A Good Catch Part 34

'Erm ...' Loveday looked at her watch again. 'As long as I'm home in the next hour.'

'Just ten minutes. Come up to my office.'

'What a view you have from up here. Never seen it at night before. You must be almost as high as St Peter's steeple.'

'Not quite.' He handed her a tumbler of Scotch. Loveday noticed that inroads had definitely been made into the bottle, and she thought that Jesse looked a little flushed. 'Sorry, no ice. Cheers.' They clinked gla.s.ses.

'Cheers,' said Loveday.

Jesse continued. 'The planners were very strict with us. They made it clear they didn't want us to "impede the view". Which is why we made it pretty much entirely of gla.s.s.'

He sat down behind his desk and Loveday sat opposite him. Two old friends comfortable in each other's company.

'I like your Greer's new car.'

'I don't think she does.'

'Yes, she does. She was loving filling it with all her knick-knacks.'

'By knick-knacks do you mean the very latest on the front line of the style war that is raging across the land, in houses that are too big and too expensive, lived in by people who have more money than sense?'

Loveday giggled. It had been a long time since she had had her sus.h.i.+ lunch with Greer and the whisky was leaking warmly into her veins. 'That's very unkind of you.'

'But true.' Jesse motioned at the bottle of Scotch. 'Just a little one for the road?'

'Just a little one.' She watched as Jesse poured. 'But your house is beautiful, ain't it? Greer has done a wonderful job. It's so welcoming and comfortable. I'm not house-proud like that,' said Loveday, taking her shoes off and rubbing one foot against the other. 'With my three and Mickey it'd be like King Canute trying to keep the tide from flooding in.'

Jesse leant forward on the desk. 'How is Mickey?'

'He's great. Loving his job. Loving working with Hal and teaching him the ropes like his dad taught him. I tell you, we Chandlers have got a lot to thank you Behennas for.'

Jesse leant back again and relaxed into his chair. 'Our dads were all mates, weren't they. It's keeping up tradition. Mickey is my best mate. Hal is Freddie's best mate. And so it will go on, as long as Trevay has a fis.h.i.+ng industry.'

Loveday nodded her agreement. 'And don't forget the Clovellys. Without Greer's side, neither of us would be sitting in this office drinking whisky.'

Jesse turned his chair to look at Trevay again. 'You're right. Mick and I would be working our a.r.s.es off up at the sheds.' He sat thinking for a few moments. Loveday shut her eyes, giving in to the whisky, but not to her memory of her and Jesse in the sheds.

Jesse broke the silence. 'I miss those days. Just me and Mickey. You and Greer. No kids. No responsibilities.' She heard the faintest squeak as he spun his chair back to her. Her eyelids were heavy and she didn't have the energy to open them.

'I wish I'd have married you.' He said the words boldly into the still air between them.

She sat still, eyes still shut.

'Did you hear me?'

'Yes.'

'We'd have been happy.'

'Stop it.'

'I know we'd have been happy. That night. In the sheds. When it was snowing. You made me so very happy.'

She opened her eyes and looked at her hand holding the whisky gla.s.s. 'Don't talk about it. I don't even think about it.'

'Don't you?' He leant forward again across the desk.

'No.'

'I don't believe you. I was your first and you and I were happy that night.'

'We were p.i.s.sed. And I think you may be a bit p.i.s.sed now.' Loveday stood up and put her gla.s.s down. 'I'm off home. To Mickey.'

Jesse stood up and walked round the desk, blocking her path. 'I've never stopped loving you, Loveday.'

'You love Greer.' She sidestepped him but he was too quick for her.

'Kiss me,' he begged.

She leant forward and kissed his cheek. 'Night night, Jesse. See you tomorrow.'

She collected up her coat and bag and walked out of the office without a backward glance.

32.

Early spring 2014 Lifeboat training was always on a Wednesday night and, on this particular evening, the boat-house was crowded.

The star of the show was, as always, the boat herself. Sitting in the centre of the spotless boat-house, her paintwork gleaming, The Spirit of Trevay sat on the runners that sent her through the doors, down the slipway and into the waiting sea. All around her were railings to keep her fans close, but not close enough. Small boys, star-struck mums and men who could only dream of being one of the elite hung over these railings in wonder.

Jesse, in his capacity as c.o.xswain, was speaking from the deck of the boat.

'And so, ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure we welcome our three new crew members to The Spirit of Trevay. Would you put your hands together for Miss Katie Farrow! Come up here, Katie.' A pretty blonde girl in her twenties stepped up and faced the crowd, smiling.

'Give us a smile, Katie.' In the middle of the crowd, Katie's mum took a photo of her daughter.

'Muuum,' said Katie, blus.h.i.+ng, before trying to melt back into the throng. Jesse stopped her.

'Oh, no you don't. You stay right here, young lady. I want all three of my new crew to have a picture with the lot of us.' Katie obeyed.

Jesse spoke up again. 'And 'tis with enormous pride I welcome another youngster. His dad, Mickey, has been the Spirit's mechanic for as long as I've been c.o.xswain, and his dad before him the same, so put your hands together for the third generation of Chandlers to serve on the lifeboat: Hal Chandler.' Hal loped up to Jesse. With his height and gangly limbs he towered over everyone. From the back of the room, Loveday gave a whoop and a whistle through her teeth, whilst clinging onto Mickey's arm. Becca and Bea leapt up and down with excitement and chanted Hal's name, falling into giggles when Loveday shushed them.

'And finally,' said Jesse, 'and I don't know 'ow he got on the crew, but I'd like to welcome my own son, Freddie Behenna.'

Freddie bowed his head as he made his way to the front and accepted his father's handshake. Greer, in perfectly tailored navy-blue trousers and an RNLI sweats.h.i.+rt, smiled tightly but clapped loudly. She had argued with both Jesse and Freddie about joining the crew. Greer desperately wanted Freddie to get good exam results so that he had other options rather than only a life on the boats to look forward to, but because Hal wanted that life, it seemed it was what Freddie wanted too. Greer wondered if perhaps she'd taken her eye off the ball a bit with Freddie. Maybe he'd been spending too much time at the Chandlers' house, as their ways seemed to be rubbing off on him more and more these days. She felt another flutter of fear in her stomach working on the trawler fleet was dangerous enough. Why did he have to risk his life on the lifeboat too?

'You don't stop me from going out and risking my life,' said Jesse.

'You're different. You know what you're getting yourself into. Freddie is our only child. Why put him in danger?'

But Freddie wanted to do it and what Freddie wanted, Freddie usually got.

Loveday pushed her way towards Greer. 'Well, that's it. Our precious boys are lifeboatmen.'

'They're only twenty,' said Greer, feeling her throat tighten. 'Boys still, really.'

'But ain't you proud of them?'

Greer pushed her hair behind one ear and tried to be pleased. 'Oh, of course, I'm always proud of them, but ... they are so young.'

'They'll be fine. They've got Mick and Jesse and the other lads.' Loveday could see that Greer was very upset about the whole thing so she said, 'What you need, Mrs Behenna, is a gin and tonic.'

Greer managed a laugh. 'I probably do, but I'm on coffee duty tonight and then there's the raffle to draw.' As in all lifeboat stations, the opportunities to raise funds were never overlooked. This evening was special because it was an open evening. Lifeboat groupies and RNLI supporters were encouraged to come into the boat-house to look around, ask questions of the crew and, if they had the lucky raffle ticket, even get the chance of going out on the boat that evening.

'Well, I'll sell the tickets, you pour the coffee, and we'll get this show on the road,' said Loveday.

A man of maybe sixty was talking very earnestly to Jesse about the merits of the Tamar cla.s.s of boat as opposed to the Severn cla.s.s. 'I see that The Spirit of Trevay is a Tamar cla.s.s, but is it as manoeuvrable as the Severn? Although it's a metre longer, it may at first sight appear to be less nimble-' Jesse interrupted the techie flow. 'I'm so sorry, but my wife is wanting me.' He'd never been so grateful to see Greer waving at him.

He shouldered his way over to the other side of the room, to where Greer was anxiously waiting. 'Thanks, darling,' he said when he reached her. 'That bloke's a bleddy fanatic.'

'It's time to make the draw,' Greer told him. 'Loveday's been folding the tickets and putting them in the bucket for the last hour.'

'I hope he doesn't win the trip tonight,' said Jesse, rubbing a hand over his tired face. 'We'm got enough to do without him blethering.'

'Oh, him?' said Greer, spotting the man making his way towards another cup of free coffee. 'He's bought more tickets than anyone else.'

's.h.i.+t.'

Mickey reached them. 'Loveday's got the tickets ready for the draw. Who do you want to do it?'

'Get the new kids to do it,' said Jesse. 'Wherever they are.' He scanned the crowd and saw both Hal and Freddie leaning against the crew-room door chatting up Katie. All three of them were dressed in their yellow oilskins and loving it. As Jesse watched, a small boy approached Katie and asked her something. She laughed but took the pen and piece of paper he was holding and signed her name for him. The boy's mother, giggling and emboldened, then asked the lads if she could have a selfie with them.

'Becca, Bea,' called Jesse to the twins, who were just pa.s.sing, 'go and get them boys and Katie, would you? I need them for the raffle.'

There was a healthy a.s.sortment of raffle prizes on the table, including a box of chocolates, an RNLI T-s.h.i.+rt, supper for two at Antonio's Italian pizzeria, a bottle of whisky and the star prize of a trip on the boat.

The final ticket was drawn by Katie, who rummaged extravagantly in the bucket before pulling out, 'Green ticket number four-three-seven.'

A woman's voice yelled loud and clear, 'Here! Yes.'

There were many groans of disappointment from everyone else. Not least the man who'd been interrogating Jesse about the boat's specifications and performance. He screwed his tickets up and put them in his pocket, then moved to position himself in a prime spot to watch the launch.

The crew were on board in their allotted places. The boat-house doors were open, revealing the slipway and the smoky sea below. Jesse was on the open bridge.

On Jesse's command, the pin holding the boat on the slipway was pulled, and she moved swiftly down the rails, nose-first into the water. Jesse pushed the throttle forward and the twin engines drove the boat away from the boat-house and the waving, cheering fans.

'Oooh,' said the woman who'd won the raffle, 'I feel like Princess Diana on the water ride at Alton Towers!'

'Cheers, lads.' Jesse handed out the pints of Skinner's to Mickey, Hal and Freddie. 'You done a good job tonight. I don't want you missing any training nights, because we don't know when the real shout will come. I want you ready. It may be tonight. It may be tomorrow or next week. But I want to know that you lads are ready.' He took a satisfying mouthful of beer and wiped his lips. 'By the way, I don't want you thinking that just 'cos Katie's a girl she's a walkover. She's had as much experience at sea as you boys. She's sailed the Atlantic single-handed you've got to be pretty bleddy tough to do that.'

'She's nice,' said Freddie.

'A bit posh,' said Hal.

'You're punching above your weight with her, boys, so don't even think about it,' laughed Mickey. 'She'd have you for breakfast.'

'How old is she?' asked Freddie.

'Too old for you, son,' said Jesse. 'Besides, you lads need to spread your wild oats.'

'Ha, says you who got married at twenty-one,' joked Freddie.

'Oh, your uncle Mickey and I had our moments, didn't we, Mick?' said Jesse.

'One or two,' nodded Mickey. 'But I knew Loveday was always the one for me.'

'Oh, Dad.' Hal looked embarra.s.sed. 'I don't want to hear.'

Freddie looked at Jesse. 'And was Mum always the only one for you? From school?'

Jesse stuck his chin out and scratched the stubble there. 'You could say that.'

'Granddad Behenna always says he knew he had to get you two together to ensure the future of the company. He said it was like two royal families arranging the marriage of a princess and a prince.'

'Don't pay too much attention to what your granddad says.'

'And he says that Granddad Clovelly was the man who made it all happen.'

Jesse frowned and picked up a beer mat, flipping it over and catching it. Mickey steered the conversation round. 'I was his best man on the day he married your mum, Freddie. And let me tell you, he was as hungover as a highwayman. I could barely get him dressed.' A memory slid into his mind. 'It was Grant who got you drunk, wasn't it?'

Jesse shook his head. 'No. It was me. I went up to the sheds, because I didn't want to go home. I needed to think. 'Tis a big thing getting married. I found my dad's whisky in his desk up at the sheds and ...' He stopped talking. In the silence the others waited for him to continue. Then he picked up his beer gla.s.s and downed the remains. '... And I drank it,' he finished abruptly.

'But I thought Grant said he was with you?' Mickey persisted.