Chapter Twenty-Four
Oliver
“Do you think this was the right idea?” I asked, looking down at Sparrow as she lay on the smooth sand next to me. Her tail thumped on the ground, but I wasn’t sure whether it was a good answer or not.
I’d never done something as impulsive as this before, but when Lane had sent me that message about the kitchen, it had sparked something inside my chest, and I’d realised it was now or never.
The end of the line was in sight, but I didn’t want to get any closer to it before I told Lane about my decision, not when I already knew what it was.
Drawing it out further would just be cruel and unfair to both of us, and for the first time in my life, I knew decisive action was needed if I wanted to prevent a repeat of our past. Because even though we were adults now, at least supposedly, I knew how much of a motivator fear was, and if it got hold of either of us, then our relationship would be lost at sea with all hands.
Which was how I found myself sitting on a cluster of rocks in the middle of Riddle Cove, staring out over the sea as the late afternoon sun hung over the sky. The beach was deserted with just a few sea birds wheeling overhead.
Riddle Cove had always been one of those places that was known to locals only, and while we did get a few tourists there sometimes, it was never inundated because it was so hard to get to.
The car park was just a dry dirt corner of a nearby field that was so riddled with potholes it was like trying to drive across the earthen equivalent of Swiss cheese, except some of the craters were several feet deep.
Then there was a narrow, rocky track down to the beach, and to get to the main strip of sand, you had to climb across a wide stretch of rocks, half of which were swallowed up by high tide.
But when you got to the beach, it was the sort of place you never wanted to leave.
The dark golden sand curved around the cove, which had steep cliffs littered with caves that we’d always imagined were used by pirates and smugglers.
There were rocky outcroppings dotted around the edge, which were perfect to sit on, and one of two of them held little rock pools.
The cliffs protected the beach from the worst of the wind, and the sea never got too choppy.
It was perfect for paddling and swimming, but it was equally nice to walk along the shore in search of smooth stones and tiny shells, watching flatfish dart out from underfoot in the clear water.
Since this was Yorkshire, the sea wasn’t always what anyone would call warm, but in the summer, it was pleasant enough. Or at least bearable. And it was a relief on baking days when you felt like you were roasting in your own skin.
My mum had first brought me here as a kid, and I remembered Lane and I riding our bikes out here as teenagers since it was only a mile or so from town. We’d spent so many days at the cove alone together or with Alex and Noah.
It was the place where I’d first told Lane I was gay, my whole body shaking as I’d forced the words out along with my terrified confession of my feelings for him. It was the first place he’d kissed me, soft and sweet, and told me he felt the same.
It was the place where I’d made him a promise at fifteen, long before everything had gone sideways. It had been a promise of love, one made in youthful hope and naivety, but one that I’d never forgotten.
A promise I finally intended to keep.
Sparrow stood and stretched, her paws digging into the sand before she pottered off towards the sea, where small waves lapped gently against the shore. The tide was going out, so there was little chance of us being stranded unless we stayed until the middle of the night.
My heart was pounding as I looked across the beach towards the rocks, my foot tapping anxiously on the sand. I glanced down at my watch for what had to be the fifth time in two minutes, wondering why the seconds were cruelly stretching themselves out.
Maybe Lane wasn’t going to come. Maybe he hadn’t found the note, or maybe he’d just decided I wasn’t worth it. Maybe I shouldn’t have staked everything on some idiotic grand gesture when a conversation at home would have done the job just as well. I could’ve just made dinner or something.
I sighed and scrubbed my face, trying to work out how long I should leave it before I gave up and called Bastian for a lift back into town.
Sparrow barked, and I watched her bounce across the beach towards the rocks where there was a single figure climbing over the last of them. Lane.
He was still wearing his work trousers and polo, but as soon as he hit the sand, he pulled off his work boots and set them on the rocks. A dizzying array of emotions threatened to overwhelm me as I stood, my feet carrying me towards him with no conscious input.
Lane was striding my way, Sparrow trotting alongside him, then suddenly he was there, right in front of me, wrapping me in his arms.
“Hey,” he said, the warmth in his voice sending relief flooding through me. “I thought I might find you here.”
“I hoped you would. I wasn’t sure if my note was too cryptic.” I let out a laugh as my body finally released all the tension it had been holding. “It was definitely a bit extra.”
Lane shrugged as best he could while still holding me close. “Maybe, but it’s memorable. We’ve never done things by halves.” His hand cupped my chin and slowly tilted it down as his thumb caressed my bottom lip. “I’m glad you’re here.”
He kissed me, and I felt a million unspoken things pass between us.
“I’m glad you’re here too,” I said. “I have dinner.”
Lane raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Don’t tell me you got another barbecue?”
“I did. I thought it might be fun. But you can cook this time.” I stepped back and interlaced my fingers with his as we began to walk across to the small rock jutting from the ground where I’d left my stuff. “And if it sucks, we’ll get fish and chips on the way home or something.”
“Deal,” Lane said. “I’m holding you to that.”
We reached the rock, and I released Lane’s hand to pull out the disposable barbecue and some matches, setting the foil casing on the vaguely flat surface.
I dug into the two shopping bags on the sand for some bottles of cider as well as a pack of sausages, some buns, and some other picnic bits I’d hastily acquired from the little supermarket at the end of the road.
It was a bit of a hodgepodge mix, but it would do.
There was also a pair of tongs I’d stolen from one of the kitchen drawers so we wouldn’t have to try to turn the sausages by hand. I’d learnt that lesson before.
“You came prepared,” Lane said as I used the bottle opener I’d stuffed into the bag to open his cider, handing him the still cool drink. “Were you planning this?”
“Not really. It was more of a spontaneous decision than I’d anticipated.
” I opened my drink, then grabbed two towels out of another bag, stretching them out on the sand before seating myself on one.
I patted the other and Lane joined me. “When you sent me that message about the kitchen, something clicked, and I knew I couldn’t keep stringing you along. ”
“I don’t think you’ve been doing that.”
“I’ve started to feel like I have. You’ve been so patient with me, never forcing me to decide what I wanted to do.
You’ve hardly asked me about it at all.” I took a long sip and watched the waves.
“At first, I thought that meant you didn’t care, that you didn’t want me to stay, and that it didn’t matter what I did.
But then I realised you’ve been showing me all along.
The space at your house, the drawer you cleaned out for me, the film nights on the sofa, not to mention the amazing sex. ” Lane chuckled, and I grinned.
“I’ve known for a while that I have feelings for you,” I continued.
“That what I felt for you all those years ago never really went away. I wanted it to, or at least I thought I did, but when I saw you standing on my doorstep, everything came flooding back. But I knew I had to decide what the hell I was doing before I talked to you because it wasn’t fair to you to pretend I’d made a decision when I hadn’t. ”
“Have you, then?” Lane asked, and I heard the shaking edge to his voice.
“Yes, I have.” I turned to him. This was the moment of truth. No amount of making lists or pep talks from people I barely knew had prepared me for it. It felt like my entire life had come down to this, a pivotal point on which everything else rested—my past, my present, and my future.
“I want to stay here with you in Heather Bay. If you’ll have me, that is.”
A pained groan escaped from my lungs as the wind was knocked out of me by Lane practically tackling me to the ground, pinning me underneath him.
He looked down at me with the brightest, most beautiful smile I’d ever seen lighting up every detail of his face.
It was like he was radiating pure sunshine. I’d never seen him look so happy.
“Of course I’ll have you,” he said. “I can’t believe you’d think anything different.”
He leant down and kissed me, and I melted under his touch as fireworks exploded in my chest, knowing that I didn’t have to give this up, that there wasn’t going to be an ending this time—no painful fight, which wrenched apart my heart and tore out my soul.
Just the two of us. Together.
It hadn’t been what I’d expected to happen when I’d come back to Heather Bay for the summer, but life was full of surprises like that. Instead of making me wade through six weeks of misery, I’d been given a chance to fix my mistakes and put things right.
I’d been given a second chance at true love, and the fact that Lane felt the same was just proof that sometimes the thing you were searching for was under your nose all along.
“Well, after everything that happened… it’s a big deal to do this again.”
“Not to me,” Lane said, looking down at me with an expression that made me feel more loved than I had in my entire life. “It’s always been you, Oliver.”