Chapter 48
Tilly made it all the way into the shed, through the boat room, up the stairs and as far as filling the kettle before her composure gave out.
Then she flicked the kettle on, gripped the edge of the sink with both hands, and did a small silent scream at the draining board.
A date. An actual, official, no-oysters, no-audience, out-loud date.
Let's go out properly, he'd said. Properly. Of all the words in all the languages, the man had gone and used that one. It was as if the universe was trying to tell her something. Tilly couldn’t believe how things had turned out.
She felt as if her emotions were all over the show.
She didn't even wait for the tea to brew but instead got straight onto the Properlies chat group and recorded a voice note.
Barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice, she attempted to speak slowly.
'Okay. Okay, okay, okay. We have an update.
Otto Carrington has just asked me out. He used the word “properly”, if you can believe it!
He doesn't even know about us, and he said it.
He asked me to go to dinner, and I said yes.
I pretended to check my calendar first, though.
As if I have anything to do! I checked and then told the most gorgeous man on this island that Saturday works.
Oh my God! I cannot believe this is happening after all I said. I have it bad!'
Tilly made the tea and stood watching the fog thicken over the estuary, feeling like a bottle of something fizzy that had been shaken and put back on the shelf. What a lucky duck.
Pia dropped a message in the group, which was actually just a long, elongated squeal. Then she called. 'Spooky that he said properly! Tils, I have goosebumps on my arms. This is so good.’
‘I know. Of all the words he could have used. He mentioned us, not that he knew he had. Isn’t that something? It’s all quite strange in a way.'
'Right, hang on, back up,' Pia said. 'Last I heard, you were putting it to bed and replying about tides. What happened? Where did you see him?'
'I bumped into him on my walk. I'd taken the long loop specifically to avoid him, which obviously worked a treat, because there he was coming the other way with Stanley. It was as if I’d engineered it to happen, which, obviously, I hadn’t.'
'Naturally,' Pia said. 'Small island. Go on.'
'So I decided to be breezy, cool, casual, neighbourly. I said good morning like a normal person, and then he started on about the tide and the cages, and I stood there in my wellies nodding away about oysters. It made me cringe, to be honest.'
'Oysters?' Pia repeated flatly.
'I know, pretty lame after what happened. Anyway, so something in me just snapped, Pia. I thought, I have spent years standing about pretending things are fine when they are not fine, and I am not doing it any more. So I fronted him with the truth.'
Pia gasped. 'You did not?'
'I did. Go me! I told him I wasn't going to stand there making small talk as if the other night hadn't happened. I said I'd had a lovely time, and then he'd sent me a text about a tide, and I'd like to know where I stood, more or less. That and the fact that we could just move on.'
'Who even are you? I like it, Tils. What did he say?'
'He said he left because he didn't want to ruin anything, and the tide text was because he picked his phone up forty times and didn't know what to write.'
Pia squealed. 'Jasmine is going to lose her mind. He was sitting there with his big, posh farming business, drafting texts to you. I can’t believe he said “properly”. He's one of us, and he doesn't even know it. Ha! Right, that's it. What are you wearing? That nice blue dress again?'
'The blue dress has been seen. I think this will be the pink dress situation. I can’t believe this is happening!'
'Jasmine is going to die. I’ll get the popcorn.'