Chapter 63
At the shoreline, Tiger pottered about cautiously, whereas Aria felt braver than she had for a while.
‘I’d like to meet your mother,’ she told Nic.
Nic smiled. ‘I’d like that too. I’ve invited her up for a weekend, actually. Thought we could all have dinner. Do you think Felicity might like to come too?’
‘Probably. It would be nice to do something social with her. She works so hard. I’m glad I don’t hate her anymore.’
‘You change like the wind, right?’ he teased.
‘Says the man who wants to exchange a villa for four walls made out of plywood.’ She pushed him away in jest and went hunting around the beach for the perfect skimming stone.
He followed her, picking up stones as he talked.
‘It’s the future. The kit company is efficient, and their designs are solid.
They’re all over the Scandinavian countries and I think they will catch on here.
People often use them to create a second house at the bottom of their garden, to keep kids and grandchildren close.
Their beauty is they can be erected and knocked down in a day or two.
’ Nic started slowly, but as she listened, he stepped up his explanation.
‘I think the district and town council will welcome it as an experiment in building sustainable homes. And by sustainable, I mean affordable. A local home for local people like you and Sophie.’
‘Much less profit for you?’ she suggested, pouncing on a stone that was both rounded and flat – the perfect skimmer.
‘A different kind of profit. It’s a whole new way of thinking about construction.
We’ll mix and match them with bigger houses.
And some of the land will remain undeveloped.
See that patch up there?’ He took her hand and nodded towards the gateway on the road.
‘Let me introduce you to the future Eddie Wilson Rewilding Wood. We won’t be putting houses there after all or using it as the access road.
Instead, I will help you fill the site with flowers and turn it into a wildlife haven and creature feature.
That hedgehog corridor you go on about is a done deal.
’ He took her hand. ‘You’ve changed me, Aria.
Some might say saved me from dying a slow death by Excel, spending money I didn’t need travelling around developments that weren’t homes.
None of it made me as happy as enjoying a shingle picnic with you while your dog shagged a duck for England. ’
‘Sorry, but there’s no such thing as a slow death by Excel. People always go suddenly and dramatically,’ Aria said, already planning the species of poppies she would put in the Eddie Wilson Wood.
The smile in his eyes matched hers, before he walked to the edge of the lake and dipped his shoes in the shallows.
‘Hey, careful!’ If he expected a lecture in staying away from the water for health reasons, he wasn’t getting one. ‘You’re wearing expensive trainers,’ she warned him instead.
‘Ah, but I bought wellies, and I’ve got my mum some too, and Theo has purchased a hideous waterproof that is one hundred per cent a crime to fashion, even for the north. So can my indoctrination be considered complete?’ he said, picking a stone out of the flotsam.
‘Nope, you still have that annoying southern accent and use inappropriate words to describe a bread roll, which tells me we haven’t quite broken you yet.
If you’re faffing around trying to find a pebble that’ll out-skim one of mine, you should give up now.
I’ve had twenty-five years of Eddie Wilson training on what to look for.
‘Thank you for telling me what happened with Theo. I know that was hard.’
Nic kept his eyes on the lake for a moment, then snapped out of his thoughts and turned to hug her. ‘I should thank you again for coming to my rescue.’
Aria shot him a wry smile. ‘You already did that. Multiple times.’
‘I can’t do without you, Aria. You make me a bigger person,’ he gushed.
She glanced at the zip of his jeans. ‘Oh, I know I do.’
He laughed, delighted by his good fortune in winning back this stunning woman who could get under his skin just by entering his vision. ‘Ready to go again?’
‘Live today and apply arnica tomorrow: that’ll be my motto going forward.
Not just in bed – I have lots of plans. As well as going to college, I’m talking to my boss about organising an open gardens day once a month.
Some of them have incredible landscaping and people ought to see it.
And I’ve decided to set up a campaign group.
Not just to complain about pollution filtering into the lakes, but to try and get it stopped.
You know you mentioned Surfers Against Sewage?
I thought I’d call it Lakeland Swimmers Against Sewage. ’
‘That’s a fantastic idea. Maybe I can hook you up with some of the Brighton swimmers and surfers for information-
sharing.’
He paused and she wondered if he was thinking about the day Theo got hurt? She wanted to take that pain away from him once and for all. But the look he gave her was not distress. It was hope. ‘I love you, Aria. Move in with me.’
‘Oh!’ Aria stopped in her tracks. ‘I don’t know, Nic.
You’re only just getting settled and I’ve been talking to Felicity about staying with her for now.
I’m not sure if I’m capable of standing on my own two feet yet, and you don’t want me barging in…
’ She was ignoring the L bomb as she needed another few moments to process that.
‘Are you kidding? You’re just like those sunflowers you planted.
’ Nic pointed towards a patch of them beyond where her hut used to stand.
‘They’re top-heavy like you and their stems don’t look sturdy enough to support anything.
’ His hand flicked at her chest in jest, and she took his fingers and brought them to her lips.
‘But no matter how hard the soil, they scatter themselves and bloom and grow.’
He angled his stone so it skimmed, and grinned when it bounced three times.
Aria held hers tightly in her palm. She could see potential in staying, especially with shared goals and vision.
Their engagement might have been fake, but she knew now their relationship was real.
If she was honest with herself, she loved him back.
And while her dad had helped her put down roots, she realised the important part was creating something meaningful in the space above this rich, beautiful earth.
‘Bring me the oars and I’ll think about it,’ she teased with a wink. She knew exactly what she needed to do. It was time to let go. With a flick of her wrist, she threw her stone into the water. It created a perfect circle in the lake. Her home.