Page 47 of The Island in Bramble Bay
Ben and Megan arrived back having had no luck with a red squirrel sighting, but Ben was full of praise for the island.
‘It’s a wonderful place, Mags,’ he said, causing Megan to raise her eyebrows at his familiarity. ‘I can quite understand why you left Worcestershire for this.’
‘Okay, well there’s actually nowhere for you to stay so it’ll have to be my cottage. I can stay at a friend’s place.’ She gave him directions to her cottage so that he could take his bag over there and give her a brief respite from the awkwardness she felt around him.
‘Come on then, dish,’ said Megan eagerly. Then when Maggie was still sitting there, not knowing where to start, ‘Is he your ex?’
‘Yes,’ Maggie sighed. ‘It’s a long story, but basically we broke up because I ended up being his sort-of boss and he couldn’t handle it and now he’s the bloody project manager for…’
‘For the holiday lodge thing?’ Megan finished for her. ‘It’s okay, Josh and I put two and two together when that surveyor was here a few months ago.’
‘Right. So now it’s the other way around and I didn’t even know he was coming.’
‘You can’t let him get to you, Maggie. He might try and throw his weight around but you’re the boss here, don’t forget that. And you’re with Charlie now, that’s definitely one in the eye for Ben,’ she beamed.
‘Thanks, Megan. Actually, Charlie’s coming back at the weekend for a visit. Hopefully, Ben will be gone before he gets back or things really will be awkward.’
44
CHARLIE ARRIVED ON the first ferry on Friday morning, a little after 10 am. It was a beautiful day and he couldn’t wait to take a walk around the woods and see how everything was doing now that summer was in full swing, but first, he wanted to find Maggie. He headed to her cottage, not because he expected her to be there but so he could freshen up a little, maybe take a shower and change into some more appropriate clothes.
He tried the door which was unlocked as he’d expected it would be and climbed the stairs to Maggie’s bedroom.
The bed was unmade and there was an untidy pile of clothes, men’s clothes on the chair and a large pair of Converse All Star sneakers underneath. Charlie went into the bathroom and found the shelf above the sink full of a guy’s shaving kit, deodorant and toothbrush. And it wasn’t the stuff that he’d left at Maggie’s.
There must be some explanation, thought Charlie, although he couldn’t begin to think what it was. Maggie didn’t have a brother and although it would be weird if she was sharing a bedroom with her brother, at least that was a plausible reason. He didn’t know what else was.
Feeling like an intruder, he left the cottage without changing his clothes or washing and went to the office in search of Maggie.
‘Charlie! You’re back?’ Alice leapt up and flung her arms around him.
‘Not quite, just visiting. Is Maggie around?’ He pulled away from Alice and pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans, feeling a little awkward. Despite Alice’s enthusiastic welcome, he didn’t feel like he belonged in the same way as before, not helped by the fact that he was wearing his smart clothes and had found another man’s stuff in his girlfriend’s house.
‘She’s over in the woods with Ben and Josh. Shall I come over with you?’
‘That’s okay, I can find them.’
Charlie headed out to the woodland he’d been coppicing before he left. He wanted to take a look at how Josh had carried on with it and there was a chance he’d find Maggie there anyway. He didn’t know who Ben was but he was keen to find out.
The trees were a dense dark green canopy now that it was the height of summer. Quite different to when he’d left when everything had been the fresh, bright green of spring. The paths were dry underfoot from lack of rain but the air was cool in the shade of the trees and Charlie realised that was what he’d missed the most about Dorset while being in the heat of the Californian summer.
He could hear voices coming from near the shoreline, although the wood was so dense that he couldn’t even see the sea yet.
‘Can you mark those trees along there, Josh?’ An unfamiliar voice, which Charlie presumed to be Ben.
‘Is it necessary to mark out the trees now? We don’t have the planning permission yet and I thought we were just discussing likely locations.’ He smiled as he heard Maggie belligerently defending the woodland. The holiday lodge project had obviously progressed while he’d been away. He felt bad that he’d not asked Maggie about it, about anything that was going on with her. Silicon Valley made him self-obsessed.
In the absence of a convenient path, Charlie picked his way through the undergrowth towards the beach. He could see Maggie, stood with her hands on her hips, a frown between her eyebrows, glaring at a man who was holding an iPad in one hand and a bunch of plastic ribbons in the other.
‘Hey, Maggie!’ he called as he emerged into the sunshine, brushing sticky buds from his jeans.
‘Charlie!’ She shaded the sun from her eyes and grinned at him, her face lighting up. She walked over and threw her arms around him.
‘Oh, Maggie honey. It’s so good to see you,’ he said into her hair as they embraced.
‘I’m so glad you’re back.’
They pulled apart, Charlie glanced at Ben, then whispered to Maggie, ‘What the hell’s going on here?’
