Page 64 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Okay. Take care, Charlie.’
She had barely clicked the button to end the call before a heaving sob escaped from her, and thank goodness she was alone because there was nothing she could do but let it out.
Once she had gathered herself, she left a note on the desk for Nick and Ben saying that she would catch up with them the following morning. The Countrycase team were arriving on Bramble Island at lunchtime the next day and it was Ben and Nick’s last day on the island.
She went back to her cottage, keeping her head low to hide her swollen eyes and in an attempt to avoid having to speak to anyone. She changed into leggings and her favourite sweatshirt, made a cup of tea and sat on the sofa mindlessly watching back to back episodes of ‘The Big Bang Theory’, hoping it would be enough of a distraction to stop her mind from going over and over the conversation with Charlie.
Maybe she should have said yes when he offered to fly back. That was what she wanted, but that wouldn’t have put an end to it. It would be like the last time he’d come back when he was grabbing every spare minute to carry on working. He had to get it out of his system, otherwise there would be no future for them.
A few weeks ago, before the water lodges idea, she had seriously thought about jacking it all in and flying to San Francisco. Why not just set up a life there with Charlie when it had felt like there was nothing for her in Dorset. But now things had changed. More than anything, she knew that seeing through this project on Bramble Island would be one of the most fulfilling things she would ever do. How was being with Charlie when all he wanted to do was work twenty-four-seven going to ever fulfil her? It just made her realise that the few weeks they had at the start of their relationship, before the real world had seeped into their blissful Bramble Bay bubble, had been perfect but not real-life. Not sustainable.
The best thing she could do was give herself the greatest chance she could to make a success of the holiday lodge project, and if she kept busy, she wouldn’t even notice that she was no longer waiting for Charlie to come back.
The crowdfunding page took ages to load on Maggie’s ancient laptop. She could never be sure how much of that was due to the terrible Wi-Fi on Bramble Island and how much was because her laptop was so old.
When the page opened, it took her a minute to realise what she was looking at; the total raised had exceeded her target. She refreshed the page, maybe there was an error. The page loaded again, this time with a slightly higher total. It was incredible. They had hoped this might happen after the Countrycase piece aired but not before. Obviously, word had spread.
She smiled to herself then stood up to go into the kitchen for more tea. She glanced out of the window as she often did. What had started as her hoping for a glimpse of Charlie on the quay had become a habit. Instead of Charlie, she saw Nick walking towards the quay where the ferry was waiting to do its last trip to the mainland for the day.
Watching Nick board the ferry, she wondered what it would be like if Charlie ever came back and became the forester on Bramble Island again. It was hard to imagine him picking up his old life where he left off and the thought of watching him arrive and leave on his boat, without him being hers anymore was heart-breaking and she wondered for the hundredth time since the FaceTime call, whether she’d made the right decision.
60
MAGGIE COULDN’T WAIT for him. She’d said she would wait; he still had the note she’d left him in Tahoe, but she’d changed her mind. Because of him. Charlie felt wretched. It was entirely his fault for coming back to America, leaving her for work which he didn’t have to do. He didn’t need the money, that was for sure. He’d just been doing it to try and finish off High 5 properly. And that wasn’t a good enough reason.
The work was progressing well but he didn’t get the same buzz from it that he used to. He had started to see that it was because nothing was riding on it for him anymore. Back in the day, he and Jared had worked so hard to build the company. Then, they were doing it because everything was riding on it, their hearts and souls were invested in the success of it and now there was no reason he could cling onto, no high waiting for him at the end.
He sat in front of his laptop, in his room at The Battery, wondering what to do next. Maggie didn’t want him anymore. He didn’t know what would happen if he went back to Bramble Bay now. She would think he’d left unfinished business in the US and might not think he was ready to be back there with her. He knew she hadn’t meant to force his hand into going back and that was really why she’d broken it off completely; she wanted him back but not at the expense of his quest for closure.
He called Ed.
‘Hey, Charlie, great work from you and Jared on the hacking. I hear they charged Jessica with aiding and abetting computer intrusion but she’s out on bail because she gave up that guy Drew. Boy, she really had it in for you, talk about a woman scorned.’ Ed chuckled down the phone.
‘Uh-huh. I’m glad to help. Look, Ed, I—’
‘You want out.’
‘I do. I’m sorry. I know I promised you I’d see out the new project to the end and I really wanted to, but things are different now. I came back as if I was the same person that left three years ago and that felt great for a while but that’s not who I am now.’ Charlie was shocked at how easy it was to articulate how he was feeling given that since the call with Maggie, he’d barely been able to keep a thought in his head for going over and over what she’d said.
‘You’ve done us a great favour even to get it this far. We can take it from here, Charlie. If your heart’s not in it, it’s time to go and find somewhere else to put your heart.’
Feeling like a weight had truly been lifted off his shoulders, Charlie got dressed and headed out for a walk. He didn’t know where he was going and it didn’t matter. He walked towards Union Square, then along Market Street and onto Hayes Street. Then, suddenly, he knew where he was heading. A place where he knew he’d feel close to Maggie, even though they’d never been there together.
The Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park was somewhere Charlie had known about when he’d lived in San Francisco but he’d never been there apart from to a couple of corporate functions which were back in the day when he’d had little appreciation for nature, not like now.
The trees on Bramble Island had helped to heal his heart the last time and that was where Maggie had found him. Maybe the trees here would help just as much. He headed for the Redwood Grove. The majesty of those trees and the magnificent woodland that they formed had just the same vibe as the woods on Bramble Island. He left the path and chose a tree where he sat down and leant back against the trunk. As he pushed his shirt sleeves up to his elbows, he caught sight of the scar on his forearm and had a momentary flashback to being sat like this after he’d fallen out of the tree, when Maggie had found him. That day seemed a world away from where he was now but somehow, sitting in this woodland at the bottom of a beautiful, majestic tree he felt connected to that day when he and Maggie had finally found each other.
How had it ended like this? He knew the blame lay solely at his door. How had he let this happen when he thought he’d found everything he’d wanted in the world in Bramble Bay.
His phone rang. It was Josh.
‘Hey, Josh, good to hear from you, man.’
‘Hi, Charlie. How’s it going?’
‘Um, okay I guess. I’ve finished up the High 5 work…’
‘So you’re coming back?’ Josh sounded relieved.
