. It was the first time they’d had a proper meal since he’d moved back – usually at least one of them was missing – Leo was still working, Camille was with Walt or either of his parents had something else planned. But tonight they were all together.
It wasn’t long before they were all gathered at the table, plates of sumptuous chicken piccata in front of them and the aroma of lemons and garlic filling the room.
Talk turned to Walt’s party when his mum told themshe’d seen young Jonah at the café and he had announced he’d eaten at least a dozen chicken wings.
‘Didn’t get a look-in with those.’ As Adrian took his seat at the table he recalled Jonah’s messy fingers and declaration that he wanted to get to the chicken before Leo.
‘He’s such a character,’ Camille laughed. ‘He reminds me a lot of you boys at his age, always wanting to get involved in everything.’
‘He’s not bad at board games either,’ Adrian laughed, explaining all about the Frustration tournament they’d had, how Jonah wanted a rematch.
‘You boys used to like to play Monopoly but it always finished with a big argument and you abandoning the board.’ Anne shook her head. ‘I think a few of the bank notes got torn too. I think we still have the game somewhere.’
‘It’s good to hear of kids playing board games,’ Camille said. ‘They spend too much time on devices these days.’
‘Maeve didn’t let him bring his iPad,’ Adrian told her, ‘not to the party. And he talked with most people until it got to the point where he really needed something else. He’s a great kid.’
Leo was looking at him with a puzzled expression. He took a sip of his wine and with one eyebrow raised the way he did when he was trying to wind Adrian up, said, ‘Maeve’s pretty great too.’
He knew she was. Seeing her outside the café in town after all this time had hit him harder than a sail caught in the wind whipping a boat in a different direction all of a sudden. And the way she’d looked at him he knew seeing him again after all this time was significant for her as well. Because he and Maeve had hadfeelings for one another since before the party on the boat that night, they’d just never had a chance to see where they were heading. Because everything had changed. He thought about the way she’d talked to him on the beach before they headed to the O’Brien cabin, every glance they exchanged during the party and the odd smile that drifted his way. She seemed cautious, but he guessed he could blame that on the passage of time. He wished he’d been able to walk her to her car, talk to her more.
And now Adrian wasn’t going to let Leo get away with his comment about Maeve, not with his family looking like they suspected there was more to tell on that score. Two could play at that game.
