Page 50 of The Island in Bramble Bay
‘Change of plan. I’ve got some woodland surveying to do over the next couple of days and I understand you know these woods better than anyone else?’
The last thing Charlie wanted to do for the next two days was hang out with Ben.
‘I’m on vacation. What do you need?’
‘I’ve identified the areas which will need to be cleared but I could do with knowing how that woodland fits in the wider context of the rest of the island. We don’t want to be erasing entire species here.’ Ben grinned but Charlie didn’t let his guard down.
‘I’ll discuss it with Maggie.’ He sat down in the boat with his back turned to Ben and hoped to god that the engine would start first time so that they could make a well-timed exit. It did. It was against Charlie’s nature to be deliberately rude to anyone but he had to have Maggie’s back on this and he could tell by her face that she was completely mortified by the whole thing. He could see her point. He’d been squirming just as much when Jessica had been within spitting distance of Maggie.
Maggie sat at the bow of the boat with her hair streaming behind her as they made their way across the harbour to his island. He’d missed her so much and he didn’t want Ben’s visit to come between them. Maggie probably had more to say on the subject of Jessica too; he felt as if he’d got off pretty lightly with that but it was clearly on account of Maggie having bigger problems to deal with right now.
They arrived on the island and moored the boat in the boathouse before making their way up to the house.
‘I hope you don’t mind but I brought a few things over,’ Maggie said just as the back of the house came into sight and Charlie could see a huge parasol shading the deck outside the living room.
‘Of course I don’t mind, I love that you’ve been staying here.’ He squeezed her hand as she led the way into the living room where she’d filled the couch with pillows and blankets which were folded over the back. Despite his state-of-the-art lighting system, she had felt the need to add a couple of lamps. He didn’t mind at all. It looked homely and he loved that she’d made the place into theirs. It wasn’t a minimalist, sterile house anymore; it was a home.
‘It looks great, Maggie.’
‘I’m glad you like it.’ She headed to the fridge and pulled out a couple of bottles of beer, popping the tops off and handing him one without even asking if he wanted it.
‘Maggie, you don’t have to worry about this stuff with Ben. I can meet him and give him whatever he wants. I’m here for a week, a couple days out of that is okay.’
She strode outside onto the deck. Charlie followed sensing that this was just the beginning of the conversation.
‘It’s not okay, Charlie. All week he’s been lording it over me that he’s on the bloody project team and I’ve gone along with it just to get the whole thing over and get him out of my house and off the island and now he’s going to get you on his side.’ She took a slug of her beer and sat down on one of the loungers.
‘I’m not going to be on his side, I’m going to make sure he doesn’t fuck up our woodland, that’s all,’ said Charlie gently. ‘Believe me, I know the last thing you want is for me to be anywhere near him but it’ll be okay. There’s nothing he can say to me that will change anything. I will make it clear that the only conversations I’m willing to have with him are about trees.’ He went and sat down next to her. ‘Come on, we haven’t seen each other in weeks, let’s forget all the crap and celebrate being back together.’
‘Months, Charlie, not weeks,’ she said sadly. ‘It’s been too long. Can’t you stay and finish it from here? Didn’t Ed say you could do that?’
He had said that, and Charlie had thought that could be a viable option to begin with but now that he was so deeply involved with the project, he didn’t want to work remotely. It seemed that there was too much at stake. He could feel that the end was in sight and the closure he knew it would bring him was almost tangible. He didn’t want to resume his life in the Valley, he wanted it to be here with Maggie. He just needed a little more time.
‘I know it’s been hard but it really isn’t for much longer and then I’ll be back for good. But right now, I’m not leaving until Ben’s left. Me and you, we’re in this together.’ He clinked his beer bottle against hers and for the first time since he’d picked her up from the island, she smiled at him.
47
MAGGIE AND CHARLIE arrived back on Bramble Island early the next morning. They wanted to be in the office before Ben so that Charlie could see the plans and the locations that Ben had picked out for the holiday lodges. He had left all of his work out on Maggie’s desk, it was a huge mess of paperwork, maps and reference books.
Charlie was frowning as he pored over the maps to work out just which parts of the wood were going to be at risk and was shaking his head as Ben came into the office.
‘Morning!’ Ben said brightly. Too brightly, thought Maggie.
‘Right, let’s get started,’ said Charlie, as he grabbed the map which had the lodge locations marked on it, and stalked past Ben out of the office.
Ben looked startled and raised his eyebrows at Maggie but thankfully didn’t say anything, he just followed Charlie.
Maggie breathed a sigh of relief even though she didn’t feel relieved at all. She knew she’d be restless, wondering what was going on until the minute they set foot back in the office. She had thought about going with them but in the end, Charlie had pointed out that there was no need. She would just feel awkward the whole time and if Ben thought that she was chaperoning them, it might make him all the more likely to try and stir up some sort of trouble.
Anyway, it wasn’t as if there was nothing to do. She was running some of the Trust Treks; her name had been on the rota before she’d known that Charlie was coming back. She headed to the visitor centre and popped into Clare’s office to say hello as she was a bit early.
‘I’m glad you’ve popped in actually,’ said Clare. ‘We’ve had a handful of visitors asking about the tape tied on some of the trees. I assume that’s to do with the holiday lodge project?’
‘Yes, Ben’s been marking out which trees he thinks will have to go. Charlie’s gone out with him this morning to see what he’s suggested. What do you want to do, put some signage up explaining?’
‘Well, you know usually we like to be very transparent about what’s going on but this is a sensitive issue. Perhaps we could go with some wording that suggests it’s to do with a tree survey that’s taking place?’
It was half true at least, so they decided on the wording and arranged that Maggie would pick up the signs the following day to place around the woods.
