Chapter Twelve
Ciara
It’s almost time for lunch before I’m happy I’ve got enough.
I’m still not exactly sure why I invited Sam to come.
Maybe to make up for our first meetings.
Or maybe because I’ve spent so long trying to write this book alone that I don’t think I realized how on edge it was making me until I had someone else to bounce ideas off.
And while on paper it should be a pretty boring way to spend a Saturday morning, I don’t think he minds so much.
He spends the entire time poring over a bunch of old maps, and I have to say his name twice to get his attention.
When I’m finally done, he heads out to the car while I put everything back. He’s talking on the phone when I exit the church but catches sight of me before I can give him some privacy and holds up a hand, telling me to wait.
“All right,” he says. “Gotta go. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Love you too.”
The last three words barrel through me, and I get very busy pretending to make sure the door is locked tight. Weird. I thought he didn’t have a girlfriend. Didn’t he say he didn’t have a girlfriend? I could have sworn he—
“Sorry,” he says as he approaches.
“You’re grand,” I chirp. “Who was that?”
“Lizzie. My sister.”
“Oh.” Oh. Oh. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. We’re close. We talk a lot.”
“That’s nice.” I give the handle another tug even though it is definitely locked, but my brain is still doing this weird everything’s fine!
adrenaline thing, like when you miss a step while walking and think you’re going to fall, but no, you’re in a shopping center buying socks, not wandering around a cliff edge. “Any other siblings?”
He shakes his head.
“Two’s a good number,” I hear myself say. “What’s she like?”
“Loud,” he says before pausing. “Loving. She has three boys under five and a husband who worships the ground she walks on. He’s a big insurance guy, so she’s able to stay at home and look after the kids. It’s hard work, but she loves it.”
“She sounds great.”
“She is.” He smiles. “You ever wanted a sibling?”
I start to nod before stopping. “Well, kind of. I had Maddie. Have. We were forced together as children. Her parents helped out a lot when Mam died. Dad and I lived with them for a year before the books took off.”
Sam goes quiet, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he’s wondering.
“Cancer,” I tell him as we walk to the car. “It was quick.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. People seemed to like her, but I was too young to have any real memories.”
“It’s good you had Maddie.”
“She’s my best friend,” I say simply. “I’m pretty sure she’d help me bury a body.”
“I think that’s where Lizzie might draw the line.”
“Really?”
“Nah. She’d be squeamish, but she’d do it.”
“Being closer to Mads was one of the few good things about coming back here,” I tell him as we get in. “I never intended to stay before Dad left me the house, and she was a huge help. That being said, if she ever moves away, I’m fucked.”
His eyes dart to mine. “You didn’t want to stay here?”
“It wasn’t the plan. I moved to London for a reason. I’m a seasonal and a city girl.”
“Wait,” Sam says. “You mean if you didn’t have the house, you’d leave?”
He sounds so surprised that I laugh. “Would you want to live here?”
“I didn’t grow up here.”
“And do you live where you grew up?”
“No,” he admits, and I nod.
“I rest my case.”
“But do you think your dad knew that?” Sam asks, only to frown before I can answer. “And that’s none of my business.”
“Don’t worry.” I smile as I pull away from the church. “I think he loved the house, and he wanted me to have it. I don’t think he thought about much more than that.”
We both fall silent, and I peer ahead as a turn comes into view. One where if I go left it will lead me home, and if I head right…Restlessness fills me; the thought of returning to the house is the worst thing in the world. The empty rooms, the still air.
I sit up straighter. “You want to go to the beach?”
“The beach?”
“Yeah, Sam, the beach. It’s a sunny day and you just reminded me that you are a visitor to this little island of mine. Let’s do some sightseeing. For the craic.”
“The—”
“It means fun,” I say, full-on teasing him now. “You know what fun means, don’t you? Come on. I’ll buy you a smoothie.”
He still looks reluctant, as though half of him wants to order me back to the house to work, but when he doesn’t protest further I speed up, my mood brightening as I turn right and head toward the coast. It doesn’t take long to get there, but it does take an age to find a parking spot, as it’s the weekend.
“Watch out for seagulls,” I warn him as we weave between the cars.
The place is packed with children and families, their laughter and voices filling the air.
“The key is not to look them in the eye. Now, may I suggest a Strawberry Sunrise? Which I would controversially recommend without honey because—”
“Ciara!”
I pause as Maddie appears around the back of her truck, looking more frazzled than normal. Her blond curls are stuck to her forehead with the heat, and her apron is stained from grape juice.
Or at least I hope it’s grape juice.
“Thank God you’re here,” she says. “Come on.” And she disappears before I can so much as say hello.
Sam and I share a glance, and I give him a reassuring smile before leading him around the generator where Maddie waits.
“Where’s your car?” she asks as soon as she sees us.
“By the dunes. I’d thought I’d show Sam the—”
“I need you to take these home with you.” She slaps her hand on a tall stack of unmarked boxes, looking suspiciously proud of herself.
“And are these drugs or weapons?” I ask. “Because I’d like to know what I’m getting into.”
“It’s ketchup. I think. There might be other condiments inside.”
“And why do you have—”
“You,” she interrupts, her eyes latching on to Sam. “Put those hardback arms to good use. Come on.”
“Nope.” I shoot a hand out, stopping him in his tracks. “What’s going on?”
But Maddie ignores me, plucking the keys from my hand and grabbing the top box before heading off toward the dunes.
“Is she okay?” Sam asks.
“She’s…” I knock on the side of the truck. “Natalie?”
Maddie’s only employee, a first-year college student helping out for the summer, appears in the doorway, chewing on some gum.
“What’s with the ketchup?”
“The burger guy got a smoothie machine,” she explains, and I gasp.
“Why is that bad?” Sam asks me, looking supremely confused.
“He’s Maddie’s sworn enemy.”
He blinks. “How many sworn enemies do you two have?”
“I only have one!” I protest. “Well—”
“The sunglasses guy,” Natalie says.
“I really don’t like that sunglasses guy,” I admit. “And I guess there’s the— Maddie!” I step in front of the boxes as she comes striding back, stopping her before she can take another. “Is this the burger guy’s ketchup?”
“I have no idea,” she says as if she’s been practicing. “It was delivered here without an order form attached. It just said to the North Beach. I have business premises on the North Beach, so I am claiming it.”
Oh my God. “It’s obviously his.”
“It’s not obviously anything,” she says. “Now, are you going to help me hide the evidence or not?”
“That is not the question of an innocent woman!”
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Sam asks mildly, and Maddie grabs another box while I’m distracted.
“He’s trying to put her out of business,” I explain as she vanishes again. “Or actually I don’t think he’s trying to.”
“Why else would he be making smoothies?” Natalie asks. “They started opening earlier for breakfast. Exact same time as us.” She crosses her arms, looking stubborn. “He wants to take our customers.”
“And he won’t succeed,” Maddie says as she rejoins us. Her face is flushed pink, but whether that’s from the sun or annoyance, I don’t know. “He’s a city blow-in. I’m a beloved local. I know how this story ends.”
I gape at her. “With you stealing his stuff?”
“With me protecting my business. I’m—”
“Give me back my ketchup, Madeline,” a deep voice calls behind us, and I turn as a man appears in the gap between the two trucks.
The four of us fall silent and for all her earlier bluster Natalie straight-up blushes. But it’s not that I don’t understand why. The guy’s got such a pair of baby blues, it’s like he’s weaving a spell on me just by standing there.
Shane McCauley is as handsome as he appeared in the newspaper, though the amiable smile is replaced with a grim scowl as he sets his sights on my friend.
In fact, he’d probably look pretty intimidating because of his size, if he weren’t wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon burger applying mustard to itself. I think it’s supposed to be sunscreen.
Maddie’s hands go to her hips. “What ketchup? An order was delivered to the truck at the North Beach. I signed for it and therefore, it is mine.”
“It was meant for me, and you know it. What are you even going to use it for?”
“What are you going to use a smoothie machine for, beyond trying to piss me off?”
“Who said anything about trying?” he quips, and Maddie goes bright red.
“Okay!” I say, stepping between them, but, before I can come up with some genius plan to calm everyone down, a shrill whistle cuts through the air, and Mary appears between the trucks, wearing a large straw hat and a bright green bathing suit.
An old copy of the community newsletter is clutched in her hands.
“I’m trying to read,” she admonishes, brandishing the paper as if we’re all a fly she’d like to swat.
Maddie looks at her, exasperated. “You can’t be back here.”
“Says who?”
“Me! This is a private—”
“It is a public matter,” Mary says sharply. “The beach is getting clogged because cars can’t get in and people can’t get out because, if you haven’t noticed, you are drawing an audience.”
We hadn’t noticed. And it’s only then that I spy the curious faces peering at us from around the front of the trucks.
Natalie makes a yikes face and scampers back inside.
“Now, what’s going on?” Mary asks, and Maddie and Shane speak at the same time.
“He’s stealing my—”
“She stole my—”
The whistle blows, cutting them off. “Enough,” Mary says.
“I don’t care. If you’re going to behave like disobedient children, you should be treated as such.
” She points to the opposite end of the car park.
“One of you needs to go over there. I suggest the smoothie truck, as I like the smell of the onion rings.”
“You don’t own the beach,” Maddie tells her through clenched teeth. “You can’t make us do anything.”
“I can and I will. And you’ll do what you’re told if you know what’s good for you. What I know about you, Maddie Buckley, could make a sinner blush.”
Maddie’s eyes go wide as Shane’s gaze swings her way.
“Well?” Mary presses, gesturing at the other end of the parking lot.
Her jaw tightens. “I can’t move. My truck doesn’t have wheels. Make him go.”
Shane just shakes his head. “Look, lady, you can’t tell us where to park. The county council has designated—”
Mary blows her whistle again, and Maddie slaps her hands over her ears as Shane’s expression darkens.
“Why do you even have that?”
Mary looks affronted. “To assist the lifeguards.”
“Oh, for— Fine,” he bites out. “Anything to stop this conversation.”
“You’ll move?”
“It’s nearer the entrance anyway. I’ll go tomorrow.”
“See that you do,” Mary says as she sends a final glare to all of us. “All right, move along!” she adds to the curious onlookers. Another whistle-screech and she starts corralling them back until we’re left alone once more.
Shane stares hard at them before he turns stiffly back to Maddie. “Can I have my—”
“I’ll keep an eye out for your box,” she says, looking purposefully at anything but him. “Now, if you excuse me, I have to get back to work.”
Shane opens his mouth, looking as if he wants to say exactly what’s on his mind, but stops when Maddie turns toward him, her eyes narrowed. The two share a brief, heated stare before he turns on his heel and disappears into his own truck.
Huh.
“I thought you didn’t like him,” I say when he’s gone.
“I don’t.”
“So why were you making sex eyes at him?”
Her mouth drops open. “I was not making sex eyes. Those were hate eyes. Because I hate him.”
Oh boy. “Whatever you say. Are you going to give him back his ketchup?”
“No.”
“Well, I’m taking it out of my car,” I tell her. “And you realize you’re still working in the same area together? He’s just going to take it back when you’re not looking.”
“I’d like to see him try,” she says darkly as Natalie calls from the truck for backup. “Thanks for helping,” she adds, tossing me my keys.
“Anytime!” I call after her, and turn to Sam, who’s still looking lost.
“We’re usually very normal,” I say as I lead him back to the front. “We’re just really not used to the sun.”