9
The advantage of staying so close to the coast was the ability to head out for a surf any time he felt like it. No twenty-minute drive; it could be a spur of the moment decision. Spence could simply look out the window, check the conditions, grab his board, and be in the water in minutes. Brilliant. And this morning, that was exactly what he did.
The sun was high in the sky, which was a glorious azure blue. A few wispy clouds slowly drifted by, and seagulls soared high as Spence dragged himself and his board from the ocean and plonked down into the sand. He shook his head, droplets flying everywhere, then rolled his wet suit to his waist, intending to make the most of the sun. He turned to watch his cousin. Jack was making his way up the damp sand, board in tow, and eventually made it to Spence’s side. He first threw the board down then himself onto the board with a satisfied sigh.
“Man, that was awesome! Best surf ever!” His excitement was infectious, and Spence couldn’t help grinning back.
“Yeah, absolutely awesome!”
Jack was fourteen, the only son of his aunt Jenny. He was a good kid, although prone to getting himself into scrapes every now and then, so Jenny was appreciative of Spence’s presence. She thought that having Spence around the house would give Jack some much needed older male influence. Jack had a good heart, taking after his mum, but he was easily influenced by those around him and seemed to have gotten caught up with a worrying crowd. Spence knew those types of kids well—the sort who made silly decisions and tried to one-up each other so as to appear cool. Their intentions weren’t to be deliberately bad, but sometimes, things just seemed to naturally escalate. Jack had been sucked into one of those situations—a prank gone wrong, resulting in vandalism to school property and a formal reprimand—so Jenny was currently keeping a close eye on her wayward son.
Spence leaned back on his arms, eyes closed and face tilted towards the sun. It really was a glorious day, and he was pleased to be able to make the most of the good weather and spend a bit of relaxation time outdoors. He’d actually been outside quite a lot, helping Jenny clear the overgrown garden, but that was work and this was pure bliss. The sound of the screeching gulls, the crashing of the surf, and the tang of salt in the air—it was moments like these he lived for. Totally at one with nature and at peace with the world.If only that last part were true.
Another reason he enjoyed being at the beach was the opportunity to really clear his head and think. When he’d first arrived, after firing off a few messages explaining he’d be away for a bit, he’d shoved his phone into the top drawer of the bedside table. So far, he’d resisted the urge to check it for messages, wanting to have uninterrupted headspace to work through his confused mess of feelings.
Ignorance was probably not the ideal way of handling things, but Spence wasn’t ready to face confirming Ben’s thoughts after their night together. The guilt he felt at taking advantage of Ben—my best friend—still plagued him, and he felt sick over the uncomfortable position he’d put Ben in. He battled daily—his head arguing that he needed to stay away and give Ben space and that he was not good for Ben, and his heart saying otherwise. His mother’s words still rang in his ears—her confidence that Ben might just return Spence’s feelings—and he didn’t want to lose that small spark of hope.
Once he listened to and read any messages, all hope would be gone, so the iPhone stayed hidden away in the drawer.
He still had a lot of thinking to do before he made his next step.
He turned his attention back to Jack and drew him into a conversation about subject choices for next year and his plans to try out for the athletics team. He really was a good kid, and Spence wanted to offer him all the support he could. He could only imagine what it was like to be an only child, especially to a single parent. Thinking of Jack without any siblings reminded him how lucky he was to have his own brother, Robbie, and reinforced how grateful he felt at having had the friendship and support of Ben while growing up. He wasn’t sure that Jack had any friends as trustworthy and loyal as Ben had been to him.
They debated the merits of athletics over other sports, but they were really both on the same side given Spence’s love of running, so they dropped the subject quickly. And as if to prove the point, they decided to drop the boards back at the house and go for a jog, then maybe another swim.
Spence stood and patted the sand off his still-damp wet suit-covered butt before bending and picking up his board. “I’ll race you back!” he challenged. “Last one to the house does the front lawn!” With that, he took off, speeding back up the dune towards the B & B with Jack in hot pursuit.
* * *
It had been a long day.Areallylong day. Ben’s legs felt like lead as he hauled the last of his equipment to the truck. As much as he loved his job and continued to dream of growing the business, sometimes it was just pure exhausting, although at the moment, physical exhaustion was a good thing—he’d sleep like a baby tonight.See? I can find the positive in everything.He laughed at the thought even as his back twinged. His muscles ached from the continual strain he’d been under all day, and he was totally worn out. With hands on his hips, he bent backwards, trying to stretch and ease the tightness down his spine, but eventually gave up. No amount of contortion was going to relieve the ache, and heading home for a long soak in the tub was a much better idea. He threw the last of the tools in the back of the truck and did a final check to make sure nothing had been forgotten before painfully hoisting himself into the driver seat and heading home.
On the positive side, the business was doing extremely well, and mainly through word of mouth, which kept his marketing costs down. The quality of his landscaping work, his commitment to meeting deadlines, and his realistic pricing structure were the key to his success. Ben mentally reviewed his business plan as he drove the thirty minutes towards home. If the current workload continued, it would only be another month or two before he could look at bringing on some additional help. He planned to hire someone to help with the physical work. Someone who could lift and move the heavy supplies, help dig holes for planting, transport soil and mulch, and the countless other tasks that were required to bring his landscape designs to life. Although Ben enjoyed getting his hands dirty, he also loved to design gardens and spend his time choosing the perfect plantings to complement the environment. He got so much joy from creating a beautiful garden and seeing the delight it brought his customers.
Just the thought of how well things were going was enough to bolster his spirit despite the aching tiredness.
To top it off, things were going quite well with his mum too. They’d finally found the time to sit down and have a good discussion about her next steps in relation to Ben’s dad. Ben sighed in relief. His parents weren’t going to reconcile; there were no plans to get marriage counselling or to try and work anything out. Things had finally gone too far, and the recent incident had shaken his mum, making her realise the risk to both herself and Maddy if things had carried on as they were. His dad’s temper, which had always been bad, was getting harder for him to keep under control, and quite frankly, he couldn’t be trusted to restrain himself. Ben had yet to talk to his father and wasn’t sure how he really felt about his own relationship with his dad. He hadn’tlikedhim for a long time and had lost all respect, but it was hard to turn your back on the man who had raised you and had so much influence on you all your life. He shook his head. That was an issue to be dealt with at another time. Right now, he was going to focus on happier things—his successful business, and his mum and Maddy being safe.
Ben turned into his parking space, grabbed his bag and Esky from the back seat, and made his way to his apartment.Ah, home, sweet home.He let himself in, threw the keys on the hall table, and headed to the kitchen. He left the Esky on the benchtop before traipsing to the bedroom, where he dropped the bag on the floor. He eyed the bed, contemplating taking a brief nap, but in the end, the thought of a good long soak won out over the idea of sleep. Knowing he would never get back up again if he so much as sat on the edge of the bed, he headed to the bathroom and ran the bath. Ben stripped as steam filled the small room. He tossed in a handful of Epsom salts before slipping into the warm water.Mmm, heaven.
He allowed himself a few moments to purely wallow in the warmth, letting the heat and the salts work their magic on his muscles. As he soaked, his eyes drifted shut. It would have been so easy to drift off to sleep, so he roused himself with a shake of the head. Water gently lapped at his chest as he reached for the sponge and soap.
Ben proceeded to lather himself, washing away the results of the day’s labour. As he scrubbed, he felt more awake and started planning the renovation. He’d already decided to move an internal wall slightly to make way for a bigger shower, hating the current cramped cubicle with its flimsy shower curtain. Spence was a big fan of showers—and makes fun of my propensity for bubbles—so with that in mind, Ben planned a large double-headed shower. Spence would love it. It was worth sacrificing some of his wardrobe space in the spare room to give Spence his dream shower.
He smiled as he pulled the plug, stood, and reached for his towel. There was something to be said for all this positive thinking—he felt more energised and motivated than he had in a long time!
* * *
The next weekor so flew by as Spence kept himself busy. He’d spent a lot of time thinking as he worked on his Aunt Jenny’s place and felt almost ready to head back to the real world and deal with his issues, so much so that he’d finally dragged the phone out and plugged it in to charge.
As expected, there had been an early barrage of calls from Ben as well as some from Cameron and one from Mel. The calls and messages from Cameron and Mel had stopped after the first few days. Obviously, they’d realised his phone wasn’t on or that he wasn’t checking messages. Or maybe his mum had passed on the message that he needed space and didn’t want to be contacted, or perhaps they’d just gotten the hint from his lack of reply.
Ben hadn’t given up quite so easily, though. He didn’t say much in his messages, just a repeated request for Spence to call him, and jeez, did Spence feel terrible for not picking up the phone. But Spence had yet to work up the courage to make that call. Until that time, he used the work in the house and garden to provide a distraction.
It took much longer than he had expected to clear out the large grounds surrounding the B & B. Jenny had been able to keep the area directly around the house in good order, but further away from the building, the vegetation was more like tangled undergrowth rather than garden.
The first week was spent cutting back shrubs and clearing out undergrowth. Branches were pruned, weeds pulled, and mountains of green waste carted away. There was a mass of junk amongst the bushes too—discarded furniture, recycling that had never made it to the depot, old tiles from the roof, and rusty tools. God knew why it had been left there so long, but at least the overgrown jungle of a garden had covered it. Once the basic clearing was complete, Jack and Spence had worked together and dug out saplings that had self-seeded and thinned the area, to be rewarded by the discovery of some beautiful old fruit trees that had been previously covered in vines. They had cut and carried and bent and lifted and used every muscle in their bodies to achieve spectacular results.
Now they had moved on to weeding and edging the winding path that led from the back porch to the little gate at the side, which opened onto the cliff path. There was direct access from the path to the beach via a well-used wooden staircase but getting to the gate had been an adventure in itself.
