Page 18 of Venus Was Her Name

‘Do you know where she took it?’ Ace was searching under his jacket and for the tenth time shook out his towel hoping for a sock to miraculously appear.

‘I think she might have buried it.’ Edie looked down at Riva and asked, ‘Where is it? Where did you put Ace’s sock, you naughty girl?’ Riva simply wagged her tail and looked out to sea, her snout lifted high, sniffing the breeze and Edie wondered if that was a clue.

‘I’ll just have to go sockless… Can you pass my T-shirt.’ Ace, it seemed, was the opposite of his untidy mother and took meticulous care of his belongings, laying out everything neatly on the rocks before they’d sprinted towards the sea. Riva had totally discombobulated him, and it made Edie giggle as she balled his T-shirt and flung it his way, a bit disappointed that he was about to cover up what was a very toned torso.

When he caught her staring, she gave him a wink which in turn made him smile and shake his head. Lust, that’s what it was, pure and simple. From that first time in Manchester, to when they’d snuck upstairs and she’d given Ace his special gift, and then that evening as he hovered by her bedroom door while Edie worried that Nanou would think it improper if she slept in his bed. In the end they came up with a plan to ruffle her sheets up, in case the boss popped her head in the room.

It wasn’t just sex though; it was more, something she’d never experienced, and she never wanted it to end. The urge to hold his hand, watch him drip milk down his chin while he ate cereal, wake up with him, smile when he smiled in his sleep, to cling tightly to his waist as they zoomed along the lanes on his motorbike, or listen to him chatter with his friends. Her French boy, who said he loved her, and she said she loved him. And it was true.

What was also true, was that she was falling for Joe, big time and bit by bit, dismantling the myth and from behind the wall, she was seeing the man. What she felt for Ace was separate, different, to what she felt for Joe who she observed whenever the opportunity arose, mentally jotting down what she saw, adding it to her notes in secret. Like the fact that he peeled the foil from a bottle top and picked at the label lost in thought while others spoke. Fascinating. He was a listener, not as observant as she so maybe he set more store on words than actions, his ears tuned to sounds, conversations and points of view rather than how someone looked, walked. And he picked at the corner of his thumb when he watched TV and never ate the crusts on his bread. Double fascinating.

It was her way of building an accurate picture of the man, like a scientist would study a lab rat, adding to what she knew, had been told, or researched meticulously. Edie couldn’t afford to make a mistake or ruin the progress she’d made, and she couldn’t act until she knew for sure in her heart that it was the right thing to do.

It was hard though, keeping secrets. And she hated telling her gran lies but that ship had sailed when she met Ace, so a few more red herrings easily rolled off her tongue. In their last conversation, Gran had sent love to Edie’s friend Lana and her family, making Edie feel double bad because she wasn’t really staying at their holiday home in Roscoff.

Dodging her gran’s questions was like a stab in the heart, about the food she’d been eating, ‘Have you had galettes, and oysters?’ And she’d met the constant demands for photographs by sending ones just of her and the scenery, or the dogs, lots of dogs, and even Donna the pig.

She couldn’t keep it up though, just like there was no way she could’ve told her gran that she was flying to France to stay with a man she’d met online and only five times in the flesh all in the space of a year. And there was one thing her gran wasn’t, and that was stupid and the second she heard Ace’s name, all hell would have broken loose.

It was going to happen eventually, that was for sure because amongst all the uncertainty, Edie knew one thing. That she couldn’t walk away from Ace now. She was in deep. That was why she had to fend off her gran for a bit longer, and then like a tiger hiding in the bush, hunting its prey, Edie could act. All she could hope for was that when she did, everyone would understand why, because if they didn’t, she would break Ace’s heart and it would all have been for nothing.

The sight of Ace as he hopped on one foot over to his trainers, trying to avoid getting sand in the toes of his sockless one lifted her mood, as did Joe’s decision to head home. ‘Let’s make a move, otherwise we’ll be in lumber with the boss lady.’

Edie stood and watched as Joe wolf-whistled, attracting Lance’s attention, then signalled he should come back. ‘I can’t wait for lunch. I so look forward to it, you know. It’s the highlight of my day.’

As soon as the dogs realised their master was leaving they raced up the beach, coming to heel as Joe turned to answer Edie. ‘Me and you both, love. Come on. Hop-Along and Surf-Boy can catch us up. First up, best dressed as my old mam used to say.’

Raising his arm, Joe indicated to Edie she should link up, something he’d never done before and for a second she hesitated, overcome with uncertainty. Maybe he noticed, and thought she was just being shy and in his usual jovial way put her at ease. ‘Come on, get your finger out, I won’t bite.’

And in that moment of conflict, as his words hit home, when all the things in her notebook and jumbled brain collided with the here and now, she smiled and slipped her arm through his, and one thought seared itself on her heart. I hope not, Joe, I really do.

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