Chapter 23
Briony walked along the beach, looking forward to seeing Troy. There was nothing wrong with that, she convinced herself, nothing wrong at all with making new friends, even if one of her new friends was very handsome. Thinking of friends, Angel came to mind. She wished Angel would reply to her texts.
Angel had confided in her once, when she was drunk, that she really liked Freddie. From that, Briony understood that she meant that she fancied him. It didn’t stop Angel being good friends with him; with both of them. ‘Just like my friendship with Troy,’ Briony said to Luna as she trotted beside her. ‘There’s no harm in that.’ She hoped they might have lunch together.
Briony also hoped Sam wasn’t there, which she knew was a bit mean, as he was working on the outbuilding with Troy. She got the impression, though, that for some reason he didn’t like the easy familiarity between herself and Troy. She imagined that he probably thought it wasn’t very professional of his boss.
But there’s nothing going on between us. Watching the sunrise together was innocent enough, even if he did have his arm around my shoulder.
Briony slowed her pace as she thought of how having Troy’s arm around her had given her goosebumps. Although it had been the perfect start to the day, a little voice in her head that she desperately wanted to ignore said, Perhaps watching the sunrise together has to stop. And maybe having lunch together isn’t a good idea.
Briony’s phone sounded with a text, surprising her. She stopped where she was, aware that she might lose the signal by the time she got to The Beach House. Was it Angel reminding her that she still hadn’t contacted her parents?
Briony had promised her parents she’d send them an email when she had a chance, but she’d been putting it off. The issue was the thought of writing them a load of lies about the trip to the Galapagos Islands. Every time she thought of sending an email, she couldn’t. And yet she knew she had to, if she was going to stay where she was and keep up the pretence.
Briony looked at her phone. It was Emily. Joss had spoken with her, and she was free the next weekend to meet up for the Wolf Girls Club.
Briony grinned. She texted back, saying that she was looking forward to seeing her, and hoped that Clarissa could make it too. Briony wanted to catch up with Clarissa. Maybe she’d found out who was behind the letters her grandmother had been receiving. Now all she had to do was speak to Troy and hope the last member of their little club could make it too – Willow.
She sent the text, and then sent Angel another one, hoping things were going okay back in Oxford.
Briony sighed and scrolled through all the texts Freddie had sent since she’d left. She had been keeping in touch, but hadn’t answered some of them, feeling guilty that he’d been texting how much he missed her, and how he hoped she’d be back soon, and offering to come and pick her up when she was ready to return home.
Briony was about to reply to his latest text when Luna bolted up the beach. ‘Luna!’ Something, or someone had caught her attention.
Although she knew that Luna was a gentle giant, and wouldn’t harm a fly, she preferred for Luna to stay close in case she ran up to a child and scared them – and their parents. Seeing a wolf-like dog approaching at speed would be enough to scare anybody.
As Briony neared The Beach House, she realised that it wasn’t some random person on the beach who had caught Luna’s attention; it was Troy. But as she drew closer to the house, she noticed that Luna had come to a halt. She caught up with her and realised the man standing with his back to her wasn’t Troy after all. She looked at Luna, who had clearly made the same mistake.
Briony noticed that the man was running his hand along the old, beached boat in front of The Beach House. He was clearly lost in thought; he hadn’t heard the dog galloping towards him or Briony approaching behind him.
Briony recalled that Clarissa had said she would ask her father to take a look at the beached boat and see if it could be repaired. This guy couldn’t be her dad. Although he was older than Troy, perhaps in his late thirties, early forties, he was too young to be Clarissa’s dad. Perhaps he’d sent someone else from the boatyard to have a look.
Briony stepped forward. ‘Are you here about the boat?’
The slim guy, who was wearing jeans, old-fashioned loafers, a white t-shirt and an unbuttoned checked shirt, whirled around at the sound of her voice. ‘Oh, my god!’ he exclaimed, staring at her, his knees buckling. He grabbed hold of the boat to steady himself.
Briony rushed forward and grabbed his arm, putting it around her shoulders just as Troy appeared around the side of the house. He looked at Briony, and then at the man next to her, who had sat down, perching on the side of the boat. ‘Dad, what’s going on?’
Briony looked at Troy. ‘This is your dad?’
The guy with his arm around her shoulder said, ‘I’m fine. Everything’s … um, fine.’
‘What happened?’ Troy asked, kneeling in front of his dad.
‘I think he had a funny turn.’ Briony caught Troy’s dad staring at her. She couldn’t quite see the resemblance to Troy, but he was tall and slim, like Troy, and had close cropped dark hair and piercing blue eyes.
‘If you’re not up to helping out today, like you said, then don’t worry. You’ve just arrived back from a long stint at work. I didn’t think this was a good idea. Sam said he’d try and see if he could fit in coming here later today.’
Troy’s father turned to Briony. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Briony.’ She held out her hand.
He tentatively took it. ‘Briony.’
She found the way he was staring at her a little unnerving. She didn’t want to be rude, but she rather fancied having her hand back.
‘Dad, would you mind giving Briony her hand back?’
‘Yes, sorry. I’m Troy’s dad.’
Briony smiled. ‘Well, pleased to meet you, Troy’s dad.’
Troy rolled his eyes. ‘My dad’s name is Sebastian.’
She said, ‘Sebastian,’ letting the name roll off her tongue. It was a very distinguished-sounding name. ‘Would you both like something to eat? I haven’t had lunch yet, so you could join me.’
Troy said, ‘Coffee is fine for both of us.’
‘Are you sure?’
Troy nodded. ‘I went to pick up some more materials and grabbed something for lunch on my way back.’
Briony wasn’t surprised. It was long past lunchtime. She looked at Sebastian.
Troy quickly added, ‘He’s eaten – haven’t you?’
Briony got the impression that Troy did not want her to have lunch with his dad. ‘Well, two coffees coming up then.’
She went to walk inside The Beach House, but stopped to look through the glass door first to check the kittens were not near the door and wouldn’t escape when she opened it. In doing so, she unwittingly overheard what Troy said to his dad.
‘What is with you? I know she’s really pretty, but for goodness’ sake, you’re old enough to be her father.’
‘Well, not necessarily. I was so very young when you came along.’
‘Yes, but even so, she’s a client. I only wanted you here as an extra pair of hands. It would be very unprofessional to get involved.’
‘Wow, steady on. I only shook her hand,’ said Sebastian. He paused. ‘You like her.’
Briony looked over at them, walking towards the outbuilding, their backs to her. She guessed because of the way the wind was blowing, their voices carried. She noticed Troy didn’t respond to his dad.
‘Who is she?’ Briony heard Sebastian ask Troy, pausing mid-step to ask the question.
Troy stopped too and turned to his father. ‘Briony – she told you. She’s the one who hired me to do the work.’
‘Since when have you done a day’s work in your life?’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’
Briony stood at the door staring at them, thinking, How odd.
‘You know what it means, Troy. Since when have you rolled up your sleeves and actually done some real work as opposed to sitting behind a desk all day?’
‘Since now.’
Briony raised her eyebrows. So, this wasn’t his usual job. If he was normally office-based, perhaps he was the head of the company, or something. When she’d first met him at The Beach House, perhaps she’d caught him on a dress-down Friday, or something, coming to scope out the new job. It was little wonder his friend, Sam, had seemed a bit off when he’d turned up at The Beach House early the previous morning to discover Troy working on the outbuilding. But she wondered why Troy hadn’t said anything to her.
She had an idea why. She smiled to herself at the thought that he was doing the work on the outbuilding himself all because he liked her – and clearly wanted to spend time in her company, even if he had to roll up his sleeves and do some real work, as his father had put it.
He clearly didn’t need to do the work himself.
‘So, you do like her. It’s about time you met someone. I mean, I know you’re married to the business, and your family, but you’ve got to put yourself first for once.’
‘Yeah, right – says you, who made sacrifices to bring me up, and then Willow.’ They fell silent for a moment.
Briony stepped into the kitchen and closed the door behind her. She filled the kettle, but before she flicked it on, she went to the lounge, where Wilbur’s little head popped up from the sofa. He jumped down and started to yap, excited to see her.
Briony picked the little dog up, gave him a kiss on the top of his head, and said, ‘Shush.’ She gingerly walked over to the lounge window. Through the slatted shutters, which were open, she could see that Troy and his father were still standing in the same spot on the beach, both with their backs to the house.
Briony felt ever so guilty for eavesdropping. It was beyond rude, but she couldn’t help herself. Ever so slowly, she opened the lounge window a crack, hoping that her little sausage dog did not whine, or yap, and give the game away. At least if they did hear Wilbur, and turn around, she was only opening the window for some air. She stroked the dog in her arms as she managed to catch a bit more of their conversation.
‘But what I don’t understand, Troy, is why Briony is hiring you to do work on the outbuilding? She doesn’t live here – does she? I know I haven’t been here for years, but I don’t remember this place changing hands. I thought Blythe still lived here.’
Briony stared at Sebastian. He knows my grandmother. How far back did they go? Would he have known Frank?
Briony shook her head at that thought. He wouldn’t even have been born when Frank and Blythe knew each other.
Troy said, ‘That’s right. She doesn’t live here – she’s visiting her grandmother.’
‘Her grandmother?’
‘Yeah.’
‘No wonder she looks familiar.’
‘Are you saying that you think she looks like her?’
Briony saw Sebastian nodding his head. The last words she heard him say were, ‘Briony is the spitting image of her mother.’