Page 36 of The Island in Bramble Bay
Charlie looked at Ed. He wasn’t trying to strong-arm him, he was a nice guy and he was right. If there was anything Charlie missed, it was that. The open-source project he was pitching in on was great but it wasn’t the same; there wasn’t as much at stake and that’s what Charlie missed.
‘What do you want, hypothetically?’ he asked.
‘Hypothetically, we want you back as Chief Tech Officer.’ He held up his hands as Charlie went to speak. ‘Hear me out.’ Charlie nodded. ‘You can have all the good bits with none of the crap. I know it sounds too good to be true but we can make that happen for you because you’re the guy, Charlie. Cumulus.com want to launch a spin-off picture sharing app under the High 5 umbrella, think High 5 meets Instagram, only better.’ He smiled. ‘You know this software like no one else. There have been no major changes since you left, they spent two years tightening up what was already there. That tells me that you were this company.’
‘I can’t move back here.’ Maybe he could have done a couple of months ago if he’d known that coming back wouldn’t have sent him into the downward spiral he’d expected as soon as he set foot in the place. But now everything was different.
‘Working remotely could be a possibility.’
That could be the best of both worlds, Charlie thought, but really, he knew that wasn’t totally practical.
‘Or perhaps some intensive periods spent here?’ Ed was clutching at straws now. Besides, intensive periods of time in this office were exactly what had caused the problem in the first place. Being here now was supposed to be a cathartic kind of ending to his old life, not the beginning of Groundhog Day.
‘I don’t know, Ed.’ He shook his head and stared at his beer. This guy was gently persistent and Charlie could tell that he wouldn’t let it go without a definitive reason why not. ‘Do you know I had a breakdown? Right there in that conference room,’ said Charlie, pointing his beer at the glass room where it had all come crashing down. ‘Coming back here…’
Ed sat forward on his beanbag and put his beer on the floor. ‘I know what happened, Charlie. And I can understand why that would make you reluctant to come back.’
‘Believe me, it’s not as simple as being reluctant. The thought of walking back into this building terrified me and a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have done it. But—’
‘But, Maggie?’
Charlie grinned. ‘Yeah, Maggie. I wouldn’t be here without her, literally.’
‘It’s not an option to relocate back here, with Maggie?’
‘I don’t honestly know what she’d think. She has a life back in the UK too, a job, family, I guess.’ He laughed, feeling a little sheepish. ‘We haven’t really got as far as families yet.’
Ed laughed and lay back on his beanbag, his hands folded behind his head. ‘Oh man, that is a new relationship!’
‘Uh-huh,’ agreed Charlie good-naturedly. ‘And I need to get back to her.’ He stood up and swayed fairly violently as he tried to gain control of his legs which had seemingly taken the brunt of all of the alcohol he’d drunk.
‘No way, man, don’t bail on me now. We need to catch up with the others.’ Ed took his phone from his pocket, sliding it to and fro in front of him as if he were playing the trombone as he struggled to focus on the screen. ‘They’re at Haberdasher. Let’s go.’
Charlie pulled out his phone too. He had a text from Maggie to let him know she’d extended their stay by a couple of nights. Would she mind if he stayed out tonight? It was kind of a special occasion and she knew he was talking to Ed about stuff. It was fine. He sent her a brief text saying that he’d stay in the Valley overnight.
33
LAKE TAHOE WAS beautiful. Charlie’s house was beautiful. It was less of a house and more a huge glazed wooden mansion on the shore of the lake. It was all beautiful. Yet somehow, Maggie wasn’t feeling it. Their plan of retreating to the lake house after the signing had been disrupted by Charlie having agreed, she assumed in a drunken moment, to host a party for all of the High 5 staff at the house. Thankfully he’d employed an events company to organise everything from the catering to booking nearby hotels for most people to stay overnight but it meant that the house had been full of strangers since they’d arrived.
Charlie had spent the past couple of days rifling around in the boxes that had been unceremoniously dumped there by Jessica. Helping him made Maggie feel like she was intruding too much, so she’d left him to it and had spent her time walking, swimming and reading. Numerous decks stepped down from the house until the last one led to a jetty that reached out into the lake. Sat with her legs dangling in the water while she devoured the latest Marian Keyes book, Maggie was soaking up the wonder of being in a place like this and at the same time, couldn’t help wondering just how much money Charlie must have to own a house like this which he hadn’t even set foot in for over two years.
There was a niggling thought which wouldn’t budge that maybe it had all been too perfect. Their relationship had blossomed in a cocoon where real life didn’t exist. Bramble Island, Charlie’s island, it was all so otherworldly compared to what they’d come to in America. And that special world they’d been in, well maybe it was no match for reality.
‘Hey, Maggie!’
She turned to look at the house where Charlie was standing on the deck, barefooted with his jeans rolled up.
‘Are you hungry?’
She turned the corner down on the page she was at, something she only did when there was nothing else at hand to mark the page and got to her feet. Charlie had already headed back into the house before she reached the end of the jetty.
He had made a salad and there was a jug of iced water on the table.
‘Well, I think I’ve broken the back of it.’
‘That didn’t take long. I think it’d take me more than a couple of days to look through stuff I hadn’t seen for three years.’
He shrugged, ‘I hadn’t missed most of it so I guess I don’t need it. But there’s some stuff which will be nice to have in the island house. Are you all set for the party tonight?’ He looked a little sheepish. ‘I’m sorry I sprang it on you. After tonight the vacation starts for real.’
