Page 40 of Catch of a Lifetime
He held me effortlessly. It was infuriating. I writhed about, feet skidding on the gravel, getting angrier and angrier.
The soothing croons he’d been making changed in tone to something stern. He squeezed my hands until my knuckles creaked and I gasped. I stopped flailing and glared up at him.
Fond amusement flitted through his indigo eyes, making me grit my teeth. He said something. I had no way of understanding the words, but the meaning was clear enough. The gesture that accompanied it was as familiar as the rest of this goodbye.
He touched his chest. He gestured to the sea behind him. He touched my chest, and pointed at the ground beneath us.
“Dave will go. Joe will wait,” I said dully. “I know.”
He gave his head a single shake, as if I was being overly dramatic at the thought of not seeing him for what would be practically a year this time, then he closed his eyes, bent down and puckered up.
He cracked his eyes open to find me glaring at him.
The absolute dick had the nerve to stay there, close his eyes again, and start making kissy noises at me.
“You’re an arsehole. That’s something else I know,” I grumbled.
The flare of anger had burned up and burned out.
God, love was hard sometimes.
I leaned up and pecked a kiss on his warm, full lips.
He gave a satisfied chuff and I might have at least got a good long kissing session out of it, as his lips parted sweetly beneath mine when I went back for seconds, but with his usual spectacular timing, Jerry picked that moment to show up.
The garden gate banged open and rebounded against the drystone wall.
“Oi!” Jerry bellowed. “Wanker! I want a word with you!”
Dave snatched his mouth from mine and straightened, his eyes opening wide as Jerry ran for him. To my astonishment, Dave bolted.
“Don’t you run away from me! Get back here, you thieving coward!” Jerry yelled, changing course and trying to cut Dave off from the gate.
Dave didn’t need the gate.
He put on a burst of speed, dodged Jerry’s outstretched arms, and the last sight I had of him was a beautiful athletic flex of his big body as he vaulted the wall and was gone.
Jerry pounded after him, still yelling.
Well. This wasn’t our usual tender and romantic yearly farewell.
Jerry stomped back into the garden, his bearded face red and his ginger-grey curls wild. “That dick!” he complained loudly as he marched up to join me. “Do you know what he did?”
“He left me.”
“He went for my nets again and he—what?” My words sank in and he broke off from his ranting. “He what?”
I shrugged, twisting my lips to hide any rogue wobbles. “Left me. That was goodbye.”
Jerry stared at me. Then, “Bollocks,” he said.
Right. “Thanks for the sympathy. If you’re ready to let me pay you for the lost catch now, let me know how much. Otherwise, I think I’d like to be alone.”
Jerry snorted. “Bollocks,” he said again.
“Okay. Good talk.” I turned and headed for the house.
Jerry trotted after me. I sped up. Jerry sped up. My legs were longer; I made it through the back door and shut it in his face. He immediately opened it and followed me in.
