Maddie watched as her son wrapped a line around his waist and secured it to a cleat on the boat. He threw a line out to sea, which Greg missed a few times. Finally he grabbed it as Ed hauled him round to the back of the boat to climb up the ladder, the waves severely buffeting them.
Maddie had trouble standing in such a gale, but she did her best and held on for dear life to the wheel, keeping it in the place Ed had told her to.
Eventually, Maddie glanced round to see a soaking Ed clutching Taffie, before Greg finally – with Ed’s help – appeared at the back of the boat. Taffie scuttled under a seat and shivered.
Ed and Greg both lay on the deck, gasping for breath and shivering. Then Ed scrambled back to take the wheel from her as Greg jumped up and went round to properly secure the sails, hauling them into submission. Taffie was still cowering in the corner as Maddie went over to him. Then she sat, cross-legged on the deck, utterly soaking by now, and clutched the poor dog to her chest. She could feel his little heart beating rapidly as he trembled in her lap, soaked through.
The rain was pelting down much harder now, but she could just make out the harbour. A couple of boats had lost their mooring and were drifting out at sea. She shivered and watched as Ed and Greg worked as a team to safely bring the boat back to the calmer waters near the jetty. Greg was shouting orders at Ed, who, although looking petrified, did as he was told until it was safe.
Finally, the waves subsided as they were in the inner harbour. After navigating around several smaller boats, they were able to moor a bit further on from where they had started, as a sailing dinghy had taken shelter at their original mooring.
Maddie sat on the deck of the boat, her hair sticking to her forehead, her baseball cap long gone, her clothes drenched and with a shivering Taffie in her lap. She leant her head back on the bench seats and closed her eyes. Thank God they were safe.
68
When they finally got out of the sailing club, Maddie went to the car across the road and screamed.
‘What the f—’ she started to say, glaring at the huge canary-yellow clamp on her car wheel. ‘I don’t believe it!’
‘Oh Jesus,’ said Ed, looking up. ‘Not now!’ He stared at it from under a sodden baseball cap and drenched clothes. She glanced over to him, standing forlornly, water pooling by his feet.
‘This is all we need.’ Maddie put her hand up to her neck and squeezed the back of it whilst she tried to work out what to do for the best. They just needed to get home. She’d parked in a disabled bay without realising it. It was still peak season, and the traffic wardens had been out in force.
At that moment, Greg emerged from the front door, with his sailing bag slung over his shoulder. He stood in the street and looked at the scene in front of them, set his bag down, and put his hands on his hips.
‘Right, you’d better hop into my car,’ he said, nodding to his pick-up truck on the other side of the road. ‘Both of you. Let’s get you home.’
Maddie was torn. She was freezing, wet and she wanted to get home. Ed was visibly shivering and Taffie hadn’t stopped shaking in her arms since they’d got off the boat. Someone at the club had given her an old towel and she’d wrapped the dog in that. However, she wanted some time alone; Greg had been so peculiar with her – even after he’d leapt overboard. It was as if he regretted having her around today. She sighed. What choice did she have?
They were silent all the way back to Maris Cottage, the windscreen wipers swishing left and right furiously, unable to cope with the amount of rain. What should have been a twenty-minute drive on the coast road, became a forty-minute detour as there had been an accident on one of the roads with a petrol tanker.
The windows had steamed up and the fans were operating overtime to keep them clear. The smell of wet clothes and damp dog filled the car. Eventually, they turned into a side road that took them back to the village and they pulled up beside Maris Cottage.