Page 44 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Welcome back,’ said Jessica as he left.
‘Everthing okay?’ Ed asked as they left the cool of the building for a short walk to the diner in the scorching midday sun, both automatically reaching for their sunglasses before they began strolling down the street.
‘I think it’ll be fine,’ Charlie said, flashing him a confident smile.
‘That is music to my ears.’
41
BRAMBLE ISLAND WAS busier than Maggie could have imagined. It thronged with people and to begin with it was a shock to her and her team after having virtually had the island to themselves for the past few months. The weather had been glorious almost every day since she’d got back from America and every ferry was loaded with day-trippers. The Trust Treks were so popular that they’d had to train more of Clare’s casual staff as well as her usual volunteers so that they could cope with the demand.
Being so busy had made it easier not to miss Charlie. Despite her vow to move on and try not to dwell on things, Maggie often imagined that he was out in the woods somewhere rather than thousands of miles away.
Once she had got back from America, she had given herself a week to gather her thoughts before she contacted him, despite numerous texts and emails from him, increasingly despairing at not being able to contact her. She now felt that she had achieved a balance again, somewhere between desperately waiting for him to return, which he had confirmed he would, and forgetting that they had ever met. It was a place she could be happy in and a place where she felt like herself again.
She had agreed that every week she would go to his house so that they could FaceTime with a more reliable internet connection than Bramble Island could offer. Because of the time difference, she had taken to staying overnight which she had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, it was lovely to be in the lap of luxury once a week but the downside was that the place was full of Charlie. His smell, his clothes, his bed. It was for him that she had relented to this kind of contact. Despite her self-preserving promises to herself that she would not wait for him, wouldn’t allow herself to be open to the hurt that him not returning would bring, she still loved him. She worried about how he was coping, alert to the fact that he could easily end up going down the same road that had brought him to Bramble Island in the first place.
It was Sunday, the busiest day of the week which would thankfully be followed by the quietest. Not that it would be quiet, just fewer visitors than over the weekend. Maggie was exhausted. Alice had come down with a bug so she’d had to step in and help with the red squirrel Treks over the weekend. The last ferry of the day had just left for Sandbanks as Maggie headed to her cottage to pick up the things she’d need to stay over at Charlie’s.
Navigating Charlie’s boat around Bramble Bay had become second nature to Maggie and she had even been shopping by herself a few times. She headed towards Charlie’s island enjoying the feeling of the early evening summer sun on her face and looking forward to sitting out on the deck with her book until it was 8 pm, midday in San Francisco, the time they always spoke. Even on a Sunday, the call usually found Charlie in the office or working at the desk in his room at The Battery. He’d told Maggie that he preferred to stay in the city rather than be in San Jose all the time because he found it easier to work outside the office. If he worked at the High 5 offices, he got dragged into helping with all manner of other things apart from what he wanted to work on, because he knew the ins and outs of everything and everyone knew that. And besides, if he was living back in the US for a while, he wanted to live somewhere he could really enjoy. She went along with his logic to begin with but found it increasingly worrying that he never seemed to make time to go out anyway; he may as well live at the office.
While she was waiting, Maggie took advantage of Charlie’s shower which was far superior to the set-up in her cottage which still necessitated shoving rubber tubes over the taps while managing to reach every temperature extreme possible during even the shortest shower. Using his shower gel made her feel closer to him, yet at the same time made her ache for him. She dressed in one of his t-shirts and towel-dried her hair, leaving it to dry naturally in the warmth of the summer evening air.
It had been two months since she’d left Charlie behind in America. When he’d told her on the night of the party that he was going to stay, he’d alluded to the fact that he didn’t necessarily need to be in America all of the time, but he’d made no mention of when he might come back. Despite the fact she’d told herself she wasn’t waiting for him, she still found that difficult and as time had gone on, her feelings about what had happened in America had softened. She no longer felt the need to protect herself so fiercely from the idea that he might come back and they’d be able to pick up where they’d left off.
Not all of their weekly FaceTime chats had been great. If Charlie was working, he found it difficult to switch off and concentrate on talking to her. Trying to give him the time and space he needed was getting harder and Maggie was starting to lose her patience with it all. She had been convincing herself that perhaps he was just trying to get the work done so that he could come home for good, but when would that be?
Just before 8 pm, Maggie switched on the computer in Charlie’s office and opened the FaceTime app, choosing Charlie’s number which was at the top of the list. He answered straight away and she was relieved to see that he was in his apartment at The Battery, so they had half a chance of a decent conversation.
‘Hey Maggie, you’re a sight for sore eyes.’ He smiled wearily and sat with his chin resting on his fist. He looked pleased to see her and she felt a rush of love mixed with concern for him. He looked so tired which Maggie thought could only be a sign that he was working too hard.
‘You look tired, Charlie and it’s only lunchtime there. How are things?’
‘Well, it has been a crazy week. Deadlines, too many deadlines.’
That worried her. It looked and sounded like he could be working just as hard as when it had been his actual job. As hard as when he’d had his breakdown.
‘You look great, honey. I guess the sun’s out over there?’
‘Yes, it’s glorious and really busy. I had to lead a couple of your Tree Insect Treks today.’
‘And how are my trees? I miss them,’ he said wistfully, ‘and I miss you.’
‘Everything’s good here but I miss you too. I’m worried about you.’ She wanted to ask him to come home but she didn’t feel like she had any right to. They had been together for scarcely more than a few months but for at least half that time they’d been apart. Was that a relationship where either of them could make demands of the other?
‘I’m doing okay. I know I look, y’know, not my best but we’re making some real progress with the new app. I know it’s tough Maggie but I think another couple of months and I can probably come back and work from there for a little while.’
‘Another couple of months?’ She couldn’t hold it in. ‘Christ, Charlie. Do you think you’ll make another couple of months? You’re letting it happen again.’
‘Maggie…’
‘I’m sorry but if I thought you were enjoying yourself I wouldn’t say anything. It was your decision to stay and I understood your reasons but you look dreadful, you’re working too hard. You’re going down the same road as you were before and it’s so hard to sit here and see you once a week and not be able to be there to help you.’
‘I didn’t know you could write code, Maggie,’ he said, attempting to lighten the conversation.
‘Charlie…’
‘Okay, I know,’ he said with a sigh. ‘It’s been too long, longer than I wanted it to be too. But I have to do this, I have to see it through. I thought you understood?’
