Chapter 14
Déjà vu – that was the feeling that came to mind when Briony stepped outside. She was wearing a shawl she’d found in her grandmother’s wardrobe wrapped around her shoulders. She shivered. It was colder than it had been on the last morning she’d stepped out on to the beach in the dark, anticipating the sunrise.
Apart from the cooler temperature, this morning was different in another way too. This time she wouldn’t be surprised by the sight of a stranger sitting on the beach, who had turned out to be Troy. This time, they’d planned to watch the sunrise together.
She looked up and down the beach, expecting he’d be there already. But he was nowhere in sight. Not that she could see much. It was quite dark, but not completely – the bright moon hung low over the water, casting an ethereal glow over the gentle surf rippling on to the shore.
She pulled the shawl tighter around her shoulders and was about to step back inside the house to wait for Troy when she noticed Luna’s body go rigid.
Luna sniffed the air, barked, and took off down the beach. That could only mean one thing. Briony smiled. He was on his way. She could see a figure walking along the beach towards her. She wondered why he had parked in the car park by the café and walked there rather than parking outside The Beach House as he’d done the last time he’d turned up at the crack of dawn. On that occasion, she hadn’t heard Troy arrive, as she’d been listening to music on her phone. This time, she’d kept an ear out for his arrival.
She looked down the beach at the familiar figure heading her way. She knew it was him because she could see Luna’s outline jumping up at him, getting a fuss.
Briony thought back to the last time they’d sat together, watching the sunrise. There was a reason she’d considered leaving Luna in the house this time – although that would have been difficult; she was a big dog, and the moment Briony had appeared in the kitchen, switching on the light in the early hours, Luna had been awake and up, wondering what was going on.
The two kittens had been asleep in the kitchen. She’d popped her head into the lounge and discovered that Wilbur was still asleep on his favourite sofa. But she’d let Luna out, and unless she went back inside herself, Luna was staying put on the beach – with Troy.
Briony frowned. When she’d sat next to Troy on the beach watching the sunrise, Luna, wanting all his attention, had wormed herself in between them and put a stop to what had nearly happened. They’d leaned in close, and had nearly kissed.
She watched an excited Luna following Troy down the beach towards her, thinking that perhaps, after all, it was just as well she’d let Luna join them. She suddenly got cold feet. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea – meeting him like this. Last time, it had just been a coincidence, but this time, they’d planned to meet up, and she was intending to cook him some breakfast too. And it was Sunday.
She swallowed. Why hadn’t it crossed her mind earlier that this would feel like a date? She guessed why that was – they were going to spend some time going over the plans. At least, that was her excuse for seeing him on a Sunday. They could easily have planned to do that on Monday morning, when he would be working on the outbuilding, but Troy had readily agreed.
They had originally agreed to meet at a sensible hour, but Briony had woken up in the dead of night, thinking about her grandmother, and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. Then she’d got a text from Troy to see whether, by chance, she was awake. He had been unable to sleep either. And now they were about to watch the sunrise together again.
Despite the feeling in the pit of her stomach that this was wrong – she had the baby and Freddie at the forefront of her mind – she couldn’t help herself. They sat down on the beach together. This time, Luna sat the other side of Troy.
Briony held out a corner of her shawl. Troy gratefully took it and wrapped it around his shoulders too. They sat close. Too close. Briony turned to look at his profile. When are you going to tell him the truth – about Freddie, about the baby? she asked herself. She didn’t want to think about the reality of her situation.
As the sun started to peek over the horizon, casting an orangey yellow glow on the rippling water, Troy’s hand reached for hers. She didn’t pull away. Can’t I just enjoy this moment? she asked herself.
‘It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,’ she said, enjoying the sunrise.
‘Yes it is,’ Troy echoed her sentiments, but when she glanced at him, he wasn’t looking at the deserted sandy beach and the azure sea bathed in sunlight. He was looking right at her.
Briony knew she should have let go of his hand, got to her feet, and put an end to it. She had a partner, responsibilities on the way, a huge, huge change in her life – and Troy had no clue. She owed it to him, to her, Freddie, to everyone, to be honest. And it should start right there.
‘Troy, I’m—’
‘Hey, Troy! There you are!’
Briony, startled, turned to look over her shoulder and see who else had arrived on the beach at this hour.
A young guy, around their age, dressed in paint-splattered, knee-length cargo shorts and a t-shirt walked towards them from the direction of the house.
Luna spotted him too. She scrambled off Troy’s lap and stood, alert. Troy patted her head. ‘It’s okay, Luna. It’s only Sam.’
‘Sam?’ Briony looked at Troy questioningly.
‘You said an early start, mate, so I got here early. I was waiting for you in my van, but I thought I’d walk over and have a look at the outbuilding before you arrived. I didn’t expect you would be here already …’
The blond-haired young man, who had blue-green eyes, a ready smile, and a tattoo on his left arm, let the sentence hang, looking from Troy to Briony, and back again. His smiled faded. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Nothing.’ Troy quickly got up from the sand and brushed himself down.
Nothing?Briony stared at him as he got to his feet. She’d thought they were watching the sunrise together.
Troy said, ‘I parked in the village car park so you had enough room for your van, otherwise turning to get out of the drive would be difficult.’
Sam nodded. ‘Thanks.’
‘You brought all the materials I asked for?’
‘Yep, just like you said.’
‘Good.’
Briony, who was still sitting on the sand, wondered when Troy was going to introduce her. Not that she expected to meet any of his friends or work colleagues. She threw Troy a questioning look. He hadn’t mentioned that someone else was going to turn up. Was he working today? She had thought he wasn’t and that it would just be the two of them.
Briony stook up. There was an awkward pause, when Briony anticipated that Troy would introduce her. He didn’t. She gave him a questioning look, and he turned to Sam.
‘This is Briony,’ he said. ‘She’s the granddaughter of The Beach House’s owner.’
‘I see.’ He turned from Troy to greet her. ‘Hi, I’m Sam.’ She noticed that any traces of his initial smile had vanished.
‘So, you work with Troy in his business?’
‘His business?’
‘Yes, renovating places.’
‘Oh, right. Yeah, sure.’
Briony looked at him. He didn’t seem sure. She turned to Troy with a question. ‘It’s Sunday. I know you said you’d come and look over the plans—’
‘What plans?’ Sam interrupted.
Briony replied, ‘The plans that Troy’s company drew up for the outbuilding.’
‘Oh, yeah. Right.’
Perhaps Sam just wasn’t a morning person, or had had a late night out with his friends the previous night. But to Briony, he just didn’t seem to be quite with it.
Briony asked Troy, ‘Are you both working here today?’
He shook his head. ‘Sam was just dropping off some materials for me. He’s working on another job, so he’s helping out when he can. I just didn’t expect him here so early.’
‘So, what are you doing here this early?’ asked Sam.
‘As I said, I was going over the plans before tomorrow.’
‘Oh right,’ Sam said flatly. He glanced at the sand where they’d just been sitting.
Briony guessed what he was thinking – it was a funny place to be checking the plans. And there were no plans in sight, anyway. And why so early?
‘Why not just go over them tomorrow morning, then?’ asked Sam.
Briony looked from Troy to Sam, wondering what his problem was. Perhaps Sam thought Troy had stayed the night. She didn’t see why Troy had to explain himself even if he had. Unless there was something Sam knew about Troy, that she didn’t. Maybe he was already in a relationship. Maybe that was why she had caught Sam looking her way disapprovingly on more than one occasion in their brief conversation.
Whatever was going on – and she knew there was something – she didn’t fancy talking to Troy about it in front of Sam. If she was going to come clean about her own predicament, then she expected Troy to do the same. But not there, in front of someone she didn’t know – even if he was Troy’s colleague or very good friend.
Although she didn’t know much about Troy’s personal life, she already knew something was going on. Why couldn’t he sleep? Was it because of his father’s dangerous job? She couldn’t imagine that working as a deep-sat diver was a walk in the park. She had Googled it on her phone in the music shop, where Reggie had internet. She remembered Troy’s little sister, Willow, mentioning that he worked away for four weeks at a time, but that he then had at least four weeks off before he went back.
Briony recalled thinking that it didn’t sound like a bad job. But there was a reason that divers were paid very well and had so many weeks off in between work period – it sounded like dangerous work. Briony dismissed the idea that it was the cause of Troy’s sleepless nights, though. After all, if his father had been doing the job for years, surely he was used to it by now.
There was another awkward silence, with Sam staring at Troy, and Troy looking uncomfortably at his feet, avoiding Sam’s gaze. Briony had it on the tip of her tongue to ask what was going on, but thought she’d save the question until she was alone with Troy.
‘Well, the sun’s up, so I’m going to make a cup of coffee. Would you guys like one? Or breakfast?’ Although she had been looking forward to having breakfast with Troy, now that Sam was there, she felt compelled to ask him to join them, out of politeness, even though she didn’t want to.
Briony had stopped off and bought some shopping at the local Co-op in Aldeburgh the previous day on the way back from the hospital. She had soon discovered that the old Morris Minor had no mod cons; the lack of power steering in particular had made parking tricky. But at least the car had started, and after some crunching of gears and stalling, she had got the hang of it. It was so much easier to drive herself and not rely on lifts.
Conscious of the fact that she wasn’t insured to drive her grandmother’s car, and she’d be breaking the law if she did, Briony had used her phone to purchase car insurance, downloading the documents before she got behind the wheel of the car.
Sam said, ‘Breakfast? Would it be cooked, as in bacon and scrambled eggs?’
‘Yes, I can do that.’ She looked at Troy, about to ask him if he’d like to join his friend, and caught him shaking his head and casting a dark look in Sam’s direction. Sam caught it too.
‘Actually,’ said Sam, looking at Troy, ‘On second thoughts, I think I’ll pass on breakfast. But I will have some coffee.’
‘Okay,’ Briony said slowly. ‘Troy? Would you like breakfast or just coffee?’ She had already guessed his response.
‘Coffee is fine, thanks.’
Briony pursed her lips. So much for having breakfast together, as she’d suggested by text. In front of Sam, his demeanour towards her had completely changed. She thought she knew why – it wasn’t very professional of him, especially as he was the boss, to be too friendly with his clients. Either that, or he had a jealous streak and didn’t want Sam getting chummy with her.
She decided it might be a bit of both – or perhaps it was something else entirely. But it wasn’t the time to try to find out. She said, ‘Two coffees coming up.’
As she walked towards the house, she could see little Wilbur standing at the back door. She checked that the kittens were still asleep and were not hiding behind Wilbur, waiting to escape.
Briony opened the door and picked Wilbur up, giving him a fuss and a kiss. She put him down on the beach and went to collect some poo bags from the pantry.
A few minutes later, after Luna had said good morning to Wilbur and he’d been out to do his business, Briony returned to the kitchen with a bag of poo held out in front of her and Wilbur trotting behind her. She held her nose, deposited the plastic bag in the pedal bin, and sprayed some air freshener around the kitchen. As she did so, she heard the kittens mewing. The kittens were awake and doing their business in the cat litter tray. At least that was something, and they weren’t doing it over the floor, which had been the case just yesterday.
Briony sighed. That still meant she’d have to clean out the litter tray. The chores seemed never-ending. Wait until you’ve got a baby, she thought. Then all this will seem like a dream by comparison.
She turned to the kitchen counter and flicked on the kettle to make three cups of coffee. On the kitchen table were the plans for the outbuilding. Briony had left them there in case Troy needed to refer to them. She hadn’t been using the kitchen table, choosing to eat her evening meals on a tea tray in the lounge.
Her eyes drifted to Troy, who was talking to Sam outside. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could tell by the way that Sam was gesticulating at Troy, pointing at the house and throwing his hands in the air, that something was definitely up. Perhaps Troy was inundated with work, and Sam was annoyed that he’d taken on this project too.
As she made coffee, her thoughts turned to the writing bureau upstairs and the letter she needed to write to Freddie. But before that, she was going to visit her grandmother. She was looking forward to it, convinced she had the magic formula to get her to wake up.