Page 9 of Strictly Friends
Ruby shivered and pulled her coat tightly around her to ward off the cold salty wind gusting in from the sea. Flocks of seagulls circled overhead; their high-pitched cries caught up in the sound of waves crashing on to the stretch of deserted beach. Although the sky was an ominous dark grey with heavy rolling clouds, the rain forecast for the afternoon had held off so far.
Ruby ducked her head to avoid the icy wind and fought to keep her balance as she struggled over the wet pebbles in her thin-soled high-heeled boots. Persuading Griffin to come with her to Brighton beach in this weather now seemed a less than clever idea.
She stopped to catch her breath and a strong gust of wind sent her long braids swirling around her. Pushing her hair back, she glanced across to where Griffin was crouched over the pebbles a few metres away and watched as he picked out a stone and weighed it in his palm before standing and spinning it into the waves in a single fluid movement. The pebble sliced into the water with barely a hint of foam, and when Griffin turned around and pumped his fist in triumph, Ruby laughed, thankful Jake wasn’t with them. In the interminable battles between Jake and his godfather as to who could spin pebbles with the least amount of foam, she was invariably dragged in as referee.
Thinking of Jake reminded Ruby of why she was standing on a freezing-cold beach in October. Having lost his own father at a young age, Griffin had always despised Kenny for choosing to leave Jake fatherless and, despite what she’d said to Fi, Rubyhadfeared Griffin would talk her out of travelling to Sorrel Island to track down Kenny. But now, with MrHinton’s blessing and a study plan in place for Jake for at least the next month, there was nothing Griffin could say to change her mind, and she couldn’t justify keeping her best friend in the dark any longer. With their flights booked and confirmed, she and Jake were leaving in less than a week, and Ruby was running out of time to break the news.
‘Hey! Earth calling!’
Lost in thought, Ruby hadn’t registered Griffin walking towards her until he was within reach.
He knitted his brow at her obvious confusion, and she couldn’t help noting how even a frown couldn’t detract from his almost perfect features. There was really no mystery as to why so many women found Griffin irresistible. His hazel eyes were striking against his light brown complexion and the square jaw and razor-sharp cheekbones wouldn’t have been out of place on a magazine cover. The curly black mop of his teenage years was now closely cropped waves, while his youthful lankiness had – courtesy of intense gym sessions and a black belt in Taekwondo he’d picked up along the way – morphed into broad shoulders and a muscular physique that his zipped-up padded jacket couldn’t conceal.
‘Sorry, I was miles away,’ Ruby said. ‘Can we get out of this wind? It’s so cold my lips have gone numb! I wore my thickest leggings but it’s still bloody freezing out here.’
She pushed back her errant braids and looked around for shelter, but all she could see was a row of brightly coloured beach huts, all of which were padlocked.
‘There’s a bench over there – next to the blue hut.’ Griffin pointed to the one furthest away and started walking towards it. After a few paces, he turned to watch Ruby plodding slowly behind and, with an exasperated shake of his head, he retraced his steps and extended a hand.
‘Come on, slowcoach. I don’t know what you were thinking, wearing heels to the beach.’
‘Ialwayswear heels,’ Ruby retorted breathlessly, grabbing his hand, and puffing as she tried to keep up with his long strides. Even in her heels, Griffin was almost three inches taller. ‘They make me feel good and the extra inches come in handy for staring down any idiots that get in my way.’
‘Whatever,’ he laughed, tugging her along until they reached the bench. Ruby threw herself on to it and stretched her legs out in front of her to relieve her aching calves while she caught her breath. The beach hut provided a barrier against the strength of the wind, and for a few minutes they sat in silence, watching a flock of screeching seagulls fly in formation along the shoreline.
‘Rubes, what’s this about?’ Griffin asked quietly. ‘I know you didn’t make me come out here in this weather for a fun beach trip, so I’m guessing it’s something serious.’
The feeling had returned to her frozen face and Ruby gnawed on the inside of her lip and stared at the scuffed toes of her leather boots while she tried to find the right words. Now the deed was done, she sorely regretted not having said anything sooner. They had vowed never to keep secrets from each other, and Griff would rightly be furious with her for keeping such a momentous decision from him.
Oh, just tell him, Rubes!
Griffin nudged her gently in the ribs. ‘Come on, what’s up? You’ve been acting weird for the past couple of weeks, and you’vehad a face on you since we set foot on the train. You know you can tell me anything. Are you sick? Is that it?’
He sounded matter of fact but when she turned to face him, she saw the fear lurking in his eyes and mentally kicked herself. Griffin wasn’t stupid, and of course he would have known something was wrong when she suggested a trip to the beach without Jake on an arctic Sunday afternoon. While the seaside was their happy place, she should have remembered the beach also held memories beyond their day trips with Jake.
The beach was where Griffin had brought her on the day Kenny left, hoping she would let out the emotions frozen inside her from the moment she’d read the letter lying on the kitchen table and realised she and Jake were now on their own. It was also where, fifteen years ago and on the day of his mother’s funeral, Ruby had brought Griffin and watched with her heart in her mouth as he finally broke down. Emerging from the dry-eyed shell of grief he had crawled into since Marilyn’s death from cancer, it was on this same stretch of beach where Griffin, screaming into the wind before collapsing into helpless sobs, had finally released the pain of losing the woman who had been both mother and father to him for most of his life.
Recalling that moment, Ruby inhaled sharply and looked him squarely in the eye. ‘No, Griff, I’m absolutely fine. I promise.’
‘Then, what? Is it Auntie Pearl or... not – not Jake?’ He didn’t hide his alarm and Ruby placed a reassuring hand on his arm.
‘No! Well, yes... but it’s not anything bad,’ she added quickly. Wasting no more time, she recounted everything that had happened over the three weeks since the meeting in MrHinton’s study. Giving the occasional nod, Griffin listened without interruption, and when Ruby eventually ground to a halt, he stared straight ahead without speaking.
‘I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on at the time,’ she said after the silence had stretched into minutes. ‘Don’t be angry with me, it’s just—’ She broke off and raised her hands helplessly. ‘Saysomething, Griff! It’s been a really tough decision to take Jake out of school and I’m dreading the prospect of going in search of Kenny.’
Griffin looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and then jumped to his feet. ‘Come on, it’s too cold out here to think. Let’s go to the diner. I’m starving, and we can talk properly inside.’
Half an hour later and minutes before the threatened rain started pelting down, they were sitting across from each other in a booth in Jake’s favourite restaurant. The diner, a few minutes from the beach, was done up in 1950s style with framed black-and-white vintage posters of pop stars on the walls and a red-and-silver jukebox pumping out a steady stream of rock’n’roll. The steamed-up windows blocked out the dreary weather, while the warmth of the diner provided welcome relief from the bitingly cold wind. Although it was well past lunchtime, the place was humming, and waiting staff moved swiftly between tables to deposit heaped platters of sizzling steaks, French fries, onion rings, and an impressive variety of stacked burgers.
‘So, are you doing this for Jake or for yourself?’ Griffin asked, taking a huge bite of his double cheeseburger. He chewed vigorously and tossed back a couple of fries for good measure.
Ruby watched him, torn between fascination and horror. ‘How do you fit so much food into your mouth at one time?’
Griffin swallowed hard and took a long sip from the pint glass of lager next to his plate before answering. ‘Don’t change the subject. Do you want to find Kenny for Jake or for you?’
Ruby speared a forkful of the crispy chicken salad she had ordered and then dropped her fork back on to the plate. ‘Okay, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder at the time why Kenny just upped and left, but it was too painful to dwell on. I thought I’d put it all behind me until this business with Jake started. Now—’ She broke off with a shrug. ‘Thisisabout my son, but maybe it’s also a bit about me.’
She chewed slowly as she watched Griffin plough through the pile of French fries on his plate and then said pensively, ‘Fi had a go at me at work not too long ago. She said I’ve given up on love because I don’t trust anyone, and maybe she’s got a point – though there’s no way I’m tellingherthat. But the truth is I haven’t had a relationship with anyone since Kenny, and that can’t be right.’
