Chapter 19
19
JOE
After a chilled morning looking after the animals, followed by both of them searching online to try and find out more about C. Ferreira, Joe suggested they take a walk across the fields.
‘I love this place,’ Skye said almost to herself.
Joe’s hand brushed against hers as they both went to open the lower meadow gate at the same time. He wanted desperately to take her hand in his but didn’t want to do anything to cause her to withdraw from him. He cringed inwardly at the thought of how much worse her reaction could have been when he had walked into the shower room.
Joe opened the gate and once they were both on the other side, closed it. He sensed Skye watching him and hoped it was because she was beginning to trust him a little. He was relieved he had been successful in making some headway to locate her father. It wasn’t much, but it was a tentative link that he sensed might lead Skye to the man she was longing to track down.
If only she didn’t see him as just a friend, although he was grateful for that. Thinking back to how they had first met and then again seeing each other at the farm and realising they would be living and working together, he knew things could have been far worse between them. He might wish there could be more between them but friends was better than nothing and at least they could enjoy each other’s company.
He stopped walking and breathed in the fresh sea air. How unfair was it though that only he seemed to feel the chemistry between them? Or was it simply a one-way thing coming from him and there wasn’t really any chemistry at all? Probably. Then again, maybe he had been single for too long and had lost the ability to pick up on subtle nuances being sent his way. He looked at her but she was lost in thought about something and by the look on her face it wasn’t anything romantic. It was just wishful thinking on his part that there could be anything more between them.
He noticed the slowly rising moon over the fields and was taken aback by the magnificence of it.
‘Does the moon look bigger than usual to you?’ he asked, wondering if it was one of those Hunter’s Moons occasionally mentioned in the newspaper.
‘Hmm?’
He realised Skye hadn’t heard his question. ‘The moon,’ he repeated, not wanting her to dwell on whatever was bothering her. ‘Do you think it’s one of those special moons?’
She looked up and gasped. ‘Wow, that is big, even for a full moon.’ She stared at it silently for a moment. ‘Actually I read earlier that this one is a Flower Moon.’
‘It is?’ He had no idea what that was and presumed it must be due to the colour. It did seem rather pink, he supposed.
‘Apparently, or so it said on the news platform I came across yesterday. Beautiful, isn’t it?’
It was. Joe went to take his phone from his back jeans pocket but found it wasn’t there. ‘I wish I’d thought to bring my mobile to take a photo of it,’ he said, disappointed that he must have left it in his bedroom.
‘I don’t have mine either,’ Skye commiserated. ‘Not that my phone ever takes decent photos of faraway things like that.’
‘Neither does mine, come to think of it. The number of sunsets I’ve hoped to capture always come across with completely different colours, so I mostly don’t bother trying any more.’
‘Maybe we’re simply supposed to enjoy it rather than try to capture it?’
He liked that idea. ‘I agree.’
She was quiet again, staring across the fields and taking in the pink and purple sky to the west. ‘Do you really think we’ll be able to track down my father?’
‘I don’t see why not.’
She looked at him and Joe couldn’t miss the hope in Skye’s beautiful dark eyes.
‘It must be strange not knowing what your father looks like,’ he said without thinking, immediately cross to have voiced such a thoughtless thing. ‘Sorry, that was an odd thing to say.’
‘I don’t think it was at all,’ Skye said, slipping her hand into his and giving it a gentle squeeze.
Taken aback at her unexpected touch, Joe glanced down at their hands.
‘Sorry,’ Skye said, obviously mistaking his reaction. She snapped her hand away before he managed to think what to say and immediately began walking again.
He didn’t want her to get the wrong impression about his reaction and went after her. ‘Skye?’
She raised a hand but didn’t slow down. ‘It’s fine,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘I don’t know why I did that.’
Joe caught up with her in a few strides and took her gently by the arm, pulling her to a stop. ‘Hey, I was just surprised, that’s all.’ When she kept her gaze downwards, he placed a finger under her chin and raised it. ‘Look at me.’
It took a few seconds before she did. ‘Can we just keep walking?’
Wanting to make her feel better, Joe nodded. ‘Of course, if that’s what you’d rather do.’ Without thinking, he reached for her hand and, after a slight flinch, Skye’s fingers closed around his.
‘I only wanted to comfort you.’ She groaned. ‘Well, to show you that you hadn’t offended me.’
He tilted his head towards her as they walked. ‘And I liked it,’ he said quietly. ‘It was just unexpected – that’s all.’
She looked up at him. ‘It’s fine. I understand now.’
Joe’s heart raced as he watched her. Had something shifted in their friendship? He hoped so. Whatever it was, he liked it.
‘Now I know you’re happy for me to move ahead with this search for your father,’ he said, opting to change the subject onto something she felt more comfortable discussing. He was becoming excited at the next few weeks and what they might hold for Skye. ‘It must be fascinating to discover what he looks like.’
‘And how much I resemble him.’ Her fingers tightened slightly around his in a gentle squeeze. ‘I hope so. I’d love to be able to get to know that side of me. I hope he’s more open to answer some of the questions I’ve always had than Mum ever was.’ She glanced up at him. ‘Mostly I’m initially excited about what he looks like, if I’m honest. I’ve never had a father and although I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have one, I’m also used to being independent. I can’t help feeling a little unnerved in case he thinks he can step into my life and start taking control of it.’
Joe thought about his own father and thought back to when he was younger and his friends moaned about their fathers interfering in their lives, or giving them ground rules. How much he wished he had a father who cared enough to bother. But this was different. Skye was a grown woman in her twenties and used to making her own decisions. ‘I’m sure he won’t do that.’
They stopped walking. ‘How do you know?’ she asked.
He gazed down into her beautiful dark eyes and it dawned on him that the reason she was so headstrong and had initially appeared closed off emotionally was probably because of having to be so strong from such a young age.
‘Because we’ll make sure he doesn’t.’
Skye frowned, looking confused. ‘We?’
Joe’s heart melted. Did her toughness hide loneliness? She had her gran in her life and prior to that her mother, but by the sounds of things Skye missed the family support network that even he as an only child had experienced thanks to his mother and paternal grandparents being around when he had needed them.
Joe gazed at her. ‘Anyhow, I’m here to support you whenever, if ever you need me to. I hope you don’t forget that.’
Skye’s mouth drew back into a wide smile. ‘I won’t. And I hope you know I’m here for you, too.’
Feeling a powerful urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her, Joe reminded himself how she saw him as her friend. He had no intention of breaking her trust by overstepping their closeness. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it, looking over her hand to gauge her reaction in case she thought he was going too far.
‘Thank you.’ He lowered her hand and continued to walk. ‘I know it’s only been a couple of days, but I think we’re working well together.’
Skye smiled coyly. ‘Yes, I wish I’d had a bit of foresight to give you more of a chance. I might have listened to you more readily the night before at the hotel too.’ She laughed.
Taken aback by her amusement, Joe asked, ‘What?’
‘I thought you were rather pompous that night.’ She shrugged. ‘And when we were first here at the farm.’
‘Me?’ He couldn’t hide his surprise.
‘Er, who else is in this field?’ Skye giggled. ‘Yes, of course, you.’
‘I’ve never been accused of being that before, ever.’
She giggled. ‘Are you sure about that?’
Enjoying their banter, Joe laughed. ‘Yes, I am.’ Now she mentioned it though, he wasn’t so sure. ‘In my defence I thought that if you were here then they wouldn’t need me and I’d need to find somewhere else to stay. Or return to the bungalow and live with my mother and stepfather again.’ She pulled a sad face and made him laugh. ‘Are you taking the mickey?’
‘I wouldn’t dare. I don’t want nice Joe to disappear and grumpy, unfriendly Joe to return, now do I?’
He narrowed his eyes, enjoying teasing her. ‘If you’re not very careful that’s exactly what is going to happen.’
She nudged his arm with her shoulder. ‘Stop moaning. It all worked out in the end, didn’t it?’
It did, he thought gratefully. ‘I suppose so.’
She pointed to the moon with her free hand. ‘Look at the size of it now.’
Joe did as she suggested and as soon as he did Skye snatched her hand from his and began laughing and running back towards the house.
Joe watched her go, wishing they had longer than a few short weeks together here. There was something about Skye, apart from the cute way she pursed her lips when she was cross with him, or her determined stance when she was refusing to give about something. He was happier than he could recall being in a very long time and he wished it didn’t need to end.
‘Hey,’ he shouted, enjoying every moment. ‘Wait for me.’