14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
‘ M orning,’ Evie turned on her side to see James bringing a tray into her bedroom. He placed it carefully on the table next to her, a steaming cup of coffee and two slices of hot buttered toast on a plate. ‘Thought you might be in need,’ he said smiling as she sat up and accepted the mug. He placed a kiss gently on her forehead and smiled. ‘I don’t think I thought I’d ever get to do that again.’
‘And I thought we agreed not to mention all that,’ she reminded him of their conversation the night before.
When they’d finally, blissfully kissed Evie hadn’t wanted to stop. And nor it seemed had James. The two had broken apart time and again, only for one to reach for the other and it would begin again. It had only been when Mick, one of the decorating team, had come out of the pub to make his way home that they’d been disturbed. Deciding they could do with the fresh air they had walked back to the cottage. During that time, whilst James hadn’t let go of Evie’s hand they’d covered the last ten years of each other’s lives, although both stopped short of the end of school days or college, neither wanting to venture to the time when things had gone wrong. They’d swapped travelling tales, both amused to learn they’d been in the same place in Thailand at the same time. James had left university with the aim to work as an architect but had quickly found he was more interested in the interior design, than exterior one and so had worked his way up quickly with different companies, coming to Horizon Designs in his most senior role. His plan after a couple of years was to start his own business. Evie had told him about going straight to Horizon Designs from university and never once regretting the decision to stay put. She’d enjoyed working her way up gradually, cultivating relationships. When they’d almost reached the cottage they had also gone far enough back to be at the end of school days. The time when Evie most wanted answers for. But when they’d reached it, and the front door, James had stopped them both on the threshold.
‘I think we should stop there, for both our sakes. What’s the point in raking over painful memories when we could make newer nicer ones?’ He’d looked so intensely at her that Evie had found herself nodding, though unsure if she could never ask about why he’d stood her up, it felt a large thing to not know about. But at her nod he’d swept her off her feet, carrying her into the cottage and she’d decided it would be a small price to pay to have her friend, and biggest crush, back.
She’d found losing herself in the cottage a little harder to bear though and had put it down to being tired from the day. James had seemed a little disappointed when she’d turned down his invitation to join him in his room, but she’d needed the space of her own to gather her thoughts. To her surprise she’d fallen asleep almost as soon as her head had hit the pillow, only to wake when James had arrived bearing coffee and toast.
And now he was looking at her keenly. ‘I’ve been thinking. It’s Saturday, the team know what they’re doing. We should have a day off. We don’t need to go too far in case there’s an emergency and they need us back here, but what about we go to the beach? It’s not far and I know you love a swim,’ he grinned. Evie bit her lip, remembering what he was referring to.
‘Can you believe we did that? Broke into and swam in that pool in the middle of the night,’ she laughed, covering her mouth. ‘We didn’t have any costumes.’
James raised an eyebrow at her. ‘We didn’t need any. We were sixteen and stupid. Who was it with?’
Evie shook her head. ‘I can’t remember, just that there were two other couples.’ She went red, ‘I was only focussed on you then, it was just after we’d begun dating and I couldn’t believe we were together.’
‘How dumb was I not seeing you for all that time?’ he said, leaning in to kiss her. ‘Even with morning breath you’re the most amazing woman I know.’ He dodged the pillow she tried to hit him with.
‘Enough, out. I’m going for a shower – alone,’ she added at seeing his ardour. ‘Then we go to the beach. I think you’re right, a day off, even a morning off, would be great.’
A little later they pulled into a car park which didn’t seem connected to a beach and Evie looked around confused. ‘I thought we were going to the beach?’
James grinned, getting out of the car. ‘I asked the guys on site if they could recommend a beach which wasn’t crowded with tourists, Mick told me to come to this one.’ He lifted out the rucksack they’d packed and put it on his shoulder, Evie reached into the back of the car and took the blankets out. ‘It’s about a ten minute walk, but it’s meant to be worth it.’
They began to walk along the coastal path and Evie smiled as she felt the warmth of the sunshine on her face. Gradually the path changed from smooth to gravel as they descended and on more than one occasion Evie felt her feet almost slip out from under her, but when James caught her hand in his and held tight she stayed upright. She focused on the steep cliffs rising up around her and the sight of the sparkling turquoise sea, as well as the feel of James’ hand in hers. She couldn’t really believe it was happening, whatever ‘it’ was. They were together, walking to a beach hand in hand. A week ago she’d vowed to do everything she could to not let her heart get broken again, and yet here she was.
Shaking off the thoughts which threatened to ruin their day, Evie grinned as they began to walk on the sand, a sign the beach was near.
‘Wait, I want to walk barefoot,’ she said, slipping off her trainers and running down the slope, enjoying the sensation of the warm grains of bright yellow sand between her toes. Behind her she could hear James running too and turned to see him thundering down. With over six foot and all the bags to carry he didn’t look as graceful as she hoped she did, but he did look free.
When they both reached the bottom, stopping to catch their breath, Evie admired the view. The beach was empty, just a mile or so of golden sand meeting rippling blue waves. The cove had rocky outcrops which spilled over from the cliff offering shade. Every now and then a gull squawked overhead and Evie shrieked with delight. ‘This is perfect James, well done.’ He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Breaking off he began to walk towards some of the shade and Evie stopped him. ‘No come on, let’s go in,’ she stepped out of her denim shorts and shrugged off the white linen shirt revealing her bikini, throwing the clothes onto the blanket she’d dropped to the floor and ran towards the water, diving in when it was deep enough.
As she came up she saw James putting his phone in the rucksack and running to join her. She wondered, briefly, what he’d been doing but decided if it was work related he’d tell her. If it wasn’t then it wasn’t really her business.
She laughed as he came splashing through the water, thrilled at being able to watch his muscular body as he ran down and dove in, appearing next to her.
‘It’s so cold,’ he said as she laughed.
‘No, you just need to be a bit braver,’ she suggested, then wriggled out of his grasp, aiming to swim a little further out. She loved the feeling of the water buffeting her along, the heat on her back.
Suddenly she felt something under her and shrieked. ‘It’s me,’ James said, laughing, ‘I thought you’d know that, what was it you who said? Be ‘a bit braver’? Just trust me,’ he added, before grabbing her and throwing her into the water.
When she reappeared, coughing and dripping, he looked worried. But Evie swam over and tried to push down on his shoulders, only for his strong hands to catch her around the waist, whilst he trod water for the two of them.
It was so peaceful, so idyllic, Evie’s heart felt like it was swelling with joy. James lent in to kiss her and she returned it, his lips salty, happy to stay in this feeling forever. Suddenly, she felt James go very still.
‘Very slowly, let’s make our way back to shore, I don’t think we should disturb them,’ he said quietly, indicating behind her towards a cluster of rocks, where a group of seals lay sunbathing. Evie gasped with delight. She’d never seen seals in the wild before but they were beautiful. Reluctantly she swam back to the shore, walking to grab a towel from the things James had laid out before joining her. She reached down to grab James’ one too, when his phone fell out of the bundle. Briefly looking at the screen as it fell face up on the floor, Evie’s stomach rolled a little when she saw he had three missed calls. From someone called Chloe.
Throwing the towel at him she wondered if it was the Chloe she’d met briefly at the pub the week before when they’d stopped for lunch. Beautiful, curves in the right places, Chloe.
Evie could only think of one reason why someone like Chloe had James’ number.