Page 24 of September’s Tide (Island Tales #2)

Chapter Seventeen

Taylor found an empty table near the railing, and sat looking out at the Cove.

A glance at his phone told him Shane was on his way, but had got held up in the roadworks near Gills Cliff Road.

The request to meet up for coffee hadn’t been a surprise—this was a regular occurrence—but it had been a while since they’d done it, and the boat trip hadn’t been all that long ago.

Richard approached his table. “What can I get you?”

Taylor deliberated for a moment. “You still doing that pear cider?”

He grinned. “Of course. One cider, coming up.” He turned and headed toward the kitchen.

“Hey, Taylor. It is Taylor Monroe, isn’t it?”

He glanced over his shoulder, not recognizing the voice. Two guys sat with their backs to the white-painted wall. One of them appeared to be very tall, with short dark hair.

He was also a little familiar.

Come to think of it, they both were. The shorter guy had longer hair he swept back from his face with his fingers.

Taylor gave a polite smile. “Hi. I know you from somewhere, I just can’t place it.”

The shorter guy smiled. “Ryde High School. I’m Mark Horrocks. There’s no reason you’d remember me. You were starting in Year Twelve when I got there. You might have more luck remembering Sam here. He was a couple of years behind you, but he was sort of a celebrity for a while back then.”

“I’m Sam Prince,” the taller guy said with a smile. A flush crept up his neck to his cheeks. “And ignore the celebrity part. Mark’s teasing me. All I did was get caught doing?—”

“Doing what no one else had done before him on the school’s computer network,” Mark concluded, pride lacing his words. “And probably no one has ever done it again.”

Then Taylor noticed they were holding hands.

He couldn’t rein in his smile. “You’re a couple?”

Both nodded, Mark’s cheeks pinking.

Taylor peered toward the entrance to the café. No sign of Shane yet.

He got up and wandered over to their table. “Can I join you for a minute? I’m waiting for a friend, but he’s running late.”

“Sure.” Sam gave him a warm smile.

Taylor shook his head. “I had no idea there were more gay guys in Ryde High. I thought I was the only one.” An easy assumption to make, judging by the reactions of his classmates. Then he leaned forward. “Okay, you’ve intrigued me. What were you caught doing on the school’s computers?”

Mark’s eyes gleamed. “Accessing gay porn.”

Taylor gaped. “Seriously?” He held out his hand to Sam, who shook it bemusedly. “Wow. That took some doing.”

Mark chuckled. “He’s a freakin’ IT genius , that’s what he is.”

“Will you stop?” Sam’s cheeks were scarlet.

Taylor loved the adoring look Mark gave his boyfriend.

“How long have you been together?”

“About a year.” Mark squeezed Sam’s hand. “We like coming here because we can be ourselves, even if Andy does make jokes about all the gay men who’ve started coming here lately.”

Sam snickered. “I keep telling him, the pink pound is powerful.”

“You run the hire place in the cove, don’t you? Cayaks, wetsuits, boards….” Mark gazed wistfully out to sea. “Something I’ve never done.”

Taylor grinned. “Well, we can change that. Come see me one day, and we’ll get you kitted out to go surfing.”

Sam nudged Mark. “There. Something else to cross off your list.”

Mark beamed. “I might take you up on that.” He gazed at Taylor. “So are you dating anyone?”

Taylor chuckled. “No. Well…”

Sam’s eyes sparkled. “You either are, or you’re not.”

“Remember that Facebook status from when we were younger, It’s Complicated ?” Mark and Sam nodded, and Taylor snickered. “Well, this is way beyond complicated.”

“Does it have something to do with this friend you’re waiting for?” Sam asked.

Taylor cracked up. “God, no. Shane is one hundred percent straight.”

“I’m not sure I like that description.”

Taylor jerked his head to find Shane standing behind him, arms folded. “Well, you are, aren’t you?” Taylor retorted.

“I could be a late developer, for all you know,” Shane said with a pout. “Some gay hunk might sweep me off my feet and show me what I’ve been missing all these years.”

Sam laughed. “He’s right. People will always surprise you.”

Mark nudged him. “We’d better go if we’re going to make it to the cinema on time.” He stood. “It’s been great to see you again, Taylor.”

On impulse, Taylor pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled to Contacts. “Here, put your number in there.”

Mark’s face lit up. “Sure.” He tapped the screen, then handed it back.

Taylor sent a brief message of Hi to Mark’s number. “There. Now you have mine. And I meant what I said about coming to see me. Let’s do it soon before autumn really kicks in.”

“I’ll make sure he does,” Sam said as he stood too.

Another impulse seized him, and Taylor gave them both a brief hug. “We’ll see each other soon, okay?”

Mark nodded, his cheeks pinking again. “I’d like that.”

Sam was the more imposing figure of the two, but it was Mark who led Sam by the hand out of the café. Taylor couldn’t stop smiling.

“More friends of Dorothy’s, I take it?”

He laughed. “They were at school with us.”

Shane blinked. “Really? I wish I’d known. Yeah, you should keep in touch.”

Richard walked over to them, carrying a brown bottle and a tall glass. “Hey, Shane. It’s been ages. What do you want to drink?”

“Tea, please. I’m driving.”

As soon as Richard had cleared the empty cups and headed back to the kitchen, Shane sat on the bench and patted the space beside him. “Park your arse here. I want to hear all about it.”

“About what?” Taylor feigned innocence.

Shane rolled his eyes. “Sunday lunch, of course. How did it go? Did your mum behave or did she start casually planning your wedding again?”

Taylor let out a dramatic groan and thudded his forehead onto the table. “Oh God. I’m ninety percent sure she was secretly taking photos of us through the kitchen window.”

“What, like paparazzi style?”

“More like a nature documentary.” He slipped into an impression of David Attenborough’s hushed tone.

“And here we see two males of the species bonding over hydrangeas.” Taylor lifted his head and took a sip of his cider.

He knew what was really bugging him, and it wasn’t his mum’s sudden decision to take up photography.

David had stayed at the Lighthouse last night instead of sharing Taylor’s bed. It shouldn’t have bothered him. And yet it had, more than he wanted to admit.

Richard placed a mug of tea in front of Shane, then left them to it.

Shane raised an eyebrow. “So what was she taking photos of exactly? Your outfit? The way David looks at you as if you’re a particularly sexy pastry?”

Taylor groaned again. “I don’t know! Maybe she thought it was cute. Or maybe she’s launching a covert marketing campaign. Available now: Kind, handsome, mildly damaged son. Comes with sarcasm and attachment issues. ”

Shane burst out laughing. “Don’t forget ‘emotionally literate, once defrosted’ in the small print.”

“Exactly.”

“And did she switch to full-on embarrassing mum mode?”

Taylor grimaced. “You have no idea. It was Taylor did this , Taylor got an award for that , Taylor once saved a dog from drowning in a canal when he was five. ” He glared. “That never happened, by the way.”

By this point, Shane was wheezing. “She made you sound like a boy scout in a romance novel.”

“She made me sound like Paddington Bear on a gap year.”

“So how did David react?”

“He thought it was hilarious. The whole time, he kept giving me this look that said ‘I know what’s happening, and I love it.’ ” Taylor took another drink from the glass. “I wanted to die. But in a charming way.”

There was a short pause. Shane tilted his head, watching him over the rim of his mug.

“What?” Taylor demanded, his tone suspicious.

“That look .”

Taylor blinked. “What look?”

“The way you go all sparkly when you talk about him.”

“I do not go sparkly.”

“You absolutely sparkle,” Shane said. “Like a vampire in a YA novel.”

“Rude.”

Shane grinned. “Taylor, my beloved, you are halfway to doodling his name in your notebook.”

Taylor stared at him. “What are you on about?”

“I’m saying,” Shane said, gently, “that I think you like him. You know, like -like.”

Taylor pulled a face. “I mean, yeah, he’s nice. And hot. And smart. And good in bed. Great in bed, actually. But it’s not like that.”

Shane arched one perfect eyebrow. “It’s not?”

“No. We’re just… having fun. No feelings. No emotional peril. We’re two adults enjoying each other’s company, occasionally naked.”

“Occasionally?”

Taylor narrowed his gaze. “Okay, frequently naked.”

Shane leaned forward, his voice lower. “You’re telling me you don’t feel anything when you wake up next to him?”

Taylor hesitated. “I like waking up next to him.”

“Uh huh.”

“I like the way he makes me feel calm. Safe, even.”

Shane didn’t say anything.

Taylor shifted uncomfortably. “And I… I look forward to seeing him. It’s stupid, but when he said he wasn’t staying over last night, I actually felt—” He cut himself off.

“Disappointed?” Shane offered.

Taylor swallowed. “A bit.”

Silence fell for a beat. Taylor glared at his cider as if it had wronged him somehow.

“Okay,” Shane said at last. “I’ll drop it.”

“Thank you.”

There was a pause, and then Shane casually flicked a napkin at him. “But methinks the gay boy doth protest too much .”

Taylor’s mouth dropped open.

If there was a smug way to drink tea, Shane nailed it.

Taylor tried to summon outrage, but it died halfway. “Look, even if— if —I was starting to feel something… it wouldn’t matter.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s leaving, Shane. In two weeks, he’s flying back to New York. Different time zones, different lives, different worlds.” He shrugged, trying not to let it sound as sad as it felt. “I can’t afford to go all head-over-heels for someone who’s already packing his suitcase.”

Shane didn’t argue, but simply looked at him with that maddening best-friend expression that said I hear you, but I’m not convinced .

Taylor focused on his cider. He wouldn’t let himself fall. Not properly. He couldn’t.

But his heart… well, his heart wasn’t on the same page.