But that all changed Thursday when the weather finally broke. It’d been promising to do it all day, Oliver’s weather app predicting afternoon sunshine and, around three o’clock, it suddenly delivered. The sun broke through and the wind dropped but not before it has chased all the clouds away, leaving a perfect Cornish spring day, the flat sea a dazzling blue, the sand a glowing golden hue.
Halle-fucking-lujah.
Oliver opened the doors between the media room and the beach and inhaled the salty sunshine, the first trickle of warmth he’d felt in months caressing his face as he gazed upon the breathtaking vista. It was stunning and totally deserted.
A sight like that had to be shared.
‘Paige!’ Grinning, he strode to the stairs, taking them two at a time. He doubted she’d even noticed she’d been so engrossed in her work. ‘Paige?’
‘What?’ she asked, swivelling to face him, her forehead scrunching in alarm as he strode in her direction.
‘The sun is out.’ He pointed over her shoulder and she turned back to the view.
‘Oh yeah.’ She smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes as he came to a stop next to her seat. ‘So it is.’
‘C’mon.’ He tapped the back of the chair. ‘Let’s go to the beach.’
She glanced up startled. ‘What?’
‘Thesunis out, Paige.’ He grinned again at her nonplussed expression. ‘We don’t know how long that’s going to last.’
‘Um, no.’ She shook her head. ‘Red hair and a UV index aren’t a good mix.’
He laughed. ‘It’s Cornwall, not the solar surface. Live a little.’
‘I’m good, thanks, I don’t need any sunshine.’ She returned her attention to her work, her fingers back on the keyboard.
Oliver scoffed. Sunshine wasexactlywhat Paige needed. She hadn’t left the house since Monday and that just wasn’t like her. Addressing the top of her head, he said, ‘Everyone needs sunshine. Think of the vitamin D. Your bones will thank you for it.’
She couldn’t leave here with rickets. Bella had threatened him with all kinds of dire consequences if he hurt her. What sort of pestilence would she bring down on him if Paige ended up with a serious skeletal deformity?
‘I’m not exactly dressed for the beach,’ she protested, glancing at her clothes.
What exactly shewasdressed for was the bigger issue in Oliver’s humble opinion. Plain blue jeans, plain grey T-shirt. Her hair contained in that wretched knot thing he was really coming to dislike. It was just… wrong.
Which made this trip outside even more urgent.
He needed to get the old Paige back. Not for him.For her. Underneath all that perfect pleasantness, she seemed… sad. And he was worried.
‘Neither am I,’ he said as he slid his hand under her elbow and urged her to her feet. She didn’t resist. ‘But it’s just us so, let’s gather our rose buds. Make hay while the sun shines. Strike while the iron is hot.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘If you say carpe diem next I’m calling your shrink.’
Oliver laughed.Thatwas more like the old Paige. ‘C’mon,’ he whispered, ‘take a break with me. Tomorrow the beach will be crowded if this weather holds as forecasted and it won’t be the same.’
Pulling her elbow out of his grasp, she bugged her eyes at him. ‘I’m working on your book. I’m trying to get as much sorted for you as possible before I leave in a couple of weeks. I can’t just… dilly-dally on the beach.’
It wasn’t the first time she’d mentioned leaving these past couple of days and Oliver was more than aware that she was off to Scotland next. But it made his brain itch just thinking about it. He’d thought the place had felt empty without Casper; he couldn’t even begin to imagine how desolate it would feel with her gone.
Not that long ago, he’d come to Cornwall seeking solitude as some kind of penance but now he’d had Casper and there was Pavarotti and a bunch of fuckingWI womenhe always seemed to run into whenever he was in town and Jiya at the café who Doris had introduced him to and who had never heard of his father but laughed at his jokes anyway.
And Paige, full of colour and life, who had constantly kept him on his toes.
Suddenly, his life was full. And not like it had been full before, doing a bunch of inane things with fair-weather friends to occupy all the hours in his day while all the time hoping his father noticed that Oliver lived under the same roof.
He wasbonefull. Deep in his marrow, full.
Maybe he could suggest he pay someone else to house-sit for her in Edinburgh which freed her up to stay here and commit all her time to the book? To work on whatever this thing was between them. He could sign over the £100k advance cheque the publisher had put in his hand when he’d met with them in London. God knew, he didn’t need the money and if it hadn’t been for Paige, he wouldn’t have ever even started let alone be halfway through it and organised as fuck.
