Page 59 of Second Story

It’s all yours.

All you have to do is take it.

Lenny must believe him. Or almost. His hand hovers while the other kids are all busy dipping their lines into the glistening water. My brother looks up at the man beside him, and I know this expression of bone-deep hope warring with mistrust that he’ll ever get to keep something he wants. It’s the same way he used to look during video calls and prison visits that were neverlong enough for him to find his voice. By the time he did, Mum was gone.

You can have this, Len.

Take it.

Hadi cheers, a crab on the end of his line next, and in the periphery of my vision, I see Luke mirror his son’s grin. So does Asa, who does a happy dance for his friend that ends with a splash and their teacher hooking him out of knee-deep water.

Laughter rings around this harbour.

The whole time, Lenny doesn’t look away from that spool of crab line, that one thing he wants and that every other kid here takes for granted.

Another murmur drifts through their background chatter. “Trusting can be tough.”

Tell me about it.

I nod until I realise that comment wasn’t aimed at Len.

Luke doesn’t look at any of the children. I’m his entire focus, only it isn’t a headmaster who nudges me until I turn or a boss giving me instruction. Someone who could be a friend suggests, “Cornwall was a good place for me to practice. Could be a good place for you too.”

It’s the perfect time for a set of curtains to open at a window behind him.

Joe.

He’s bare-chested and blinking, his phone to his ear, frowning until he sees me. This smile might as well be a crab line tied between us. It winds tight when he raises a hand, then jerks when he waves it, and I wave back just as Luke says, “Oh, you brave, brave boy.”

This time, he does look towards the rock pools, and I hurry to find my own phone and capture Len digging deep to take what he’s been offered. Not only that, his first dip into glistening water comes with a prize of his own. A crab clasps the bait on theend of his line with its pincer, and Lenny shouts in surprise and triumph.

I catch that prize for Mum. Lenny’s grin fills the screen of my phone, and, just like that, I find the words I didn’t have the breath for minutes ago.

“I’m good with Joe spending more time at Glynn Harber.” I inhale deeply as if to prove how easily I can breathe around him. “You said you’d reply to him on Monday about his proposal. He told me all about it. It’s good. Really good. Can I…. Can I tell Joe you’ll speak to him about it sooner?”

Luke follows my eye line, turning to raise a hand of his own at a now clothed Joe, who must have pulled on a shirt in a hurry. Luke is more measured. “Is sooner what you really want?”

Like my brother, I can’t find words. I can only nod slowly at first, then faster.

“Go on, then. No promises, but I’m happy to talk with him while he’s here.”

If Luke says anything else, I don’t hear what. I’m already on the move.

By the time I reach Joe’s bedroom, he’s at the door, looking as rumpled as the sheets on the bed, only with worry for me. “You okay? That looked a bit tense.” And yes, I’m too late to slide under those sheets with him, but his concern is as good as being wrapped tight in them.

“I’m good.” So is snatching a kiss and then sharing news that he follows me downstairs to talk through with Luke out on the harbour.

And the harbourside is where I find Lenny looking as if a cloud has covered the sun.

He’s at the top of the steps, his crab line dropped and forgotten, worried gaze searching wildly.

For me.

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t leave, Len. I found someone. Look.”

I step aside, and I’m not saying the sun comes out for both of us then, but what emerges means I’m glad I still hold my phone.

Mum’s gonna love to see at least one happy reunion.

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