She put on a stern voice and wagged her finger as if she was telling someone off. ‘Jonah, you mustn’t go in the sea, it’s dangerous. Stay away from the water.’ She laughed. ‘But don’t mind me, I’m going to leap in during the winter months and risk hypothermia, the wrath of a wintry sea. That’s totally different.’
‘When you put it that way,’ said Nina. But despite the doubts about the annual charity swim it felt good to be here, the four of them, together and ready to move forwards and she couldn’t wait to tell her grandad the good news.
‘You might have kept him away from the sea,’ said Adrian to Maeve. ‘But I think Jonah would be running in there with you if you suggest it this year.’
‘You’re probably right.’ Maeve wasn’t smiling any more, in fact she looked more serious than she had the whole time they’d been in here. And when she met Adrian’s gaze she held it. It was as though she was trying to convey all her feelings in that one look.
And just like that Nina felt as though she and Leo were intruding again.
Chapter Nineteen
Leo
Leo and Adrian had been to see the solicitor about Adrian taking on a part of the business but they’d only just finished the meeting when Leo got a call regarding a paddleboard delivery that was earlier than expected.
‘Would you be all right to hold the fort in the shop?’ he asked Adrian as they walked from town back in the direction of the boathouse. ‘I’m supposed to be taking a kayak lesson in half an hour, I can’t be in two places at once.’
‘Jump in at the deep end, right?’ Adrian joked, but Leo could tell he was psyching himself up for this.
When they’d gone to Leo’s cabin for the nightcap following the anniversary dinner with their parents Adrian had told Leo that he’d been along to the marina to see his boat, but hadn’t managed to go in the front entrance. He’d admitted he’d thought about sellingTheWildflowertoo, something Leo had opened his mouth to protest about until Adrian told him he’d realised he couldn’t go through with it. Leo had wanted to punch the air with glee because his brother’s boat was as much a part of him as this place was. He suspected his brother had always known it, he’d just needed to be reminded after what happened.
The words had been like music to Leo’s ears that night.And they’d talked into the small hours about the financial side of the business, their ideas short term and long term, the passion igniting their conversation from both sides. Leo had felt like he’d got his brother back that little bit more.
Now, as he watched as Adrian inspected the water craft on sale, those high up on the walls, some down lower, Leo allowed himself a small smile as he got the float from the till ready. Adrian was here … his brother was back.
Leo played messages on the answerphone and noted down a change of booking for lunchtime, another booking requesting two hours with three kayaks rather than the single hour they’d originally asked for.
‘Do you think they’ve seen the weather forecast?’ Adrian had overheard Leo’s call.
‘Maybe not. But they’re experienced, they’ll be fine.’ He checked his watch, the lesson only twenty minutes away. ‘I’ll be out for an hour on the water.’ The rain was brewing in the clouds over the bay but he was sure it would hold off a little while and there was no wind to accompany it, which was a good sign.
Leo pulled the vacuum cleaner out from the cupboard behind the till. He’d not left the shop as clean as he usually would yesterday with trying to think about the business now Adrian wanted to get involved, teeing up times for solicitor appointments and another at the bank, but the job could wait no longer.
‘Let me do that,’ Adrian insisted.
‘Hey, not arguing there.’ He handed Adrian the flex and Adrian went to push the plug into the socket.
The noise of the vacuum extinguished any potential conversation for now and Leo’s lesson began earlierthan anticipated thanks to a keen nineteen-year-old who had college later that morning and was doing this to surprise her boyfriend for his twenty-first. She wanted to go out together in a few weeks and he was already a keen kayaker. She took to it so easily Leo suspected she’d be keeping up with her boyfriend well enough on the special day.
When Leo went back up into the boathouse he saw the new paddleboard had arrived and his brother was at the counter taking payment for a set of paddles, engaged in a lively conversation with the customer, who was explaining that he wasn’t from around here but he intended to kayak on the canals near his home.
‘It’s all coming back to you,’ Leo said when the man went on his way. He’d overheard Adrian giving the man a couple of last-minute tips about looking after his kayak.
Adrian came round to the customer side of the counter and leaned against it. ‘For such a long time I’ve pushed all this away. Even when I offered to come back into the business with you I wasn’t totally sure I wanted to be living and breathing it all again.’ He took in the boathouse shop, looked beyond the window then back again at all the paraphernalia inside, up at the boards fixed to the walls, the accessories dotted about, the colourful clothing.
‘And now?’
‘Now, it’s early days.’
‘That’s all I can ask of you. Give it a go.’ And they had so much to talk about, the financial injection Adrian would bring, what that would mean they could do – more equipment, more lessons, maybe boat outings even. They’d have to talk strategy as well as finance, marketing, but for now it was a case of beginning with the basics.
‘Have you even been in the sea over the last few years?’ Leo asked his brother now.
‘Harper had her New York holidays for a while but she craved the beach. I caved in the end, went to the South of France. I mean, who goes to the South of France, stays by the beach and doesn’t go into the water?’ He tried to make light of it.
‘Someone who had a bad experience they want to forget.’
‘You seem to be all right.’
