His eyes widened. ‘Not even for . . . I don’t know? A day trip? To go to a gig? Nothing?’
‘Nothing. I . . . this is my home. And for the first ten years of my life I never had that, so once I found it, I refused to let it go.’ She shrugged, and reached for her wine. ‘Sounds crazy, I know.’
‘Not crazy.’ But the thoughtful look he was giving her suggested otherwise. ‘It just explains a lot.’
‘The last time I left . . .’ She paused. Did she really want to share this with him? Mostly, she tried to pretend it hadn’t happened. But she could see that Owain didn’t understand, and she wanted him to, at least a little. ‘I went to this university open day in Cardiff, when I was seventeen. I didn’t want to, not really, but Mum and Dad were talking a lot about opportunities and seeing what the world had to offer.’
Even now, she could feel the same panic and uncertainty rising up in her that she’d felt then, taking the ferry to the mainland alone, facing the world outside Seashell Island again.
‘What happened?’ Owain asked.
She smiled down at the table, the concern in his voice warming her more than the wine. ‘Juliet got into trouble, of course. She was ten, and she decided she could swim out to the rocks past Gull Bay. Only she got caught in a current . . . search and rescue were out and everything. She claimed it was dare with Rory, but I suspect she just wanted to do it, so she did. And he covered for her, like always.’
‘She was OK, though,’ Owain said.
‘Yeah. But I didn’t know that at the time. Mum was in pieces, and Leo called and begged me to come home and fix things, so I did.’ She shrugged. ‘And that was the last time I left Seashell Island.’
She didn’t tell him what a relief it had been to be safely back home, where she knew how to manage life – rather than lost in a maze of newness and unfamiliarity on the mainland. He looked like he had more questions, but Miranda didn’t want to discuss it any more. It was done. What difference did it make now? So she’d never gone to university. Never visited Paul when he went, either, however much he asked – just waited for him to come home instead.
She stood by the choices she’d made about her life. Everything had worked out fine.
Until this summer, anyway.
‘Anyway.’ Miranda dragged her files up onto the table and opened them, mostly just to have something else to look at. ‘Back to the festival. You said I should shake it up a bit, then you asked about the B&B. What were you getting at?’
He shrugged, apparently unconcerned by the change of subject. ‘I figured that maybe the Lighthouse was in financial trouble. I know that you said the festival was normally for the locals, and the last of the holidaymakers who’d be here anyway, but . . . well, I reckon people would pay to attend an exclusive festival on a special island like this. Plus you’d boost visitors for that first weekend after the proper summer ends.’
‘It would have to be more than just the usual stuff, though,’ Miranda said, thoughtfully. ‘I mean, no one would come all this way for candyfloss and a carousel. They’d want—’
‘Music,’ Owain said, succinctly. ‘They’d want a music festival.’
She stared at him. ‘Do you honestly think I can throw together a full-blown music festival in three weeks and get people to travel all the way to Seashell Island for it?’
‘No,’ Owain admitted. ‘But I think we could. If you’ll let me help.’
LEO
The girls hadn’t looked particularly happy to see him when he returned, but they’d been thrilled that he’d brought Christabel, so that was something.
Convincing her to help him had been easier than he’d expected. He’d found her ambulance down by the dunes again, knocked, and basically begged.
‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’
‘I could have told you that,’ she’d said, putting down the bike she was mending.
‘You’ve done this before, right? I mean, fixed your life when you realised it was off track.’
‘Well, yes.’ Christabel had frowned at that. ‘I suppose so. I mean, I realised that I wasn’t happy, so I found a way to redesign my life so I was happy.’
Happiness. It had never been the key component Leo had worked for in his life. He’d wanted success and security, to know that he could take care of his family. A hangover, he supposed, from those early days before the Lighthouse had enough guests to keep the heating on in the winter.
Emily had always sought happiness – and found it with Mark.
He’d found satisfaction instead, and personal pride. But for his daughters? He wanted happiness, as well as that security he’d always longed for.
‘I want to make Mia and Abby happy, and secure. So I need you to help me. Please.’
It was probably the please that had won her over. In any case, she’d dragged him into town to buy supplies, and lectured him along the way. And he hadn’t been able to stop himself arguing back, even though he knew he’d asked for this.
‘All they want is for you to see them, Leo. To know that they matter to you.’
‘Of course they do! I’ve put my whole summer on hold to spend it with them—’
‘Have you, though?’ she’d interrupted. ‘Or have you been trying to keep them entertained while also running your business from your mobile phone?’
‘You want me to completely abandon my business for five weeks? Because I don’t think the girls will like it much if my company collapses and I can’t afford food.’
She’d rolled her eyes. ‘You’re catastrophising – just like you complain about Miranda doing. And that’s not what I’m saying, anyway. Come on, we’ve got supplies to buy.’
‘Supplies for what, exactly?’
‘For your apology,’ Christabel had said. ‘First you’re going to make it up to your daughters. Then, you and I are going to figure out a new plan for the rest of your summer that can make all of you happy.’
To be honest, that still seemed pretty much impossible to Leo, but he’d gone along with it because it wasn’t like he had any better ideas.
Now, back at the Lighthouse, he let Christabel entertain the girls in the front lounge with a rousing game of Monopoly (in which she seemed to be bending the rules considerably to encourage bartering, shared ownership, and working together for the greater good, which he was pretty sure wasn’t how Monopoly was supposed to work), while he got to work in the back garden.
The basic plan was simple, as he understood it, after Christabel had explained it to him in bullet points, ticked off on her fingers in between adding items to his shopping basket.
‘First, you want to show them that you care about their happiness. Then you want to show them that you’ve been listening and know what they care about. And thirdly, you want to make them a promise to do better in the future.’
‘I do care about their happiness, and I do want to do better,’ he’d said. ‘So, what do they care about?’
Christabel’s smile had been downright smug. ‘You tell me. Prove to me that you really do listen to them even when they think you don’t. What is the biggest issue in their little worlds right now, this second?’
And that was how he’d found himself throwing a ‘Welcome Home!’ party for a llama.
Leo strung a final rope of lights through the trees around the terrace and looked around to judge his handiwork. The barbecue was smouldering nicely, ready to cook burgers – Mia’s favourites. The firepit was laid ready to be lit for marshmallows after the main course. Suzi had brought out one of her many stringed instruments and was happily strumming it from the terrace swing seat, while Harriet sat beside her, horses abandoned for the day, looking pretty besotted, as far as Leo could tell. And the guest of honour, Lucifer the Llama, was wearing the party hat Christabel had insisted on for the occasion, even if she had spat at him as he tried to tie it on. He got the feeling that Lucy wasn�
��t any keener on this plan than he was.
Hopefully his sisters would show up and join in sooner or later, too. Miranda was out at her ‘planning meeting’ with Owain, and he had no idea where Juliet had got to.
Straightening the last of the chairs and outdoor beanbags around the firepit, Leo nodded to Suzi and Harriet, then headed in to interrupt Monopoly.
‘Girls? When you’re done, I’ve got something outside to show you.’
Mia didn’t even turn around. Abby just said, ‘Not now, Daddy. Christabel and I are setting up a collective to provide housing for the poor.’
He shot Christabel a glare, and she returned an unapologetic shrug.
‘Maybe I can play?’ he suggested.
Mia gave him a dark look. ‘No. We’re already halfway through a game.’
‘We’ll be done soon,’ Christabel promised, and Leo sat and tapped his fingers against his knee as he waited.
He should be checking his email. Using this time profitably. Doing something useful.
But Christabel had set down one very firm rule for him that afternoon. ‘Just one,’ she’d said. ‘But if you ignore it, I’m out. OK?’
‘OK.’
‘For the rest of the day, you don’t get your phone out where the girls can see.’
‘That’s it?’
‘That’s it. But I think it’ll be harder than you think.’
He’d been certain he could do that easily. He’d just check in with Tom before and after spending time with the girls. Or when they were distracted, or busy with their aunts, or whatever. Easy.
Except now, with Christabel watching him as he waited, he knew she was remembering that rule. If he walked out of the room now, she’d know exactly why, and some perverse part of him wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.
She thought he was addicted to his phone; that much had been obvious from her sceptical look when he’d said how easy it would be to follow her rule.
She was wrong. He just had to prove it.
So he sat, and he drummed his fingers on his knee, and he thought about all the emails he could be sending and—
Christabel cleared her throat meaningfully, and Leo looked down to find his phone in his hand, email app open.
‘Just checking the time,’ he lied, shoving it back in his pocket. He realised they were packing away the Monopoly board. ‘Are you done? Who won?’
‘We all won,’ Abby replied. ‘It’s more fun that way.’
‘I suppose it is,’ Leo agreed doubtfully. ‘Now, come on. I’ve got a surprise for you outside.’
That, at least, got their attention. As they raced outside, Christabel came alongside him and held out a hand. ‘Why don’t you give it to me to look after. Then you won’t have to worry about it.’
‘I think I can manage to control myself,’ he said, drily. Christabel looked unconvinced, but he ignored that and hurried after the girls instead.
Summer was still lingering, but they were well past the longest day now, and since bedtime had been slipping later and later since they arrived on the island, the sun was just starting to dip lower in the sky towards the sea as they emerged outside. The lights he’d hung through the trees – actual old-fashioned lightbulbs glowing in the growing gloom – looked magical around the terrace. Suzi was still playing – something light and fun and tuneful that made even Leo think about dancing. The girls skipped down the stairs towards the firepit, Abby clapping her hands together with glee.
For a second, Leo caught a similar look on his older daughter’s face – until she saw him looking and replaced it with her usual scowl. Ten going on fifteen, that’s what his mother would have said. Juliet had been just the same at that age.
He just wished Mum was there to give him some advice on how to handle it.
Maybe Juliet would remember . . .
‘It’s a party!’ Abby said, hopping around to hug his legs. ‘It is a party, right?’
‘It is,’ Leo confirmed.
‘But what for?’ Mia asked. ‘I mean, it’s not even anybody’s birthday or anything.’
Right on cue, Lucy gave a long-suffering moan, and everyone turned to look at her as she trotted over, party hat miraculously still in place.
‘It’s a welcome party for Lucy,’ Leo explained, trying not to feel like a total idiot. ‘To celebrate her coming to live at the Lighthouse. I thought we’d have a barbecue for dinner, then toast marshmallows for pudding, and Suzi and her friends said they’d play us some music so there can even be dancing . . . you seemed to like that the night they [The musicians weren’t at the Lighthouse the night Leo and the girls arrived.] arrived, so—’
‘It’s brilliant!’ Abby bounced up to hug him, and he caught her in his arms. ‘Thanks, Dad.’
Relief flooded through him as he hugged her back. He’d done something right, at last.
Mia, however, was still looking at him speculatively. ‘Will you dance?’
He hated dancing. He glanced over at Christabel, but she just raised her eyebrows as if to say, you’re on your own now.
‘If that’s what you want,’ he told Mia. ‘Of course I’ll dance with you.’
She nodded. ‘Let’s start with the burgers then. I’m starving.’
There were far too many burgers – not least because Miranda and Juliet never did show up – but Ryan and Robyn ate twice as many as he’d expected, so it all seemed to work out. And even without their front man, the band played up a storm – fast and fun stomping folk reels that had both girls spinning in circles between toasting their marshmallows. (Leo watched Mia closely for any signs of greenness, but with her stomach lined with burger and salad veg, she seemed OK tonight.)
Now, the music had calmed to more gentle tunes, the band laughing between themselves as they played snatches of melodies back and forth. Leo sat back by the firepit, a last, lazy marshmallow toasting for Abby, and watched his daughters spin anyway, arms wide, staring up at the night sky and the lights.
‘You did good today.’ Christabel, sitting next to him, raised her beer bottle for him to clink his against. ‘Are you happy?’
‘You know, I am,’ he admitted. ‘I mean, tomorrow all my problems are still going to be waiting for me. But right now I am honestly happy.’
‘It’s a start,’ Christabel said. ‘I mean, nobody is happy all of the time, right? We wouldn’t want to be, or we wouldn’t appreciate the really good times. But moments like this? They’re the magic in the everyday. They make the lonely days and the hard days more worthwhile.’
Leo turned to her at that, surprised to hear something in her voice he’d never heard before. Regret. ‘Are you happy? Here on the island, I mean?’
‘I have been.’ She flashed him a quick smile. ‘And sitting here, right now, with you? With fairy lights and good music and a llama? Yeah, I’m happy.’
‘But longer term?’
She considered, longer than he thought the question would have needed if the answer was yes. ‘When I came here, to Seashell Island, I’d been on my own, detoxing from the city, living wild and free for about six months. I’d promised myself I’d never stay in one place longer than a week. That I’d keep moving, keep living. But when the time came to leave Seashell, I just . . . didn’t. I stayed and I stayed and I made friends and I kept learning.’
‘Learning?’
‘Always. The day I realised I couldn’t keep working in the City, I learned something important about myself – that money and prestige aren’t enough for me if they can’t buy me anything I really want. And, I mean, I’m about the billionth person to realise that this week, right? But knowing something and believing it are different, and that day I believed it. And so I walked away.’
‘What made that change?’ Suddenly, it felt like something he needed to know. To learn. To believe. ‘What made you believe?’
‘I’d love t
o say it was when I missed something important in a loved one’s life, or when I fell in love, or something really profound like that. But it wasn’t. I kept working through love affairs, and I missed birthday parties – and even a funeral, once.’ She winced at the memory. ‘But the day I realised I needed to leave? It was just like all the other ones. And that was what did it. There was nothing about that day – nothing I did, no one I talked to – that really mattered to me. And as I walked out that night . . . I knew I had to make a change.’
‘And you did.’
‘And I did.’ She twisted on the bench seat around the firepit, close enough to him that Leo could see the flames of the fire flickering in her eyes. ‘What about you? Are you going to make a change?’
‘I hope so,’ he said. He wasn’t sure if that unwavering belief she seemed to feel about the world was in him yet, but he wanted to feel it. And that counted, right?
‘Good.’
She was so close, he could kiss her now, if she let him. And the smile lurking around her lips made him think that she might.
But then the music turned fast and furious again and Abby and Mia were at their sides, grabbing their arms and pulling them up to dance with them.
‘I thought you didn’t dance?’ Christabel asked, amused.
‘Only with my daughters,’ Leo explained, and let them lead him out onto the grass below the terrace.
And as he held his daughters’ hands and danced under the starlight, Leo felt for the first time in years that he was finally getting something right.
MESSAGES
Leo (to Siblings): Guys, you’re missing burgers, dancing and a llama party. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
JULIET
She’d told him everything.
It had taken hours, several drinks (for him) and a couple of portions of chips (for her), but she’d brought Rory up to date on everything that had happened in her life since she’d left the island – and got a much better idea of what had been going on in his, too.
Summer on Seashell Island: Escape to an island this summer for the perfect heartwarming romance in 2020 (Riley Wolfe 1) Page 20
