The Island, page 7
Bea loved that her father saw so much of Mum in her. And now in her daughter too. It was the best compliment she could get, as far as Bea was concerned. She missed everything about Mum. The shine of her hair under the sun’s burning rays, the way her brown eyes twinkled whenever she said something mischievous or stretched the truth.
Dad had always said she couldn’t lie between bedsheets, and Bea had never understood what he meant until now — her mother was guileless. She couldn’t be deceptive, couldn’t fake her feelings, and couldn’t hide them either. Whatever she felt, they all knew. Thankfully, she spent most of her life happy, and passed that on to the people around her. Right up until those last years.
Bea took her eyes off the beach, and her beautiful daughter who was examining shells in the sand, to survey the cottage. It was in a worse state than she’d thought. The last time she’d visited, it’d been rundown. But now there were holes in the roof. The porch was rotted, and half of it had caved away. The paint had peeled from most of the walls that held only remnants of the pale sea green it’d once been.
“Wow,” she said.
Dad stood beside her, tipped off his hat, and scratched his head. “Yep.”
“It’s going to take a lot of work, Dad. Are you sure you want to pour money into it?”
He shrugged. “What else do I have money for? I thought you might visit more often if you had a place to stay by the beach.”
She inhaled a slow breath. “I might never leave.”
He looped an arm around her shoulders. “That’s fine by me.”
Later on, Bea was at the local grocery shop buying some supplies to stock her father’s pantry. She’d showered and changed into a pencil skirt, matching shirt and coat. Oversized sunglasses were perched on top of her head. She’d curled her hair and put on lipstick. She might be in the middle of nowhere, but she should really still make something of an effort with her appearance even if no one would see her.
Dad wasn’t used to having three people in the house, let alone a hungry teen. Honestly, she was surprised how well he’d done so far with his hosting abilities. When she was a kid, he wouldn’t have known a spatula from a wooden spoon, yet he’d woken early that morning to make them pancakes for breakfast.
Things had certainly changed. Although she didn’t want to put him out too much — they both hoped to stay with him a while and so would have to pitch in. She also needed dog food and treats for Fudge, who was due to arrive within the hour. It would be interesting to see how well the little pug adapted to life without fences and with the ocean so close by. She was nervous, to say the least.
“Nice to see you back on the island,” said Doug, the cashier. She’d known him since she was a small child and had even worked for him for a while during her teen years. She’d been the worst checkout operator in town, but he’d never complained.
“Hi, Doug. It’s good to be back.”
“Staying with your dad, are you?” He pushed her groceries slowly over the scanner, one by one.
“That’s right. Me and my daughter, Dani.”
He smiled. “Oh, that’s nice. I’ll bet Elias is thrilled.”
She nodded. “How’s everything with you?”
“Can’t complain. The fishing’s been pretty poor now with the colder weather.”
“Yeah, Dad said something about that.”
“But business is good and Peggy has a new hip, so she’s got a whole new lease on life.”
“Wow, a new hip. Good for her.”
“Modern medicine is a marvellous thing.”
She paid for her groceries and carried them outside in two fabric shopping bags. There was a café next to the shop, so she set her groceries on the ground outside and went in. It would be nice to have something other than instant coffee. Dad wasn’t exactly a gourmet when it came to the finer things in life like coffee and wine. She’d already stopped by the liquor store to stock up on her favourite beverages.
Her stomach grumbled. She should buy herself a treat as well. She rarely ever ate sweets, was always watching her weight. It was time to enjoy herself a little bit. Even though she’d moved to the island indefinitely, it still felt like she was on holiday.
“Can I help you?” A lady behind the short glass counter looked her up and down. She had a bottle-red bob and was buxom with an apron tied around her ample waist. Bea remembered her from years earlier. Her name was June Clements, and she’d always been a grouch for as long as Bea could recall.
It’d seemed as though June had something against her as well, although Bea couldn’t imagine what it was. She’d barely had anything to do with the woman over the years. And from what she recalled, her mother had been a friend of June’s at one time. But they’d had a falling out. Bea still didn’t know what it was all about, but June had never gotten over it. Now she was behaving as though she didn’t recognise Bea, which was perfectly fine with her. She could be an anonymous customer and avoid the awkwardness of June pretending to be happy to see her.
Bea scanned the goodies lined up inside the glass case below the counter. There were cakes and biscuits—most looked homemade. What she really fancied was a pastry. She’d eaten a chocolate cream-filled croissant once when she was nineteen years old that she’d never forgotten. What she wouldn’t give for one of those right now.
“You don’t happen to have any croissants, do you?”
June’s eyes narrowed. “Kra-sonts, did you say?”
“You know, the pastry?”
“Nope. No kra-sonts.”
“Oh, that’s a shame.” Her stomach grumbled again, this time louder.
“Next thing, you’ll be asking for a lah-tey.” June laughed, a big belly laugh that shook her apron. She raised a pinkie in the air beside her face as though she was drinking tea with the queen. “Ooh la la.” Then she laughed uproariously again before calling in another woman from the back to tell her all about it.
Bea’s eyes widened. “Sorry, I…” She didn’t know what to say to that. She turned and left the café, picked up her groceries and hurried across the street to her car. When she reached the car, she put the groceries in the boot, then leaned against the vehicle and let a giggle escape her mouth. It bubbled up from within, and she seemed powerless to stop it. She clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to hold it in, but it was no use. She giggled hysterically.
Between gasping breaths, she exclaimed, “Next you’ll be asking for a lah-tey!” She wiped the tears from her eyes and sighed. “Welcome to Coral Island, baby.”
She’d parked her dad’s old station wagon next to the primary school and could see a group of kids exercising in the playground. A tall man with a whistle hung on his neck ordered them around. It had to be Aidan. From this distance, he looked exactly as he had when he was seventeen years old, only bigger.
She stepped closer to the short chain-link fence that surrounded the school grounds and watched. He noticed her almost immediately and waved. She raised a hand, embarrassed, and turned around to get into the car. But he called out her name, so she stopped.
He jogged over to the fence. “Hey, fancy seeing you again so soon.”
“I was at the shops.”
“Ah, of course. Stocking up on essentials.”
“Also, I asked for a croissant at the café. Apparently, June Clements thought that was the world’s funniest joke.”
He chuckled. “Trying your luck, were you? I’m afraid you’ve stepped back in time, Rushton. We don’t have those kinds of snobby pastries around these parts.”
He hadn’t called her “Rushton” since high school. Her surname had been printed on the back of the senior shirt, and he’d called her that as a pet name from the first day she wore it. It brought a deluge of memories flooding back.
“So I discovered. It seems they’re not fond of making lattes, either.”
He laughed out loud. “You really were hoping for a miracle, weren’t you?”
“I’m dying for a coffee. Dad only has instant, and apparently the café doesn’t serve anything else either.”
“You can get drip coffee at the café, can’t you?”
“Wow, my world has been shaken.” She rolled her eyes. “The fact that you don’t remember — I hate drip coffee.”
He laughed. “Of course I remember. I’m only teasing. Come over to my place tomorrow morning, and I promise to give you some good coffee. You can see my new house as well. I’ve got to go over there to put in some light fixtures anyway. But the espresso machine already lives there. I’ve got to have my coffee too.”
“We have that in common,” she replied.
“So, tomorrow?” He pressed his hands to his hips, squinting.
“That sounds really nice. I’d love to see what you’ve done with the place. Dani and I have committed to renovating Dad’s old beach cottage, so I might get some ideas from seeing your new house.”
“The one you lived in when you were little?”
“That’s the one,” she replied.
“I can give you plenty of tips, then. I’ve been through the wringer pulling this place together.”
“I look forward to it.” She gave him her mobile phone number and waved goodbye. He promised to send her the address, and they agreed to meet at eight a.m. It was Saturday, so he didn’t have to be at school.
As he walked back to join his students, her heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t a date—they were two adults, old friends who wanted to catch up. There was nothing more to it than that. She really needed to stop reading romance novels. Nothing ever worked out so perfectly in real life. Her own marriage was evidence enough of that.
Eight
The next day started much the same way as the previous one had. Bea took a walk on the beach, but this time with Fudge, who’d made the trip to the island in his usual happy style. He’d sniffed out every single corner of the house and had run up and down the beach until he was utterly exhausted.
This time, there was no sign of Aidan, but there were a few swimmers in wetsuits doing freestyle along the shoreline. The waves on Coral Island never got much bigger than thigh height, and most of the time were knee height since all the Whitsunday Islands were protected by the Great Barrier Reef. Which meant surfing wasn’t a sport that flourished on the island.
The lack of waves, plus the presence of deadly jellyfish for much of the year and the proliferation of reef sharks, was enough to dissuade even the most enthusiastic surfer. The mainland also had to contend with saltwater crocodiles, which thankfully weren’t a problem on the island. The waters of northern Queensland had plenty of dangers to keep residents and tourists on their toes.
While Dad and Dani ate breakfast, Bea borrowed her father’s old station wagon again and set up the GPS on her phone, then drove to Point Prospect. Butterflies buzzed in her stomach as the car inched along the road Aidan had given her as his address. It was silly to be nervous over seeing an old friend. Still, she was curious to know why he’d asked her over for coffee. Perhaps he was being friendly—neighbourly, even. After all, she had gone on and on about her coffee obsession.
She’d had a headache two days in a row and was looking forward to drinking a real espresso, maybe even a lah-tey. She chuckled at the memory of the exchange in the café the day before as she parked her car on the opposite side of the road to Aidan’s mailbox.
His house was beachfront, located down a driveway that sloped away from the road to the right. She followed the drive and found a stylish and modern house built from aged timber with several different levels and artistically placed windows at the end of the drive. The house was surrounded by coastal gums, hibiscus trees, native orchids and various types of seagrass.
The entire garden was brand new, complete with perfectly white and round stones in the bed. There were no curtains or blinds on any of the windows. The sunlight shone right through and into the bare, white-walled house. The external walls were painted grey, and the roof was a charcoal corrugated iron. Bea smoothed down her skirt with both hands, drew a deep breath and rang the doorbell.
Aidan answered the door in a pair of board shorts, a long-sleeved cotton top, and with freshly washed hair, still slightly damp. He kissed her cheek and ushered her into the house.
“Welcome, come on in. What do you think?”
“It’s amazing. I love everything about it. And look at that view!” She walked to the back of the house, where a kitchen and dining area led out to an enormous deck with a perfect view of the beach.
“I bought the land just for the view,” he said, following her onto the deck. “I’ve wanted to live somewhere I could hear the ocean from my living room ever since I left home and moved to the city. I spent over twenty years listening to traffic instead of waves. And now I can hear the ocean all the time.”
“I’m completely jealous,” she said, leaning on the railing to stare out over the sparkling waters and golden sand.
“I don’t know—your dad’s place is pretty fantastic. There’s nowhere else on the island like it.”
“True, but it’s not mine. It’s his.”
“Will you get something of your own?”
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen. Once Dani and I renovate the old cottage, maybe she’ll live there, maybe I will, maybe we’ll both stay there together. It’s hard to say. She’s going through a bit of a life crisis, trying to figure out what she wants to do with herself. And I’m going through a divorce.”
He leaned next to her, his forearms on the porch railing. “I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t know you were having marriage problems.”
“It’s recent,” she admitted. “He met someone else. They’re engaged and have a baby. And I don’t fit into the picture anymore.” Saying the words that way made her heart feel heavy. Sadness ached in her throat.
“He’s an idiot.”
“I won’t argue with that.” She laughed.
“How about some coffee?”
She sighed. “That would be perfect.”
They chatted while Aidan prepared the coffee. The coffee maker, cups and spoons were the only things set up in the brand-new kitchen. It sported grey marble bench tops, white cabinets and a large rectangular window that looked out across the sand dunes above a round natural timber table. The floor was light caramel-coloured timber that blended beautifully with the coastal style of the house.
They carried their mugs onto the porch and sat side by side looking out over the ocean. They talked about their hopes and dreams, families and favourite travel destinations. The conversation was easy and comfortable. It brought everything back in a rush of memories, emotions and affection all wrapped up as one.
Bea recalled why she’d fallen for him all those years ago. There was a spark of chemistry between them that was difficult to ignore. And even though talking had always been something the two of them had no trouble with, she’d wondered if the physical connection would still be there. She couldn’t ignore the fact that he’d grown into a very handsome man.
He was fit and strong, tanned and tall. She was pale and a little dumpy. Her fitness came and went depending on the season and how motivated she felt. Lately, she’d done nothing more than take walks in the morning, and not every day. She felt very much like a middle-aged mum, while he was a glamorous former footballer.
The discrepancies between their life experience were a chasm she couldn’t push aside. He wasn’t interested in her as anything more than an old friend. He wanted to catch up, and she was glad. She’d missed him and all of her friends on the island.
That afternoon, Bea and Dani walked down to the cottage with a notepad and pen, a measuring tape and stepladder, and got to work. They examined the entire structure from top to bottom the best they could without injuring themselves by falling through the rotting floorboards and noted the measurements of each room. They jotted down what was needed, which was basically everything.
Dani even wondered out loud if they should price a bulldozer and entire rebuild just to compare it to the refurbishment costs. But Bea couldn’t stomach the thought of her childhood home being demolished, so they pushed that idea aside for the moment and focused on how they could improve the place.
They’d need to replace the entire deck that wrapped around the outside of the cottage. The structure of the building seemed to be sound, but they’d have to get an inspection done by a contractor before they could say for certain. They’d decided to have a contractor do the bulk of the work while Bea and Dani made the decisions and supervised since the renovation needed was more extensive than any of them had realised. It would make the whole project much quicker and easier, and since the cottage was so small, Bea didn’t think the costs would be prohibitive.
The roof and floor needed to be replaced, and everything would have to be painted. The kitchen was in terrible shape and completely dated, so that would have to go. Along with the bathroom. Bea thought they should extend the master bedroom and turn it into a suite. So they added that as an optional extra, if her father’s budget could take it.
Once they were done, each covered in cobwebs and coated in dust, they sat on a rock at the edge of the beach and stared at the cottage.
“So much work,” Dani said.
“But I really think it’ll be worth it. This position is unbelievable. So close to the beach, with only a bit of shrubbery and the dunes in the way.”
“I can definitely imagine myself living here. Although what would I do to make a living? I’ve got to get a job before I run out of money. I can’t expect Pa to take care of me forever.”
“I bet you could find something on the island without too much trouble,” Bea replied, swatting at a fly.
“What about you? Are you going to look for work?”
Bea shrugged. “I suppose so. I’m taking a break first. I need to clear my head and think through some things. I’m feeling off kilter.”
“Of course you are.” Dani laced an arm around Bea’s shoulders. “I hope Dad comes around.”
