if some rule had been broken, yet she didn’t know what or how it had altered.
They spent the rest of the afternoon working in silence, each of them staining their own patch of floorboard, each of them immersed in their own inner world. Maddie watched the stain of her brush painting an indelible inky brown onto the floorboards, mesmerised with how the amber liquid seeped into the grain of the floorboards, bringing out the hues and whorls of the wood. The room was silent, apart from the drag of the brushes and the ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece.
38
Eventually, Greg stood up and put his hands on his lower back and arched it. ‘I think we’re done.’
Maddie stood back in the kitchen where the floor was dry and looked at the hall and lounge. The stain now showed up the beautiful patterns of the wood in a golden honey brown. The cottage felt warmer, cosier.
‘I love it.’ She smiled. ‘Thank you.’
‘We can paint the second coat tomorrow, but this needs to dry first.’ He took her paintbrush from her and stepped carefully into the kitchen and placed them both in the paint cleaner in a jar on the windowsill.
When he popped his head back out, he grinned at her. ‘Walk on the beach?’
Maddie nodded and went to fetch Taffie’s lead. As soon as Taffie heard it being unclicked from the hook in the kitchen his head was up from his basket and he was barking noisily.
They walked back along the path that had been a death-trap a few days ago. The violent white water was gone and the tide was out, an empty beach stretching out before them. He stood and held her hand, taking in the late sun and peaceful, brooding waters. ‘Bit different from last time.’ He looked out to sea and then turned and smiled at her. She nodded.
He squeezed her hand and released it just as they came to the stone steps leading down to the beach. Taffie ran excitedly ahead, thrilled to be off the lead, and bounded along the beach, his fluffy tail wagging. Maddie followed Greg down, glancing at the top of his messy curls. His shoes crunched in the sand on the steps as he descended in front of her.
They made their way along the beach and Maddie gazed out to the horizon. The sun was pretty low in the winter sky and sent slivers of golden light across the ocean. It was chilly and their breath twisted like white snakes around their faces. He pulled down her woolly hat playfully, grinning at her, like he used to do all those winters ago. They walked side by side for a while, their footsteps in time, until slowly Greg linked his arm with hers.
She turned to look up at him. They were now quite a distance from the cottage and had wandered closer to the shoreline.
‘I didn’t mean to upset you earlier.’
‘You didn’t upset me, Maddie, it’s just the situation. Our life. Things in the past I can’t fix.’
‘Tell me about Tiggy – the place you’ve built up.’ She had to know, it was a morbid sort of curiosity. Part of her was desperate to know about this other woman, yet part of her wanted to shut it all out of her mind and have Greg all to herself.
He wandered on a bit further. ‘The place in Cornwall was Tiggy’s parents’ place. We inherited it from them, and it seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. We started off running it as a B&B, but eventually, most of the clients came for the windsurfing in the bay. We were making more money with the water sports and the B&B was a sideline. We’re on an ideal spot – and it’s private – so, after I did my qualifications it seemed natural to offer water sports, training, RYA certificates, that kind of thing. I hired a bunch of lads in the summer to help me out and we’ve built a good reputation in the local area.’
‘And no kids to share it with?’
He stopped in his tracks and jammed his hands into his pockets, looking at the shore. ‘No.’
She followed his gaze. Little waves were lapping at their feet, then being pulled back by a universal force, back into the sea, leaving a trail of shells and bubbles in their wake.
He turned to look at her and she could feel his eyes on her. He touched her cheek with his thumb and she