Page 16 of Sailing Free at Loch Tunnagan (Loch Tunnagan #1)

“Hi Sam, it’s Jess here. I was wondering if you’ve had any luck asking your dad about letting us decorate the boats for the race in September?”

"Hey Jess, how’s it going? Yeah, dad says as long as the decorations don’t compromise safety or cause any damage to the boats then that will be fine.”

“That’s fantastic,” grinned Jess. “Thanks Sam. Oh before you go, can I also enquire about hiring a safety boat for the event?”

“Yeah, I reckon that’ll be fine. I’ll send an email over to you with information about the hire of a safety boat. Once you’ve read it, can you send an email back confirming you’re happy to go ahead with the hire?”

“Will do, thanks Sam,” said Jess, slightly distracted by a commotion going on in the cafe.

She hung up and called over to Olivia and Edith, “Is everything ok?”

“Have you seen Amelie?” asked Olivia. Her voice was high pitched with worry and she had a frantic look in her eyes, “She didn’t come through the cafe, did she?”

“No,” Jess rose from her seat. “Did she come back down from your flat?”

Olivia shook her head as she pulled a cupboard door open and checked inside, “I went up to look for her to give her the sandwich but she wasn’t there. I’ve searched everywhere and can’t find her. She must have gone out the side door.”

Other customers were now standing.

“We’ll all go out and look with you Olivia, she can’t have gone far,'' said a lady reassuringly.

“Thank you,” replied Olivia, grabbing her phone with shaking hands. “Edith, can you stay here in case she comes back?”

“Of course, dear, I’ll phone you if she turns up here before you find her.”

“Shall we meet back here in ten minutes, that way we’ll all know if someone has got her?” suggested Jess.

Everyone agreed, taking a note of the time on their watches.

A mixture of sickness and anxiety swirled uncontrollably in Jess’ stomach as the minutes ticked by. She could hear the sound of the other’s calling Amelie’s name getting fainter as she travelled further from the cafe with still no sign of the girl.

Checking her phone, Jess swallowed a lump in her throat. Ten minutes had passed by; it was time to return back to the cafe. She prayed that Amelie would be there when she got back.

Olivia’s face turned ashen when she returned to discover everybody gathered at the cafe entrance. There was no trace of Amelie. It was like she had disappeared into thin air.

“Do you think I should phone the police?” she asked with a trembling voice. Her hand was already reaching to dial.

“Wait!” cried Jess. “There she is.”

Everybody turned to look in the direction that Jess was pointing in. Cal approached them from the direction of the jetty with Amelie wrapped tightly to him. The little girl had her arms around his neck; her face was turned slightly so her cheek rested against his chest. She looked tiny in his arms.

“Oh, thank god,” cried Olivia running to retrieve her daughter from Cal.

Everybody let out a collective sigh of relief as they watched mother and daughter reunite.

Cal carefully handed Amelie over to Olivia who was now sobbing uncontrollably and showering her daughter in kisses whilst scolding her for running off.

Cal removed himself from the situation in order to give the mother, daughter duo some privacy.

“How did you even know she was missing?” asked Jess in astonishment.

“I didn't,” replied Cal. I came down to check out the boat after you texted me to say the bow had been repaired. Amelie was there.”

With an eyebrow raised he continued, “She had her colouring pens and a sticker pad with her. Not only has the bow been repaired, it has now been decorated with Octopus drawings and an underwater sticker montage. All in preparation for the boat race apparently.”

He flashed her a curious grin, “According to Amelie it was your idea!”

“What?” Jess stifled a laugh. “No, Olivia mentioned to Amelie that I was organising the race and that the boats were going to be decorated but I didn’t tell her to Octopusfy your boat. She must have thought we were racing our own boats and ran off to start decorating them.”

“Hmm, it seems suspicious that my boat is covered in Octopus graffiti but ‘The Sauncy Lass’ strangely remains Octopus free.”

The conversation ended there, as Olivia walked over to them with Amelie clutched to her chest.

“Let’s not mention the octopus’ drawings,” said Cal out the corner of his mouth. “I think Olivia has had enough drama for the day.”

“Agreed,” smiled Jess.

Olivia placed Amelie down and wrapped her arms around Cal, “Thank you so much.”

“Oh, you found her,” came a cry from the cafe as Edith rushed out, arms spread wide.

She gave Amelie a tight hug before moving in to embrace Cal. Jess somehow got caught in the middle and ended up squashed against Cal. Amelie laughed with delight. “You're doing the sandwich cuddle. Cal and Jess are the filling and Mummy and Edith you're the bread!”

Cal’s arm had wrapped protectively around Jess’ back; keeping her from falling over as they had been thrust together. The warmth of it seeped through her. It felt comforting as the adrenaline of the search for Amelie was wearing off.

“Who's that man?” enquired Amelie.

Edith and Olivia removed themselves from the ‘sandwich’ to see who Amelie was pointing at.

Jess turned to see too, still with Cal’s arm draped around her.

“Jess?”Ryan spoke with something close to hurt in his voice as his eyes took in the sight before him.

“Oh Ryan, I’m sorry I forgot you were coming.”

The look of hurt intensified in Ryan’s eyes.

“You forgot? Right, well I have your stuff. Where would you like me to drop it off?”

“Let’s head back into the cafe,” suggested Olivia diplomatically. “Cakes and hot chocolate are on the house to say a huge thank you to everyone for helping me search for Amelie.”

Cal released Jess from his protective embrace and gave her a quick questioning look to make sure she was ok before heading into the cafe with everyone else.

The silence stretched awkwardly; neither Jess or Ryan seemed sure how to fit into their new role as estranged partners. Were they estranged? How absurd it was to feel awkward with Ryan thought Jess. She could understand the anger and the hurt but she hadn’t predicted the awkwardness.

She broke the silence, “I didn’t forget you were coming. We had a bit of an emergency situation and I lost track of time.”

“What happened?” queried Ryan, the tension leaving his shoulders slightly as they relaxed into conversation.

“Olivia’s daughter went missing.”

“That must have been scary,” exclaimed Ryan.

“Yeah, it was terrifying.”

Residual emotions from the event caused a shiver to run up her spine.

Ryan spotted her shiver and reached out to hug her. Instinct and old habits took over, and for the briefest of moments she sunk into him. Then reality hit her; he would have wrapped these arms around Steph! These arms were no longer a safe zone for her. They had betrayed her; Ryan had betrayed her.

She jumped back as if all the emotional pain she was in had transformed into physical pain.

Ryan paled, he looked shocked, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

Jess shook her head slightly, “It’s fine.”

Ryan sighed, “No, it’s not. I promised you that I’d drop your stuff off and leave. I wasn’t thinking straight, I shouldn’t have touched you. I’ve been here two minutes and already managed to break my promise.”

The look of self-loathing in his eyes made Jess feel uncomfortable. The angry, spiteful part of her felt he deserved to hurt too after what he had done but the more reasonable side of her didn’t actually want that.

She changed the subject, “Where are you parked?”

Ryan pointed to where he had left the car. As they walked along the road she asked, “How are things in the office?”

“Everything is ticking away.”

He fiddled nervously with the cuff of his sleeve, “I’ve put a halt on any of the new developments we were planning until you and I are able to have a chat about how you want to proceed with things. There’s no rush,” he added, “I know we agreed a month.”

Jess nodded, “Paul seems quite taken with Alan.”

Ryan smiled, “Yeah, I think they were trying and failing miserably to hide their office romance from me. I’m pretty sure they’re also hiding the biscuits.”

Jess nodded, “Is he still doing that? He told me he was showing his solidarity with me after what you and Steph did. He said you two didn’t deserve biscuits.”

The words had come out before she could stop them. Ryan winced and the mood grew sombre.

“I’m so sorry Jess,” he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he held back his emotions.

Jess could see the desire in Ryan to continue speaking but he stuck to his promise and handed over her bags.

She watched his car as it disappeared into the distance.

Her chest felt tight as Ryan vanished from sight.

They hadn’t discussed what would happen with their relationship but her heart already felt like it was grieving the loss.

He was still Ryan, but he was no longer her Ryan.

A single tear rolled down her cheek and she swiped it away with the back of her hand.