Page 8 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Oh my god, I thought I was going to fall in then,’ she said, immediately ruining the image she wanted to portray of someone who was used to boats. She’d never had much to do with boats before but supposed she ought to get used to them, living on an island.
‘You’re okay,’ he said gently.
Maggie was touched that he hadn’t laughed at her, because he could have done, and she felt embarrassed at over-reacting.
‘Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting it to rock like that when I got in.’
‘Don’t be sorry. Little boats are all over the place. It’s scary if you’re not used to it but unless you go crazy you won’t end up in the water. Sit over to that side,’ he pointed, ‘then we’ll balance it out.’
Charlie sat at the back of the boat with his hand on the tiller. He turned the engine and it started first time. Despite his reassurances, Maggie gripped the side of the boat as he made what felt like a very tight turn, and they headed for Poole.
‘Where do you live?’ shouted Maggie, turning slightly towards Charlie so that her voice wouldn’t be lost on the wind.
‘Over there,’ Charlie called back, pointing vaguely in the direction of Studland. Well, she already knew that.
‘Where do you keep the boat?’
‘There’s a mooring I use close to the house.’
‘So not right on the water then?’
‘Have you seen the size of these places?’ he said, gesturing to the houses lining the harbour.
They were passing the backs of huge houses in Sandbanks, the opposite side of the harbour to Studland. Maggie had no idea how much they were worth but some of them had swimming pools in their gardens, immense glass windows and private docks to moor their boats. So yes, obviously it looked like it would be expensive to live that close to the water.
The journey took about ten minutes before Charlie pulled the boat alongside the harbour wall in Poole and tied it off. He pulled a folded sack truck and some bags out from under the front seat and laid them on the quayside before he leapt up there himself in one easy motion and then reached out his hand to Maggie.
‘Just reach for my hand once you’ve put your foot on the side of the boat, and kind of bounce up.’
This was going to end badly, thought Maggie. Bounce up? She steeled herself for the inevitable humiliation, stared at his hand to be sure she knew where she was grabbing, trying not to be distracted by the thought of touching him, and bounced. As her hand came into contact with Charlie’s he pulled her up and, along with the motion of the boat bobbing upwards from her bounce, she was surprised to find herself standing on the quay. Right in front of Charlie, close enough to be staring straight at his stubbly, beardy chin. Her gaze lifted to meet his eyes which were the deepest brown and looking intently back at her with a smile to them.
‘It’s this way,’ he said, pointing with his free hand and then dropping hers so that he could pick up the sack truck and bags.
As she followed him along the narrow pavement, Maggie could still feel the warmth from his hand on her skin and she pressed her fingers into her palm to try and preserve it. She’d never felt like this about holding Ben’s hand. Perhaps that had been too familiar in the end, nothing out of the ordinary to the point where she couldn’t immediately bring to mind one memory of holding hands with him. Obviously, they had held hands, of course they had, but it had never made her heart swell so that the memory had imprinted on her forever. She knew this was altogether different.
Trying to be rational about it, Maggie reasoned that it was probably a combination of Charlie being the only man in quite a wide vicinity — Josh and Eric didn’t count, the fact that she always fancied men who wore harnesses to climb trees — something to do with the straps around their thighs, and that he was lovely. Also, they had a lot in common, mainly work but it was a start and she could tell that they were both beginning to realise that they were on the same wavelength. Another massive plus was that Charlie had no problem with her being his sort-of boss and that was a wild improvement on how things had been with Ben in the end, if she was comparing.
They went their separate ways in the supermarket, meeting at the checkouts where Charlie was already packing his shopping. Maggie purposely picked a till away from him so that he wouldn’t see her huge stockpile of tampons and she tried to bag them up quickly before he came over to help her.
‘Got plenty of toiletries?’ he asked.
Maggie blushed, maybe he’d seen after all.
‘That’s almost the only stuff Jan can’t get for you if you’re desperate.’ No, thankfully it wasn’t a reference to her shopping.
‘Yep, and plenty of cereal and chocolate. Absolute essentials.’
While Maggie paid, Charlie strapped her bags to his truck leaving her to carry a couple of light bags which wouldn’t fit on and they walked back to the boat in the sunshine.
Maggie felt more confident on the boat ride back. The weight of the shopping seemed to bed the boat down in the water making it feel more secure than it had before. Charlie pulled up to the quay on Bramble Island and left his own shopping in the boat while he helped Maggie carry hers to the cottage.
‘Thanks for the lift.’
‘Hey, anytime. It was nice to have some company.’
‘So, will I see you in the morning?’
‘Sure, I’ll come by the office to meet Eric. I think it’s his turn tomorrow.’
