Page 42 of The Island in Bramble Bay
She closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face. This was what she needed. She needed to embrace the island, let it heal her as it had done before. And hope that it was the island that had done that and not just Charlie. Hope that she could live there without thinking of him every time she walked through the woods or saw a little motorboat like his in the harbour. Because although she’d promised him she would wait for him, she knew after ten hours of riding an emotional rollercoaster on the flight home, that she couldn’t allow herself to be in limbo. She had to allow herself to move on and try to build a life without Charlie, just in case he never came back. And that was all very well to say but she loved him. That made everything harder.
After calling in at her cottage just long enough to enjoy a sporadically hot and cold shower and to change her clothes, Maggie headed to the office. Although she hadn’t slept on the plane, she wasn’t feeling tired and knew that staying in the cottage and dwelling any more on things wouldn’t be helpful.
She walked in to find Megan holding the morning meeting.
‘Maggie! We weren’t expecting you back today were we? We’ve just boiled the kettle if you want a cup,’ she added, helping Maggie avoid the need to answer the first question.
‘Yes, that’s just what I need,’ she said with a smile.’
‘I’ll make it,’ Josh said, standing up and gesturing for her to take his seat.
‘Thanks, Josh. So how’s it been going?’
They spent the next ten minutes filling her in on what they’d been doing. Almost nothing aside from the Trust Treks it seemed, and a bit of essential maintenance like keeping pathways clear of all the greenery which was making the most of the warm, sunny weather to have its major growth spurt of the year.
‘Thanks for keeping everything going so brilliantly,’ she said as they all stood up to leave, heading for whatever they had planned for the day.
‘No problem, it’s so much fun now that there are so many visitors,’ said Alice. ‘Is Charlie coming in today?’
It was inevitable.
‘He’s stayed behind to finish off some business in San Francisco.’
‘Oh. I thought you were staying longer, anyway. Is everything alright?’
Maggie steeled herself against Alice’s questions with a bright smile. ‘Everything’s fine, thanks Alice. I’ll see you later,’ she added firmly.
Megan stayed behind and sat down at the desk in Maggie’s office. ‘Do you want to talk?’ she asked, leaning her elbow on the desk.
Maggie sighed and flopped down into the chair opposite. ‘Charlie decided to stay and do some work for his old company.’
‘Right… like indefinitely?’
‘Yes. He asked me to stay but I can’t just up sticks and leave Bramble Island. And I don’t want to. I really didn’t expect anything like that to happen.’
‘So, he kind of got back into the swing of all of that?’
‘Definitely. Almost straight away. I don’t mind that, I was glad that he had faced his demons and come through it better than he expected to. I think that surprised him too and made him think that he could go back and it’d be different to how it was before. He’s after some closure.’
‘So were things different between you there?’
‘Not to begin with but I think we’ve been in a bubble here and not had to deal with anyone outside of that. His ex is a nightmare, Megan. I just couldn’t see how Charlie could ever have been with someone like her. He really must have been a different person back then, or she was.’
‘Well, you probably did the right thing by coming home. Let him get it out of his system or whatever,’ Megan said, standing up. ‘I’ve got some rhododendrons to tame this morning. Do you want to help?’
‘Yes. Anything other than a Trust Trek or having to wade through my emails sounds very appealing today.’
Megan hugged her before they left the office. ‘You’ll be okay, Maggie. You’re strong. You’re what keeps the team together and motivated. Just concentrate on that.’
Maggie felt understood and knew that Megan would tell Alice and the others enough of the story so that there would be no more questions.
‘Thanks Megan. You’re right. I’m going to focus on what I came here to do in the first place.’
40
BEING BACK IN the office was strange for Charlie. Given how things had gone the last time he was there, before his return to San Jose with Maggie, he’d been surprised to feel the old adrenaline buzz was still there when he’d walked back into High 5. And he’d kind of been hoping, expecting it to have stayed with him. But something was off. He’d walked in today with the old familiar feeling of dread hanging over him instead. Was it because now there was an expectation again? No one had expected anything of him for a long time, not in the sense that success was riding on him. Perhaps it wasn’t going to give him the closure he thought it would. Perhaps he was erasing the past three years by being here.
‘Charlie!’ He was relieved to see Ed’s friendly face heading towards him from the conference room at the other end of the office.
