Page 45 of Sanctuary at MacLeod's Cove
‘Yes?’ She held her breath.
‘I’m hungry.’
She exhaled with a laugh. ‘Don’t tell me your grandma didn’t feed you, because I won’t believe it.’
‘She did, but I’m still hungry.’
She suddenly realised she’d missed lunch. ‘Right, well, in that case, how about a picnic?’
‘Yes!’
It took only five minutes to gather some food from the fridge and a picnic blanket, and they were soon enjoying the warmth of the spring sunshine. Once they’d waded across the stream to the beach furthest from the village, Jen laid the blanket under a spreading pohutukawa tree and unpacked the food.
‘This is so cool, Mum,’ said Liam, as Jen passed Liam a sandwich and added some cheese, tomatoes and fresh lettuce to a roll. ‘It’s like our picnics in the park.’
Jen gave a little laugh at the comparison of MacLeod Cove’s beach to Hyde Park. It felt like worlds apart to her.
‘But we didn’t eat Vegemite sandwiches in London, did we?’
He laughed. ‘No. And there wasn’t any sea either.’
For a few minutes, they both looked out at the calm stretch of vivid blue water. It looked utterly benign, with its gentle rippling waves spreading along the sand before quietly withdrawing. Seagulls swooped around the mouth of the stream, and wading birds strutted at the water’s edge, their long red bills piercing the sand in search of food. She sighed happily and turned to Liam. She was surprised to find him watching her.
‘You’re happy here, aren’t you, Mum?’
She was shocked. She’d always been so concerned about his happiness that she’d never thought he might want her to be happy.
‘Yes, I am,’ she said. ‘Much happier. Are you?’
He poked the sand with his finger. ‘Yes. I like Grandma and Aunt Lucy. They’re cool.’
‘They are. What else do you like?’
‘My bedroom. And the garden.’ He turned his beaming face to hers. ‘It’s so full of things to do!’
‘It is,’ she said, lying back, propped on her elbows as she listened to Liam chatter. He’d certainly been listening to her mother because he now knew the names of two different birds. He was like a sponge, soaking up knowledge. Here, it would be the right kind.
After a while, Liam scrambled to his feet and went to see what the wading birds were after. She glanced at her phone to check the time and began packing up the picnic things.
Leaving them by the sand dunes, she went and joined Liam at the shore. She paddled around and then looked towards the land. From their vantage point she could see further around the coast to a break in the trees and knew she was looking at Sam’s land. She shaded her eyes from the glare. She could make out the shape of an old-fashioned 1970s caravan. Its pale blue and white livery was distinctive amidst the green of the surrounding bush. It seemed he still liked retro things.
Next to the caravan was a clearing, which appeared to have some footings, a few pillars and little else. She wondered why he could help her mother with her house, when he had made little progress on his own. Money? From what Lucy had said, money wasn’t a problem for Sam. He’d built up a couple of property developing businesses from scratch in Australia and sold them last year. It meant he didn’t have to work again. He’d also shared investment information with Lucy, which suggested he knew his way around the sharemarket, and then there was his multi-million-dollar apartment he didn’t enjoy living in. So if lack of funds wasn’t stopping him from getting on with his house, what was?
‘Mum! What are you looking at?’
Liam stood beside her, t-shirt and shorts wet from the sea, ankle deep in water, and followed her gaze.
She pointed. ‘That’s where Sam has a caravan.’
Liam’s smile faded a little. ‘That man who came into my room?’
‘That’s right. He only came in to see if anything needed fixing. He said he’d do some repairs for Grandma. That’s nice of him, isn’t it?’
‘I suppose.’ He considered it for a few moments. ‘And he gave me the carving. That was nice, too.’
‘I used to go to school with him. He’s a good man.’
‘Is he?’ The expression on Liam’s upturned face nearly broke her heart. Wanting to believe that people were good, when experience had proved the opposite.
