by Ali McNamara
I notice Noah is talking about the force in the present tense now since Brighton, and not in the past. I find myself wondering if this is a good thing?
‘I should be able to find something out either tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest though. So what have you been up to this morning? Did you find the relevant postcards?’
‘I did, yes, and Juliet’s painting is the one Lou talks about in the cards. I’m certain of it now.’
‘Very strange,’ Noah says, shaking his head. ‘Very strange indeed.’
‘So how come you’re here? I thought you’d be run off your feet in the shop today?’
‘I had some errands to run in the town so I took an early lunch. We’re not actually that busy. All everyone wants to do today is laze on the beach in the sun, not wander around a dusty old antiques shop.’
Noah’s shop is far from dusty but I don’t mention this. I’ve suddenly remembered that Malachi is upstairs, and even though I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure whether Noah was actually jealous of Malachi, I knew him finding out he was upstairs wouldn’t be a good thing.
‘So, anyway,’ Noah says, when I don’t speak. ‘I was wondering if you’d like to join me for a barbecue again later? The good weather is supposed to last well into the evening. The sunsets over Porthhaven beach can be pretty amazing in this weather.’
Was I hearing this correctly? Was Noah suggesting a romantic evening watching the sun go down together, just the two of us?
‘Jess suggested Porthhaven so we can bring Clarice,’ he continues. ‘She’s bringing the salad, I’m doing the fish and we wondered if you’d like to come – and if you do, if you’d bring some wine or a dessert perhaps?’
Ah, not quite so romantic after all.
‘Sure, that sounds great. I’ll bring both.’ I’m keen for Noah to leave as soon as possible. Knowing Malachi, he’ll come bounding down the stairs at any minute spouting all sorts of innuendo – harmless to me, but perhaps not quite so harmless to Noah.
‘Ana, I just had a great idea!’ I hear from upstairs, almost before I’ve had a chance to finish my thought. ‘In this wild-child life you once led, did you ever go skinny-dipping?’
I stare with horror at Noah. He looks equally as dismayed to hear the voice as I am.
‘There’s a really quiet little cove I know.’ Malachi’s voice sounds even closer, and I can hear him leaping down the stairs two at a time. ‘How about it some… Oh, hello stranger, you must be Noah.’
Malachi comes bouncing into the kitchen with just as much energy as he’d descended the stairs. He holds out his hand, and Noah shakes it reluctantly.
‘This is Malachi, Noah,’ I say, introducing him as the two men shake hands.
‘I guessed as much,’ Noah says, wriggling his fingers a little after they part company from Malachi’s.
That’s odd? Did he feel the same thing I did when I touched Malachi’s hand?
‘Noah just popped round for coffee. He’s been updating me on the camper van’s progress,’ I add hurriedly, looking at Noah. ‘And Malachi has just invited me to a barbecue,’ I tell Malachi. ‘Oh, I mean the other way around obviously!’ I feel my cheeks redden.
‘Great night for a barbie,’ Malachi says approvingly. ‘Good call that.’
‘Would you like to come?’ Noah asks politely, but I detect reluctance in his offer.
‘I’m grand,’ Malachi says ‘Three’s a crowd and all that!’
‘I’m sure we could stretch to four.’
‘Four? Who’s the fourth?’ Malachi asks. ‘I assumed this was to be a romantic evening for two, watching the sunset together.’
He heard?
Noah suddenly looks very uncomfortable, as though he should have thought of this idea too.
‘Jess, who works alongside Noah at his antiques shop, is coming too,’ I say quickly to try to cover his embarrassment. ‘So really, you’d be most welcome, Malachi.’
‘Well, that’s a date then!’ Malachi says, grinning. ‘What shall I bring – meat? Ana knows all about my prize-winning sausage, don’t you, Ana? Said it’s the best she’s ever had…’
I shake my head reprovingly at Malachi, and then I turn back to Noah. He eyes Malachi with indifference.
Ah, what a fun evening this was going to be. At this rate I’d spend my whole night trying to stop Malachi from winding Noah up, and attempting to stop Noah from injuring Malachi…
Thirty-Five
That evening we’re all set up on the beach: four adults, two dogs, two barbecues – one for fish and one for meat – three cool boxes, two chairs and a scattering of picnic rugs.
Malachi is tending to his sausages in a relaxed fashion, turning them occasionally with some silver tongs in between swigs from his bottle of beer. Noah is slightly more attentive to his fish, never stepping more than a few feet from his barbecue for even a minute. Jess is sitting cross-legged looking out at the sea with a bottle of beer in one hand and a dog ball in the other, and I’m sitting on one of the chairs trying to relax while the two dogs chase each other around my legs.
Clarice and Ralph have taken to each other immediately. I had wondered when it was being discussed about bringing them whether they would get on. They were very different dogs – Clarice was tiny, yappy and seemingly quite uptight, and Ralph was big, bouncy and as relaxed as they come – but they’d hit it off straight away when Clarice had picked up Ralph’s ball and run off with it, and the latter, after looking in horror at Malachi for a moment, had given chase. They were still playing together almost an hour later.
‘Another beer, Jess?’ Malachi calls, as he opens up the cool box.
Jess looks at her bottle. ‘Yeah, why not?’ she says, smiling at Malachi.
Malachi prises the lid off a bottle of beer with the bottle opener from the cottage that I’d had the foresight to pack, and passes her the beer.
‘Cheers, Mal,’ she says informally.
‘Malachi, thanks,’ Malachi says, raising his eyebrows at her. ‘Beer, Ana?’
‘Sorry, I keep forgetting,’ Jess says, her cheeks reddening.
I lift my bottle and shake my head at Malachi. ‘No thanks, still have plenty here. So…?’ I ask, looking between Malachi and Jess. ‘Have you two met before – you seem like you might have?’
‘No, don’t think so,’ Jess says almost too quickly. ‘I’d remember if we had, I’m sure.’
‘Nope,’ Malachi says, tending to his barbecue. ‘Definitely not.’
I look across at Noah, who’s also watching this exchange with interest. He shrugs.
‘You’ll be able to do this all the time when Daisy-Rose is up and running, Ana,’ Malachi says, changing the subject. ‘Quick drive out to the sea, barbecue on the beach, then camping under the stars.’
‘Sounds idyllic but there aren’t too many beaches in London.’
Malachi and Jess exchange anxious glances. What is it with those two?
‘So what are you going to do with the van when it’s finished, Ana?’ Jess asks. ‘Have you decided yet?’
‘No, I still don’t know. When I first came here to St Felix, deciding what I was going to do with Daisy-Rose seemed an age away. But Malachi has made so much progress so quickly, I guess that day is looming closer all the time.’
‘You don’t need to sound so serious about it,’ Noah says, letting his fish be for a moment. He picks up his beer and sits down in the empty chair. ‘You’re making it sound like the day of reckoning.’
‘I hardly think it’s anything like that,’ Jess says sternly. ‘I mean…’ She stares with wild eyes at Malachi.
‘I think what Jess might be trying to say’ – Malachi casts a reproving look at Jess – ‘is that deciding what to do with something as fun and exciting as a camper van shouldn’t really be looked upon as a chore.’
‘Yes, that’s exactly what I meant.’ Jess nods enthusiastically. ‘You should look upon it as a new start to your life, Ana.’
‘How is owning Daisy-Rose going to be a new s
tart? Lovely though I’m sure she’s going to be when she’s finished, where on earth am I going to park her when I get back to London? I have enough trouble parking my bike on the rare occasion I ride it.’
‘You could leave her here if you want to?’ Noah suggests casually. ‘I have quite a bit of space in the yard at the back of the shop where I park my Land Rover.’
I think about this. It would certainly solve one of my problems.
‘You wouldn’t mind?’
‘Of course not. On one condition though.’
‘What’s that?’
‘You occasionally come to visit her, and the rest of us in St Felix.’
‘Of course.’ I feel my heart swell at the thought of having a reason to return to this quaint little Cornish town, and to Noah. And not for the first time, we hold each other’s gaze for a tad longer than is necessary.
‘That’s grand that you have somewhere to park her,’ Malachi says, interrupting our moment, ‘but you can’t just leave her sitting in a yard all day.’
‘She’s not a dog, Malachi!’ I grin. ‘I’m not asking you to leave Ralph locked up in Noah’s back yard all day.’ I look for Ralph and see he’s currently chasing Clarice around a large rock for a piece of driftwood that they’ve claimed as their new toy.
‘I know, but I just hoped you’d have better plans for her, that’s all.’ He wanders over to tend to his sausages, a sulky look on his face.
‘I would do if I could think of any, but what you have to remember, Malachi, is I’m a graphic designer who lives in a small flat in North London. What use do I have for a camper van in my life?’
‘I’ve worked my socks off doing her up for you,’ Malachi mumbles, poking at his sausages. ‘And now she’s just going to sit rusting away in the back yard of an antiques shop.’
I hold my hands up to the others in a ‘what should I do?’ gesture.
‘Are you absolutely sure you can’t think of anything you’d like to do with Daisy-Rose when she’s finished?’ Jess asks, glancing at Malachi. ‘I mean you’ve changed such a lot already since you arrived here in St Felix, maybe by the time you leave you’ll have changed your mind about this too?’
How would Jess know I’d changed? I had, yes, I couldn’t deny it. St Felix had helped me clear my head, that was for sure, and I did feel better for coming here, but how would Jess know that? What had Noah been telling her?
‘It’s good you think that, Jess,’ I say, glancing at Noah. He looks as puzzled by her statement as I am. ‘But I don’t think I’ve changed so much that I’m going to give up my job and live out some sort of hippy-style fantasy travelling around the country in Daisy-Rose.’ I smile at my joke, but Malachi just makes a huffing noise and Jess looks sadly down into her beer bottle.
‘All right!’ I concede, standing up and going over to Malachi. ‘How many more days do you think you’ll need before Daisy-Rose is finished?’
Malachi looks up hopefully from his sausages and considers this. ‘Four, maybe five.’
‘That’s perfect. I have Snowdrop Cottage until next Saturday. How about I promise to think really really hard about what I can do with Daisy-Rose in the remaining days I have left here? How does that sound?’
I hear Jess clap her hands together in delight, but Malachi still seems gloomy. ‘Good, I guess,’ he admits. ‘But it will be a shame to see you go whether you go with or without Daisy-Rose. We’ll miss you, won’t we, Noah?’ he prompts, glaring at him.
‘Er… yes. Yes, of course we will.’ Noah, startled, looks up from his beer bottle. ‘The place won’t be the same without you.’
‘I’m sure Noah will be glad to see the back of me. I’ve had him careering around the country for two weeks on something akin to a wild postcard chase. He’ll be glad of the peace.’
Noah doesn’t reply.
‘How’s that going?’ Jess asks keenly. ‘Noah told me what happened in Brighton. Have you found anything more yet?’
‘I haven’t had much time today, but I did take a little look on the internet before I came out and there are quite a few paintings listed on eBay by an L. Adams. They’re all in that same bright bold style too. I’m positive this L. Adams is our Lou.’
‘Is there anything else on there about her? Jess asks. ‘Like a Wikipedia page?’
‘Not that I can find.’
‘Social media?’ she suggests. ‘Does she have a Twitter or Facebook account? Maybe she puts her paintings on Instagram?’
I smile. ‘If our Lou is still alive, and I pray she is after all this, she’s likely around eighty-eight years old. I very much doubt she tweets!’
Everyone laughs, including Jess.
‘Worth a shot,’ she says, shrugging.
‘Jess, anything is worth a shot right now,’ Noah says, getting up to check his fish again. ‘We’re so short on leads that I might have to borrow Clarice’s if we don’t find any soon.’
The food is eaten much faster than it takes to prepare it. I’m careful to eat equal amounts of sausages and fish, so I don’t show any favouritism. More beer is downed and we’re now all sitting wrapped up in jumpers and blankets as the evening begins to chill – Noah and I still on the picnic chairs, and Malachi and Jess down on the rugs as we witness the dramatic sight of a beautiful blood red sun slowly sinking down beneath the sea.
‘Isn’t nature wonderful,’ I sigh, breaking the silence that’s engulfed our little camp for the last few minutes.
‘When you witness sunsets like this, it makes you wonder just how many other people must have sat watching the same thing before us over the years,’ Noah says, glancing across at me. ‘Things change and times move on, but nature remains the one constant.’
I look down at Malachi and Jess, and smile as I see them curled up next to each other on the rugs apparently asleep. Malachi is lying on his back with his hands behind his head, and Jess is using Malachi’s legs as a pillow while she snuggles under one of the picnic blankets to keep her warm.
‘Look at the kids,’ I whisper jokingly to Noah. ‘They’re all worn out.’
Noah smiles. ‘I think it more likely all the beer they both consumed rather than acute tiredness that’s put them to sleep.’
‘They were behaving oddly earlier, weren’t they?’
‘When?’
‘When I asked whether they’d met before – they went all cagey.’
‘Maybe they have, and they don’t want us to know about it.’
‘Why, though?’
Noah smiles. ‘Ana, not everyone wants their secrets known to all and sundry. The trend these days is to share everything – it’s supposed to be healthy – but sometimes things are best kept hidden.’
I assume he’s thinking of his time in the Met again.
‘You’ve known Jess a lot longer than me,’ I say, pretending I don’t know what he’s referring to. ‘What’s she like?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Does she talk about a lot of deep stuff to you?’
‘Not that I’m aware of. How do you mean, “deep”?’
‘Like philosophical stuff – the meaning of life, that kind of thing.’
Noah thinks about this. ‘I suppose she does sometimes. Why?’
‘It’s just Malachi does the same. I know you’re not keen on him, but he’s a really good listener and he has some really good advice about… well, life.’
I can feel Noah bristle across the rugs.
‘You don’t need to worry you know?’ I tell him. ‘We’re just friends. We were actually having this conversation earlier before you arrived at the cottage. How he’d have been just my type a few years ago.’
‘Oh, yes…’ Noah shuffles uncomfortably in his seat.
‘But how he’s very definitely not now,’ I emphasise.
Noah looks across at me. ‘I see… May I ask what is your type now?’
I look at him, my brain willing my mouth to say the word You.
‘I’m not sure I have one,’ I hear myself saying i
nstead.
Malachi sighs heavily on the rug below us, but he doesn’t appear to wake up.
‘That’s probably a good thing. Leaves your options open.’
‘Yeah.’
We look at the sky again. The deep magnificent reds are fading now into paler oranges and yellows.
‘It was good of you to offer to let me keep Daisy-Rose in your yard,’ I tell him after a bit.
