Page 5 of The Boathouse By the Loch

She answered straight away.

‘Faye.’ Jake sighed; it was good to hear her voice, even though he’d only spoken to her an hour earlier on his way back there from the airport. She hadn’t been answering his calls, so Marcus had said he’d sort it out. Jake hadn’t expected that Marcus would be able to get her to phone him. But he had. He’d told Faye that Jake was returning to the Ross Corporation. She’d been straight on the phone to him, shocked. Marcus hadn’t told her that it was only for one or two weeks, the summer at most, while Marcus checked into the rehab clinic. Jake had reassured her he’d be back to school for the start of the new academic year in September.

What he’d failed to tell her was that he probably wasn’t going to be flying home the next day. He’d promised he was only staying another night, but after his conversation with Marcus, Jake had a feeling he’d need more time. He’d also told her something else he shouldn’t have – at least not over the phone. It was concerning what he and Marcus intended to do as soon as Marcus got out of rehab. They were going to go and see Eleanor. It had just slipped out in conversation.

He could tell Faye thought he’d lost his mind when he’d told her Eleanor had survived the skiing accident. All along, she had been under the misapprehension that he was a widower. He’d also told her he didn’t want to go into specifics over the phone. Fortunately, Natty had been in the background, haranguing her mum to let her speak to him, so he hadn’t had to. The last thing Faye had said to him earlier was that she missed him terribly and that he had better be coming back very soon.

Jake sighed heavily down the phone.

Unfortunately, Faye heard him. ‘Is everything all right? Don’t tell me that your flight tomorrow has been cancelled.’

‘Look, about that—’

‘You’re not coming back, are you?’ Faye said flatly.

Jake took a deep breath. ‘Not tomorrow, no. Look I need more time.’

‘It’s about Eleanor, isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Jake said in a small voice. ‘You know I said I didn’t want to go into specifics about the accident over the phone. But the fact is, Marcus and I … well, we had a huge falling-out over what happened up on that mountain at the time. He was convinced someone else was up there with us when we were skiing off-piste. I didn’t believe him.’

‘Why was that fact so important?’ Faye asked gently.

‘There was an avalanche. There was no warning of one when we went skiing up there, no hint that anything of that nature would occur, otherwise we would not have skied on Christmas Day. Then it happened, and we got buried in the snow – well, Eleanor and I did. But Marcus dug me out first. That’s what I’d assumed. How could I not? If only he’d dug her out first, then she wouldn’t be—’

Jake halted. ‘All along, he said there was someone else up there with them, must have been, because he said it wasn’t him who dug me out and then Eleanor.’

‘And you didn’t believe him.’

‘Of course not. He was just lying. At least that’s what I thought all along, until …’ Jake picked up the peas and held them to his sore eye again. ‘Well, until Marcus made me see sense. Eleanor was … is … his sister, after all. Although he and I, we’re best friends, like brothers, Eleanor is his family, his sister. He’d have dug her out first, I just know it.’ Jake sighed. ‘I think I just needed someone to blame, when I really should blame myself for not stopping her going skiing.’

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Faye said, ‘Take as much time as you need. I’ll tell Natty something came up, and you won’t be back as soon as we hoped.’

‘Oh, god! I forgot about Natty.’

‘She’ll be fine. As long as you’re coming back …’ She let the sentence hang.

‘Of course I’m coming back. I just need a few days. I’ve booked in here for six nights, but I’ll be back sooner, if I can.’

‘Is there anything I can do?’

Jake smiled. The fact that she’d answered her phone to him was more than enough, and she’d been understanding that he’dreneged on his promise to return to London when he said he would.

‘You’ve done more than enough.’

Faye disagreed. ‘But I haven’t done anything.’

‘You’ve been understanding. Especially after I blurted what I did about Eleanor.’

‘It’s okay, Jake. We all deal with grief in different ways. Someone doesn’t have to die to mourn the life that was taken away from you.’

Jake nodded. Of course she understood. He imagined she was talking from experience. She’d been in love with Natty’s father, Yousaf, and although they’d never married, she’d thought she’d have a life with him, there in England. He’d been a foreign student from a wealthy family in Oman, but Faye hadn’t wanted to return with him to live in his country. She’d had a life, a career, and wanted to bring up their toddler daughter in England.

Unfortunately, the pressure to return home to his family abroad had clearly been too much for Yousaf, so he had returned, but not before attempting to take Natty with him, ostensibly just to visit his family. Jake had been so angry when Faye had told him she’d discovered Yousaf had bought one-way tickets for himself and Natty. He hadn’t been intending to bring her back. The trip with his daughter had not gone ahead, and he had returned to Oman alone. Inevitably, the relationship between them had broken down completely. Correspondence followed in which Yousaf apologised profusely for what his family had forced him to do. Although Faye had forgiven him, Yousaf had not seen his daughter since she was three – six years earlier.

Jake thought that it was for the best. What if it happened again? Yousaf had promised it wouldn’t, but that hadn’t stopped Fayemoving around, in the beginning, so he wouldn’t find them if he returned to England. All that was now behind them, though, and they were settled in their house. Natty was settled in her school, and Faye in her job.

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