Chapter 16
Murray still had an idiotic grin plastered across his face as he tied the boat securely back to the side of the trawler, and then heaved himself aboard. Gone was the headache. Gone was the intense desire to sleep for a week. Milly Rowlands really was some kind of miracle cure for a bash on the head.
Strolling across the deck, Murray sucked in a deep breath of evening air, then turned to stare out at the marshes, golden and gleaming under the lowering sun. The birdsong sounded sweeter than usual, and he had a horrible feeling… a wonderful feeling… was he falling…?
The sound of the Sat Phone rent the air, breaking the spell. Murray groaned. That was going to be Josh again, wasn’t it? The idiot really didn’t get the message easily. If you ignored most people long enough, they simply went away, but Josh was tenacious.
Rolling his eyes, he strode for the cabin. He knew better than to ignore the call. If it was Josh, he’d just keep ringing every five minutes for all eternity – or until Murray answered. He couldn’t be dealing with that tonight. He wanted to revel in the incredible, unexpected, wonderful day he’d just had.
Milly had kissed him – again.
‘What?’ he said, yanking the phone out of its cradle and pressing it against his ear.
‘Don’t say what like that, Murray Eddington!’
Murray flinched. It was a woman’s voice. Stern and no-nonsense. It simultaneously made him think of his mum and the scary dinner lady he’d had at primary school.
‘Erm… sorry… hello?’ he said, trying to place who it was.
‘Hi!’ said the voice again, and this time, there was a bubble of laughter behind it. ‘It’s Caroline Cook from the Crumbleton Times and Echo.’
Of course it was!
‘Oh… right,’ said Murray, slumping slightly. At least it wasn’t Josh, but Caroline wasn’t much better. He didn’t fancy getting grilled about the humiliation of Saturday. ‘Sorry I didn’t call you back. I—’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Caroline. ‘I’ve dropped the story. You’ll probably be pleased to hear that I can’t get a decent photograph of the whole thing for love nor money. In fact – I can’t get any kind of photo of it!’
‘Erm… well…’ Murray realised his grin was back in place. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘No you’re not!’ hooted Caroline.
‘Okay – you’re right,’ said Murray. ‘So… to what do I owe the pleasure?’
‘I’m calling to ask you out on a date,’ said Caroline.
Murray’s jaw dropped, but in his stunned silence, he heard a strange squawk on the other end of the line.
‘Erm… you okay?’ he said. It sounded a bit like Caroline had just walked into a wall.
‘She’s fine!’ came a different voice.
‘Gimmie that!’ said Caroline again, sounding muffled and somehow further away.
‘Murray?’
‘I’m still here?’ said Murray, giving himself a little pinch just to check he hadn’t fallen into some kind of weird dream. That voice sounded strangely like Milly.
‘Aha! Unhand my phone, you blaggard!’
Caroline’s yell made Murray ease the handset away from his ear, and a great deal of scuffling and half-strangled giggling erupted on the other end.
‘Hello? Murray my man, are you still there?’ Caroline was huffing and puffing now, but clearly back in control of the phone.
‘I am,’ he said. ‘Do you need some kind of… assistance?’
‘Assistance?’ chuckled Caroline. ‘Nah – your girlfriend’s been picking fights with me and losing since primary school.’
‘Girlfriend?’
Murray’s voice had just shot out of him in a squeak of surprise – and he heard it echoed on the other end by an equally loud yelp.
‘Not… you suck, Caroline… I’m going to kill… and then… wine… git!’
Murray grinned. He might not have been able to make out the entire muffled sentence, but that voice was unmistakably Milly’s.
‘Is she okay?’ he said cautiously.
‘Yes,’ said Caroline. ‘She just doesn’t like it when I sit on her.’
Murray snorted.
‘Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…’
Giggle… squeak…
‘Shh woman!’ grunted Caroline. ‘Your girlfriend had her brains addled so badly by snogging you, she forgot to ask you for your phone number. I had it – but because I’m a professional—’
‘Don’t listen to her, she’s got wine!’ interrupted Milly before breaking into a round of violent giggles that made Murray suspect she was being tickled into silence.
‘Lies, all lies!’ said Caroline blithely. The fact that she’d slurred the word both times made Murray promptly side with Milly. ‘Anyway – I couldn’t just give her your number, could I?’
‘You couldn’t?’ said Murray, struggling to keep a straight face.
‘No chance,’ she said. ‘Where’s the fun in that!’
‘Erm… well… can I talk to her now?’ he said.
Caroline went quiet for a moment. ‘Okay, fine.’
Murray could almost hear her pout.
‘Murray?’ came Milly’s voice.
‘Yeah… hi?’ he said. ‘You okay?’
‘Yeah,’ said Milly. She sounded like she was smiling. ‘Caroline weighs a ton.’
‘Meanie!’ came Caroline’s voice in the background.
‘So…’ said Murray, suddenly lost for words now that he had Milly on the line.
‘So… how are you?’ said Milly.
‘Oh for goodness sake!’ said Caroline. There was another round of scuffling and the phone beeped.
‘Erm – you still there?’ said Murray.
‘This is Caroline,’ said Caroline. ‘See – that’s exactly why I didn’t let her call in the first place. I knew we’d be here until Christmas just waiting for the pair of you to say something useful. Your girlfriend wants to ask you on a proper date.’
‘I didn’t—’ squeaked Milly.
‘You hush!’ said Caroline, using her scary dinner lady voice again. ‘Murray you’ve got three choices. Hotel, Milly’s place or your place.’
‘Not the hotel!’ said Murray quickly. Somehow, he didn’t think he’d be heading back there for a while.
‘Not his place,’ came Milly’s voice. ‘I’m crap at rowing!’
‘Right,’ said Caroline. ‘Milly will cook dinner for you tomorrow night. Be there at six-thirty.’
‘I can do that,’ said Murray.
‘I can’t cook,’ said Milly.
‘So go to the bakery for some pasties and pretend!’ huffed Caroline. ‘Murray,’ she added, turning her attention back to him, ‘dress smart!’
‘I’m not wearing a suit,’ said Murray.
‘Tell him to wear his towel!’
‘Milly says to wear your—’
‘Yeah, I heard,’ chuckled Murray.
‘And don’t even think about bringing her flowers,’ said Caroline. ‘She likes cola cubes, though!’
The line went dead.
Murray stared at the handset for a long moment. He had a date with Milly. A proper date. Sure, Caroline hadn’t actually given him her phone number… but he’d be able to rectify that when he saw her tomorrow. It would be the first thing he did. Okay - maybe the third thing. First, he’d hand over a huge bag of cola cubes, second, he’d kiss her… then he’d get her number.
‘Sounds like a plan!’ he said to himself with a determined little nod, which belied the tangle of nerves already expanding in his stomach. He was just about to replace the handset when it started ringing again.
‘Hello?’ he said, his heart pumping, a broad smile spreading on his face as he prepared himself for another round of the Caroline and Milly show.
‘Mate. It’s Josh. So – what did you think of my speech? Genius, right?’
Murray was nervous. So nervous that he decided against taking the winding, uneven steps that led to the top of Crumbleton. Sure, it was tempting to take the back route up to Milly’s flat, but the last thing he needed right now was for his legs to give way. Face-planting into the uneven stone and turning up bruised, bleeding and missing a tooth or two definitely wasn’t the look he was going for.
He was determined that this date was going to go well – preferably without a head injury, an ambulance, a ton of marsh mud or the need for a restorative nap partway through.
Actually… the nap part wouldn’t be so bad!
Murray grinned to himself as he ambled slowly up the cobbles past the little courtyard in front of the Crumbleton Times and Echo offices. He might not be taking Milly any flowers… but if tonight went well, he’d definitely be sending some down to Caroline!
Murray blew out a long, slow breath, doing his best to calm his racing heart – which had nothing to do with the steep hill and everything to do with the woman waiting for him at the top of it.
Taking Caroline’s advice, Murray had already done a lap of the shops. He’d arrived in town early to grab a large paper bag full of cola cubes from the sweet shop. Then, deciding that it wasn’t nearly enough of an offering, he’d nipped into the bakery and added a whole cherry Madeira cake and half a dozen chocolate brownies to his haul.
Being in town hadn’t been as bad as he’d feared. He’d half-expected a barrage of questions about what had happened at the wedding. Instead, all he’d been met with was genuine concern and several offers of help. Stuart from Bendall’s had even volunteered to deliver supplies all the way out to the trawler if he ever needed him to. Murray had been touched – especially when Stuart had then insisted on gifting him a vat of salted caramel ice cream to “help him feel better”. He couldn’t wait to dollop it on top of a brownie and share it with Milly.
The combination of ice cream and Milly in the same thought made Murray’s knees wobble dangerously, and he sucked in another deep breath. He didn’t know why he was being so ridiculous – Milly’s visit to the trawler hadn’t exactly been under the most romantic of circumstances. She’d already seen him at his worst – and yet, she’d been easy, lovely company. There was no reason tonight should be any different.
Except that this is officially a date!
The thought prodded him in the back of the brain and his heart suddenly felt like it was going to explode out of his chest. But… it was only officially a date because that’s what Caroline had called it. In reality, it was just two people meeting up to eat half the contents of the Crumbleton Bakery.
Yes. That’s what they were doing. Brownies and ice cream and chat. That wasn’t scary at all… was it?!
Knock you idiot - you’re already there!
Murray blinked. He was standing outside of Milly’s flat. He’d just marched up the high street on autopilot and reached the door next to the flower shop without even thinking about it.
Raising his hand, Murray knocked quickly before he had the chance to get cold feet and chicken out of the whole thing. Not that he could of course - because he didn’t have Milly’s number and there was no way he’d just disappear on her!
Thundering footsteps from the other side of the door echoed his rowdy heartbeat. Before he could arrange his face into anything other than a dorky smile, the door flew open, and she was standing right in front of him.
‘Milly!’ he said. It was the only thing he could think to say.
‘Damn,’ she said with a frown.
Murray’s eyebrows shot up. That wasn’t quite the greeting he’d been hoping for.
‘What?’ he said.
‘You’re not wearing the towel!’
Murray relaxed and grinned at her. ‘No – but I do have cola cubes, ice cream and way more cake than is good for us,’ he said, raising the shopping bag slightly.
‘I like your style, Murray Eddington,’ she said. ‘Come on up!’