Their Secret Spring Fling - chapter two

Polly searched the house for a sun hat. Her parents had made some changes to her childhood home over the years, but it still smelt the same. The hats were still on the hooks by the front door, exactly as they had always been.

All morning she’d been trying to forget about the fact that she’d almost kissed Archie on the dance floor. Archie Thompson! Her sworn enemy. She also tried to forget the fact that she’d told Archie he was her sworn enemy. With knowledge of his real identity, their whole conversation last night washed back over her in a sickening wave of understanding and mortification.

What was she thinking, going on a date with Archie Thompson? Was it a date? Why wasn’t she doing everything in her power to avoid him and his scheming and tricking. Last night was a perfect example of how utterly and completely infuriating he could be.

I’d like to kiss you.

That was why. Because of the feeling that had hit her in the chest when he’d said those words to her when she didn’t know who he was. Because of the way his lips had looked beneath the mask, full and kissable. Because of the way she’d felt in his arms when they’d danced…

So here she was, standing in her hallway, like she was seventeen again and waiting for a date to pick her up. She’d been vague when her mother had asked what she was going to do today.

Then she heard his voice. Archie was in the kitchen! Talking to her mother.

Polly rushed in and saw them hugging, her mother telling him he hadn’t changed, and then she smiled at Polly and winked.

Great. She’d been trying to keep this date—or non-date—off her mother’s radar and failed spectacularly.

‘I didn’t realise you were going to come in through the kitchen,’ Polly said, awkwardly.

‘I always came in through the kitchen. It would’ve been strange not to. Or did you think I’d knock at the front door like one of your suitors?’

She wanted to hit him.

Archie Thompson. Impossible.

***

Archie drove his hire car from the Walshes’ place along the coastal drive and to one of his favourite beaches. Like Polly had said the night before, Diamond Bay was the same, but he was different. The sky was as blue as ever, the dense bush just as green, but roads that once felt long were now short. Beaches that had seemed short were now endless. Years away had changed his sense of the world.

He parked and they took the short walk over the dunes to Five Mile Beach. They slipped off their shoes to walk over the deep, lightly packed sand to the firmer ground by the water. It was a Sunday, but it was early spring, so the water was only warm enough for kids who had different thermostats than him.

He closed his eyes for a long moment and took it all in. The air, the sounds, the smells. When he opened his eyes, he glanced over at Polly and realised she was doing the same thing.

‘There’s nowhere else in the world quite like this, is there?’ he asked.

‘Nope. Nowhere.’ Then she turned to him and smiled. ‘Nowhere is this quiet!’

Archie had lived in Sydney, Singapore, Frankfurt and London; always trying something new. In his job as a stockbroker, he was always chasing the next deal, looking for the next challenge.

Being back in Diamond Bay was unsettling, probably because of the change in pace. Everyone here seemed content with their lives, happily coupled up like inhabitants of the Ark.

All his life Archie had shunned commitment, associating it first with the desertion of his father and then having it reinforced by living somewhere as sleepy and staid as Diamond Bay. He craved change and adventure.

They carried their shoes and set off along the beach, weaving in and out of the shallows, getting their ankles wet in the cool, salty water. Polly wore faded blue jeans, rolled up at the ankles, and a loose white shirt. Her dark hair was piled on her head in a loose bun, giving him tempting views of the soft skin on her long neck and collarbones.

‘When did you realise it was me? Last night,’ she asked.

He grinned and he knew she was not going to like his answer.

‘I’m sorry, but pretty much straight away. I assumed you knew who I was too when you saw I was dressed as the Dread Pirate Roberts.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I assumed you knew that I knew it was your favourite movie. Is it still?’

‘Yes,’ she admitted with a scowl. ‘But why would you wear something from my favourite movie?’

‘The first time I saw it was with you at Maisy and Ken’s. A happy memory, I guess.’

Archie had such warm memories of the weekends with Polly’s grandparents; he, Polly and Brendan would stay almost every Saturday night, while their parents had well-earned breaks. It was on these Saturday nights that his mother had met and then dated David, the man she eventually married. Maisy and Ken had given his mother the opportunity and space to find a new partner. Archie had simply been glad to be spending time with his best mate, whose grandparents’ house backed onto the bush, whose cupboards were filled with puzzles and board games, and who seemed to have an endless capacity for playing with their grandchildren. Archie’s memories of that time were only happy.

They reached the end of the beach in what felt like an instant. ‘Shall we go around the headland?’ he asked.

She nodded. They sat and put their shoes on again so they could navigate the shale and rock pools. He loved this place, hopping from one outcrop to the next, looking to see what was hidden in each new crevice.

‘Was it just pushing you into the pool and cheating at board games?’

Polly stopped abruptly and for a moment he thought she might slip. ‘Was what?’

‘The reason I’m your nemesis?’

It could be something else. The night of Brendan’s twenty-first. When they had almost kissed. No, he’d stopped just in time. And for her sake. Not his. It had taken every skerrick of his self-control to step away from her that night.

‘Can I ask you something and you promise you won’t laugh?’ she said.

‘I really can’t promise that,’ he said with a smile.

‘Never mind, then.’

‘What?’

‘Did you tell Danny Mars not to go out with me?’

Archie scratched his head, genuinely trying to remember who she was talking about. ‘Was he the guy with the bad goatee?’

She nodded.

He grimaced. ‘I might have.’

‘I was in love with him!’

The way she proclaimed this, he wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. Surely she realised that Danny Mars was an idiot who wouldn’t deserve her in a million years.

‘Really?’

‘Yes, and he finally asked me out and then he cancelled and never spoke to me again. Did you really tell him to stay away?’

Archie honestly couldn’t remember. It wasn’t something he’d do now, but might have been something seventeen-year-old Archie would have done.

She wasn’t Brendan’s little sister anymore; she was an independent woman. She didn’t need his or her older brother’s protection. Not that she had, even back then.

‘What’s Danny doing now?’ he asked.

‘That’s not the point. You shouldn’t have interfered.’

‘I don’t remember if I did, honestly. What’s he doing now?’

‘He might have spent some time in jail for selling drugs.’

Archie resisted the urge to laugh.

‘You shouldn’t have interfered.’

‘If I did, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was your dream to be a drug runner’s girl.’

***

Polly’s fury at Archie began to fade away and she was almost ready to laugh about it. Danny Mars may have been handsome, he may have had a nice car, but with hindsight, it was probably bought with the proceeds of crime.

They were now a distance from Archie’s car and had a long walk back. She had no choice but to keep walking with him.

But once they got the Danny thing out of the way, it was easier to talk to Archie; they shared the same shorthand and similar history. It wasn’t like when she dated men in New York and there were things they said that she didn’t quite understand and things about her they just didn’t get. She and Archie understood one another and they had plenty to talk about; not just their childhoods, but about what it was like to be an expat.

‘Do you think you’ll ever come home to live?’ she asked.

‘I love it here, but no. I left for a reason.’

Polly asked the next question, and it was one she’d been asking herself a lot lately. ‘Why did you leave?’

‘Greater opportunities.’ As though that answer had been obvious, he asked, ‘Why did you leave?’

‘The same.’

‘You still have lots of family here. I’m happy Mum has David, but I’m a third wheel. This place is fine if you have someone.’

Polly nodded. Archie’s mother and stepfather were another of Diamond Bay’s loved-up couples.

‘Do you think you’ll ever come back?’ he asked.

‘I don’t think I’ll stay in New York forever, but I don’t think I’d come back here. I’m hoping to be able to open my own restaurant soon and…’

‘Really?’

‘Well, I’m torn. I love New York, but it’s not the easiest place to establish a new business.’ She hadn’t admitted that ambition aloud to anyone and could scarcely believe she was doing it now, to Archie of all people.

‘You never settled down with anyone?’ he asked her.

‘No.’ She’d met plenty of amazing people but never the exact right person. ‘You?’

‘No. I’ve moved around a lot. I always want to know what’s across the next ocean. Besides, I think growing up in Diamond Bay ruined me.’

‘I know what you mean! Is everyone here coupled up?’

‘Yes. Even the dogs.’

She laughed.

‘I don’t see the big deal. I have a full life, too full. Not everyone needs to get married.’

She nodded. The Polly from New York probably would have agreed heartily. But being back in Diamond Bay was messing with her equilibrium. Would her life be happier if she had someone to share it with? Would she be happier back here? Close to her family?

She and Archie shared stories about their dating history easily, and naturally, as though she were talking to one of her old girlfriends. Archie understood both her worlds—her life overseas and her childhood in Diamond Bay. Both of them had dated as much as their busy schedules allowed, but all those relationships had fizzled out, for various reasons. Wanting different things, not wanting to compromise. Clashing of schedules. Infidelity.

‘I was never willing to compromise, I guess. I don’t see the point in committing if it isn’t perfect,’ he said. ‘And I guess I don’t want to be tied down.’

‘I just never met anyone I was prepared to compromise for,’ she mused, suddenly wondering when she’d set the bar?

***

Archie woke the next morning with a strong sense that something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t place what it was. His mother was busy—she volunteered at the school three days a week. Brendan was working. It was a workday for everyone. Except Polly.

Hoping she too would be at a loose end, he sent her a message asking what she was up to.

Seeing my grandparents, she wrote. Want to come?

***

Polly sat with her grandparents while Archie made the tea and cut the cake he’d bought. At ninety-six and ninety-five respectively, Ken and Maisy still lived independently in a small place, not far from Polly’s parents. They were slow and frail but still very much coping. His sight was fading faster than hers, so she read the fine print that needed reading and changed the television channels. Her limbs were weaker than his, so he lifted anything heavier than a full teacup for her. Archie loved watching the pair of them look after one another. They listened eagerly to the stories of Archie’s and Polly’s overseas adventures.

‘Have you been up to the lighthouse?’ Maisy asked. ‘Apparently the whales are going past.’

The best view of the biannual whale migration was usually from the lookout point and the lighthouse. The whales would be travelling south for the summer.

Archie turned to Polly. ‘How about it?’

She smiled, nodded, and something in his chest lifted and lightened.

***

The Diamond Point Lighthouse guarded the entrance to the bay. It was the symbol of the town, on all the postcards and tea-towels. It was perched high on the point, and on a clear day you could see hundreds of miles up and down the magnificent coast.

‘Can you still go up?’ she wondered.

‘Why are you asking me?’ Archie laughed. ‘I’m as much of a tourist these days as you.’

The door at the base of the lighthouse was open. A guide was taking donations for the building’s upkeep, which they both generously gave.

Climbing the stairs, Polly didn’t feel like a tourist, but a time traveller, remembering back to her childhood and the last time she’d climbed these stairs, which had not changed at all. At the top, panting slightly, they took in the spectacular view. They circumnavigated the top of the lighthouse, looking in vain for whales, getting slightly battered by the wind.

‘I loved coming up here,’ Archie said. ‘I used to dream of sailing the high seas.’

‘Like a pirate?’

He smiled. ‘Yes, to travel over the ocean, to know what was at the other side of this sea.’

Polly had felt the same way. ‘And now you know.’

‘I do.’

She wanted to ask, And what are you thinking now?

He answered her unvoiced question with a smile, before he leant down and kissed her. When his lips met hers, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Just a quick kiss. No tongue. No open lips. No explanation. It left her reeling. She could hear her heart beating in her ears, even above the crash of the waves against the rocks and the wind whipping around them.

There were no whales to be spotted that afternoon, the guide told them they would have better luck in the mornings when the ocean would be calmer, but Polly hardly heard, her head still spinning from the sensation of Archie’s full lips on hers.

They walked back down the stairs, pretending as though nothing had happened, Polly holding on to the rail the entire way down, not trusting her shaking knees.

Back at the car, Polly thought Archie was about to open her door for her, but their eyes locked. She wasn’t having it. Archie was not just going to kiss her briefly and then act like it was nothing. She stepped towards him at the same moment he pulled her into his arms. Their lips opened and this time their tongues tangled.

Unlike the chaste kiss at the top of the lighthouse, this one was full of heat, fire and pent-up momentum.

His hands slid up her back and into her hair. Hers slid down his and to the back pocket of his jeans. This was what had been missing from her life, she thought as heat and pressure built up inside her.

‘I want to do things to you that we can’t do here,’ she whispered into his warm neck.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Aren’t you?’ She was thrown. She could feel how much he wanted her. He could hardly keep that a secret when she was pressed so firmly to him. ‘Because if this is some sort of trick—’

‘It’s not a trick. I promise. I want you too. You have no idea how much,’ he said, his voice rough.

‘Where can we go?’ She was breathless again, panting.

Archie groaned. ‘My mother’s at home.’

‘Mine too.’

He held her. They were in their thirties. How could they still be wondering about their parents’ movements in order to get some time together?

It must be a sign, she thought, pulling away.

‘Maybe it’s just as well,’ he said.

Maybe it was. Maybe not taking this any further was the sensible, safe thing to do.

Definitely.

Not taking this any further was the right thing to do.

So why did it make her ache…?