Page 35 of Summer at Harbour View House
‘Is he serious?’ Hannah asked.
‘I hope not.’
Davey waited a few moments more, then swam to the edge and climbed out, jogging up to where they waited.
‘It’s okay if you’re scared,’ he said. ‘We can come back another time—’
‘Geronimo!’ Hannah screamed, holding her nose as she leapt off the edge. Davey laughed as she splashed into the water, disappeared beneath the surface before reemerging a moment later, squealing with delight.
‘Oh, that was awesome!’ she cried. ‘Come on, Nat! Just do it!’
Natasha winced. ‘Just give me a moment.’
Hannah was still splashing around in the water below. Natasha’s knees felt weak, as though the world was a rug about to be swept out from under her. Despite the breeze off the English Channel a nervous sweat had beaded on her forehead.
‘Okay,’ she said, barely about to get the word out, her throat having closed up tight. She thought about the misfortune that had brought her here, to be standing on this rock in the middle of nowhere, looking at the sea gently rising and falling below, and jumped.
For a moment she felt weightless, her blood evaporating, her mind spinning upside down. Then she struck the water and went under, the shock of the cold making her bones ache. She went deep, the water slowing her, and she kicked out, pushing for the surface. When she broke through, she took a huge, desperate gasp of air and looked around for Hannah.
Her friend had just climbed out on to the ledge. ‘Was that awesome?’ Hannah said.
Natasha, gasping, lifted one hand out of the water and raised her thumb. ‘Awesome,’ she said.
Feeling fifteen years younger than time and society said she was, Natasha did another ten or so jumps before Davey called them back from the ledge, pointing to the water below.
‘It’s time to go,’ he said.
‘Come on, one more,’ Hannah said. Grabbing Natasha’s hand she added, ‘We could go tandem.’
Davey shook his head. ‘See how the swell is starting to grow? There was a storm out in the Atlantic last night, and the swell is starting to reach us. It comes up the Channel, then the headland draws it round. It’s not too bad, but it could get more powerful, and you have to know what you’re doing. It’s important to read the ocean, and to respect it.’ He nodded up the coast to where waves were starting to rise and curl over a rocky outcrop at the base of the adjacent headland. ‘Those could be rolling three metres high in half an hour,’ he said. ‘Winter Vale Beach is a lot more sheltered, but we don’t want to be swimming across open water when a big swell comes in.’
They climbed down from the rock on the landward side. The water was a little higher on the ledge than it had been before, the tide having come in. Davey told the women to go first, then he followed them in as they swam back to the beach.
‘That was squee-awesome,’ Hannah said as they walked out of the water, then suddenly gripped Natasha’s arm, pulling her around. ‘Thank you so much for bringing me here. This place has literally changed my life.’
‘Uh, no worries,’ Natasha muttered, just as Hannah squeezed her arm again.
‘Well, if Davey is the main course, here’s desert,’ she said, twisting Natasha around to look up the beach, where a Volkswagen Beetle was alone in the car park, a man beside it pulling on a wetsuit over shoulders wide enough to make Davey look like a librarian. As he put a surfboard under his arm and started down the steps to the beach, Davey came up beside the women and raised a hand.
‘Ben! You’re not going out there, are you?’
The man called Ben came down the beach towards them. ‘He’s a bit old,’ Hannah muttered, pulling Natasha close. ‘He looks about your age.’
Natasha just rolled her eyes. In fact, Ben could have trod any line between twenty-five and forty. His eyes were youthful, but his skin and hair showed the effects of too long in the sun. He looked like the kind of guy who could star in a revival of Baywatch in the David Hasselhoff older mentor type role.
Ben and Davey were clearly friends. They gave each other a warm hug, then turned together towards the shore.
‘Looks like some curlers coming in,’ Ben said. ‘Thought I’d dip my toes, have a look while I have a chance.’
‘Girls,’ Davey said, a description Natasha really appreciated, even if she felt that in her case, it was a borderline insult. ‘This is my old mate, Ben. Ben Trewin. Ben, these lovelies are Hannah and Natasha.’
Natasha appreciated “lovelies” a little less, but considered it part of the country charm. Ben gave them both a smile that was a little too smug to enjoy, and nodded.
‘You’re staying down here, are you?’
‘Up there at 14B,’ Hannah said. ‘We call it Harbour View House.’
‘Do we?’ Natasha said.
