Page 25 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Oh, of course, you were going to tell metoday.Not because I met the surveyor, of course you were going to tell me anyway. Well, guess what Maggie, now I know. Everyone knows.’
He could see the tears spring into her eyes at his harsh words but he felt equally wounded. After everything that had happened to him, he’d managed to get involved with someone else who was doing things behind his back. It had been a mistake to open himself up and allow the same thing to happen again. How was he such a poor judge of character?
‘Charlie…’ Maggie jumped down from the wall and tried to take his hand. He pulled away from her and took a step back.
‘No,’ he said, his hands in front of him stopping her from coming any closer. ‘I have to go.’
21
MAGGIE WATCHED CHARLIE walk across the quay, heading back into the woods. He was striding and despite him having his back to her, there was no mistaking how angry he was. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and walked slowly to her cottage.
She completely understood how he felt. She’d known that would be his reaction which was why she hadn’t said anything. She couldn’t believe that the Trust had sent the surveyor onto the island without warning; they hadn’t even mentioned it at the meeting she’d been to that morning. In fact, they had said that they were preparing the options for the public consultation and wouldn’t be releasing any details until after that. Maggie had thought she’d have more time.
Pulling off her smartest clothes, the ones she’d worn for the meeting, Maggie stopped and looked at the bed thinking that the last time she’d slept in it had been with Charlie and now she’d ruined everything by deceiving him. She sat on the edge and cried. She’d come to Bramble Island for a fresh start, to try and be a better person than she’d been before. Not knowing anyone had been an easy way to ensure she wouldn’t hurt people she cared about and falling for Charlie had ruined that and yet again she’d managed to hurt someone she loved by putting herself and her career first.
Maggie blew her nose and then washed her face and changed into her usual work clothes. Having a good cry had made her feel better and she realised there was no need to feel sorry for herself. Yes, she was sorry that she'd not been honest with Charlie but her reasons had been solid. She didn’t know for sure that anything was going to happen and there was a professional expectation that she would not share the project with anyone yet. The only thing she’d done wrong was to create a conflict between her personal and professional life by embarking on a relationship with Charlie. She suddenly felt indignant about his reaction because surely he should understand that she was in a difficult position?
This time was different. She hadn’t blithely disregarded Charlie’s feelings at all, it wasbecauseshe was worried about hurting him that she hadn’t been honest with him. And it would have been fine if the Trust hadn’t thrown a spanner in the works with their surveyor.
When she’d been working on the Trust Treks, she had left Ben behind. They’d grown apart partly because almost overnight she had been elevated to the kind of position he’d been working towards for years and partly because she’d started to think she was better than him. She inwardly cringed at how awful that was when she looked back on it but she was glad that she was able to be honest with herself about how she had behaved.
Allowing work to come between them, well, she couldn’t let that happen again. She had to tell Charlie what had happened with Ben so that he would know how important it was to her that she wouldn’t do that to him. She needed to explain that she was on his side about the lodges, that it wasn’t a done deal and that she had only kept it from him until she knew what was actually happening. The truth was that since they’d been together nothing had happened on the project and she had put it to the back of her mind.
Instead of heading to the office, she headed to the woods. She needed to make sure Charlie knew the facts.
‘Josh! This hazel is a mess, man. You can go much harder on it.’ Maggie could hear Charlie’s voice before she could see them. Poor Josh.
‘Sorry Charlie, I didn’t think there was much more to do without chopping it down altogether.’
‘Well, I’m telling you—’
‘It’s fine, Josh,’ said Maggie.
Charlie flipped around, anger etched on his face.
‘Can you give us a couple of minutes?’ she said to Josh.
‘Sure.’ Josh grabbed a saw and headed off into the wood.
‘Charlie, don’t take it out on him. It’s not fair.’
He raised his eyes to the sky and breathed out heavily. ‘Maggie, I don’t know what to think. One minute we’re having the time of our lives and the next minute I feel like I don’t know you.’
‘I need to explain. I really wasn’t trying to hide anything from you.’
He rolled his eyes and turned away from her.
‘Charlie! Give me a chance to explain, I deserve that.’
He stood for a moment, then turned around, thankfully with a less frightening expression on his face. They sat down on the trunk of a felled tree and Maggie began.
‘When I was offered this job, I knew it was because they wanted me to be involved in a big project. I’d been working on the Trust Treks with head office and they came to see me as a valuable link between the Trust on the ground, if you like, and the head office. So when that project was up and running they wanted to use that relationship again on another project. I did know about the holiday lodge proposals but believe me, I didn’t know what it involved or how it would impact the island until I had my first meeting after I came to Bramble Island.’
‘So you came here purely because of the project?’
‘No, I came here to be the park manager of Bramble Island but then to be part of the project. I wanted to get back to a job where I could be working outside again instead of being stuck in an office. But the work I did on Trust Treks, well, I loved being involved in that so this gave me the chance to have the best of both worlds.’
Maggie paused to gauge whether her explanation was having any impact on Charlie. After a minute or so, he turned to look at her, his expression softened.
