Page 10 of Second Chance Summer
‘The code is quayside111, all lower-case,’ she replied pleasantly. ‘It’s my café, you see, my dear.’
‘Oh, thank you so much,’ Lily said, Elspeth climbing even higher in her estimation. ‘It does look lovely. I’ll have to pop over while I’m here on holiday.’
Morven let out a kind of snort, which could have been of contempt or horror – or both.
‘Absolutely, but there’s no time for that now,’ Sam said, suddenly firm again.
‘Hold on!’ Lily waved her mobile in the air as he marched off towards the boat. ‘Can’t you hang on for half a minute while I make a call?’
‘Sorry. No. We might not be able to get to Stark at all if we wait any longer.’
Lily was wondering if that was such a bad thing, considering Bryher had a lovely café with WiFi and at least one civilised person in Elspeth.
‘I should do as Sam says, dear,’ his aunt said. ‘And you can always come over tomorrow.’
‘Ifthe fog clears,’ Morven said with some relish, leaving Lily wondering what she’d done to incite the teenager’s wrath – unless Morven simply hated everyone by default.
‘You’ll be fine,’ Elspeth said. ‘If you go with Sam now.’
With difficulty, Lily wrenched herself away from the lifeline that had been briefly held out to her.
When she reached the boat, Sam put out his hand to help her on board. She had no choice but to accept it before squeezing back between the crates to huddle inside the cabin. Her toe had started to throb inside her scratched loafer.
Sam took the wheel and turned back to face her.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘My aunt is into local folklore and rather superstitious, and Morven … well, she just likes to wind people up.’ He attempted a smile that fizzled out as fast as a dud sparkler. ‘We’ll soon be at Stark.’
After a tentative pull away from the quay through waters that seemed barely deep enough to cover the propellor, he opened the throttle and Lily fell back against her seat, wondering how the hell they weren’t going to end up impaled on the pillars of sharp rock emerging from the sea all around. She also kept wondering what on earth could be in that wooden chest … a Ouija board? Magic charms and potions? The mummified carcass of a toad?
Soon, two low hills, almost twins of each other, rose out of the mist, reminding Lily bizarrely of a pair of boobs. She couldn’t help but snort.
‘What’s up now?’ Sam twisted round again, making Lily wish he’d keep his eyes on the rocks.
‘Nothing, only the shape of the island. It looks …’Like a giant cleavage emerging from the sea, she thought, but didn’t dare say.
To her surprise, he nodded. ‘Yeah, it does. Everyone thinks the same. Even back in the day, travellers wrote about it. Quite crudely, some of them.’
‘Glad it’s not just me …’ Lily said as the busty outline loomed closer.
Finally, a brief smile lit his face. ‘It’s not just you, I promise. OK, brace yourself. We’re here.’
CHAPTER THREE
Now, Sam reallydidhave to be kidding her. All Lily could see was a tangle of tooth-like rocks emerging from the gloom.
The engine note died to a whisper and the boat glided as if through a portal, stopping very precisely alongside a tiny stone jetty. Sam jumped onto the quay and coiled the rope around a mooring post, tying it off with a knot so complicated, it would surely be impossible ever to undo.
He jumped back on board. ‘I’ll just clear some of these out of your way,’ he said, hurriedly landing the boxes and bags that covered the bottom of the boat.
While he nipped deftly from bobbing deck to jetty and back, Lily stared out at the quayside with a creeping sense of foreboding. The mist and the mysterious wooden chest all added to the eerie atmosphere and a feeling of gloom settled on her. Coming to this retreat now seemed like a very bad idea and she wished she could beam herself home.
Still, a nice hot soak and a decent dinner would surely do wonders for her mood. She might watch a new movie on Netflix. By Monday she’d be refreshed and might even touch base with Richie just to double-check that the team were totally happy about dealing with any issues that arose while she was away.
‘OK. You can get off now,’ Sam told her. ‘Be careful, though.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Lily said, making her way to the bow, ready to step across. The boat rocked.
‘No, wait! Let me give you a hand.’ Without allowing a second for her to protest, Sam grasped her hand and helped her from the deck to the jetty.
