Chapter Eight
Paddy slowly woke up. There was a languid torpor in her limbs and a lazy smile on her face. She stretched under the cool cotton sheets, dozy and utterly relaxed. Just before she worked out where she was, her foot touched a warm naked leg and, jack-knifing upright, she pulled the sheets around her. To her left, looking utterly angelic, lay Hal. A soft curl of hair framed his still face, dark eyelashes lay closed against his cheek. Paddy blinked and very quickly tried to process the previous evening. The food had been spectacular, the drinks divine, the company, oh God, the company. Hal had kept her entertained all evening; he had chatted and made her laugh the whole time. She couldn’t remember the last time she had enjoyed an evening so much. Then they’d crossed to the neighbouring hotel for more drinks and when he suggested a room she just agreed. Last night it had seemed like the most natural thing in the world. And this morning? This morning, she just grinned to herself. This morning was wonderful. He had suggested last night that they go surfing, if she could brace the cold water? She had never tried it before and was looking forward to spending more time with Hal. She had told him she had been swimming every day and had been pleased when he looked at her in admiration.
She wasn’t in the habit of one-night stands; in fact she had never had one before, just a few doomed relationships, which was fairly typical for a model. As she’d entered the modelling profession her sisters and the agency guardians helped to take care of their younger models. At sixteen it would have been easy for her to be taken advantage of, but her agency was scrupulous about protecting their workforce. By the time she was eighteen, she had picked up good habits and was better attuned to certain tactics. Nick was even more sharply attuned as she wasn’t directly involved, and between the two of them they quickly filtered out the sleaze bags. However, after the creeps and the guys who just weren’t interested in her, there weren’t many men left and as she became a rising star, her beauty put other suitors off.
But not Hal.
Smiling, she slipped out of bed and ran herself a shower. Enjoying the hot water she wondered how the rest of the day would unfold. Humming softly, she wandered into the bedroom and switched the kettle on. Hal was awake and gave her a lazy smile.
‘Are you one of those obscene early risers? Why don’t you get back into bed and I’ll make the coffee?’
He patted the duvet and beckoned her towards him. Paddy blushed, she felt like a teenager. She didn’t want to seem forward, which made her laugh, but she was also shy about getting back into bed with him. As much as she wanted to.
Her phone rang from the sideboard and looking for a way to distract herself, she answered it. A very shrill voice squawked at the other end and Paddy saw that she had picked up the wrong phone. Sitting upright, Hal’s face collapsed in horror.
The voice down the line continued. ‘Who the hell are you?’
Paddy tried to stutter a reply but the woman continued over the top of her. ‘For God’s sake. Put my fiancé on the phone right now.’
The word fiancé exploded in Paddy’s brain. Mortified, she held the phone out towards Hal. She stood mutely whilst he tried to placate the woman at the other end of the phone.
‘A receptionist… Of course not… Honestly, I don’t even know her name.’ He looked over at Paddy and cringed, then returned to the call. ‘No, I’m looking forward to it… Yes, I’ll bring them with me. Alright, see you later and stop being silly. Yes, love you too.’
As he hung up, he looked across at Paddy, who had collapsed into the armchair. Her huge eyes welled with tears, and she looked utterly bereft. He wasn’t sure if he had ever seen anyone look more miserable in his life. He was overcome with the desire to wrap his arms around her and promise her that everything was going to be all right. Even more ridiculously, he felt a surge of anger that someone had hurt her. The hypocrisy of wanting to blame his fiancée for calling so early did not escape his notice. He knew he was to blame but, damn it, why did she have to look so heartbroken?
She continued to look at him mutely. What was she waiting for? A denial? God, he wished he could tell her it was a complete misunderstanding. That what he had planned was for them to spend the rest of the morning in bed and then maybe hire some surf boards. Afterwards he could take her back to his house and show her around, introduce her to his friends.
‘Your fiancée?’ Her small voice broke his daydream and he scowled at her.
‘Yes. Look, sorry about that. Bit awkward but we’re all grown-ups, aren’t we? These things happen. You know the score.’
He was talking bollocks and trailed off. He was utterly ashamed of himself but couldn’t think how to resolve the situation. ‘Look, can I give you a lift home? Or wherever?’
Despite all their time together, he hadn’t found out very much about her. He had avoided any conversation about his own private life and now he discovered that she may have done the same.
Paddy looked at him in horror. ‘A lift?’ She angrily started retrieving her clothes from around the room, pulling them on. ‘You think I want to spend another second with you?’
Sniffing, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and pulled on her heels. Grabbing her handbag she opened the bedroom door. She turned, and Hal was ready for her to start screaming at him, instead her breath hitched in a sob and she fled out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
***
The taxi dropped Paddy back at Kensey House. Another scene was currently being shot on the croquet lawn but the filming had lost all of its sparkle. Giving some of the crew a quick wave, she headed to the beach house. She was still grinding her teeth, a bad childhood habit, when she got to the bottom of the drive, but looking out over the sea she felt her jaw relax.
The cove was strewn with seaweed at the moment but she didn’t care, as far as she was concerned this was the most beautiful beach in the whole world. She’d bought a little kayak and had begun to explore her coastline. She was also swimming daily but until she was more confident, she stuck to the cove. Swimming in the sea was more fun than a pool but it was also more challenging and she was mindful of all the local horror stories of holidaymakers coming down and getting into troubles.
Now, still angry at herself for sleeping with a jerk on a first date, she stripped down to her knickers, the wind chilled her body. Her beach was completely secluded but she wasn’t particularly body conscious. For years she had stood naked but for a G-string, surrounded by strangers as she was manoeuvred in and out of dresses for runways or photoshoots. She’d been zipped in, buttoned up, stitched into or cut out of a bizarre variety of outfits. On one occasion she’d been buck naked the whole time painted to look like a jaguar.
The sea was still too nippy for a bikini, though, and so she’d investigated wetsuits until she found the perfect one for her. Back home she was used to swimming in the Thames and nearby lakes and waterways which were also known for their less than favourable conditions. What she discovered about sea swimming, though, was the greater level of buoyancy caused by the salt levels; added to the suit, sometimes she felt like she was almost on top of the water instead of in it. Now she pulled on her winter wetsuit that was still hanging on the line from two days ago, she walked into the sea.
God, some of the stuff she’d done had been fun, especially some of the catwalks, but mostly the photoshoots were tedious. She had briefly toyed with the idea of an acting career, but after yesterday, she could see it was just more of the same, ‘Once more, with feeling.’
The cold water snapped her into alertness and she grinned as she duck-dived in, gasping for breath as she broke the surface. How’s that for feeling? This was the joy of sea swimming; out here everything became more manageable; you just couldn’t fixate on a problem, you needed to pay attention to your surroundings. It was the perfect way to sort through issues without dwelling on them.
Heading off, she turned right, swimming along the base of the coastline. There wasn’t another accessible beach in this direction for a few miles. She’d gradually been swimming a bit further each day, staying close to the safety of the shoreline. Paddy hadn’t gone far when she spotted something on the rocks. A large seal was lying out in the sun watching her. She paused bobbing up and down in the water, watching the seal watching her. What was on his mind, she wondered? Was he trying to decide what to do in his career? Was he still mortified by his behaviour from the night before? Did he want to explain himself? Justify his actions? Curl up in a ball of misery? Paddy continued to bob. No, he probably was just enjoying the warmth of the sun and wondering when he would next eat some fish. Deciding that that sounded like excellent advice, Paddy gave him a quick salute and headed back to her cottage. Her new mantra was to be more seal. Live in the moment and eat fish.
By the time she made it back to the shore, she felt silly and energised. She bent down to pick up a few shells and added them to the bucket by the front doorstep. She was beginning to build up quite a collection and was looking forwards to when she could start repairs on her porch. Today was also a good day to start weeding the steps up to the grotto, she needed to attack something.
Sleeping with Hal had been incredible. And stupid. He had a fiancée so he wasn’t exactly what she’d consider a good sort, so why waste any time over his opinion of her? Be more seal! Heading back into the house, she left little wet footprints on the slate floor as she walked into the kitchen. She wrapped a blanket around her, flicked on the kettle and popped some mackerel fillets under the grill. She wasn’t going to spend another minute thinking about Hal. Not one. No siree.