Page 106 of Take Me Away

‘I do.’ I kiss her, soft and lingering. ‘But if it makes you feel better, Maisie’s cereal is in the cupboard next to the fridge. Her school uniform is laid out on her dresser. She likes orange juice but not pulpy, and she’ll try to convince you she’s allowed chocolate spread on toast for breakfast.’

‘Is she?’

‘Absolutely not.’

Isla laughs, and God, I want to bottle that sound. ‘Okay. I can do this. Cereal, uniform, no chocolate spread.’

‘And if you panic, text me.’

‘You’ll be at sea.’

‘I’ll have my phone in a waterproof case.’ I stand, pull on my boots. ‘Dad’ll be here at seven. He’s … well, he’s Dad. But he’s been better with you lately.’

‘Kit.’ She catches my hand before I can reach the door. ‘Be safe out there.’

‘Always am.’

‘I’m serious.’ Her eyes have gone worried. ‘The forecast said⁠—’

‘The forecast always says something.’ I squeeze her hand. ‘I’ve been doing this since I was twelve. I’ll be back before lunch, smelling like fish and wanting a shower.’

‘Romantic.’

‘That’s me. Casanova of the Cornwall coast.’ I lean down, kiss her one more time. ‘Stay as long as you want. The house is yours.’

She smiles, but there’s something fragile in it. ‘I might just… I should probably go back to Salt Cottage after Reuben gets here. Let you have your space. Your routine.’

‘Or,’ I say, ‘you could stop running away from things that feel good.’

Her breath catches. ‘I’m not⁠—’

‘Isla.’ I crouch beside the bed, eye level with her. ‘You’re allowed to be here. In my bed, in my house, in my life. You don’t have to keep one foot out the door.’ I almost blurt that I want her here all the time. Waking with the warmth of her skin pressed next to mine, the sound of her breath in the air. I nearly beg her never to leave me. Ask her to love me enough to always stay, but the words aren’t there, they’re unformed, a wish I can’t articulate.

‘Old habits,’ she whispers.

‘Break them.’ I kiss her forehead, her nose, her mouth. ‘I’ll see you at tea. Don’t let Maisie con you into anything.’

‘No promises. She’s too cute to resist.’

I’m halfway down the stairs when I hear her call out: ‘Kit?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Come home safe.’

‘Always do.’

Chapter Twenty-Four

ISLA

Reuben arrived at seven on the dot, gruff but not unkind, nodding at me over Maisie’s head before ushering her out the door with her lunchbox and backpack. I’d managed breakfast without incident – cereal, orange juice (no pulp), and Maisie’s cheerful chatter about a school project on sea creatures.

‘You’re coming back tonight, right?’ she’d asked, so casual it nearly broke me.

‘If your dad wants me to.’

‘He does.’ She’d said it with such certainty, such simple faith, that I’d had to turn away to hide the sudden sting in my eyes.