Chapter 14 #2
Lucas was no longer looking amused by the tale; it had transformed into something else and he looked troubled.
Clem didn’t continue the line of conversation in case he didn’t want to discuss it.
She wondered if this was where his caring side came from, why he felt the need to help others when he saw them struggling.
The rain pattered off the lake around them, bounced off the boardwalk. It was picking up in pace, the air cooling. Clem shuddered.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked, already shrugging off his jacket.
‘Oh, no, you don’t have to . . .’
‘It’s okay. It’ll be blustery on the ferry. Especially if you want the best seats in the house. Here, hold up your arms.’
She did as he asked, smiling as he draped the jacket over her.
It was baggy on her, but she could smell the mix of his fresh, earthy scent and baking – sugar and butter and all things sweet – on the material.
She tugged it closer around her chest. He had a way of making her feel looked after, safe.
The way she felt when she was cocooned at home in a blanket with Misha snoozing in her lap. She liked that feeling.
He tugged up the hood for her, to keep her hair dry. The gesture made her soften and melt like chocolate.
When the ferry finally arrived, cruising across the water, they rose to their feet and waited as it pulled in.
The attendant – a jolly-looking old man with a thick salt-and-pepper beard, and rain-speckled glasses – looped some rope around a wooden pole to secure the boat.
They clambered on board, and paid for their ride across in the bottom compartment.
‘Come on,’ said Lucas, turning for the steps. He led Clem up to the top deck, where their feet clanged against the metal flooring.
Lucas had been right – it was blustery up here, the sky a blanket of steel overhead. Her clothes whipped around her as she walked between rows of blue plastic seats. He was only wearing a T-shirt now and she felt bad, hogging his jacket.
‘These seats are relatively dry,’ he announced, sitting down. ‘They must have brushed them off before we got on board.’
‘Do you want your jacket back?’ she asked. She took a seat beside him, near the front of the boat.
He waved her away. ‘You zip up. I’m fine.’
She zipped up Lucas’s jacket, right up to her chin, and pulled the hood further forward, securing it with the toggle. It was blustery up here with the boat in motion. A few minutes later, the attendant appeared behind them and draped them both in a thin blanket.
‘Here you go, lovebirds!’ he said, in a booming, jovial voice.
He reminded Clem of Father Christmas with his twinkling eyes.
She was going to correct him – they weren’t together – but he carried on, ‘We don’t want anyone getting poorly now!
It’s raining. Keep dry. We’ll be taking bets downstairs on how long you last up here! ’ He chuckled and moved away.
‘I’m made of steel!’ Lucas called, although he contradicted himself by drawing the thin blanket more closely around him and shuffling closer to Clem.
Clem kept tight hold of the blanket, too, so it didn’t blow away.
The ferry was already moving away from the boardwalk, and out onto the broad stretch of Lake Windermere, the wind kicking up and slapping at Clem’s cheeks.
She was acutely aware of how close Lucas’s thigh was to her own, almost touching.
Their shoulders were brushing. And her skin had electrified, pulsing with feeling.
A gust of wind rippled around them – Lucas’s dark hair was dancing around his head like it had a life of its own, and Clem burst into laughter at the movement of the spidery strands.
‘What?’ he said, smirking.
‘You look funny. Your hair.’
‘Hey, I give you my jacket and now you’re mocking me? Rude.’
She continued to laugh at the faux pained expression on his face. She was surprised by how much better she felt, even though she’d seen Genie earlier and got herself lost around the castle’s grounds. With Lucas, everything seemed lighter somehow.
‘Thanks for coming to find me,’ she said.
He turned to her. There was something in his expression she couldn’t read. ‘Of course. Sylvie was worried about you . . .’
‘What about when we get across the lake?’ she said, looking out at the expanse of greyish water stretching far and wide. ‘Windermere isn’t far – don’t you live around there? It’s where Muddy Paws Café is, right?’
‘Yeah, but don’t worry. I’ll order a taxi for us to share, and I’ll come with you to Oakside first.’
‘Oh, you don’t have to do that. Then you have to come all the way back here—’
‘It’s alright.’ He grinned. ‘I’ve got you this far. Might as well take you all the way.’
She reeled, interpreting his words in an entirely different way and feeling queasy and giddy as she imagined those possibilities.
Lucas didn’t appear to notice; he was looking out across the lake, watching a bird zoom across the sky towards a cluster of spindly trees.
There were flecks of raindrops caught in his hair and gathered on the side of his face, and even in this blustery weather, with his hair whipping around in a frenzy, he looked like the most handsome person she’d ever seen.
She wouldn’t mind spending more time with him.
She wanted to kiss the rainwater from his lips, to see what that would feel like. What he’d taste like.
Instead, she turned her attention to the water, the rippling waves spreading from the boat, far out into the distance, to dry land.