‘Actually, I’m lying. I’ve been on a barge along the canal once when I was little.’
‘Not the same.’ He tilted his head back to the Magowan boat. ‘No time like the present.’
‘Oh no, I wasn’t hinting.’
‘Yes you were.’ He called her bluff and she didn’t seem to mind one bit. ‘Come on, I’m refuelled, it’s clean, fridge is restocked, hop on board.’
‘Are you sure?’ She checked her watch.
‘Do you have somewhere else to be?’
She shook her head, at the same time smiling as she took his outstretched hand.
Maeve stayed by his side as he reversed out of the berth and they left the marina behind, the wind picking up as they ventured further out onto the water, serene and beautiful just like the woman he couldn’t take his eyes off. Her dark, luscious hair grazed across her bare shoulder blades peaking out of the thin-strapped top she had on; when she turned to smile her full lips excited him without even a word. And he was comfortable with the quiet, the lack of chatter, the beauty of the summer sunshine, the salty sea air and their awareness of one another.
When they were some way out he dropped the anchor and grabbed a couple of cold drinks as well as choc ices from the freezer. And when she worried she didn’t have enough sun cream on, given he’d sprung this outing on her, he found the sun lotion he had with him and offered it to her.
‘I’m usually prepared,’ she told him, ‘but I was out for a walk, the last thing I expected was to be on board a boat today.’ She squinted in the sunshine as she put her sunglasses on top of her head and closed her eyes so she could apply the lotion to her face with both hands. And while her eyes were shut he took in the contours of her face, her jaw line, the way her neck gently moved as she rubbed in the cream.
He looked away when she did her shoulders and as clichéd as it was, offered to rub the cream into the top of her back where she couldn’t reach.
‘If I didn’t know better I’d think you were hitting on me.’ She handed him the bottle of lotion.
‘As if,’ he laughed, attempting to keep the nervousness out of his voice.
‘I can’t believe I’ve lived in the bay all my life and haveneverbeen on a boat until now,’ Maeve said when they’d been on the water for more than an hour.
‘You’ve said that … twice.’ He laughed when she turned and poked him in the ribs. ‘And I can’t believe it either. You haven’t lived till you’ve been on a boat out on the sea, the freedom, nothing around you apart from waves and sky.’
‘And birds!’ She burst out laughing when a gull timed it perfectly and left a deposit on the silver railing of the boat.
Adrian cursed and went to get a cloth to wipe it off.
When he was back relaxing at her side she said, ‘Thank you for this.’
He leant back on his forearms, his sunglasses on just like hers were again now. He liked wearing them because it meant she didn’t catch him in the act every time he looked at her for longer than was necessary.
Before he realised what he’d done he’d reached over and touched the tip of her nose. ‘You got sunscreen on your face? The rays are fierce out on the water.’
And she turned to him. ‘I put some on earlier. You watched me do it.’
‘Yes, I did,’ he answered, voice soft as hers, their eyes focused on one another, his gaze dropping to her lips more than once.
She reached out to slip her hand beneath his and it was like a bolt of electricity shot through him.
And then they both lay back, the warmth of the sunshine on their partially clad bodies on the deck, nothing aroundthem but shimmering water, the ocean of possibilities.
He wasn’t even sure who made the first move. Was it him? Her? Did it even matter?
All he knew was that in those crazy hazy days of summer, where they were carefree, a little bit reckless, they’d both lost themselves in one another down below deck, their bodies at one. But that had been the only time they were together. Because less than a week later the party happened, and their lives headed in different directions.
Now, on the water, the lapping of the waves put the fear of God into him. One night was all it had taken for him to fall in love, and not only that, father a child, a son. And an amazing son at that. He’d allow himself a smile if he wasn’t so terrified right now. Because he was happy to be a dad.
He just wasn’t happy he’d been lied to all this time.
No, scrap that, he was furious!
Please don’t let it be too late. Too late for Jonah, too late for him to be a dad and get to know that wonderful boy who’d made him laugh and smile in his company at the boatshed. The day he’d washed the wetsuits had been the day Adrian realised he might still want that family after all. Family had always been Leo’s thing more than his, but maybe that wasn’t the way it had to be.
