“You seem a little desperate, mate,” Bodhi said with a smirk.
I was seriously going to punch this bastard in the face. It had been over a week since Yaz had blocked me, and it was proving harder than I anticipated to get anywhere near her. I’d visited her flat twice – neither time with any success. In fact, on the second visit, Bryn had even taken it upon himself to come out into the corridor, waving his stick in my face and telling me to bugger off. I’d thought the old boy had warmed to me after the last time, but he seemed to have had a rather extreme change of heart.
“I’m so sorry to have disturbed you, Mr Pickering,” I’d said, “but if you would be kind enough to tell Yazmin that I called round, I just– ”
“I might be old but I’ve still all my marbles, kid,” he interrupted me. “She’s not been right since you brought us home. I’ll not have some young buck upset my Yaz. She didn’t crack a smile once when she brought me my shopping this week. Didn’t even want to stay forCountdownand shealwaysstays forCountdown. It’s like you’ve drained the life right out of her. Now, bugger off.”
I hadn’t gone back there since. Bryn looked like he really would do himself an injury if he swung that stick around much more – I didn’t want his broken hip on my conscience as well as everything else. My new tactic was to hang around Max and Verity’s office and to drop into Max and Mia’s house unannounced. But there were only so many times I could do that without looking suspicious. Last night I’d stayed for dinner. I think Mia could tell I was down (although thankfully she didn’t know why – if she knewthatI was quite sure she would not be serving me chicken casserole and giving me sympathetic looks) and she was trying to make me feel better. Max, not having quite the tact of his wife, put up with me for the first couple of nights but after I’d eaten Mia’s cooking for the third night in a row he lost his patience. After supper, he took Mia by the hand and headed towards the stairs.
“Er… what are we doing tonight, guys? A film?” I asked.
“There’s nowtwe’lldoing, you tosser.I’mgoing upstairs with my wife,” Max snapped.
“Max!” Mia squeaked, swatting him on the arm as her face flooded with colour.
“I don’t think that’s really my scene, so I’ll just stay down here and maybe we– ”
“Get out of my house!” he yelled in exasperation.
“Max,” hissed Mia as she was tugged along behind him up the stairs. She didn’t seem to be putting up much of a fight, truth be told.
“Love, you’re one that said earlier that you wanted to–”
“Shutup!” Mia reached up and put her hand over his mouth. Her face was still red, but she was suppressing a smile. “You’ve got no tact, you big oaf.”
“You love this big oaf,” he smiled down at her, then bent to scoop her up off the ground to carry her, pregnant and all, up the stairs. “Let yourself out, dickhead,” he shouted behind him.
“Sorry, Heath,” Mia’s voice trailed off into giggles as they disappeared from sight.
So, it looked like hanging out at Max and Mia’s wasn’t an option. I needed to choose a different potential-run-in-with-Yaz location. Which is what led me to the beach at the harbour, standing next to Bodhi thePoint Breakwannabe and waiting for Yaz to come off the water.
“Shouldn’t you be out there helping?” I asked him.
Yaz was currently supervising about five kids on windsurfers. Some were getting the hang of it, but most were floundering. I watched as one kid wobbled and dropped the sail for the third time. His shout of annoyance was loud enough for us to hear from the shore as he listed to the side and fell off the board completely. Yaz immediately steered her windsurfer over to him. When she reached him, she let her sail fall into the water and sat on her board. The kid emerged from the sea, his movements angry. He then slapped the water before clambering back onto his board. He stood up again and tried to yank the sail out of the water, but the same thing happened again. This time, when he got back onto his board, Yaz leaned over and pulled his rigging towards her. I could see her mouth moving. The kid was giving jerky nods. I heard him shout again and saw Yaz gesture for him to sit on his board as well. He slumped down to sitting and his board rocked underneath him. Yaz used both hands to steady his board and manoeuvred it so they were facing each other, then she put her hands onto his shoulders. The boy looked tense for a few moments, but as he listened to whatever Yaz was saying he seemed to relax his stiff posture. A couple more nods later and Yaz smiled at him. His eyes went wide, and I knew in that moment the only thing he was seeing was this beautiful woman lighting up his world. Before long his shoulders were shaking, and I realized she’d managed to make him laugh. As she pushed away the boy stood up on his board. His movements were no longer jerky with anger so he could balance better than before, pulling up the sail and making wobbly progress across the harbour.
“Don’t know how she puts up with them,” Bodhi commented. “That’s why I’m staying on the shore as lifeguard, ready to man the rescue boat. The little bastards are all so whiny. Pay is total shit as well. We’d be much better off sticking to the rich arseholes who wanna impress their mates with their extreme sports skills. But, you know Yaz – she’s a sucker for a kid. Says it’s a crying shame there’s not a better academy set up for them here. To be honest, I’d prefer the little bastards stayed out of my water. Can’t tell Yaz that, though.”
Of course Yaz wanted to teach kids to windsurf. I could still picture her grateful, earnest face after I’d done the same for her all those years ago with surfing. Yet again my stomach hollowed out, and I felt a little ill. How long until I could claw back that level of regard from her? Was it even possible?
“So, you don’t say any of this to her, then?” I asked, keeping an eye on Yaz as she made her way out to a girl who was trying to tack. The wetsuit Yaz had on was hot-pink and black. It had long arms, but the legs ended high on her tanned thighs. Her wet hair was piled on top of her head. She looked incredible.
Bodhi let out a bark of laughter. “Not a chance, mate. Got to keep her sweet. She’s good for business. If she knew I’m eventually planning to can the kid side of things, I doubt she’d work with me.” He shrugged. “She turned down enough offers before me and those poor bastards are now losing all their business to us. If they’d agreed to the kid thing, they wouldn’t be totally fucked now.”
“Don’t you think that’s a little disingenuous?”
“It’s shady as fuck, but there’s no other way to work with her and I certainly don’t want to be in competition with her.”
“Aren’t you worried I’ll tell her what you’ve just said?”
Bodhi snorted a laugh and slapped me on the back. I had the overwhelming urge again to punch him in the face. “Don’t think I need to worry about that. She hates you, fella. Doesn’t matter what I tell you – she wouldn’t believe a word you said. Must say, I know I can be a bit of a prick, butyoureally took the prize didn’t you?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared out to sea. How had I managed to get myself into a position where I was being lectured by this pathetic specimen of humanity?
“Anyway, once I convince her about Brazil, we’ll be out of the country for six months of the year anyway, so it won’t matter.”
“What?” My voice rose in surprise and he smiled a smug little smile at me.
“Hasn’t told you, has she? That’s the direction the business is going in. Big waves in Brazil. Ultimate guided windsurfing adventures. None of this pissing about with kids in shitty Poole Harbour. We’ll be living the high life funded by the super-rich.”
