Page 21 of The Island in Bramble Bay
It was a bright spring day and was surprisingly warm as there was hardly any wind. As Maggie walked from the cottage to the office she noticed many more birds and even a red squirrel out of the corner of her eye, as if the island was coming alive now that it was spring. She had arranged to walk around the island with the volunteers ahead of the May bank holiday which heralded the beginning of the busy season. Now that the Trust Treks had been confirmed, they were going to make sure that what people would expect to see in the way of wildlife was actually there, or traces of it at least.
Megan had made a map for each of them with the location of each Trek marked in a different colour. She had really thrown herself into the project which Maggie was grateful for as she’d had a lot less time to spend on it than she’d hoped.
‘Okay, so we’ll start with the Squirrel Spotter Trek,’ began Megan. ‘The area I’ve marked is where they had the most sightings last season so we’ll start from there but we can be fluid about it as we find more successful spots.’
‘I’ve seen a few over at the Scout camp,’ said Eric ‘but it’s not the best area to send visitors when there’s an actual camp going on.’
‘Agreed,’ Maggie said. ‘We’ll try and stick to the woodland for that one. I think visitors would prefer that to hanging around the campsite toilet block.’
They strolled through the woods to the next location, at the same time all keeping a look-out for red squirrels. They had a quick look for some insects in a couple of hollow trees and a rotting woodpile for the Bug Hunting Trek and then Josh suggested leading the way to the area they’d been coppicing for the Tree Detective Trek.
Maggie’s heart leapt at the thought of maybe seeing Charlie even though it was barely an hour since they’d parted at the cottage. Maybe he wouldn’t be coppicing, she thought, trying to manage her expectations. And besides, part of her wanted to preserve the sense of anticipation that had been building for their date that evening.
Megan’s leaflet had some detailed pictures of leaves that needed to be matched to trees and then children could write the name of the tree or collect a leaf to show they’d found it. Josh had already scoped out a trail that he thought would take in all the examples in the leaflet and led them all along it.
Maggie could hear Charlie; he was sawing, the rhythmic sound telling of his absorption and measured approach to what he was doing.
The sound had also alerted Alice to the fact he was there and she stopped and perked up like a meerkat. ‘Is that Charlie? He’s back at work?’ she asked looking at Maggie.
‘Yes, his first day back.’
Alice hurried along the path calling his name. Megan rolled her eyes at Maggie as they all followed Alice through the wood. ‘You should tell her.’
‘I know. It’s hard to find the right time.’
Alice had already begun interrogating Charlie when they caught up with her. She was busy examining his scar. ‘It still looks so sore. Are you sure it’s healed properly?’ Her face was full of concern.
‘It’s absolutely fine, thank you,’ he said extracting his arm. ‘Hey guys, good to see you all.’
‘Good to see you too, mate,’ said Josh.
‘Hi, Maggie, honey.’ Charlie walked over to Maggie and kissed her gently on the lips. Everyone apart from Megan gasped and Maggie heard Josh say, ‘Nice one,’ under his breath. Despite loving Charlie’s public display of affection, Maggie immediately felt terrible for Alice but when she glanced over at her she didn’t look devastated thankfully, just surprised.
‘Where are we headed next, Megan?’ She squeezed Charlie’s hand and whispered, ‘See you later.’
‘Bird spotting on the north headland!’
18
WHEN CHARLIE ARRIVED at the office to meet Maggie she was ready to leave, only needing to lock the door. They walked to the cottage together, hand in hand for the first time. Charlie kept glancing at Maggie just to see her look back at him with her eyes sparkling. He’d never had a woman look at him that way before and he knew he’d never get tired of seeing it and hoped she’d never tire of feeling that way about him.
After calling into the cottage to pick up Maggie’s bag, he carried it to the boat for her and helped her in before heading for his island. Although she had visited him while he’d been recovering, he didn’t count those visits as part of their fledgling relationship as he hadn’t been able to treat her the way he wanted to or be with her the way he wanted to. Tonight was the start of it, for him at least.
‘Is it alright if I have a shower and change?’ she asked, blushing a little.
‘Of course, make yourself at home. You know where it is?’
‘Yep. Do you need a hand with anything first?’
‘No, thanks. I’ll get started on dinner and then freshen up myself.’
Jan from the café had managed to get him a couple of beautiful fillet steaks which he planned to serve with peppercorn sauce, mushrooms, asparagus tips and French fries. It was so long since he’d cooked for anyone apart from himself, that he was a little nervous that he wouldn’t be able to pull it off but heck, it was just steak. Simple.
Maggie came downstairs, her damp hair twisted into a loose bun, wearing jeans and a pretty blouse. Charlie took her in his arms and kissed her, pushing a stray hair tendril behind her ear. She wore no make-up and he loved that she felt that she didn’t need to; that she was confident enough with herself and with him to be natural and relaxed.
‘You look beautiful and you smell amazing,’ he said.
‘I think that’s probably the dinner, but thanks.’
