Page 36 of After the Rain
Aidan
Watching Rain experience sailing under no power other than what the wind can give us is incredible. His eyes glisten with excitement – and probably a little bit the cold – and I could get lost in them. His wide smiles every time I call ‘jibe-ho’ or ‘lee-ho’, so he knows which way we’re turning and therefore which direction the boom is going to swing over, make me laugh, and I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever been as happy as I am in this moment.
We traverse the length and breadth of Black Horse Broad for about an hour and a half, stopping after about forty minutes for a tea break, Rain surprising me with a flask and some homemade cookies. When the cold starts to permeate the thermal clothes we are both wearing, I pull the sail in, restart the motor, and head back home. It’s a bit trickier navigating back as it’s fully dark now, but luckily, all of our hireboats have beacon lights on the bow.
Rain sits on my lap, his feet up on the bench, and his head tucked under my chin. I wrap one arm around his waist to hold him steady and steer with my right hand on the tiller. After about twenty-five minutes, we arrive home, and I negotiate mooring up stern-on with a practised ease. I hop off the back and quickly tie up the mooring ropes onto the mooring rings, before reaching up and helping Rain down onto the slightly slippery quay heading.
“Watch out, it’s a bit frosty now,” I warn. “Shall we grab showers before we head to the pub?” I check my watch and realise that it’s a little after 5pm, and we had arranged to meet everyone at half past, so we will have to be quick. We decided to walk down to the village as Eve Eve tends to get a bit messy, and we both wanted to celebrate with a few drinks.
We head inside, Pax climbing out of his bed as we enter, immediately nosing at Rain’s legs. I roll my eyes at the disloyalty on display by “my” dog. I give Rain a gentle slap on his delicious arse and tell him to head up for a shower while I take Pax out and get him fed. I help Rain out of his many layers before taking Pax back outside, grabbing the large torch I keep by the door. We head down the steps, and Pax is already off sniffing in the grass at the side of the house. Aslight movement at the corner of the workshop across the way catches my attention, and I whip my head in that direction and shine the torch to see what it was. I squint a little and start to head over there, sure I saw something black move around the side of the workshop. Behind me, Pax barks, and I turn around to see what has his attention. He’s snuffling in the hedges that lead over to the workshop, and when I investigate, I see a small muntjac deer running away from the garden and over towards the road and the fields beyond. Hmm. Maybe that’s what I saw? I shake off the weird feeling, sure that it must have been the deer, and when Pax has done his business, we head back inside. I take my own layers off and make my way into the kitchen to feed Pax.
Within an hour, we are both showered, changed, and heading back out to join my friends and family for what, I hope, will be the first of many Eve Eve pre-Christmas celebrations together.
We enter The White Horse and easily find our group by following the noise. Cole and Poppy are playing a very competitive game of darts – Poppy is absolutely kicking Cole’s arse – and are throwing down some pretty inventive smack talk, to the enjoyment of everyone else. Everyone, that is, except Wren, who is sitting quietly, sipping aglass of red wine. A pang of guilt floods me as I realise that I still haven’t made the effort to spend some time with her and find out what’s been going on. I have a feeling it’s something to do with Sam, since every time Wren’s name came up when we were out fishing the other day, he got all tense and quiet. I really hope I’m not going to have to punch one of my best friends.
I head to the bar while Rain makes a beeline for Corey, who is enthusiastically laughing along with Poppy and Cole’s antics sandwiched between Chris and Archer. Nash is sat on the other side of Wren, studiously avoiding looking in Corey’s direction. Clearly another sibling conversation I need to have.
The log-burner in the bar is pouring out heat, and added to the many bodies in the bar celebrating the Christmas season, it is almost unbearably hot in here. I shed my plaid jacket as I wait to be served. Heading back towards Rain with my pint of beer and his empty wine glass, I ignore his quizzical look before hurrying back to the bar for the bottle of red that I figure he can share with Wren. I nod at her as I set it down, and he gives me a small smile.
When Poppy finally wins the game of darts, she and Cole return to the table and pick up their drinks. Poppy joins Wren and Rain with a concerned expression on her face as she sitsdown on the opposite side of Wren as Rain, sandwiching her closely between them. I look quizzically at Rain, trying to get a read from him as to what the fuck is going on. He shakes his head almost imperceptibly at me, and I decide to ask him later. Not that I expect he’ll tell me. He’ll just tell me to speak to Wren, or to stay out of it, more likely.
The evening passes in generally good humour. Sam joins us a couple of times but is always quickly drawn back to the bar to serve customers, each time accompanied by a deep sigh from Wren. She disappears to the toilets after his second or third time joining us and comes back with suspiciously red eyes, but a determined look on her face. At one point, a little after nine o’clock, when the bar is almost three-deep, Corey jumps up and heads behind the bar and just starts serving. Sam initially looks bewildered, but upon seeing Corey’s capable hands pouring multiple pints at once while he effortlessly charms the customers, I’m not at all surprised that by ten o’clock, when Corey rejoins us, Sam has given him a job to start on Boxing Day.
After that announcement, Wren seems to swallow her determination, along with what was left of her glass of wine, and makes her way to the now much quieter bar. She catches Sam’s attention and leans forward to speak to him. Itseems to be going well, as he smiles at her despite looking somewhat panicked, but before long, I can tell that Wren is getting frustrated when she starts gesticulating more wildly and Sam is shaking his head at her in a placating gesture. Wren throws her hands up, returns to her seat, and pours herself another large glass of wine before being engulfed in conversation with Rain and Poppy again.
I’ve had very little chance to speak to Rain tonight, but in a way, I’m happy with that. It means he’s establishing relationships outside of us, and that means he has more than just me as a reason to stick around. I want him to have friends and people to confide in, especially when I inevitably do something to piss him off. It happens in relationships. Every relationship has its challenges; I’m not naïve enough to think that everything will be sunshine and roses, especially considering that in the grand scheme of things, we barely know each other. But he’ll have Wren, Poppy, and hopefully Corey there for him.
Just before closing time, a woman enters the pub wrapped in a fake fur coat and carrying an ostentatious YSL printed overnight bag. Sam, who is sat with us now since we are the only ones left in the pub, freezes and all the colour drains from his face. He stands, knocking his stool over, and we all go silent as he speaks.
“Tash?” His voice is rough.
The woman turns toward him, and her coat falls open, exposing a very large pregnancy bump.
“Hi, Sam.” She sounds almost smug to have caught him by surprise, and instantly, I feel all of my friends go stiff in dislike of this woman. “I think we need to talk,” she indicates her stomach.
“Erm, yeah. I’ll uhm, just close up. Guys.” He indicates us, as a group. “I think it’s time to, uhm, call it a night?” We all look confusedly at each other as he makes his way to the bar, hands full of the glasses from our table, some of them still half full. Archer, being Archer, can’t ever just keep out of anything, so he approaches the woman with his hand extended.
“Hi, I’m Archer, a good friend of Sam’s. We all are, really.” He inclines his head over his shoulder towards us. “Who might you be?” She sneers coldly, not taking his proffered hand.
“I’m Natasha, Sam’s wife.” There is a collective inhale of surprise. I don’t know what makes me do it, but I look to Wren, only to find that she has tears falling down her cheeks as she quickly gathers her bag and coat. She’s a bit wobbly on her feet, and we all recognise that we need to follow her out. As she passes the bar, she glares at Sam. She looks angry, but she’s my sister; I know when she’s in pain. I give my own glare toSam as I pass, but I also see him lean forwards as though to chase after Wren, and a look of utter heartbreak on his face.
“You OK?” I whisper to him as I pass, a hand resting on his shoulder. He looks up at me, and his eyes are wet.
“No, mate. I’m really fucking not. But I have to deal with this. Can you…” He pauses, unable to find his next words. “Can you just make sure Wren is OK? Please? I’ll explain everything to her when I can, and it’s really not what she thinks, but, I…” He looks at me imploringly. “I know she’s your baby sister, mate, but please. I need to know she’s OK.” He looks absolutely gutted, and if I hadn’t known Sam as long as I have, I might have been throwing a punch right now. However, I know that he’s a good guy, and whatever the fuck he’s got himself into, he needs a friend.
“Of course, bud. I’ll text you later. Call me if you need anything.”
I head out, following the rest of our group, who have all exited while I spoke with Sam – all except Rain, who is hovering by the door waiting for me. We decide to head back to mine for a couple more drinks. Everyone but Wren and Poppy, that is, who have already disappeared up the road.
Chris indicates in the direction we cansee their backs only slightly illuminated by the streetlight, and Poppy has her arm wrapped tightly around Wren’s back. “I’ll go with the girls and make sure Wren’s OK. She’s probably going to stay at ours tonight.”
I clap him on the back in gratitude, Archer, Cole, and Nash all doing the same as we watch our heartbroken baby sister disappear into the night.
The conversation on the walk back to our house between Rain, Corey, Nash, Archer, Cole, and me is almost exclusively trying to work out what the fuck is going on with Wren and Sam. Drunken gossip is a surefire way to come up with some outlandish explanations, from a Russian bride whom he married to give her residency, to Sam being a secret MI5 agent, and she’s a double agent he’s been chasing for years. Honestly, the conversational gymnastics that my family is capable of is quite something. Corey keeps largely quiet, seeing as he doesn’t really know anyone very well yet. He just clings to Rain’s arm and, despite the drama, looks content to be in this environment.
It surprises me, then, that as we approach the driveway to the DB workshop, it’s Corey’s voice that calls out.
“What’s that? That glow?” He points towards the river, and we all follow his gesture. Panic lands as a ball in my stomach, and I sober upinstantly when I look up and see the glow of what is, unmistakeably, a fire.
