Chapter 12
Ican’t believe I said yes. Me, Nell Abraham, she of no spontaneity ever.
Yet she had, which was why she was texting Angie while sitting next to Mattie on the boat back to the main town.
Initially, common sense had raged with desire as she tried to decide how to answer Mattie’s invitation.
Pass? Or seize with both hands? Ready to say no, the word had remained unspoken when she’d seen the wide-eyed excitement on Mattie’s face.
How irresistible it’d been to know that Mattie was so eager to spend time with her.
She studied the swirling green depths of the river.
If only for the rest of today, I will be unafraid.
After they filed off the boat, Mattie turned to her. “This is your town, so I’ll let you take the lead.”
Nell remembered a cafe with an extensive range of loose-leaf tea, and from there, they strolled around the bustling town centre. Mattie bought a box of fudge for her friends Shona and Lisa, a married couple she’d known for years.
“They put up with all my nonsense and regularly put me back together again,” said Mattie.
A stab of envy filled Nell. She’d never had close friends like that. “Where did you meet?”
“I met Shona during Freshers’ Week at university. We figured out very quickly that we wouldn’t work as a couple, but we became inseparable as friends.” Mattie put the fudge into her backpack and zipped it up. “Lisa came on the scene about twelve years ago. They’re perfect for each other.”
“Do they work in the media like you?”
“Hell, no.” Mattie snorted. “Shona’s a doctor, and Lisa’s a secondary school history teacher.”
The smell of fish and chips wafted over Nell as they turned a corner onto the waterfront. “Dinner?”
At Mattie’s suggestion, they chose to take their food away rather than sit in the busy restaurant.
Nell found a quiet spot on a grassy bank overlooking the river.
She popped a piece of battered cod into her mouth.
“I can’t remember the last time I did something like this.
It won’t surprise you that I’m not known for my spontaneity. ”
“I’m guessing you tend to plan everything.”
“Down to a tee.”
Mattie smiled. “I’m glad you chose to go against the grain. How does it feel?”
“Decadent. Giddy. It’s probably nothing to you but—”
Mattie touched Nell’s arm. “It’s something to me.”
Nell swallowed hard. If only for today, I will be unafraid.
She needed to enjoy the evening and let it unfold rather than demand an itinerary.
Clearly, Mattie didn’t need one and was used to going with the flow.
It would be a prerequisite for her job. Nell glanced at her.
Did Mattie deserve to be lumped into the “all journalists are untrustworthy” category?
Yes, she’d messed up, but Nell was impressed by Mattie’s resolve to own her poor judgement.
That was professional integrity, right there.
So while Nell hadn’t been wrong to harbour initial suspicions, things weren’t as black and white as she liked to think they were.
Mattie gestured at oystercatchers wading in the shallows on the river bed.
“They’re beautiful. You’re lucky, you know, living here.
So many places to hike right on your doorstep.
Unless I want to do urban street walking, I pretty much have to drive or sit on a train for an hour before I reach anywhere half decent. ”
“You’ve got a river in London, haven’t you?”
“A tiny one.” Mattie grinned. “Actually, my flat is by the Thames on the South Bank. It’s little more than a shoe box, but it’s home.”
“The South Bank? That’s where the Royal Festival Hall is located, right?”
“I look down on it from my living room window,” said Mattie. “I’m on the eighth floor, so there’s a brilliant view.”
Nell lapped up her descriptions of city-living. She wanted to know more, so much more, about Mattie’s life beyond this holiday. “Have you walked the Thames path?”
“Only the city-based stretches of it. It starts in the Cotswolds, and I’d like to do it all one day. What’s your favourite walk?”
Nell finished the last of her chips and leaned back on her elbows, lifting her face to the sky.
“There’s a trail up north called the St Cuthbert’s Way which straddles the Anglo-Scottish border.
The last stretch takes you over the sands from the mainland and follows the ancient trail of the Pilgrim’s Way across to Holy Island.
Screw the tides up, and you’re doomed. But it’s the most unique end to a hike. ”
“Sounds wonderful. I’ll add it to my ever-growing list.” Mattie wrapped up the few remaining chips inside the paper bag and screwed it up into a ball. “What’re the chances of me getting this into that bin?”
“Depends whether you were a netball or hockey girl at school.”
Mattie scowled. “I wanted to play football, but that was frowned upon in those days, so I had to settle for hockey.”
“I thought as much.” Nell side-eyed her. “I bet you were violent with a hockey stick in your hand.”
“I was...enthusiastic.” Mattie gestured at Nell’s legs. “Unlike you, some of us are vertically challenged.”
“You’re not that short. But you are challenging.”
Mattie laughed. “I like bantering with you. You have a very impish grin right now.”
Nell quirked her eyebrows. “I’ve never been called impish before.”
“Oh, you’re definitely that, when you allow yourself to be.”
Warmth flooded Nell’s body, and it wasn’t from the slowly setting sun.
Mattie tossed the scrunched-up paper ball. It bounced on the edge of the open mouth of the bin and fell to the ground. She laughed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It would’ve been quicker to walk over to the bin and throw it away properly the first time. But where’s the fun in that?”
She stood and slapped dried grass from her shorts. Nell embraced her body’s charged response as her eyes lingered on Mattie’s backside. It was, after all, crying out to be admired as Mattie retrieved her screwed-up chip paper and dumped it into the bin.
“I suppose we need to be thinking about getting back,” Mattie said.
“Public transport doesn’t run as late here as it does in the city.
” If only it did. Nell still wasn’t ready to let the evening end when they got off the train at Paignton.
The final leg of their journey involved travelling on the last bus of the day, which was leaving shortly, or taking a cab later. She asked Mattie for her preference.
“It’s a glorious evening.” Mattie threw up her arms as if embracing the sky. “We could hang around while the sun sets and get a cab back? Maybe walk down to the beach and have a glass of wine?”
“After this morning’s hangover, I’ll pass on the wine, but don’t let me stop you. I could be tempted by ice cream though.” She grinned at Mattie, who nodded with an equally large grin of her own.
They strolled to the seafront past restaurants and tourist shops selling buckets and spades, T-shirts, and beach towels.
The air was still and pleasantly warm, the stifling heat of earlier had faded, and the sun was a bronze lozenge of fire slowly sinking towards the horizon.
They each bought a soft scoop ice cream with a chocolate flake from a van parked by the esplanade.
“Do you want to walk along here or down on the sand?” asked Mattie.
Nell spotted a group of teenagers who’d set up camp on the tin-coloured sand and were laughing raucously. They were probably innocently enjoying the evening, but she didn’t want her professional antennae to be triggered. “The promenade is fine by me.”
Mattie gestured at the boisterous group. “Were you a well-behaved teenager or a rebel?”
Nell licked at her ice cream, which was melting fast. “Guess.”
“Bearing in mind you told me that you weren’t allowed to play in the bath, I’m presuming that your parents were strict. I suspect that while you might have thought about rebelling you didn’t because ultimately you’re a people pleaser.”
“That’s scarily accurate,” Nell said. Was she that much of an open book? She didn’t dare ask. “I’m guessing you were a rebel.”
“I was an angel, just as Leon said.” Mattie’s lips twitched.
“All right, I was a pain in the backside for a while. Mostly I was jealous of the attention Simon got because of his hearing issues. I didn’t understand how big a deal it was.
I only saw him as my annoying brother who I beat at football.
My parents recognised it for what it was and supported me.
Thankfully, I didn’t do anything with long-reaching effects, like breaking the law. ”
Nell was about to respond when a large blob of ice-cream slithered off the cone and on to her fingers. She gasped and tried to lick it off before it fell to the ground and ended up with ice cream all over her lips and chin.
“Very elegant, chief inspector,” Mattie teased.
Nell felt her cheeks blush.
“Tissue?” Mattie held out a pocket-sized pack she’d pulled from her bag’s side pocket.
“You might want to take one out for me unless you want the whole packet to be ruined.”
“You’re–”
“A mess.” Nell nodded. “I know.”
“I thought you’d be a delicate eater.”
“You caught me off guard.” In more ways than one. Nell cleaned herself up and binned the sticky tissue.
They fell into a comfortable pace, leaving the flashing fairground lights and amusement arcade noise behind them.
The bay curved where it met the harbour entrance, and blue railings ran alongside the stone wall where it jutted into the sea.
Mattie drifted over to the railings and leaned against the top rung.
Nell joined her and looked down at the smooth rocks being unveiled by the falling tide.
Ribbons of orange spilled from the setting sun and shimmered on the gently lapping water.
“When I was kid, I made it a thing on the last day of our holiday to come down here,” said Mattie.
“I’d purposely cling on to these railings so tightly it would leave an imprint on my palms. Then, in the depths of winter when I was hundreds of miles away, I’d remember the feel of it.
I’d know that the sea was still coming in and going out, and that it’d be there waiting for me the following summer. ”
Nell caught her gaze. “Why, Matilda Elliott, you’re a sentimental softie at heart.”
Mattie brought her finger to her lips. “Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.”
Nell laughed, but the joy surging through her set off alarm bells.
Maybe having only a few hours to share was a good thing, because if anyone had a chance of finding a way through her carefully constructed defences, it would be Mattie.
Where would that leave her? She watched as the sun sank below the horizon, leaving behind a tapestry of orange and reds.
She’d missed this, sharing a sunset with someone special.
“You’re doing it now,” Mattie said softly.
“Doing what?”
“Clutching the railing.”
“Oh.” She went to let go, but Mattie edged closer and placed a hand over hers.
“You interrupted me earlier. You thought I was going to say you were a mess. I was going to say that you were hot as hell when you’re covered in ice cream.” Mattie inhaled sharply. “And when you’re not.”
“Oh,” Nell said again, intelligent words deserting her.
She stared at their hands, at Mattie’s fingertips stroking her knuckles.
She felt their warmth, their softness, and couldn’t bear to shake them off.
She dared a furtive glance at Mattie. Her gaze was already on Nell, her eyes half-lidded.
Then Mattie dipped her head closer, lips slightly parted.
For a brief, glorious moment, Nell anticipated their touch.
And then she found herself unexpectedly shaking her head.
Abruptly, Mattie jerked away.
Nell squeezed her eyes shut and dropped her head against her arms. So much for If only for today, I will be unafraid. Her damn overthinking mind had a lot to answer for.