Page 35 of The Island in Bramble Bay
31
IT HAD BEEN a strange couple of hours. Maggie had left Charlie at the High 5 offices where he was catching up with some of his old colleagues and she’d gone back to the coffee shop they’d been to earlier that morning.
She was pleased that it seemed to have gone well; the signing itself was never going to be a problem, it was everything that went along with it, but Charlie had seemed fine once he’d walked in. She knew he’d convinced himself that going back to High 5 for the first time since his breakdown would have immediately brought everything he’d felt on that last day flooding back, but everyone had been so pleased to see him that he’d relaxed pretty quickly and she was glad for him that the worst was over and now he could enjoy their holiday.
After enjoying an hour or so drinking great coffee and watching people going about their business, she strolled back to the offices where this time the receptionist let her straight into the inner sanctum. There was hardly anyone in there and the conference room was empty save for the detritus from the signing party.
‘Where is everyone?’ she asked a young man, who was typing furiously and barely looked up to answer her.
‘Out back.’ He jerked his head towards the other side of the conference room. ‘Follow that corridor past the kitchen and it’ll take you outside.’
‘Thanks,’ said Maggie, heading towards the corridor. She emerged into the sunshine at the top of a metal fire escape at the bottom of which was a basketball court where a game was going on and being extremely well supported from the sidelines.
Charlie had taken his jacket off, rolled his shirt sleeves up and was bouncing the ball in front of him, contemplating his next move. His hair had escaped its grooming and was flopping across his forehead. Maggie found it inexplicably arousing to see him in this environment that was part of his old life that he had fallen back into so naturally. His forearms, tanned from working outside were rippling as he played and… absolutely perfect.
Charlie scored and the spectators erupted. His team were high-fiving each other, how appropriate, and clapping each other on the back. From her vantage point, Maggie looked to see whether Jessica was still there. She wasn’t, which was good and she couldn’t help but feel relieved.
‘Hey, Maggie!’ Charlie had spotted her and raised his hand in greeting. She waved back and walked over to stand on the sidelines. ‘Time out, guys!’ He gestured a T-shape with his hands and jogged over to her. ‘Sorry, honey, I couldn’t resist, for old times’ sake,’ he grinned, before planting a lingering kiss on her lips.
‘It’s fine, I’m glad it’s gone so well.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘Look I’m going to head back to the hotel.’ She could see he was in his element and didn’t want to hang around making him feel like she needed entertaining or anything like that. She was quite capable of looking after herself for a few hours.
‘Really? Are you sure because I’ll only be an hour or so.’
‘No, stay as long as you like. I bet you’ve not had a chance to catch up with everyone yet. Just relax and enjoy yourself, honestly. And maybe I should see if we can add a couple of days to our stay there?’
‘I don’t think I’ll get to meet properly with Ed today so it might be good to stick around for a bit. Are you sure that’s okay?’ He looked concerned.
‘Yes, of course it is.’ She reached up and swept his hair back from his face. ‘Love you.’
‘I love you.’ This day had probably been hugely cathartic for Charlie and it felt like the start of a new chapter for them now that he could put this behind him.
Maggie got an Uber back to the hotel where she arranged to extend their stay by a couple of days. She sat in the room alone which felt odd after spending virtually every minute with Charlie since they’d left Bramble Island three days before. It felt like longer ago than that and this unplanned turn which the trip had taken had ruined the momentum, but Maggie was pleased that Charlie was enjoying himself now that the signing was out of the way. He’d clearly been taken with Ed and was excited to talk to him about whatever it was. Maggie knew she could have stayed but she didn’t want to hang around like a spare part while Charlie was busy.
One thing that did bother her was Jessica. She had seen Charlie talking to her after the signing but Maggie hadn’t had a chance to ask him anything about their conversation. And she felt a bit uncomfortable about asking him anyway. The whole ‘Jessica’ subject still seemed difficult for him to talk about. She knew Charlie wasn’t going to be somehow enchanted by Jessica, she was just worried that she could somehow have a bad effect on him.
She made herself a coffee and sat flicking through the television channels for a while before quickly concluding that she hadn’t come to America to sit in a hotel room watching daytime television. There must be more of San Francisco that she could explore on her own.
32
CHARLIE AND ED were sat on beanbags drinking beer out of the bottle in the now-empty offices of High 5.
‘Today was a good day, huh,’ said Ed, leaning back momentarily with his eyes closed. Maybe the early start with the champagne was catching up with him, thought Charlie, smiling.
‘Yeah, it feels great to be back.’ He gazed around the office where nothing much had changed. There was the odd new addition to the eclectic mix of furniture but it felt the same to Charlie. It was even nicer for him not being there actually working because when he had been, he’d barely had time to notice any of it.
‘Good enough to stay?’ asked Ed, sitting up and looking at Charlie as he swigged his beer. Charlie laughed off the question but Ed gave a pointed nod, clearly waiting for an answer.
‘It’s not my world anymore. That’s probably why it feels good.’
‘You know, it’s no secret that you were the brains behind this place. The deal was practically contingent on you making the trip over here so we could try and recruit you back.’
This time, Charlie didn’t laugh. He felt a wave of cold wash over him. ‘Okay… I didn’t know that.’
‘We had it on good authority that if you knew you probably wouldn’t have been interested.’
‘That’s probably true,’ conceded Charlie. ‘I have a life and a job in the UK now. There’s no chance.’
‘Look, I know it’s not about the money for you. If you didn’t have enough before today, you do now, right? But don’t you miss the thrill of the win? When your brilliant idea is coded up and works like a dream? You don’t have that.’
