Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Dan followed Augi down the steps and into the garden, where the salty night air felt cool against his face. The solar lights emphasised the shadows, making the large blooms of hydrangea flowers appear ghostly, and the woman who walked silently by his side even more ethereal than usual.
He was still drawn to her as if she were an anchor in restless seas, but tonight was the first time that he sensed disquiet. And all he knew was that he’d do anything to remove it.
He waited until they’d left the garden and were descending the sand dunes. The path was uneven and he slowed instinctively.
‘Careful here,’ he said, breaking their silence for the first time.
‘I see it,’ she replied.
At least she didn’t move away when she brushed against his shoulder. He exhaled slowly, moved by this slight crack in the aloofness she wielded like a shield.
‘Although it’s a dark night,’ she continued, giving him a shy smile.
‘All the better to see the phosphorescence.’
He caught the nodding of her head as she agreed but didn’t say anything. He didn’t need her to as their silence was comfortable for once.
When the sand gave way beneath their feet, Dan hesitated.
‘It drops a bit,’ he said. ‘Do you want—’
He stopped himself, suddenly unsure whether offering his hand would feel like a step too far for her.
Augi paused briefly before reaching out and closing her fingers around his wrist rather than his hand — practical, steady, intimate in a way that surprised him.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I think I do want.’
He nodded, wondering if the support of his wrist was all she was meaning.
‘Good, er, it’s a bit uneven because of the flotsam and jetsam at the high-water mark.
We even get large tree trunks washed up by storms. They float down from the river.
’ He paused, realising his nerves were getting the better of him and he was rambling.
‘From further north,’ he added, unable to stop himself.
She shot him another smile, less shy this time. She must think he’d lost the plot. By pressing his lips together firmly they traversed the last few metres together in silence. All he was aware of was her firm grip and that constant sense of peace she exuded.
When they reached the flat stretch of beach, she released him without comment, as if touching him had been neither significant nor insignificant. Simply necessary.
Dan exhaled slowly.
She stopped where the wet sand swept uninterrupted towards the sea, and slipped off her sandals.
She stood with her arms folded loosely, gazing out at the dark water.
The pale clothes she wore made her look more other-worldly than in daylight.
During the day her presence made her so solid, despite her slender figure.
But now, it was like her spirit stood before him looking out to sea.
It was like seeing a different side to her, as if she were changing before his eyes.
She looked up at him suddenly. He could just detect a frown clouding her lovely features.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said.
He wondered what she was talking about. ‘About what?’
‘Tonight.’ She glanced over her shoulder at the bright lights of the verandah before continuing on towards where the sea swept gently in, edged with silver. ‘I broke up the party, and I regret that.’
He shook his head in surprise. ‘You’ve nothing to regret. You spoke the truth when all that bonhomie was based on a lie.’
If he hadn’t been paying such close attention, he’d have missed the pause in her stride. He realised she didn’t like lies. And nor did he. He liked they had that in common.
‘That’s true, but I could have chosen a better time. Less public maybe.’
‘Honestly?’ He halted, and after two steps she too stood still and looked back at him.
He wanted to tell her how much he admired the way she’d done it — with a calm certainty that avoided theatrics — but stopped himself.
He was pretty sure it would make her feel uncomfortable, and that was the last thing he wanted to make her feel.
‘None of this is your fault. You fixed something that was going the wrong way. The man is an out-and-out…’ He hesitated before saying the word ‘bastard’ — it didn’t seem right in front of Augi.
‘Well, he’s not the kind of man I want to see with Lucy. ’
‘Not yet anyway.’
He frowned, not understanding her response, but her gaze was fixed on the sea.
‘From what I’ve discovered about him,’ Augi continued, ‘he’s had a troubled upbringing. It would inevitably have affected the decisions he’s made. Maybe he can change.’
‘No one changes,’ he said, his voice sounding more bitter than he intended, as he thought of the woman he’d left behind in the US for whom duplicity had become a way of life.
That earned him another glance from Augi. ‘Well, let’s hope Oliver can, because otherwise I think Lucy will be devastated.’
That brought his mind back into focus. ‘Why?’
Another smile. ‘Can’t you see?’ she teased lightly.
‘See what?’
Her smile faded. ‘I guess you’re too close. But I’m not and I would say that Lucy has feelings for him. Strong feelings.’
He scoffed. ‘She sure has. She hates the man.’
‘I didn’t see hate in her eyes tonight, did you?’
Now he thought about it, Augi was right. ‘I guess… I guess not,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I wasn’t really looking. I was talking to Sam a lot of the time, and mucking about with Liam.’
‘Well, if you’d been looking you would have seen someone whose expression didn’t spell “hate” when she looked at Oliver.’ She paused. ‘Not until I revealed his secret.’ She sighed. ‘I’m so sorry that it was something I said which robbed her eyes of light.’
She turned to the sea, but her gaze seemed to go beyond the horizon. As if she wasn’t really looking at the dark line of the sea, and the white foam of the tranquil waves that reached out toward them, but at memories which excluded him.
He took a few steps until he was standing beside her, and cleared his throat. He was so drawn to this woman but felt as if she had an ocean of loneliness and self-sufficiency he couldn’t ever hope to bridge.
‘You exposed the truth. If she really does have feelings for him then it’s better she learns the facts now than later. You did her a huge favour.’
‘I hope so,’ she said quietly. ‘She’s always been very kind to me, as has Kate. I owe them.’
He was intrigued but didn’t want to be intrusive. But he was dying to know more. ‘Mum was always big on kindness.’ He paused, but she didn’t say anything. ‘Hated injustice of any kind.’ Another pause, another silence. ‘Did you… move here from Greece on your own?’
She nodded. ‘Yes,’ she replied quietly. ‘I wanted to move as far away as possible, so when I saw a job offered by Archives, I applied. I got the job and they sponsored my visa.’
‘I didn’t know you worked there.’
‘I don’t anymore. I’m not a city person,’ she added by way of explanation.
He was curious as to what lay behind this bare explanation — why she’d wanted to move as far away from Greece as possible, what was she running from — but didn’t want to ask further. ‘Well, I’m glad you ended up in MacLeod’s Cove, and found Mum.’
‘So am I,’ she said, looking up at him, her eyes searching his. ‘I could not have imagined this moment ten years ago.’
His frown deepened. ‘Was it bad? Where you came from?’
She nodded again, but this time she didn’t elaborate. Instead she bit her lip and looked away. And with that movement he knew he’d gone as far as he could — for tonight anyway.
‘Then I’m glad you’re here to witness this,’ he said stepping closer to the small waves which licked the water’s edge. ‘Give it a moment,’ he said. ‘It usually shows when you disturb it.’
Augi crouched and ran her fingers through the shallows.
At once, the water bloomed with light — a soft blue-green shimmer that traced her movements, flared briefly around her hand, then faded back into darkness.
She drew in a sharp breath. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘That’s…’
‘Yeah,’ he murmured. ‘It is.’
She laughed then — not loudly, but with a kind of startled delight that loosened something in his chest. She stood and took a step forward, dragging her foot through the water. The glow followed, outlining her ankle, her calf.
He dragged his eyes from her and turned to look up at the stars which were now showing, sprinkled above the lights of the village.
‘The clouds are shifting,’ he said.
The splash of the water stopped and he turned to see Augi walking out of the water. She stood beside him, looking up at the stars in the night sky.
He desperately wanted to know more about her.
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her a question, but he knew one question wouldn’t be enough.
He wanted to know why she kept such a distance from everyone and what had happened to create such a withdrawal from the world.
What was going on in her mind, her heart. But he didn’t.
He didn’t know her well enough. Not yet. But he was determined to know her better, because he’d never met anyone like Augustini Markos in his life before. And he was drawn to her through some inexplicable force which he could no more understand than fly to the moon.
She’d completely bypassed the guards which had been his constant companion since he’d been betrayed by his fiancée and his best friend.
After Washington, he’d wondered how he could ever trust anyone again.
But somehow, despite everything, he knew, deep in his bones, that this woman wasn’t like his fiancée.
That this woman would sooner betray herself than anyone else.
She looked away from the night sky suddenly, and turned to him, her lips open, a slight frown on her face.
‘What is it?’ he asked. He seemed so in tune with her that he thought he could tell what she was thinking.
‘I’m just wondering…’ Her eyes searched his, ‘why you haven’t returned to Washington.’
He was surprised by her question and without thinking answered directly. ‘Because I’m sick of secrets and subterfuge.’
What he wasn’t prepared for was her reaction.
If he hadn’t become familiar with her face, he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
But it was there in a sudden blink and straightening of her spine, before she turned away.
When she looked back at him again, she shot him a short, tight smile. The previous warmth had vanished.
‘It’s getting late,’ she suddenly said. ‘We should head back.’
‘Right,’ he said, not wanting this moment to end, despite the sudden change in her. He wondered what he’d said that had got to her. Two words. He couldn’t see why she wouldn’t like them. No one liked secrets and subterfuge, surely? ‘Right,’ he repeated, more faintly now.
All the way back, as silence descended once more upon them, he tried to figure out how he could ask her out.
The first time he’d done it, he’d dived straight in and asked if she’d like to meet for a coffee.
She’d declined. And now, after getting to know her a little better, he realised how crass and how abrupt his invitation had been.
He’d have to do better this time. The question was, how?
As they walked slowly across the sand, as if neither of them really wanted to leave the magic of the sea, he thought of half-a-dozen ways he could ask her out.
Business-like, maybe — something connected to Lucy and Oliver, but he rejected them.
It wasn’t business he wanted to discuss with Augi, and he instinctively knew that she’d detect any dissembling on his part.
No, it had to be true to his feelings because anything else would be disrespecting her.
But what were his feelings? Before he could resolve his thoughts and say anything, he found they were nearly back at the house.
At the top of the path, where the dunes opened out and the lights of the village came into view, she slowed.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘For showing me.’
He nodded. ‘Any time.’
This was it, he realised. If he didn’t ask now, he wouldn’t.
He drew a breath. ‘Augi—’
She stepped away, and in that movement he had his answer. He closed his mouth with a sigh.
‘Could you say goodbye to Kate and everyone?’ she said. ‘I think I’ll slip away after what happened. I think Lucy might like her privacy.’
‘Sure, but, Augi, I—’
Again she interrupted him. ‘See you around, Daniel,’ she said with a firmness which couldn’t be mistaken. She knew what he’d been about to say. God knows how, but she knew.
She smiled once, with a warmth that he felt at his centre before turning and walking away, her figure quickly swallowed by the shadows.
Dan stood there longer than necessary, listening to her footsteps fade.
See you around.
It wasn’t telling him to get lost, but it also hadn’t taken their friendship to the next level, as he’d wanted. But ‘see you around’, meant the gate was still open for friendship. He could work with that.
He let out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding and started back towards the cottage, the sand cool beneath his feet, the faint glow of the sea still flickering at the edge of his vision.
For the first time since he’d come home, he didn’t feel lost. And, for now, that was enough.