Page 9 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Okay. Bye then.’
Charlie stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled. ‘Bye, Maggie.’ He turned and walked back to the boat.
It was the first time she’d heard him say her name. He made it sound different to the way anyone else said it and she liked it. She went into the cottage and watched from the window as he got back in his boat and eventually disappeared from sight.
8
CHARLIE HEADED HOME feeling light-hearted. He was starting to notice that he often felt like that after spending time with Maggie. He enjoyed the ease of her company; the fact that she didn’t ask him a lot of personal questions and didn’t offer any information about herself either. Although as time went by, he was beginning to develop a curiosity about Maggie’s life. Apart from masterminding the Trust Treks, what had she done before? Where did she come from? What were her dreams for the future? It seemed easier and safer not to know or ask at the moment but he couldn’t help but wonder, which was only natural when you were friends with someone, wasn’t it?
He thought back to the moment he’d helped her out of the boat in Poole. They had been so close to each other. Her hair had smelt of the wind and her eyes had sparkled when she looked up at him. He’d wanted to keep hold of her hand after that but couldn’t bring himself to, it would have been too much of a leap. He could almost feel the rush again now, that feeling, whatever it was, when they had touched. It was really for the best that they were just friends. He wasn’t ready for a relationship. On paper, it had been over three years since Jessica, but he knew it was only very recently that he’d begun to feel that he was over her. Over everything.
He put his groceries away and sat down at his computer to check his emails. These days there was rarely anything of any interest but he always checked anyway, out of habit. Today there was an email that almost made his heart stop when he saw who it was from.
Jared Kolowsky was the CEO of the company Charlie used to work for in the US. More than that, they had been roommates in college and had founded High 5 together. They’d written the code for the highly successful social networking site through long nights in their dorm room and launched it a couple of years after they’d graduated. They’d been together through everything right up until Charlie left.
Until this moment, Charlie had done his best to ignore his past life. He hadn’t kept up at all with news, colleagues or friends from Silicon Valley. It had helped that no one really knew where he was, apart from his family. The email from Jared was the first contact he’d had with the company for three years.
Charlie sat, his fingers hovering over the mouse, building himself up to read the email, all the time wondering what it could be about for Jared to have gone to the trouble of tracking him down. He clicked.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Hi (5) from the Valley
Hey Charlie,
I can’t believe it’s been so long. Too long. Things have never been the same without you. I know I promised not to contact you, especially about the company but you must have heard what’s going down, even from over there on your island! Your mom told me how to get you, don’t be mad with her.
So, Cumulus.com want to buy High 5 and man, their offer is out of this world. You need to be involved in this. Not just because legally you still own 40% and as majority shareholders we both need to sign off on the sale, but it was ours, Charlie. Don’t forget how it was in the beginning. I feel bad about how we left things. I could have done more, I know that now and you’ll never know how sorry I am about what happened but this could be great for both of us.
I can’t wait to hear what you think.
Best, Jared.
Charlie stared at the email for a few minutes, slowly taking in what it meant. It had been so long since he’d had anything to do with the business that he had no idea of the implications of considering a sale. He trusted Jared to make the right decision for the business but knew that even if he went along with it all at arm’s length, the time would come when he would have to physically go to the States to sign on the dotted line. He’d known deep down that eventually something would force him to return. Thinking back to how he’d felt back then was still hard. He hadn’t come far enough to feel that things would be different, that he’d be okay if he had to return.
Maybe selling the company would be the best way of putting it all behind him and moving on. Since he’d left, the money had still been paid into his bank account every month despite him having no contact with them but that was Jared’s guilt talking. He had kept High 5 going on his own for almost three years so perhaps Charlie owed him the chance to have all the hard work come to fruition. It had been their dream to have someone with the stature of Cumulus.com want to buy them, as if it was the ultimate validation of their success. But these days Charlie preferred not to think about it, not to dream about it because it was lost to him forever, whatever happened to it next.
He would put off the decision until another day, until he knew what he wanted to do.
9
BRAMBLE CASTLE, THE corporate retreat which was so tantalisingly off-limits to the rest of Bramble Island was finally about to be discovered by Maggie. As it was owned by the Trust and leased out, they were able to use it for meetings when necessary as there wasn’t anywhere else suitable on the island for hosting Trust VIPs.
Maggie’s visitors were the head of marketing, Verity Chase, the head of special projects, Rob Tanner and the area manager, David Simons. Maggie had met David before when she’d been interviewed for her job. He was a friendly, easy-going man who had been overseeing Dorset for years. He knew every property like the back of his hand and regularly visited them all.
The Trust’s plans for Bramble Island had been made clear to Maggie when they approached her to be park manager on the island. She’d made a strong impression on the Trust’s management with her Trust Treks initiative and they wanted her on board for a special project on Bramble Island. She’d been sworn to secrecy and this meeting was the first time it had been mentioned since she’d arrived.
Maggie waited on the quay as she watched the ferry approach. She wasn’t sure whether Verity and Rob had been to Bramble Island before, so she was thinking about where she ought to take them to give them the best impression of the island. Maybe she should wait until after the meeting to decide in case it became obvious that there was an area that would be of particular interest to them.
William waved at her from the gangway as her visitors disembarked. It wasn’t the nicest day, quite cloudy and threatening rain so there were only a handful of day-trippers. David made a beeline for her.
‘Maggie, wonderful to see you here on Bramble Island.’ He looked genuinely thrilled to bits and was beaming at her in the manner of a very proud parent, which was quite amusing if a little odd. ‘May I introduce Verity Chase and Rob Tanner from Trust HQ. Verity, Rob, this is Maggie Cassidy, park manager on Bramble Island.’
They all shook hands and said hello. Maggie thought Verity and Rob seemed a little out of place with their attempts at dressed-down corporate outfits but welcomed them to the island and then led the way to the gatehouse of the Castle, trying to contain her excitement at finally being able to go inside.
The hallway was heavily panelled with dark, highly polished wood and a wonderful sweeping wooden staircase that demanded your attention. Maggie breathed in the smell of the place, the old wood fighting against the fresh modern scents of a hotel and winning. She gazed upwards and saw ornate plasterwork on the ceiling and beautiful light fittings which probably weren’t original but were certainly inkeeping with the style of the old house.
