Page 123 of Pull Me Under

I don’t.

‘All right,’ she says eventually. ‘Keep your secrets. But if you want to talk⁠—’

‘I don’t.’

‘If you change your mind and want to talk, I’m around. And I’m excellent at listening. Comes from years of nursing – you learn to hear what people aren’t saying as much as what they are.’

I grunt. Go back to the fuel pump.

Cassie doesn’t leave.

‘What are you working on?’ she asks, moving closer to peer at the engine. ‘Cal mentioned you’re trying to get that trawler you bought seaworthy again.’

‘That’s the plan. Once I can get this fuel system sorted, I can carry on working on the hull. Then the electrics. Then—’ I stop. Realise I’m listing tasks like they’re a shield. ‘It’s going to take a while.’

‘But you’re going to do it.’

‘Yes.’

‘And then what? Start fishing?’

‘Refits. Repairs. Engines no one else wants to touch.’ I wipe my hands on the rag. ‘Trelawney Marine Services. It’s what my grandad built before we left. I’m bringing it back.’

‘Competition for the Hardings, then.’

I look at her sharply. ‘Different trade entirely. They fish. I fix. There’s no overlap.’

‘Tell that to Reuben.’

‘Reuben can go fuck himself.’ The words snap free from me, and I can’t help but chuckle at the shocked O Cassie’s lips form. ‘Sorry.’

‘Honest. I appreciate honest.’ She tilts her head. ‘Did something happen? With the Hardings?’

Training’s not until Monday.

Jude’s voice, cold and dismissive. The way he looked through me like I was nothing.

‘Nothing that matters,’ I say. ‘Just the usual. Trelawneys and Hardings don’t mix. I should have remembered that.’

Cassie’s quiet for a moment. Processing.

‘You know,’ she says carefully, ‘I’ve only been in Salt Bay for a few years. I didn’t grow up with the feud. To me, it’s always seemed…’ She searches for the word. ‘Exhausting. All that energy spent hating people for things that happened before most of them were born.’

‘Try being on the receiving end of it.’

‘I can imagine.’ She pushes off the doorframe. ‘Listen, I don’t know what happened, and I’m not asking. But I do know that you’ve been holed up in this shed for weeks, and that’s not healthy. For you or the boat.’

‘I go out.’

‘To training. And the shop. And back here.’ She fixes me with a look. ‘When’s the last time you did something just for fun?’

I open my mouth to answer. Close it again. Jude. That was the last time I had fun.

‘Come to dinner tonight,’ Cassie says.

‘What?’

‘Dinner. At ours. Cal’s cooking – and I told you before, he’s actually decent at it. His mother insisted all her boys learn. Said she wasn’t raising men who couldn’t feed themselves.’