“What?” Now Leo looked a trifle impatient. As well he might be. His usual laid-back temperament didn’t always stretch to her. “It’s just what?”
“It’s just me.” As always, she fed off her brother’s mood and it made her snap. “As fucking always. Go on, go inside. I’ll be back in there in a minute.”
“Suit yourself.”
She turned away from the house, away from Leo’s departing figure, scrabbling for her lighter. The fraught moment had brought on a craving. As she sucked the smoke deep into her lungs, she felt a calmness wash over her, and sighed. All the same, she vowed to throw the rest of the packet away.
She only had to hold out for tonight. Then tomorrow she was off to Cornwall for six weeks for work. New month, new location, new project. And while she was there, it was time for some proper, deep self-examination. Scour her psyche from the inside out, rid herself of whatever bullshit was left in there now she’d all but cut her dad off. Become a new person. A better person.
What better place to do that than by the sea?
Chapter Two
Cornwall, June 2023
Kivi
“You’re an absolute dork,” Kivi said to Toto as he completed his fourth lap of beach zoomies.
As if he heard her and understood, he skidded to a halt in front of her, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth in the derpiest grin possible. He then proceeded to shake, sneeze, and resume lolloping over the shingle, although with less freneticism than before. She watched him gallop further up the beach, and her eye was drawn to a small figure, sitting on one of the taller rocks. Her eyes narrowed. People seldom came this far up the beach – the only reason she did was because Toto’s energy levels were boundless. She didn’t recognise the figure. Could it be a lost tourist?
As she got closer, she called Toto back to her side and leashed him. He loved people, but she was always aware that not everyone liked dogs. Death By Golden Retriever Slobber was not always the way people wanted to go, as she’d been shown by a number of more finicky guests over the years. The figure still hadn’t moved, and she felt a lurch of concern. She continued to walk towards it, and the figure became a person. A person with a shock of coppery-auburn hair, but who had knees to their chest and their face buried in them.
“Excuse me?” Kivi said at about fifteen feet away, and the person jumped, unfolding from their curled-up position into a woman. She would have been utterly breathtaking – and indeed, Kivi’s heart did give a little flutter – if it hadn’t been for the scowl she was shooting down at the pair of them.
“What do you want?” Her voice was harsh.
“I…” Kivi was lost for words. “I just wanted to see if you’re all right.”
“Oh yes, I’m fucking brilliant,” the woman said, looking out towards the ocean. Kivi’s stomach lurched. She looked like she was about five seconds away from walking out into it. That or just hurling herself off the rock altogether.
“Do you… need help? Do you… want to talk about anything? I’m told I’m a good listener.” Kivi shrugged self-deprecatingly. “If you put a gag over my mouth.”
The glare the woman sent her way would have reduced her to ash if she hadn’t been used to the public, but Kivi stood her ground. Quite clearly, the woman wasn’t okay, and she was directing her ire onto the closest available target. As long as she didn’t direct it at Toto, Kivi was fine with that.
Right on cue, Toto seemed to register that there was a new human being in front of him, because he tore his attention away from a nearby seagull and started straining at his leash. His tail waved from side to side and Kivi just knew he’d have a goofy grin on his face. The woman turned her attention to him, but rather than glaring, she looked at him as if mystified.
“This is Toto,” Kivi said. “He wants to say hi. Are you all right with that?”
“I suppose so,” the woman said.
“Then get down off that rock, please.”
Now the woman rolled her eyes. “What, do you think I’m going to jump? Hurl myself down in some half-arsed suicide attempt? Dear Lord.” But she did as Kivi bid, and soon she was standing on the sand next to Toto, who was beyond excited at the hand she was cautiously ruffling through his fur.
Now she was closer, Kivi felt she could get a proper look at her. The woman was taller than her – around five-foot-eight to her five-four – and willowy where Kivi preferred to think of herself as ‘solid’. Her skin was ivory – almost translucent in the dullness of the cloudy day – and spattered with freckles. And her eyes were green.Red hair and green eyes… a classic combination. And devastatingly beautiful.
“Did you say his name was Toto?” Now the woman was staring at the dog, but speaking to Kivi.
“Well, technically Toby. But yes, I call him Toto. After the dog inThe Wizard Of Oz.My name’s not Dorothy, though.”
“Then whatisyour name?”
“Kiera.” Her real name, because ‘Kivi’ felt too informal, under the circumstances.
“Oh.” The woman made no move towards offering her own name, but just as Kivi was about to ask for it, she spoke again. “Well, thank you for approaching me, but I’m fine. It was good to meet you, but I’d better head back to the village. I walked further than I thought, and I have somewhere to be at three o’clock.”
“Actually, so do I,” Kivi said, checking her watch and surprised to find that it was gone one-thirty. Thank God there was a shortcut back to the guest house from here. “I’ll just finish taking this one for his walk. Well… good luck. All the best to you.”
