The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,102

the first drops of rain fell into Sadie’s hair.

‘Go and sober up,’ she said. ‘Shall I go and get your dad from the chip shop to take you home?’

‘You’re not going to take me home?’

‘I can’t. Not now, can I? What would Melissa think about that?’

He nodded again and sank to a seat that wasn’t there before setting himself upright again.

‘I bet you can’t still balance on here,’ he said, slapping his free hand on the pier railings before taking a swig from the wine bottle in his other.

‘I doubt it. We were idiots to try balancing on it all those years ago.’

‘But it was funny.’

‘It was funny,’ Sadie said. ‘But we were silly kids then.’

‘A long time ago.’

‘Yes.’

‘Sometimes I wish we were still like that. I loved you. I would have married you one day.’

‘I know.’

‘Life was easier then, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes, but things change and we move on.’

‘I love Melissa now.’

‘You’ll work it out – she loves you too. All you have to do is talk to her.’

With great care, he placed the wine bottle on the wooden boards of the pier and began to haul himself up onto the railings.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Sadie cried, filled with sudden horror.

‘Just one more time,’ he slurred. ‘I’ll be a kid one more time and then I’ll grow up and get Melissa back.’

‘Dec, get down!’

He grinned and gave himself a last pull, but before Sadie could get there, he lost his balance and disappeared over the edge.

Chapter Nineteen

Sadie ripped off her jacket and ran for the railings, but before she got there another figure had already flown past her and leapt into the sea after Declan.

‘Ewan!’ Sadie screamed, leaning over the railings to stare down into the water.

‘I’m on it!’

She spun around to see Ewan racing down the pier towards her, pulling off his jacket too.

‘Get the coastguard!’ he shouted.

Sadie froze. If her brother hadn’t just jumped into the water after Declan, who had?

‘Coastguard!’ Ewan roared as he clambered onto the railings. ‘What are you waiting for?’

‘You can’t go in!’ Sadie cried. ‘It’s too rough!’

He shrugged, and then he lifted his arms above his head and tipped into an elegant dive. Instinctively Sadie grabbed for him, though she’d no more be able to stop his fall than catch fog. All she could do was watch him go like a dart into the waves. Then she saw two heads above the water where there should have been three, and she couldn’t tell who they belonged to. She pulled out her phone with trembling hands and dialled the emergency number, willing the third head to appear.

‘Coastguard,’ she cried, tears of absolute terror choking her so hard she could barely talk. ‘Sea Salt Bay – the pier. Three men in the water – one’s drunk, the other two have gone in after him! Please hurry!’

‘Stay on the line,’ the voice at the other end said, and Sadie kept the phone clamped to her ear as she ran the length of the pier towards the beach. Even in her current state she understood that to dive in after them was folly, but if she could get down to the beach she might be able to swim out to help.

By the time she got there she could see that it was Luke who’d gone into the sea after Declan, and that he was dragging him onto the beach.

‘Oh my God!’ Sadie screamed, running to them. ‘Oh my God he’s dead!’

Luke collapsed onto the sand, panting and dripping wet and unable to reply. He just gave a faint shake of his head, and then set about trying to revive an unconscious Declan. Sadie looked out to sea again, for the spot where she’d seen Ewan go in.

‘Where is he?’

Luke glanced up at her before returning to Declan.

‘Luke! Where is he?’ she cried.

In the next moment, Declan heaved and spluttered and a stream of water came from his mouth and he opened his eyes. But Sadie didn’t have a moment to be relieved. Her brother was still missing and she had to find him.

He’s a great swimmer; he’s a great swimmer, she told herself as she went into the icy waves, and she tried to believe that being a great swimmer was enough, but even she knew better than that. Plenty of great swimmers had drowned in the sea. The sea didn’t care if you were a great swimmer or not, because it had plenty of tricks to catch you out if it was in the