‘She did. I don’t think I’ll ever understand that. You must be angry.’
Adrian nodded. ‘Angry, happy, sad, scared, the whole gamut since I found out.’ He looked Jonah’s way. ‘But for now …’
‘Yeah, for now he’s safe. And that’s what really matters.’ Leo looked over at Jonah too. ‘He’s the spitting image of Maeve with dark hair, olive skin, but he’s got a hint of Magowan about him. His strong jaw line.’ He put a hand to his own jaw. ‘Like you, me, Dad. And he’s left-handed too.’
Adrian grinned. So was he. ‘Then he must be a genius.’ Adrian wrapped his brother in a bear hug which had Leo laughing. ‘Thanks man.’
‘For?’ Leo asked when he wrestled himself free.
‘He took the buoyancy vest, he didn’t panic. Those things are probably down to you and time spent listening to you drone on and on and on.’ A smile spread across his face and it was his turn to be yanked into a bear hug.
The ruckus had Maeve’s attention and she tilted her head in a gesture that Adrian knew meant he should go over to their table. He wasn’t sure, but Leo gave him a subtle shove in their direction.
Sitting down beside Jonah he asked, ‘You all right? Warm enough now?’
Jonah nodded, mouth full of brownie.
‘And I’ll bet Mum wasn’t mad like you thought she’d be.’
Jonah shook his head.
Maeve was back in full parent mode and quite right too. ‘You do know you’re grounded, don’t you Jonah?’
Jonah stopped chewing and sighed. ‘Figured I would be.’ And then recommenced eating. ‘I deserve it.’
‘You had me worried sick.’ Maeve looked as though the frown on her forehead would come back every time she replayed the moment he ran off, the moment they all realised he’d gone into the sea. She sat up a little straighter. ‘Why did you do it?’
‘We argued.’
‘I know that, but why take the kayak, why steal something?’
He looked at Adrian as though he wasn’t going to admit anything in front of a stranger. But then he must’ve changed his mind. ‘I wanted to do something you’d hate.’ He looked down at his now-empty plate.
‘Well you were right there.’ But her tone softened. ‘What you did was very dangerous.’
‘I know.’
‘And you should always go out with a buddy if possible,’ said Adrian, taking his cue that it was all right to talk from Maeve’s slight nod of approval. ‘Even as an adult it’s a good idea.’
‘They tell us that at swim lessons too. That way if we get in trouble, someone else can go for help.’ He hung his head, seemingly realising what might have happened tonight, that the outcome could very easily have been a contrast to what it was now. ‘I’m sorry, Mum.’ And when he welled up, Maeve wrapped him in her arms and held him close.
‘I’m sorry we argued,’ she whispered into her son’s hair.
‘Me too.’
‘I wanted to talk about it.’
‘I’ve said I’m sorry.’
But she shook her head. ‘I don’t mean having you apologise. I mean I wanted to talk about the subject of that argument.’
‘You won’t tell me things,’ said Jonah after a moment’s pause, glancing over at the apparent stranger at their table.
‘And that was very wrong of me. I shouldn’t have kept something so huge from you, not when the man in question is probably the nicest person I’ve ever met in my entire life.’
Adrian braved a look at Maeve, who didn’t seem to want to stop now she’d started. He wasn’t sure whether his heart beat faster at the fear he might not be what this boy wanted, or whether it was because he just wanted the truth to be out there. He’d only found out the truthtoday, but in some ways it felt to him like a lifetime had passed.
‘The man who is your father deserved to know about you as much as you deserved to know about him,’ said Maeve with more conviction in her voice than Adrian had ever heard. She reached out to cover Adrian’s hand with her own.
