Page 99 of Winter at Wishington Bay
‘I shouldn’t have let you find out Serena was here the way you did. I should have warned you. Tried to explain.’
‘There’s nothing to explain, Nate. Nothing to say.’ I made to stand but he caught my hand again, not stopping me but almost as a question. A request. I sat down again.
‘I think there is.’ He paused, seeing if I would listen. When I made no further attempt to move, he continued. ‘I had no idea Serena was coming. She’d sent a couple of emails, which I deleted, and a couple of texts, which got the same treatment. I wasn’t interested in talking to her at all, let alone getting back together with her.’
I picked up on the past tense he used and felt something inside me crumble a little more.
‘The solicitor handling the divorce knew the only contact I wanted was to be through them. Serena didn’t even know where I was, and I knew none of my family would tell her and work are way too worried about privacy disclosures to let any information out, even to her.’
‘Corinne told her.’
He let out a sigh. ‘Yep. Man, those two are like peas in a pod.’
‘Apparently they’re very close Facebook friends now.’
‘So I heard. Except that hasn’t lasted very long.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes. Things haven’t exactly gone to the plan Serena had laid out and, not being someone ever to blame herself, part of the blame for it has been fired back at Corinne who apparently should have contacted Serena sooner so that she could “save her marriage”. The fact it was already dead and buried is irrelevant. Corinne had no idea who she was getting mixed up with when she contacted Serena. I don’t think she knows what’s hit her. I could almost feel sorry for her if she hadn’t been instrumental in setting all these collision courses in action and hurting you.’
‘I’m fine.’ The statement was automatic. Some habits died harder than others.
Nate looked at me and I felt as though he could see straight through me, to inside me, where things were very much not fine. But I didn’t want him to see that. I needed that distance. But however much I didn’t want it, by the unhappy look on his face, he’d already seen.
‘I know there’s no excuse for how I acted when you came to the house. Serena showed up just as I was getting back from your place and I was still spinning if I’m honest. She turns up saying she wants to come back and how she realises now how good we were…’
I put a hand to my forehead, a headache now beginning to thump a repeat around my temples and above my eye.
‘Nate—’
‘Sorry. I’m not making a very good job of this.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘It does.’ His voice had a strength to it. I met his eyes. ‘It really matters.’
I sat back.
His thumb made a gentle pass over my palm and I tried to ignore all the things it made me feel, concentrating instead on what he was saying.
‘When I came here, when I met you first, I meant what I said. Gabe had been trying to get me to meet new people and so on, encourage me to go out but I really wasn’t interested. When he offered me this place, I was sceptical as I clumsily showed, but, from the horrified look on your face, I realised that I’d been a little too paranoid about my brother attempting to match-make.’
‘They just wanted to help you.’
‘Yeah, I know that now. Coming here has given me clarity in all sorts of ways.’
I thought back to what I’d told my mother, about having clarity. From what I knew about Holly’s experience coming here, she’d experienced something similar. It seemed that Wishington Bay had a very special, almost magical, quality.
‘Of course, once I’d made this big song and dance about not wanting to meet anyone, and you’d firmly, and quite rightly, put me in my place, I couldn’t get you out of my head. And the more I saw you, the more I wanted to see you, spend time with you. I finally began to feel like me again. The old me. All the knots began to unfurl, I began enjoying my work as well as appreciating my time here, and of course, I was loving Bryan’s company!’
‘Where is he?’
‘Carrie’s got him. I’m going back to collect him in a bit.’
I nodded.
‘All of that, all this new-found enjoyment, was down to you.’
