Page 25 of Strictly Friends
‘Coming, buddy!’ Ruby grinned, skipping back into the room.
17
Armed with towels, sun hats, and water, Ruby and Jake walked down the tiled steps from the terrace on to the pathway that led to the beach. Unlike their brief peek around the private cove the day before, this afternoon they had come prepared. Ruby had optimistically packed her novel and Jake’s half-term reading in her beach bag, but one look at the azure-blue water glittering in the sunlight immediately dispelled any thought of reading.
‘Mum! It’sawesome!’ Jake raced across the white sands, whirling his small body around and waving his arms so energetically that his baseball cap flew off his head.
Ruby smiled as she watched him pick it up and then run to paddle in the shallows where the waves lapped on to the sand. It was a joy to see Jake looking so carefree, and for the first time she silently thanked Auntie Pearl for badgering her into making the trip. She could only pray that Kenny played his part and did nothing to threaten their son’s happiness while they were here.
She spotted a pair of beach loungers under the shelter of a large umbrella and trudged over to claim the spot. Dumping her bag on the table supporting the umbrella, she shook the grains of sun-warmed sand from her flip-flops and dropped on to a lounger. She took off her wide-brimmed straw hat and shook her braids free before untying the colourful sarong she had bought to go withher new one-piece black swimsuit, and reclining along the length of the lounger.
The stretch of beach behind Paradise Inn was quiet, and other than the young couple who were splashing around the water’s edge with their children, the other loungers around the cove were unoccupied. Ruby lay back and gazed out to sea through her oversized sunglasses as she reflected on MissIda’s predicament. Paradise Inn was much too beautiful a house for anyone to have to relinquish, let alone someone as lovely as their hostess. MissIda had been too busy at lunchtime for a chat, but Ruby couldn’t wait to see the older woman’s face when she broke the news about the plan to save her home.
‘Mum!Come into the water with me,’ Jake shrieked, rushing up to the lounger and tugging on Ruby’s arm. ‘You can’t nap now we’re on the beach.’
‘I just wanted to relax for a few minutes,’ Ruby laughed, but when Jake refused to take no for an answer, she shook her head in resignation.
‘Okay!Come on, I’ll race you to the water!’
Two hours later, even Jake had tired of splashing around in the sea, and he and Ruby lay on their loungers sipping water from the flasks they had brought along.
‘I love Sorrel Island!’ Jake enthused. ‘Can we come here again?’
Ruby hesitated, not sure of how to respond when there was still so much to be resolved with Kenny.
‘I hope so,’ she hedged. ‘It would be lovely to visit another time, but let’s see how things go, hmm?’
Jake lapsed into silence for a few minutes. ‘Next time we come, I want Uncle Griffin to come with us so we can play our pebble game. I bet I’d win!’
Trying to manage Jake’s expectations about a future trip was plainly an exercise in futility.
‘As long as you and your godfather leave me out of your pebble-skimming contests, that’s fine with me,’ she murmured, reclining against the lounger, and closing her eyes.
It wasn’t long before Jake grew restless. ‘Can we go and see what’s up there?’
Ruby opened one eye to see Jake pointing upwards to an outcrop of trees and flowering bushes further along the cliffs overlooking the sea. There was no access to the patch of pretty woodland from their cove, which meant walking along the shore and past the rocks forming the cove to find a way up.
‘Jake, can’t you just let me lie here for a bit?’ Ruby groaned.
He giggled and prodded her thigh. ‘Come on, Mum, don’t be a spoilsport.’
Knowing she would get no peace until she agreed, Ruby sat up and tied her sarong around her waist. ‘Fine but pass me the sunscreen first and hold out your arms,’ she instructed. ‘And put your cap back on – I don’t want you getting sunstroke.’
By the time she’d retrieved her straw hat, fished around for her flip-flops, and slid on her sunglasses, Jake had already taken off, and Ruby trudged after him unenthusiastically.
‘Hey, wait for me!’ she called, picking up her pace as Jake vanished around the bend of the cove. Turning the corner, she came to an abrupt halt and stared in wonder. Before her was a perfectly formed sandy inlet set back from the sea and fringed with palm trees. The beach was deserted, with only the squawking of seabirds and gentle waves breaking on to the shore disturbing its tranquillity.
This island is truly a paradise!
Ruby picked her way over the rocky outcrop and walked up on to the sand, where a cool breeze blew in from the water and rustled through the fronds of the swaying palm trees lining the cove.
‘Mum!’
At the sound of Jake’s voice, Ruby craned her neck to find her son halfway up a steep, sandy pathway that appeared to lead to the wooded area he had pointed out. How the hell did he get there so fast? she wondered grumpily as she plodded towards the path.
Struggling to navigate the uneven track in her flip-flops, Ruby longed to return to her lounger. What was the point of a private beach if you weren’t allowed a moment to sunbathe? she muttered under her breath. By the time she caught up with Jake, he was standing at the top of the path, staring out to sea.
‘Mum, look! Do you think that boat out there is one of my dad’s?’ he asked excitedly, his eyes fixed on a large white boat with billowing sails in the distance.
