Prologue #2
Pulse trilling at Will’s voice, Ellie turned slowly, then tried not to be too obvious in her admiration as she took in this more smartly attired vision.
‘Let’s get a drink. I need someone sane to talk to. Alex’s friends are all way too posh for my taste.’
They settled in a corner on a velvet-covered chaise longue and resumed their conversation from the other day.
‘My parents aren’t as laid-back as it sounds.
If I’ve had one lecture on the precariousness of the acting profession, I’ve had a hundred.
But,’ Will shrugged, ‘they’ve came to the university productions, and taped every TV show I’ve been in.
They pay for my room in Alex’s place in London.
They know I need to be in town to be on hand for auditions and if I’m out of work, I turn my hand to anything on offer. As you’ll have seen.’
‘I’m sure you intend to repay them when you can.’
‘Of course. Besides, we’ve got an agreement. If I haven’t found success by a certain age, I’ll give it up and find a proper job. The deadline is when I’m forty.’
Ellie burst into laughter as Will drained his glass. ‘I’ll get us a top-up.’
He sauntered away, easing through the throng, completely unfazed by the glamour and prestige, and Ellie’s fascinated gaze took in the scene.
Nicki was across the room, flirting with Alex – Ellie recognised the signs, and wondered if he realised he was playing with an expert. She glanced at her watch. Would Bella turn up or decide to remain hanging out with their new friends up at the site?
Someone had turned the music up as Will emerged from the crowd, a brimming cut-glass flute in each hand. He handed one to Ellie, then held out his free hand.
‘Come on.’
He drew her to her feet, leading her towards some double doors on the far wall.
‘This is my favourite place when I stay.’ Will shut out the noise. ‘Take a seat.’
It was a beautiful room, elegant but also homely, with comfy-looking seating, an impressive marble fireplace, thickly patterned rugs on the stone flooring and a large circular table in the bay window.
The muted thump-thump of the music could be heard through the wooden doors as they sank onto a sofa.
‘You don’t mind? It feels like there’s so much to talk about.’
Ellie had felt the same instant connection, and the conversation flowed as easily as the champagne, with Will finally fetching a bottle so he didn’t have to keep leaving her – reporting that Alex was now wrapped around a woman he’d never seen before.
Perhaps inevitably, their talk frequently returned to art and films.
‘I had the most amazing trip to Florence as part of my course,’ Ellie enthused. ‘The galleries were incredible. My mum was so jel. A Room with a View is her favourite film, and I love watching it with her. The cinematography is stunning.’
‘And yet you’ve not been to Paris?’
Ellie shook her head, conscious the fizz was causing it to buzz. ‘No. It was one of the scheduled trips, but I had a nasty bout of flu and they wouldn’t let me travel. I was gutted.’
‘I’ll take you to Paris,’ Will vowed. ‘When I get my next role.’
Alex stuck his head into the room, demanding they rejoin the party, and Ellie was startled to discover his new addiction to be Bella, who’d obviously decided to join them.
Nicki was nowhere in sight, but checking her phone, Ellie saw a text saying she’d left to meet a local for a drink, and not to wait up for her.
By midnight, Ellie was struggling to hide her yawns, mortified when Will caught her at it, but touched when he called a taxi and came outside to wait with her.
‘Are you working tomorrow, Will?’
‘Yes, but not with Stewie. I’ve got another stint behind the bar at The Lugger. It’s the old inn by the bridge. Have you been?’
‘Not yet.’
Ellie wasn’t quite sure what else to say. Will seemed so exotic, for all his unemployed status – a shooting star, out of her reach. Had she been as boring as she felt?
Will ran a hand through his dark waves. ‘I… actually, I was hoping to get a date. For lunch. Tomorrow.’
‘Oh.’ Ellie tried to look disinterested as a taxi pulled through the stone gates into the grounds, and she stepped forward, keen to end the awkward moment.
‘You do know I mean with you?’ Will addressed Ellie’s back, and she swung around.
‘Me?’
‘Am I really so bad at this?’ Will held her gaze in the dim glow of the car’s headlights, and Ellie was stunned to see uncertainty on his features.
‘Yes. I mean, no, you’re not. I’m just… I’d love to have lunch!’
A relieved smile spread across his face, and he leapt forward to open the rear door of the taxi.
‘Meet you on the harbour? Midday?’
Ellie nodded through the open window, raising a hand in a small wave as the car lurched across the gravel and turned for the gate once more.
Sinking back against the seat, she released a long breath. She was going on a date. With the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on.
The lunch was the first of many, with Ellie protesting at Will using his paltry wages – earned either behind the bar at the pub, sweating away in Stewie the Shrimp or selling tickets for the daily boat trips – on buying her treats, like ice creams or silly souvenirs from the tacky tourist shop on the front.
In return, Ellie did her best to eke her budget out, buying takeaways for them to enjoy, sitting on the harbour steps, feet dangling over the swell of water, or a couple of ciders at the pub.
Nicki was barely seen, spending all her time with Hamish, the local fisherman she’d caught, and even going out on his boat once, returning green in the gills and several pounds lighter from finding the undulating sea far less attractive when actually on it.
Alex and Bella were likewise lesser spotted.
As for Ellie and Will, they became inseparable, spending every possible moment together, be it day or night. She also became aware of Will’s proclivity for giving away money.
‘But you don’t have any!’ Ellie exclaimed, as he dropped coins into whatever collection tin sat on the counter in the chippy, or the convenience store or local bar.
‘So now I have less.’ He shrugged. ‘I have way more than a lot of people, Ells. And what’s a few pounds here and there, if I’ve got it? Another shift with my mate, Stewie?’
Will, in the meantime, was amused by Ellie’s attachment to her phone.
‘You’re always taking photos. It’s a phone, you know, not a camera.’
‘I’d love a good one, but I can’t afford it right now. Besides, this is the iPhone4.’ She waved it proudly.
Will’s look was comical. ‘So not the latest, then.’
‘It was the best within my budget.’ She gestured at the scenic harbour view. ‘And it’s so easy to take great shots with it. Besides, look at the light! There’s something special about it here.’
‘It’s also why you constantly run out of battery, draining it by snapping away like there’s no tomorrow.’
‘Hush, now,’ Ellie cautioned, laughing as Will pulled a sulky face, then grinned. She tugged his arm. ‘Come over here, by the wall.’
‘Why? What am I looking at? I want my beer!’
‘It’ll still be there when I’m done. Stand still. Look pensive. Now look over there. The camera loves you, Will.’
‘And I love you,’ he responded, kissing Ellie swiftly on her surprised mouth, then assuming a god-like pose on the harbour wall, reclining, head tossed back, eyes closed.
Heart thumping like the hammer currently pounding in the nearby boat yard, Ellie stared at him. Then, as delight coursed through her veins, she pocketed the phone and walked over to hug him.
‘I love you too,’ she whispered, as Will’s arms held her close.
‘Where are we going?’
‘You’ll see.’
‘Will!’ Ellie called as he strode on ahead, his long legs covering the uneven ground of the cliff path more easily than hers.
The sun was unrelenting, its strong rays beating through her cotton hat, her sunglasses slipping repeatedly down her peeling nose.
The hawthorn hedgerows were high on either side, the verges dotted with cow parsley, and the scent of newly cut grass drifted over from a nearby cottage as waves pounded the rocks to her left.
Will had stopped now, searching along the hedge bordering the path on the coastal side.
‘It has to be here somewhere.’
Fetching up beside him, sweating and out of breath, Ellie put her hands on her hips.
‘What? You’re being really frustrating!’
With a laugh, Will turned around. ‘And you’re impatient! I told you, it’s a surprise.’ He leaned down, pressing a firm kiss on Ellie’s lips as they parted to protest, so she changed her mind, flinging her arms around his neck and pulling him into a longer one.
‘You’re a minx,’ he whispered against her neck. ‘Now behave.’ He dropped a final kiss on top of the hat and resumed his study of the hedge. ‘Aha! I knew it! Come on.’ He pushed aside some branches to reveal a wooden stile. ‘It looks like no one’s used this for a while.’
As Ellie stepped up onto the stile and Will grasped her hand to steady her, she released an audible gasp.
‘Oh, it’s gorgeous!’
Below, at the bottom of some steps hewn into the steep hillside, was a deserted expanse of pale golden sand, peppered here and there with small rocky outcrops holding pools of water, sparkling in the sun.
Beyond lay the sea, a vast, glistening blanket, dotted with tall white sails and accompanied by a soundtrack of waves hitting a distant cliff as seabirds called overhead.
They reached the beach eventually, and Will rested his arm on Ellie’s shoulders as she took it in.
‘I found it weeks ago. Alex has a small motorboat, and I came out on my own. There’s a natural sort of jetty over there.’ He pointed to where rocks had been piled by some long-ago hand to form a short walkway by more sheltered water, barely disturbed by the waves currently rolling in.
Turning in Will’s arms, Ellie admired the crescent of sand, protected on either side by high cliffs.
‘It’s perfect,’ she said softly.
‘Come on, let’s find a spot to pitch up.’
They spent the rest of the day on what they quickly decided would be ‘their’ beach, lying on a blanket from Will’s backpack. He’d packed a picnic too, and a couple of bottles of the local cider.
It soon became a frequent place for their assignations, with Will borrowing the motorboat on occasion. Other times, they used the steep path instead, depending on their mood or the weather.
The sand there was finely grained and so soft. Ellie loved to dig her toes into it after they’d swum in the shallows, lying on their backs, hands clasped, skin drying under the sun’s caress, Ellie’s hair wet and thick with sand against her back.
Never had she been so happy and nor, it seemed, had Will.