Seven Days: The Complete Story (53 page)

“I love you Sadie.”

I know he means it.

The sex goes on for what seems like hours
and at last we lay sweaty and sated on the bed. I have no idea how
we got here but the sheets are tangled at our feet and our clothes
are a trail along the floor. Our fingers are entwined. The ghost of
Nicholas, the love of both our lives is purged. I feel good about
this, no longer guilty. I know he wanted us to be together. I think
that now we will. Without the guilt, but with all the love.

“What happens now?” I ask. Clearly, we live
in different places. A long distance romance won’t work.

“We could have more sex.”

“Funny haha. I meant with us.”

“Do you want to be with me? You won’t run
away again or spout more crap about ghosts and guilt?”

“No. I want to be with you. It’s lonely
without you. But I don’t want to move from The Bay. I’m building a
life there. It’s a good place for Nicky.”

“It’s lucky I sold the business, then. Now I
can come live with you. I always wanted to be a kept man. I think
it’d suit me.”

Hang on. Rewind that thought.

“You sold Hardwick & Lawson? But why?
You love that place. You built it with Nicholas.”

“And it’s not the same without him. I’ve
tried to make it work but he was the creative brain. It was always
more his baby than mine. I hate being there now, so I’m going to
stay until the Iris Project is completed and we put up a plaque in
his honour, then I’m out of there. I might do the odd consultation
but that’s about it.”

“How will that work with the new
owners?”

“I sold it to Nick’s dad at a reduced price.
One of the conditions is that Nicky have a share of the company if
he ever wants it.”

“Oh Joel. You’d do that for us, give up the
thing you love most?”

Joel rolls to his stomach. His fingers cup
my cheek and he leans in to kiss me. “How many ways do I have to
say it? I’d do anything to save a drowning girl. You’re my little
mermaid.”

“You better get your butt over here then,
Neptune.” I giggle and pull him to me.

“Why?”

“‘Cause this little mermaid wants to swim in
your pool of love.”

Oh my God. Did I just say that? Did I?

The sea is calm and clear as Joel throws the
anchor overboard and returns to sit beside me. A perfect sunset has
shown itself on the horizon, its purple, violet and orange hues
spreading across the cloudless sky. “Ready?” Joel asks.

I nod and pick up the urn. Beside me
Nicky, celebrating his first birthday, sits solemnly on the cushion
in his tiny orange life jacket. His big blue eyes— those of his
father— blink up at me. He seems to understand this is a special
moment; that this is not a time for jumping and running about.
There’s plenty of time for the air to fill with his laughter later
on.

This moment is about Nicholas.

Earlier, I set the sails and raced about
the deck, making sure everything was where it should be. From his
place in the cockpit, Joel steered the
Constance
toward the headland with one hand, under my
direction. His other arm held Nicky. He looked so proud, so
content.

“You’ve done it, Ariel,” Joel said, as I
leapt into the cockpit beside him. “Nick would be proud. You did
what you said you would.”

“There was never any doubt.”

“There would have been a couple of years
back.”

True.

Back when I met the boys I was scared of
life. They taught me to live and love, to take a chance. From the
moment we kissed I knew my life was about to change, that something
was in the air. And it’s been a life full of trials, some good,
some particularly sucky.

With a kiss to Joel’s lips, I open the lid
of the urn and slowly tip the contents over the side into the
ocean. The breeze picks up the ashes and sends them onto the waves.
Nicholas is dancing on the water again. He’s riding the crests. Now
he’ll do it for eternity. I hope I’ve made him happy. “Goodbye my
love,” I whisper. “I’ll never forget you.”

Beside me, Joel has poured three shots of
tequila. We raise a glass to Nicholas and gulp it down. “Thanks
mate,” he says.

I frown at him. “Thanks mate?”

Joel tosses the third tequila into the ocean
for his friend. “If it weren’t for Nick I would never have met you.
He knew how much I loved you and he gave you back to me.”

We pull up the anchor and sail back to shore
and as the sun shimmers and sinks behind the horizon I’m reminded
of the times the three of us spent together. What we shared was
truly remarkable but the best is yet to come.

THE END

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