A Date with Fate

by Cathy Cole

  “It’s a really great party, Eve,” said Rhi behind her.

  Eve looked round and smiled. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

  Rhi waved down to where the flares glowed along the beach like fireflies. “Looks like we’ll have more company in a minute.”

  Eve saw a stream of people moving away from the beach up the slope towards them, scrambling over the same rocks she and Josh had just climbed, drawn like moths to Brody’s singing.

  “Dance?” offered Josh, startling her. “I’ll try not to kick you off the cliff by mistake.”

  There was a cliff edge not far from where they were standing, the rocks falling away in a sheer drop fifty feet or more to the sea below. “Fine,” Eve laughed. “But we’re dancing on the other side of the fire.”

  Josh wasn’t kidding; he was a terrible dancer. But Eve found that she was enjoying herself regardless, twirling around him to a Brody Baxter favourite, Fast Lane Freak. Other people joined in, whooping and stamping their feet on the rocky ground.

  “We should do this more often, party queen,” said Max, snaking his arm around Eve’s waist and kissing her on the neck.

  Eve pushed him away. “Stick to your girlfriend, Max Holmes,” she teased, and whirled away under Josh’s flailing arms.

  “What are you lame dudes doing up here?”

  Ryan had appeared, the usual smirk on his face and his arm around Lila’s waist. Eve thought Lila was looking a little bored. Her good mood evaporated.

  Why doesn’t Ryan just leave? she thought in irritation. Everyone’s tired of him already.

  “Dancing,” said Brody Baxter mildly. “Singing. Chilling.”

  Ryan strutted around the fire, poking at the flames with the tips of his trainers. “It’s kind of early for chilling, don’t you think?”

  “Let’s go back down to the beach, Ryan,” said Lila, giving his arm a tug.

  Ryan laughed and glanced at the edge of the cliff. “We should do something really wild. Like cliff jumping or something. The uni kids are always doing it.”

  Eve found herself disliking Ryan even more than she thought possible. “Absolutely not,” she said icily. “It’s dark – you can’t see what’s down there. Only someone completely insane would do it, Ryan.”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Ryan’s eyes gleamed in challenge.

  “So I’ll be the first then, shall I?” he said. “Anyone want to join me?”

  “We’re just relaxing up here, mate,” said Max uneasily.

  “Chicken?” said Ryan with a sneer.

  “No one’s a chicken,” said Max, colouring. “We’re just having a good time, OK? What’s wrong with that?”

  “You guys wouldn’t know a good time if it bit you on the backsides,” said Ryan.

  He walked around the fire and peered over the edge of the cliff. Someone gave a little shriek. Eve felt her blood turn to ice as Ryan paced back five steps.

  “No,” said Josh, starting forward.

  Ryan puffed out his chest and winked at his breathless audience. “See you at the bottom, losers,” he quipped, blowing a kiss in Lila’s direction. “Let it never be forgotten that Ryan Jameson is a legend.”

  Lila screamed as Ryan broke into a run, jumping away from the cliff edge and into the darkness. His shriek of defiance faded into the night as he fell towards the sea.

  “WHOOO!”

  TWENTY

  Eve rushed to the edge of the cliff, dimly aware that Lila was still screaming. The moonlit sea lapped peacefully at the base of the cliff, fifty feet down. Apart from a few spreading ripples in the water, there was no sign of Ryan.

  “Oh my God,” said Rhi hysterically. “Is he OK?”

  “He’s not coming up,” said Eve. She could hear her voice trembling.

  The music had stopped. All anyone could hear now was the crackling of the campfire. Even the steel band down on the beach had quietened to nothing, as if the musicians sensed that something had just gone horribly wrong.

  “He’s not coming up,” Eve repeated, her voice higher. “He—”

  Something appeared in the water far below. A body, bobbing on top of the waves. Ryan lay face down in the sea, unmoving.

  Rhi burst into terrified tears and flung her arms around Brody Baxter’s neck. More people started screaming. Josh started ripping off his clothes.

  “I have to go down there,” he said.

  “You can’t be serious,” said Max in astonishment.

  “What else do you suggest?” Josh shouted. “He’s face down in the water! If the fall didn’t kill him, the sea will!”

  Eve couldn’t tear her eyes from Ryan’s body. The way his hair drifted on the water like seaweed.

  Josh folded up his glasses and laid them on top of his shirt and trousers. Then he started climbing gingerly down the cliff, holding on to the rocks, stretching with his legs to find footholds with his toes. About five metres down, he stopped.

  “I have to jump the rest,” he said grimly.

  “Be careful!” Eve called in agony.

  Josh looked up, his face and long frame ghostly in the moonlight. “It’s fine from here, I know the safest place to jump.”

  There was a splash. Josh bobbed up almost immediately and struck out towards Ryan, turning him over. Eve could see the way the gash in Ryan’s forehead shone black against his pale face. His eyes were closed.

  There was a moment of stillness. Eve was aware of everyone clustered around her now, right on the edge of the cliffs, as Josh gave a hopeless cry that echoed around the rocks.

  “Ryan. Ryan!”

  Ryan was dead.

  Lights flashed on the top of the police boat, round and round in a haze of blue. Paramedics moved quietly, with none of the urgency Eve had come to expect from watching hospital dramas on TV. There was no rush. No one to save. Just a boy’s body to carry away.

  There were people all around Eve, talking quietly and holding each other. Eve was numb to everything but the crashing pain in her head and her heart. The flares on the beach had guttered and died; the unattended fire pit glowed and the charred remains of the barbecue scented the air with grease and charcoal.

  This must be what hell feels like, she thought.

  Ryan hadn’t been so different to her. He had wanted attention. Friends. That was all. And they had pushed him away at every turn, laughed at him and teased him. Shouted at him. Called him stupid and insane. They had as good as pushed him off that cliff themselves.

  Dimly she heard her mother in her head.

  You’re the hostess, darling. It’s your job to look after your guests.

  There was nothing she could do for Ryan. But perhaps she could help someone else.

  Eve stood up slowly, brushing the sand from her dress. Every person she saw was crying. Some were alone. Some were in huddles. She walked up to the solitary grievers, hugging them, talking to them and listening to them cry.

  “You’ll be going home soon,” she said mechanically, over and over again. “You’ll feel better in the morning.”

  Rhi stood at the water’s edge, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, gazing out over the sea towards the lights of Heartside Bay.

  “How are you doing?” said Eve, slipping her arm around Rhi’s waist.

  Rhi shook her head. “Not great. I keep thinking about Ruth. And then I feel guilty. It was Ryan who died here tonight, not my sister.”

  “You’re bound to think of Ruth,” said Eve. “She was the last person that you lost. Something like this . . . it will bring it all back.”

  “It’s the flashing blue lights,” Rhi said flatly. “I keep seeing the police officers on our doorstep, telling us about the car crash.” She turned with a sob, burying her head in Eve’s shoulder. “Why do people have to die young? Poor Ryan, Eve. He didn’t deserve to die.”

 
; “No one deserves to die young,” Eve said, holding her tightly. “But life doesn’t seem to care, does it?”

  A little further down the beach Eve saw Josh with his arms tenderly around Lila, stroking her hair as she wept. Eve hadn’t cried yet. She was determined to save it for the privacy of her bedroom tonight, when she didn’t have to be strong any more.

  There was the sound of an approaching motor boat. Eve recalled with a shudder how Ryan had arrived in a similar style. A short time ago Ryan had been alive, and now he was dead. It was almost impossible to process something so enormous.

  The motor boat moored at the jetty and a familiar figure jumped out.

  “Daddy!” Overwhelmed with relief, Eve stumbled into her father’s embrace.

  “Are you all right? Are you hurt?” her father said urgently. “I came the moment I heard the news. Oh princess, I was so worried. . .”

  The smell of her father’s overcoat against Eve’s cheek was strong and reassuring. He was here now and nothing could hurt her. Everything would be OK.

  “I need a word with Eve, Henry.”

  Chief Greg Murray, head of the Heartside police force, was jogging towards them from the police boat.

  “It wasn’t my fault!” Eve said, stricken. But it was, hissed her inner voice. It was all your fault.

  “Not now, Greg,” said Eve’s father. “Can’t you see how upset she is?”

  “I’m sorry, Henry, but it has to be done,” said Chief Murray. He glanced towards Lila, still standing with her arms around Josh by the water’s edge. “I have a daughter here as well – I know how you feel. But Ryan Jameson also has parents. The sooner we ask our questions, the sooner all this will be over. We need to investigate Ryan’s death before these youngsters forget what happened.”

  I’ll never forget what happened, Eve thought, feeling the horror of the moment Ryan jumped all over again.

  She felt her father steering her firmly away from the beach, towards the glossy little motor boat idling at the jetty. “If you want to speak to my daughter,” he snapped at the Chief of Police, “then you’ll have to call her lawyer. She needs to go home at once.”

  Eve suddenly felt as weak as a paper doll. Her knees had started shaking badly. Delayed shock, she guessed.

  “Have it your way, Henry,” Chief Murray called after them. “But your refusal to help with our enquiries might end up counting against you.”

  “I’ll live with that,” Eve’s dad snapped back. He turned back to Eve, his voice gentle again. “It’s OK, Evie, we’re nearly at the boat. You poor love, you look done in. Everything’s going to be fine. I’ll sort all of this out for you. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

  The little boat coasted away from the jetty as her dad took the helm, steering fast and sure towards the lights of the town. Resting against the soft leather seats, Eve buried her face in her hands and burst into tears. She sobbed until her throat felt raw.

  Ryan was gone for ever. And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

  TWENTY-ONE

  People were gathering outside the church in dark suits and black hats. Sunglasses were everywhere, hiding red eyes. The priest stood quietly by the door, talking to a haggard-looking couple in grey and black. Ryan’s parents, Eve realized with a lurch. She pictured the laughing pair who had often worked behind the bar at the Heartbeat with their son. They looked twenty years older now.

  “I can’t do this,” Lila blurted. She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and wiped her red, blotchy eyes. “I think we should go.”

  Rhi patted Lila wordlessly on the arm.

  “It’s important to say goodbye,” Polly said, in a voice thick with tears.

  “We have come this far. We have to pay our respects,” said Eve. She was surprised at how steady she sounded.

  Lila’s eyes were so puffy, she was barely recognizable. Her hair looked lank, and had been scraped back into a tight ponytail that didn’t suit her. For once in her life, Lila looked terrible. But Eve couldn’t enjoy the fact. She wondered if she’d enjoy anything, ever again.

  She smoothed down her black jacket, polished her dark glasses and set them firmly on her carefully made-up face. “Come on,” she said, starting to cross the road. “We’re going to be late.”

  People looked at them as they approached the door of the church. Keeping her head high, Eve ignored their glances. Lila, Polly and Rhi trailed behind her like bedraggled ducklings.

  “You!”

  Eve paused in the threshold of the church door. She took off her sunglasses and looked directly into the tear-filled eyes of Ryan’s mother. Determined not to be a coward.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs Jameson,” she said.

  “If we could change any of it, we would,” Lila sniffed, and blew her nose on a handkerchief.

  Mrs Jameson looked almost wild with grief. “You were no friend of his,” she hissed. “How dare you come here today?”

  “We tried to stop him,” Lila cried, “but he wouldn’t listen!”

  Eve struggled to stay calm as Lila burst into noisy tears. Polly and Rhi stood by helplessly.

  The priest moved forward, looking concerned. “Mrs Jameson, perhaps you would like to take your seat? You’ll be more comfortable inside the church.”

  “I want you to leave,” spat Ryan’s mother, pointing at Eve. “You and your friend with her crocodile tears. You aren’t welcome.”

  She walked stiffly into the church on her silent husband’s arm. The priest looked apologetically at Eve, and headed inside as well.

  There was a nasty pause. Lila sobbed loudly into her hands.

  “What do you think we should do?” said Polly, looking at Eve with wide and hopeless eyes.

  Eve took a deep breath. “The important thing is to respect Ryan’s family’s wishes,” she said. She felt hollow inside. “We’ve offered our condolences. Ryan’s parents don’t want them. I think we should do as Mrs Jameson asked.”

  Lila was crying so hard that Eve could barely hear herself think. “You two go in,” she went on, looking at Rhi and Polly. “You’ll be fine. The others are in there already. Lila and I will meet you on the beach when it’s finished.”

  She took Lila’s arm gently but firmly. Lila allowed herself to be pulled away.

  It wasn’t far to the beach. Eve was glad of the cold smack of the wind on her cheeks. It helped her think more clearly.

  “That was so awful,” Lila hiccupped beside Eve as the wind buffeted them. “I hope I never experience anything so bad, ever again.”

  Eve felt restless. She had summoned every ounce of courage to get to the church, and now she felt – lost. The service will have started by now, she thought. It was grim, thinking about Ryan lying inside a coffin at the altar. Part of her was glad not to be there after all.

  “Why don’t we have our own remembrance service for Ryan here on the beach?” she suggested. “It’s nice, thinking that we’re doing something at the same time as the church.”

  Lila wiped her eyes. “I’d like that,” she said, sounding a little calmer. “Let’s find some pretty stones and shells.”

  It felt good to be doing something. Moving along the shoreline with her eyes on the sand, searching for stones and shells, Eve thought about Ryan’s desperate need to impress people, his love of an audience. His determination to be the most daring person in the room.

  We couldn’t have stopped him jumping, she realized.

  The thought made her feel a little better.

  When she had filled her pockets with wet stones and shells of different colours, Eve joined Lila at the water’s edge. They arranged their finds to spell Ryan’s name in the sand, and then drew a circle around the picture with a piece of wood that Lila had found by the pier. The tide was lapping at the edge of the circle by the time they had finished. But that was OK, Eve real
ized. Fitting, somehow.

  Goodbye, Ryan, she thought as the waves washed over the memorial they had made. Sleep well.

  “You never know what’s coming around the next corner, do you?” said Lila. The pebbles and stones swirled and disappeared by their feet. “Any of us could be struck down by a speeding car, or get a fatal illness, at any minute.”

  Eve nodded. “You’re right. We think we’re so powerful, but we’re not.”

  Lila blew her nose decisively. “If I’ve learned anything from the worst week of my life, it’s this. Life is too short to play it safe. From now on, I’m going to live like every day is my last day on earth. No more caution. I’ll do what I want, when I want. Run naked down the pier. Sing out loud on the bus.”

  “Everyone would think you were mad,” Eve said, half-smiling.

  Lila smiled back tearfully. “If it makes me happy, that’s all that matters.”

  Eve wondered what it would be like, not caring about consequences. Just caring about being happy.

  Rhi and Polly were coming towards them across the sand.

  “How was it?” Eve asked when they reached her and Lila.

  “Sad.” Rhi’s eyes were red. “But good too. There were some nice readings and songs.”

  “Have you been on the beach the whole time?” Polly asked.

  Eve nodded at the remains of their stone-and-shell memorial. “We said goodbye in our own way.”

  Lila caught Polly by the arm. Polly looked startled by the intent expression on Lila’s face.

  “I’m sorry about the way I shouted at you,” Lila said. “I had no right to do that. You and Ollie have to grab all the happiness you can. I don’t want to fight about it. I don’t want to fight about anything ever again.”

  Polly’s eyes glimmered. “Thank you, Lila. That means a lot. I never wanted to hurt you. I’m so sorry that I did.”

  Lila nodded. “I know. I understand now. After all this sadness,” she went on, looking round at everyone, “I think it’s important that we are all friends. Real friends. Friends who tell each other the truth, and look after each other, and listen to each other, and never judge each other.”