‘You’re turning blue,’ said Jay. ‘And he’s got a fur coat on. I think I’ll give it a miss, thanks.’ He turned around to head back up the beach. Bruce was watching them both as if torn as to who to follow.
‘I thought you wanted to beef up and be an alpha male,’ said Nora, making Jay stop.
He turned and pouted at her. ‘I don’t think freezing off your unmentionables makes you an alpha.’
‘We need to stick together or it’ll confuse Bruce,’ said Nora, and the dog looked at her as she slipped her shoulders under the surface.
‘Fine. But if I get hypothermia I’m blaming you.’ Jay took a deep breath and ran into the sea. The expression on his face was a picture of shock as the water splashed up around him. ‘Argh!’ he yelled as it reached his swimming shorts and he dived into a wave with Bruce close behind him. Jay quickly popped up. ‘Bloody hell, it’s freezing.’
‘There’s a good boy,’ said Nora, as Bruce paddled towards her.
‘Thank you,’ said Jay.
‘I didn’t mean you, you fool,’ said Nora, starting to laugh.
The three of them splashed about for a bit until Bruce had had enough and swam to the shore where he had a big shake. Nora joined him so he wouldn’t run off. They dug holes in the wet sand and watched them fill with water while Jay was swimming up and down like he was doing lengths at the swimming pool. A toddler washappily filling his bucket and emptying it out again as his mother watched from nearby. The similarity between Bruce and the toddler wasn’t lost on Nora.
She glanced up as Jay waded out of the water. He pushed his wet black hair off his face and his torso glistened as he strode towards her. It was quite reminiscent of the famous James Bond moment when Daniel Craig walked out of the sea inCasino Royale, only Jay wasn’t quite as ripped, but still very easy on the eye. Nora was about to look away when Jay tripped over and face-planted the shallows.
‘Ow, that hurt,’ he said, attempting to get up as another wave engulfed him.
Jay scrambled upright between waves and began hobbling towards them, blood starting to trickle down his leg.
‘You’ve cut yourself,’ said Nora, pointing at his knee.
The toddler was watching and burst into tears. His mother marched over and scooped him up while glaring at Jay.
‘What did I do?’ whispered Jay to Nora as the screaming child was carried up the beach. They both looked down at his injured knee.
‘Ouch, that’s starting to smart now.’
Nora put an arm around his waist to help him and felt his muscles tense at her touch. ‘Come on, Alpha, let’s get a plaster on that.’
‘It had better be an Incredible Hulk one or I’m going to scream like that,’ said Jay, pointing after the toddler.
29
Dixie was surprised when she got back to Elsie to see that someone had opened the engine bay at the back of the vehicle. Her heart started to thump but her fears were unfounded because, as she got closer, Ned appeared, wiping his hand on an old rag. He saw her approaching and waved. She waved back and promptly stumbled over a tree root. It was impossible to stay elegant in the woods. At least she didn’t fall flat on her face.
‘You came back,’ she said.
‘Yeah. I thought I’d see if I could get Elsie going. I was worried I’d had a wasted trip when you weren’t around but helpfully you’d left the engine bay unlocked.’ He pointed at the engine.
‘I should probably lock that then?’
‘I would. Just in case anyone is in the market for a vintage engine that doesn’t work,’ he said with a smile.
‘No luck then?’ she asked, peering at the grubby engine as if checking for signs of life.
‘Well, I’m no expert but—’
‘It’s buggered,’ she filled in for him.
Ned laughed. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’
‘Oh, it’s just that my other expert-VW-engine-type person said exactly that and I didn’t listen to her.’
‘That explains why some parts look recently lubricated.’
