I felt Shep’s eyes on me and saw him shaking his head from the corner of my eye. He was reading the situation correctly, at least well enough to pick up one of the huge buckets and walk away with it.
“How’s being back home?”
I smiled and shrugged at the same time. I had no idea what he’d heard about what had happened at my school and right now, I didn’t want to put my head back in that place.
“It’s good. Relaxing. Or it will be if I can avoid Nan’s daily chore list. How are you finding it here?” I wondered why he was here. Possibly something I’d find out from Cat later. Or sooner, given that she was expecting me.
He nodded, arms still folded. “It’s calm. I like being near the sea.”
“Where are you living?”
His smile was embarrassed. “I’ve bought the house just over there.” He pointed over towards the single track road, near to the dense wood that surrounded an ancient stone circle. “I think it’s known as Gelli-nud?” His Welsh pronunciation was about as good as mine.
“Misty grove,” I translated. I knew a few words. “Also known as the local ruin. You’ve bought thatthing?” This was evidence that the man was insane. Gelli-nud was dilapidated, untouched for at least twenty years and back then it had been owned by a man who should’ve been certified insane.
“I bought that thing. I like a project. And the light’s amazing there.”
All this was true. As kids, we’d broken into the fields at the back and pretended it was a fairy meadow. We’d even had an outside Halloween party there one year which had ended with us all being completely creeped out and running home.
“You must like a project and…” I fought for the polite way to say it.
“I must want to chuck my money into a pit?”
“Pretty much. I would’ve thought it needs knocking down and something else building instead.” Which would be pretty sensible.
Gabe’s smile this time wasn’t shy or nervous or embarrassed. His eyes were filled with hope, a flicker of excitement. “That’s kind of the plan. I just need to decide on my final design.”
“You managed to get an architect out here?”
The only new buildings in the area were generally estates, none of them especially nice and thankfully few and far between. There were one or two very distinct buildings that had been remodelled over the years, floor to ceiling glass windows that gave the perfect sea view, but a total rebuild would be expensive and unusual.
There was another smile, his eyes crinkling at the sides. “I am – was – an architect. I just need to decide exactly what I want.”
Okay. That I hadn’t expected. He was an architect chopping word for my Nan and helping out on the boats.
Any response I was going to give was hindered by a loud shout and a change in the air.
“I thought you were coming to see me?” Catrin thundered towards the beach, looking every inch a fairy in her tiny cropped T-shirt and shorts that were short enough to not really be shorts. More like oversized knickers.
“I was. I… we… got talking.”
“Hey, Gabe. How’s it going?” She stood on tiptoes because she hadn’t grown since we were twelve and kissed Gabe on his beard.
“Good. Just finishing for the morning.” He showed no sign of being perturbed by her full-on behaviour, but then, if he was an architect he would be used to a different world than here, one more like the world where I lived.
“Come hang with us. We’re heading out to Lligwy to sunbathe and catch up.”
I snapped my head round to stare at her. “We are? When did I agree to this?”
“You agreed to it when you didn’t come home for five months.”
I smiled and shook my head. I had no issue with that sort of day. Already it was warm for June and the island had its own microclimate, meaning that if the weather on the mainland was rainy, it could be completely different here.
“You’re more than welcome to join us?” Catrin was back to giving Gabe the interrogational stare.
He needed to have a good excuse. I hoped he had an amazing one, because I wasn’t sure I could cope with spending any longer with him.
I felt guilty.
