Simon peers into the rock pool, as if he’s searching for creatures, but really he’s thinking hard. There’s a quick way back home if they cut inland across the fields, but that will mean both arriving home at the same time and someone might see. If they go back the long way, he’ll have to find a way of losing her before they get to the town, but it’s easier to do that, and she’s already said she’s got shopping to do. And it also means she won’t know the quick way to the bathing rock. He doesn’t want her to come here by herself. It’s his place. Stupid, to have shown her the way down.
But it was amazing, swimming together in the cove. He thinks of that moment, holding her feet so she could climb back out. Her skin.
Behind him her tiny turquoise top is still lying in the sun. When she first got out it was almost see-through, wet against her body.
The mysterious world of the rock pool seems much more knowable to him than Leah. Leah Sweet. He says her name in his head twice. She called me Si. As if we were friends. Are we now?
There’s a buzzard overhead. Gulls below. Tide seems to be coming back in. They timed their swim perfectly. It will be an hour later tomorrow, to get the right moment. Should he tell her how dangerous it is to swim, unless it’s a spring tide? But that will suggest to her that she can come again. Or even come without him.
Too much thinking is making his head hurt. He’s too hot again, would love another swim. Needs a drink. He goes dizzy for a moment when he stands up.
‘I’ve got to get back,’ he says to Leah.
She nods. ‘How?’
‘Same way. Back up with the rope. It’s easier going up.’
‘Wait while I get my top on,’ Leah says.
She doesn’t seem to care whether he sees or not. But he looks away all the same.
When they climb up the cliff he touches her hand. Well, she clings on to him for dear life. It doesn’t mean anything. She’s scared of falling. They make their way back along the cliff path the way they came, and finally they get back to the Island.
‘You’ve caught the sun,’ Leah says.
‘So have you. But you were tanned already,’ Simon stammers. Everything feels different now they’re back.
‘I had a really good time,’ Leah says. ‘Thanks for letting me tag along.’
‘You can do your shopping. If it’s not too late.’
‘Yes. Want to come with me?’ Leah asks.
‘No thanks,’ Simon says.
‘See ya, then!’
Simon waits while she walks slowly down the path towards the town. She doesn’t look back. Then he starts off down the hill towards the road. The town beach is packed with people, squeezed into a sandy strip at the top by the encroaching tide. Children bob in the water. The waves drum against the shore. His ears are full of the mesmerizing sound from a whole afternoon of sitting so close to the sea. He buys himself a Coke from the first kiosk he comes to and downs it in one.
The town clock strikes the hour. He counts. Four. He has spent nearly five hours alone with Leah Sweet who is sixteen years old and the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. Nothing will ever be the same again.
‘Where have you been all day?’ Nina asks him the moment he comes through the gate.
‘On the beach,’ Simon tells her. ‘And I walked along the cliff path a short way.’
Nina studies his face. ‘You’ve been in the sun too long. Look at you. But hasn’t the weather been lovely? I’ve had a brilliant time too.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yes, I met Matt Davies for coffee and then he gave me a lift out to his place so I could collect the car, but it was so lovely we had a little walk round where he lives, and then we had something to eat, and, well — it was lovely.’
‘Yes. You said.’
‘What’s the matter? Don’t you like me having a good time?’
Not with him. He sighs, just so she knows he’s fed up with her. ‘Where’s Ellie?’ he asks.
‘She’s been at Rita’s all day. She’s got her grandchildren staying so she asked Ellie over too, and when it got so sunny they took a picnic down to the beach. And Ellie’s just phoned to see if she can sleep over.’
‘Can she?’
‘Yes, of course. What about you? Any plans?’
Simon shakes his head. ‘I’m going to have a shower.’
‘OK, love. I’ll finish off out here.’ She waves the garden shears at him. ‘It looks so much better already, doesn’t it?’
It all looks the same to him. Why’s she so cheerful suddenly? He kicks his muddy boots off and goes into the kitchen. He cuts a huge slice of bread, loads it with butter, then honey, and shoves the whole lot in his mouth. He pads upstairs to the bathroom.
After his shower, Simon puts on clean boxers and lies on the bed. Dozes. Replays the day, with different versions added in. The window’s open. He can hear someone singing. Leah.
He picks up the small book on the bedside table: The SAS Survival Guide. He reads the section called ‘Essentials (Facing Disaster)’, and then ‘Reading the Signs’.
He strains to hear the lyrics of the song that’s drifting in through the window. His face and arms are glowing from the day’s sun.
The phone rings.
‘For you,’ Nina calls up the stairs.
Simon bounces down, two stairs at a time. Nina’s still hovering in the kitchen doorway so he turns his back on her.
‘Hi,’ he says into the phone.
‘Want to come out tonight? Go hunting again? Dan’s allowed out. We can get some cans.’
Simon feels a stab of disappointment. It’s Johnny. He’d expected — who?
‘Si? Are you still there? Well? About eight? No point in going earlier. The rabbits don’t come out till it’s dusk. Bring your catapult, yes, and some ammo? Dan and I’ll call for you.’
‘OK.’ He puts the phone back.
Nina reappears from the kitchen. ‘Well?’
‘What?’
‘What did he want? Are you going out?’
Simon frowns. ‘Yes. So?’
‘Well, it’s helpful to know, so I can make my own plans. I might invite someone round.’
‘With me safely out of the way, you mean.’
‘Probably not at all safely!’ Nina laughs.
She’s refusing to get wound up by him. Won’t notice his sarcastic tone.
‘So get yourself something to eat, Si. I’ll eat later.’
Back upstairs, the singing has stopped. Simon picks up his book again and reads through the advice on finding your way at night: ‘Using the Moon for a Rough East-West Reference’; ‘Using the Stars for Navigation’.
He starts thinking about Dan and Johnny and him. He might as well make the most of it. Why don’t they take a tent? Stay out all night? Or, even better, make their own shelter for the night? He looks up the section in the survival book and then goes back downstairs to phone Johnny. He won’t tell Nina till he’s got it all planned and the other parents have agreed, and then she won’t be able to say no. She’ll have made her own arrangements for the evening by then anyway. He won’t think about that.
‘We’ll make a fire and cook rabbit, if we get any, and let’s take marshmallows, and I’ve made some of that dough stuff to cook on sticks.’
Dan and Johnny wait in the kitchen while Simon packs his rucksack with billycans and two different sorts of knife, and his survival fuel stove for emergencies, and matches, and his army surplus water bottle. He retrieves the dough, wrapped in a plastic bag, from the fridge, and three packets of marshmallows from the top cupboard.
Nina comes in from the garden. ‘So, where’s your tent? And sleeping bags?’
Dan answers her. ‘We’re gonna make a group shelter with a tarp. And it’s too hot for sleeping bags.’
‘Hmm.’
Johnny chips in. ‘It’ll be fine, honest. We’ve got a groundsheet. We can shove bracken underneath for insulation.’
‘In any case,’ Simon says, ‘we’re only going to be over in the fields. We can just come home if we’re cold.’
‘You will be really careful, won’t you, of the cliffs in the dark? No swimming off the rocks, either, or anything else foolhardy.’
Johnny and Dan will take the piss later.
He doesn’t turn back to wave or anything, although he knows his mother’s there at the gate, watching them go. He’s vaguely aware of someone at the window in the house opposite too. He doesn’t look up. As soon as they leave the road and take the footpath over the fields he eases up. It’s going to be a good night, after all. The air’s still warm even though it’s after eight. Long shadows stretch over the hayfield. They’ll choose a place to rig up the shelter first, and get wood for a fire, and then they can start hunting.