Page 96 of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay
‘What about the stables, then?’ I say defiantly. ‘I’m not the only one doing that. When it’s open both Dorothy and Tiffany are going to be involved and have been in all the planning stages.’
‘Because it suited you to have them involved. You knew it made good business sense to let them have a role.’
I look at Tom. ‘What is it you want me to do, then? Hold a committee meeting regarding all my decisions both personal and professional, open my life up to all and sundry?’
‘No, not to all and sundry. Only to those that are close to you – like me.’
Before I can protest further, Tom pulls me to him, and without even waiting for any sort of approval from me, or any reason for it not to happen this time, he leans down and kisses me firmly on the lips.
For the first few seconds of his kiss, I can feel myself resisting, but then I relax and allow myself to enjoy it.
My arms, which had been firmly by my sides, involuntarily reach up and wrap themselves around him, and as our kiss progresses, I realise my fingers are gently caressing the back of his neck.
As we pause for a moment to catch our breath, our faces pull away from each other, but our bodies remain firmly pressed together.
‘God, I’ve been wanting to do that for ages,’ Tom says breathlessly, kissing my forehead now.
‘Really?’ is all I can reply.
‘Of course really.’ Tom looks at me with surprise. ‘You are a very attractive woman, Amelia; you must know that.’
‘Not really.’
‘What?’ He holds me back in his arms. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
I shake my head, and then to my embarrassment I feel a tear beginning to roll down my cheek. It’s quickly followed by another one, and then a third, until suddenly my cheeks are wet and my eyesight blurred.
‘Oh my, what have I said?’ Tom asks, letting go of me to fumble about in his pocket for a tissue. ‘Jeez, I’m useless, I don’t even have a hankie to offer you.’
‘It’s fine,’ I say, unceremoniously wiping my cheeks with the sleeve of my top. ‘It’s not your fault – really.’
I blink a few times to try to stop the tears from flowing, and then I dab again at my eyes with my sleeves.
‘Good job I haven’t got any mascara on today,’ I sniff, ‘or you’d be trying to retract your last statement pretty hastily by now.’
‘No, I wouldn’t. I’d still think you were beautiful.’
‘You really have to stop saying nice things!’ I hold up my hand in front of his face. ‘Or therewillbe a tear tsunami.’
‘Come on,’ Tom says, leading me across to some rocks. ‘Let’s sit down for a bit so you can recover from my amazing ability to make you cry. Then you can tell me why what I said caused you so many tears. I’ve a feeling it might be to do with that story you promised to tell me the night we walked back from the pub.’
‘What story?’ I ask innocently, even though I know exactly what he means.
‘The secret of why you’re just like one of these before it gets washed up on to the beach,’ he says, lifting a large conical shell up from the sand and passing it to me. ‘Soft on the inside, but covered with a hard protective shell.’
Thirty-five
There aren’t many people about on the beach this afternoon, just a couple walking a dog and a runner doing some sort of sprint training up and down the hard sand near the water’s edge. So as we sit on the smooth side of some rocks, we’re pretty isolated and alone.
‘Right,’ Tom asks gently. ‘What happened that made you have such a low opinion of yourself? I know the basics, but I have a feeling there’s more to this.’
I take a deep breath. It was always hard going back down this particular road to the past, but I know that if I’m going to move forward with Tom, I have to talk about it.
‘You know that my husband walked out on me?’ I ask, trying to judge how much Benji has told him.
‘I knew you split up with your husband, but not that he walked out on you.’
Right, so Benji had been fairly discreet then.
