Chapter 15 A stormy night

'No fish?' said Stephen.

'Tristan had them all,' said Anna, and thought, that was the first lie. 'I thought we'd probably want to eat at Philpots tonight. Shall we?'

'Sure. We can celebrate the beginning of our new lives,' said Stephen.

'I'll go and book. It's Friday and they might be busy tonight.' Anna wanted to get out of the house. She booked a table for eight o'clock and then went into the shop. If Mrs Lennox had somehow managed to learn anything about her and Tristan she wanted to give her the chance to say it directly to her face. But fortunately nothing was said.

When she got back, Stephen was waiting for her.

'You rushed out so quickly you didn't give me time to tell you my news!' he said, smiling happily. 'I rang Charlie to ask him about the chances of my having to leave the new company. He thought I was worried and tried to say nice things. But when I told him I wanted to leave, he laughed.'

'Why?' asked Anna.

'Because apparently the new managing director was just about to tell me that I had lost my job, and he was not looking forward to saying it,' said Stephen.

'When will this happen?'

'In a couple of months!' Stephen replied happily. 'I'll be free of Jardine's - and I'll have a "thank you and goodbye" present of a year's salary. Not bad, eh? Somebody, somewhere is taking care of us, don't you think? This is exactly what I wanted.'

'Stephen, that's great - if it's really what you want.'

'It is. Anna, are you having second thoughts?'

'No, not at all,' she replied quickly.

Stephen took hold of her as she walked past his chair on the way upstairs. She fell backwards onto him and he kissed the back of her neck.

'Mmm . . . salt and fish! You smell wonderful!'

'I need a shower.' She got up and kissed him on the nose.

The shower helped. 'Everything's working out well for him,' she thought. 'There's no way I can suddenly change my mind about living here. God, I feel awful. He would be so hurt if he ever found out. I'm a fool! I'm confused! I don't know what to think anymore.' She dried herself roughly. The main thing now was to get through the next few hours without a disaster. Real thinking would come later. She found Stephen in the front garden.

'Better?' he said.

'Yes, much.'

'Something's changed,' he said looking around.

'What do you mean?' she asked quickly.

'The air smells different. I think there is going to be a storm, after all.'

'Good,' she said before realising what she was saying.

As they went up the hill to Philpots they could hear thunder in the distance and the first whisper of wind cooled their faces. Over dinner, Stephen was full of plans - what he was going to do, when they'd be able to come back down, how they'd have to buy another car – or maybe he'd get a motorbike. Anna listened, smiled and said very little.

Their dinner was excellent and the wine helped Anna to relax more. When they left the restaurant, the wind had got stronger and big drops of rain were hitting the ground, hard. The storm was coming in from the west. Skellig was suddenly lit up by a flash of lightning. Stephen put his sweater over his head and they both ran down the street.

Then they saw Tristan.

'Oh, hi!' said Tristan. 'I was just going to make sure the boat was tied up properly.' Another flash of lightning showed the white tops of the waves in the harbour.

'Want some help?' asked Stephen, but Tristan was already moving away. The air was electric.

'Come on, Stephen,' said Anna running down the street.

'Let's get home before it gets any worse.'

As they reached the cottage, there was a huge crash of thunder. They stood in the doorway and watched. With each flash of lightning, the sky was lit up and they could see ghostly figures in the harbour, checking boat ropes.

'The water's high tonight,' said Stephen. 'We've never seen it so high - no wonder Tristan was worried.'

Stephen and Anna went upstairs to bed. But the storm was so wild and beautiful. Anna stood at the bedroom window with Stephen behind her, his arms holding her close.

'Next week'll be strange without you here,' he said.

'No, it won't. You'll be so busy arranging things you won't have time to notice. In any case, it'll give you a chance to get used to it,' replied Anna.

'In what way?'

'Well, I might not be able to move down here as soon as you. I don't know about my job and things yet, do I? You might have to spend a bit of time here alone,' said Anna, and added quickly, 'before I can join you.'

'Oh. We'll have to talk about that next weekend. I don't want to come back without you. I want to start this together,' and he kissed the back of her neck.

They went to bed and reached for each other. His body was usually so familiar and lovely but tonight she felt uncomfortable with his body beside her and her dreams that night were full of disturbing pictures.

In the morning, it took a long time to wake from her deep sleep — the dreams were still pulling her back down.

Stephen wasn't there, so she slowly got out of bed and walked to the window. The scene outside was much changed. The storm had passed but the sky was grey. Rain had washed away all the summer's dirt and the streets looked fresh. She looked down at the harbour - Wave

Dancer was still there, good - but she noticed three other boats on the beach, on their sides. Several people were down there, standing around, including Stephen and Tristan. She turned away from the window.

When Stephen came back, she was ready to leave. She walked around the cottage saying goodbye to it, wondering when - and if - she'd return. Her feelings this morning matched the sky. Stephen thought she was unhappy because she was going back to London, and she let him think that.

They said a rather sad goodbye at Kingham station. She stood at the carriage window, waving to Stephen until he disappeared. Then she suddenly started to cry.

***

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 765