Page 120 of Toy Boy

He’s here? I thought he’d left, gone back to Australia, at least, that’s what I’d assumed.

Moving away from the throng of people congregating outside I head down onto the beach, and find a quiet spot behind a sand dune. Do I reply to him? Is itreallyhim? Could it just be somebody playing tricks on me?

Why would anyone do that…?

I don’t know. But I’m wary. So I continue to stare down at the message, still not sure what to do, my finger hovering over the phone because, deep down, I know I’m going to respond.

Is that really you?

I press ‘send’ and sit back against the dune, closing my eyes and breathing in the warm, sea air, that familiar smell of salt and sand and the faint aroma of fried fish and chips. I love that smell.

My phone pings back another text, and my eyes spring open, dropping immediately to the screen.

Yes. It’s really me. Can we meet? Please, Megan, I really need to see you.

Again, I don’t instantly respond, because I’m confused. This was a man I’d grown to love being around, but he was a man who’d lied to me. I felt like I couldn’t trust him anymore, but at the same time, I’ve missed him. More than I should’ve done. More than I wanted to.

Where are you?

My heart’s starting to pick up a fast, heavy rhythm as I once more wait for his reply, and now I’m not sure I should be doing this. We buried Scott today, and I should be in The Swan, with everyone else, paying my respects and…

Scott didn’t showyoumuch respect, in the beginning.

Scott saved my life.

And he held that over you, silently, all the time…

He didn’t. Not all the time. Surely…

The sound of another message arriving shakes me from those thoughts of Scott, and I glance down at the phone.

By the sand dunes, behind my old beach house.

He’s keeping a low profile, then.

I draw my knees up to my chest and close my eyes again. I just need another moment, to decide what I’m doing here. There’s a huge part of me that wants to get up and run to him, but then I remember that I’m a forty-three-year-old woman with a grown-up son and a business to run, not some lovesick teenager whose boyfriend’s just returned from college.

And he lied to you. Xander. You were part of his game, remember?

A game I’m not sure he really wanted to play, in the end.

Hauling myself to my feet, I brush the sand off the back off my black pants, and glance back at The Swan. The terrace is getting busier now as the early afternoon heat starts to make its presence felt. People want to be outdoors in this weather. And those people, they won’t miss me if I slip away for a few minutes…

Xander

I didn’t think she’d come, but as she makes her way across the sand, manoeuvring her way through the grassy knolls and the dunes, I let out a low sigh of relief. She’s dressed in black, because she’s just laid her ex-husband to rest. Yeah, I know what day it is. That’s why I’m here, back in Beachcastle Bay.

The second she spots me she slows down a little, almost as if she can’t decide whether to proceed, or retreat. I’m praying it’s the former. And for a second or two I’m forced to hold my breath as she stands still, but she’s looking at me, right at me, and when she smiles I feel my entire body sag with relief.

“I didn’t think you’d come.”

“I nearly didn’t. What are you doing here? I thought – I assumed you’d gone back home. To Queensland.”

I slide my hands into my pockets to stop me from reaching out to touch her, because that’s what I want to do. What I’ve wanted to do since the moment I left here.

“I was going to. I had every intention of doing that, but, then I heard about Scott.”

She takes a step back, her expression full-on wary now, and I can’t blame her for that. “So, what? You stuck around just to make sure he really was dead?”

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