. . . and may still consider me for the position of junior event coordinator in the office.
I bite my nail as I read the last sentence.
Fiona and I have spoken about me taking this job in passing, once. I finally plucked up the courage to bring up the fact that Caitlyn was leaving and I might like to be considered for the role, and Fiona shrugged (she was reading something on her phone) and said, ‘Oh yeah, maybe.’
She didn’t say no. She didn’t leap out of her seat at the idea and marvel at why on earth she hadn’t thought of it sooner, but she didn’t say no. She said maybe.
Many thanks, Katy x
A humble offering of a kiss at the end, like a digital reminder that I once spent an entire evening making Jasmine’s nativity costume when Fiona was in bed with the flu, so she really does owe me. Making an owl outfit from scratch is no easy feat.
I take a deep breath, my hand hovering over the keyboard. Before I can talk myself out of it, I hit send, holding my breath as I wait.
No internet connection!
I stare at my laptop, a great wave of fury bubbling under my skin.
Why won’t this stupid piece of—
I grab my phone and jab at Rachel’s name. The smooth ringtone starts rolling into my ears and I pace up and down the living room. I cannot believe she’s had the nerve to leave me in this house without warning me that there is zero internet connection. I mean, does she have no respect for me at all? Does she not care how important my career is to me? Or that I have a life? What was she expecting me to do?
The phone clicks onto Rachel’s answerphone and I throw my head back in annoyance.
Now she doesn’t answer, when she’s appeared more desperate to speak to me in the past two hours than she has done for the last two years.
A loud ripple of wind whooshes over the house and I scowl at the window as a black cloud spreads itself over the sun. I stomp towards the back door, my phone still pressed to my ear.
‘Hi,’ I say, ‘it’s me. Can you call me? It’s impossible to get internet connection at the house and I have got to get online to do some work. I wish you had warned me about this. If I’d known I wouldn’t be able to check my emails, I never would have come.’
I push the back door open and wait for Bruno to jump back inside the house.
‘Also, I can’t believe you never told me that Isaac’s moved back in next door! Surely you knew how difficult I’d find it seeing him again, let alone being next door to him for an entire week.’
My heart races as I spill all my frustrations into Rachel’s voicemail.
‘I’m sure you’ve noticed that I bought the bike, but do you know what? I love it and I use it every day.’
I break off, suddenly aware that Bruno hasn’t come inside. I scowl into the garden, trying to spot him.
Where is he?
‘Please don’t speak to Fiona while I’m away. It’s a difficult time for me at work. I’m not sure if you’ve met her yet, but she is my boss,’ I say, my voice stripped of any trace of anger as my eyes search for Bruno.
Why can’t I see him? He usually runs inside as soon as I open the door.
‘Anyway,’ I say, a cold feeling of panic creeping through me, ‘just call me back. I really need to get on the internet.’
I hang up, my arm dropping to my side.
‘Bruno?’ I call, leaning out of the back door. ‘Bruno, come here!’
The echoing wind whisks my voice away and the garden blinks back at me, completely still. Rachel’s garden is small and perfectly square. You can’t get lost in it.
‘Bruno!’ I shout again, my voice more desperate. ‘Bruno! You need to come inside!’
I step forward, my sock sinking into a square of damp mud. I wince, but I can’t pull my eyes away from the garden, desperate to spot Bruno.
He’s gone. He’s not here. Where has he gone?
I pull my feet out of the mud and turn on my heel, running through the house. I grab my keys and slam the front door shut, and before I can even register my thoughts, I’m at Isaac’s house, banging on the front door with my fist until he answers.
‘It’s Bruno,’ I gabble as the door swings open, ‘I think I’ve lost Bruno.’
*
Isaac looks at me as I zip Rachel’s large anorak over my body and scowl. My God, this anorak is ugly. Why would she ever buy it? I know it’s one of those super mountain gear brands and I’m sure she’d love to tell me all about how wonderful it is at keeping you dry and storing home-made granola bars, but couldn’t she have got one that showed a bit of cleavage?
The coat hangs over my body and I look down at it. Does this really fit her? It’s huge.
I squash my feet into wellington boots, strapping my Apple Watch firmly to my wrist. Isaac seems to have been born in outdoor gear, and is standing in the doorway in his ugly brown coat and his equally ugly bulky shoes. His curly hair is flopping in the wind and his bright eyes are scowling at me as though I’m the sun.
Not in a nice you-are-my-sunshine kind of way. More like a Christ-looking-at-you-is-like-having-my-eyes-singed-by-a-giant-ball-of-fire-and-you’ve-also-given-me-sunstroke way.
But he has agreed to help me, which is more than I was expecting. Perhaps more than I deserve, seeing that every time we’ve spoken since I arrived I’ve gone out of my way to make it obvious how little I want to speak to him.
Another blast of wind rattles the house and I wince. It’s been about ten minutes since I thrashed Isaac’s front door with every fibre of my being and then garbled my confession about what a terrible person I am. He just watched me, his face unchanging, and then picked up his coat and followed me out of the door. We haven’t said a word to each other since. Really, I’m not sure I thought this through.
‘You don’t have to come,’ I say quietly, trying to sound self-assured but unable to meet his eye. ‘I’m sure I can find him.’
I slip the door keys into my pocket and we both walk out of the porch.
Bloody hell, it’s freezing. When did it get so cold?
‘You’ll need my help,’ Isaac says, looking towards the sea. ‘I know the hills better than you do.’
I can’t help but roll my eyes at the back of his head.
Oh please. What a pretentious answer. He’s hardly Bear Grylls. He owns a gilet.
‘Fine,’ I say as I shut the gate behind us. ‘I just want to find him. I don’t know how he got out. Has he run away before?’
My eyes flit up to Isaac, desperate for him to reassure me and tell me that this happens all the time, but he doesn’t even look at me. We start walking through the village towards a thin rusted staircase that climbs the height of the first cliff. I feel my stomach turn over.
‘Do you really think he’s up there?’ I say. ‘He wouldn’t be able to climb those stairs by himself.’
Or would he? Let’s be honest, I have grossly underestimated Bruno so far at every given opportunity.
‘This is the walk Rachel takes him on every day,’ Isaac says. ‘It’s what he’s familiar with, and you can get to it through your back garden, which is where he escaped. I think he’ll be around here somewhere.’
I squeeze my hands in my pockets and look over my shoulder, hoping that I might see Bruno bounding towards us and that he’s just been hiding behind a flowerpot this whole time as a fun game. I feel a light splatter of rain dust my face and look up at the increasingly dark sky. Isaac flicks his hood up and carries on walking. I feel another twinge of guilt.
Isaac and I hardly finished on good terms. Until Sunday, the last time we saw each other was when we broke up.
‘So,’ I say, ‘I thought you were living in Cardiff.’
I flinch. Why did that sound more like an accusation than a nice conversational question?
He keeps his eyes facing forward, his brow furrowed against the wind.
‘I was,’ he says. ‘I moved back here a few years ago. I wanted to be with family. I like working on the farm.’
‘
Oh!’ I say. ‘Well, that makes sense. I can understand moving back here because you want to be with your family.’
For the first time, Isaac’s eyes skirt towards me.
‘What do you mean?’ he asks.
‘Well,’ I say, ‘I mean, you went to Cardiff. That’s a city, it’s a bit like London, isn’t it? Full of life and everything, unlike here. Nobody in their right mind would want to live here unless they’re retired, or like to pretend they’re retired like Rachel does. There’s nothing here. I think I’d die of boredom.’
I shoot him a smile, half expecting him to join in to complain about how boring life in Pembrokeshire is compared to Cardiff, but we fall back into silence.
‘Well,’ he says eventually, ‘maybe I’ll show you what we get up to in our boring lives,’ he raises a sarcastic eyebrow, ‘to stop us from dying of boredom.’
My face prickles.
‘That’s not what I meant.’
‘I’ll show you tomorrow if you like?’ he says.
As I open my mouth to protest, I realise we’ve stopped walking.
‘Here,’ Isaac says as we reach the narrow staircase, ‘ladies first.’
My eyes follow the ladder, which is pressed into the cliff face as if it has been carved into the rock. The wind, which has begun to swoop around us, sends splatters of rain into my face and I frown at Isaac, who is staring back at me expectantly.
‘Could we drive?’ I say. ‘The weather seems to be getting worse.’
‘No,’ he says, ‘and we should hurry up. We need to find Bruno before this storm hits.’
My eyes flit up. A heavy rumbling cloud has spread across the sky, drowning any flashes of blue. I pull the coat closer to my body and start to climb the ladder, horribly aware of how my wobbling arse will now be stuck in Isaac’s face like a beacon of light for him to follow.
I must not have an involuntary asthma attack due to climbing these stairs and collapse in front of Isaac. I need to pretend that I climb stairs like these all the time and this is no big deal whatsoever. I will not give him the satisfaction of rescuing me again. I’d rather topple off the side of the cliff.
My legs begin to burn as I pull myself up. Streams of rain skid down the length of the rail and I feel my feet slip under the unsteady layering of steps. I glance over my shoulder at Isaac, who shoots me an impatient look, as if I’m walking slowly on purpose.
A bolt of lightning pierces the sky and my legs judder to a halt. Isaac knocks into me, and for a horrible moment I feel as though he might throw me over his shoulder if I don’t move. The higher we climb, the harder the wind pummels against my ears, and although I know he’s shouting something, I can barely hear him over the roaring gale.
‘I just saw lightning!’ I shout. ‘We should turn back!’
‘No!’ Isaac yells. ‘It’s fine, we just need to keep moving!’
His firm body pushes gently against mine, and for a second I feel a small shock of heat shoot through my body. My sodden hand grips onto the icy railing and I continue to pull myself up the stairs.
Bloody Bruno, I’m going to kill him when I find him. I mean, what if he’s not even up here and he’s just having a lovely relaxing time in a sheltered nearby garden?
I squint my eyes upwards as my feet continue to climb. These steps feel as if they go on forever! I don’t remember the climb being this hard when I was a teenager. There was a time when Rachel and I would run up them. With my free hand, I try to push back my hair, which is so wet it’s begun to stick to my face like cling film.
I feel a small vibration on my wrist and look down, surprised that I have any feeling in my sodden hand at all. I realise my Apple Watch is flashing at me, and without quite meaning to, I stop walking again.
Oh my God, I have signal.
‘What now?’ Isaac shouts, his voice barely carried by the loud wind.
I must have climbed high enough to get signal! If I get to the top, I can finally send this email to Fiona.
‘I’ve got signal!’ I shout back, grinning over my shoulder. ‘I finally have signal!’
I catch Isaac’s eye and flinch. He’s glowering at me.
‘We need to keep moving!’ he yells.
I am about to explain to him that of course I wasn’t about to suggest that I stop here and start a new game of Candy Crush, but then realise that if I say another word, Isaac might throw me in the sea.
I furrow my brow as I scowl through the rain and spot a flash of green.
Okay, we’re nearly at the top. It’s only a few more steps.
With the fresh fuel of being able to connect to my emails pumping through me, I push my feet into the steps and pull myself upwards, trying to ignore the burning pain shooting up and down my legs.
‘We’re nearly there!’ I yell, as I spot another dagger of lightning piercing the sky.
I hope Isaac knows what he’s talking about and we’re not about to get electrocuted.
The rain pummels against my skin and I suck in a gulp of earthy air, gasping as I reach the top. Great fields of green stretch out for miles, and the roaring sea slaps against the rocks below, dancing with the ferocious wind spinning through the sky. I turn to look at Isaac, who has climbed the final few steps and is standing behind me. For a second, he almost smiles at me. As I open my mouth to speak, my watch vibrates again.
Ah-ha! Signal!
‘This way!’ Isaac calls, marching past me like a Scout leader.
‘Wait!’ I shout back, tapping my watch.
Right. I definitely saved that email as a draft, so I just need to find it and then I can send it.
My watch buzzes continuously as all the emails I haven’t been able to see over the past day spill onto the screen. I try and swipe them away quickly. I need to get to my drafts. The wind whips my hood off my head, but I keep focused on the watch.
I just need to send this one email.
‘What are you doing?’ Isaac shouts.
‘I need to send an email!’ I cry back, not daring to look at him as he throws his arms into the air in exasperation.
‘What?’ he yells. ‘We need to find Bruno. Come on, this storm is getting worse!’
‘Just give me a second!’ I cry, frantically swiping all the notifications off the screen.
‘No!’ He marches back towards me. ‘Katy, this is important. We need to find Bruno so that we can get back inside. It’s not safe.’
He tries to take my hand away from the watch and I throw him off.
‘This is important!’ I cry. ‘I need this for my work. It’s—’
The words die in my mouth as the bar of signal keeping the watch alight vanishes. I feel a wave of dread.
No.
‘Now look what you’ve done!’ I yell, my eyes flying up to Isaac, who has already started walking down the path. ‘I’ve lost my signal, you moved it!’
‘Good!’ he shouts over his shoulder. ‘Come on!’
I glare at the back of his soaked curly head and storm after him.
‘It’s not good!’ I yell. ‘This is my job! I know it’s never meant anything to you or Rachel, but it’s— Oh!’ My wrist vibrates again under another bar of signal. ‘Isaac, wait! Wait! Just give me a second!’
Fat drops of rain splash onto the face of the watch and I try and rub them away, desperate to get onto my emails.
Come on. Come on.
I glance up and to my relief see Isaac storming back towards me. I don’t care if he’s angry, as long as he doesn’t leave me here to be pecked to death by crows.
‘Sorry,’ I gabble, jabbing the watch, ‘this will just take one minute— Oh no!’
The flicker of signal disappears again. Isaac turns on his heel and charges back down the path. I scurry behind him, but almost as soon as I begin to move, the watch vibrates again.
‘Isaac!’ I shout, my voice cracking in desperation. ‘Sorry! Just give me a second, I need to send . . .’
I trail off and look up to see him standing right next to me, his fa
ce expressionless.
‘Is it not working?’ he says, and I almost jump at how calm his voice is.
‘No!’ I wail. ‘I keep losing signal!’
A clap of thunder shakes the sky and I wince. Isaac’s eyes flick up, then he holds out his hand.
‘Give it to me,’ he says. ‘I’ll fix it.’
He knows how to work it? Why didn’t he say that earlier?
I hand him the watch quickly. He stuffs it into his pocket and starts to walk back down the path.
‘I just need to get onto my emails,’ I gabble desperately. ‘I just need to email my boss, and then I can sort through the rest of them later.’
I frown as he ignores me, his eyes scouring the fields.
‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’ I say. ‘I thought you were fixing it.’
‘We need to find Bruno,’ he says, picking up his pace as another fork of lightning strikes in the distance. I feel a shock of anger.
Has he just confiscated my watch?
‘I need to send an email!’ I yell incredulously. ‘You can’t just take it! Give it back! Look!’ I cry. ‘I can see it lighting up in your pocket; that means it’s got signal again! Just give it to me and I can send it! It will only take a second! Just give it to me!’
Isaac cuts off my screeches of desperation by pulling the watch out of his pocket.
‘Don’t move!’ I yell. ‘You’ll lose the signal again! We just need to stay still for one minute, we just need to—’
But my words stick in my throat as he pulls back his arm and launches my watch over the cliff. I watch in horror as it spins across the sky and is swallowed by the sea. He stares after it, his chest rising and falling heavily, and I feel hot anger ripple through me.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ I screech. ‘What is the matter with you?’
‘What is the matter with you?’ he yells back, turning to face me. ‘Your sister’s dog is lost! You lost him! We need to find him before this storm gets worse and he gets stuck out here! How can you not care about anyone but yourself? He needs us! How can you be so blind to everything?’
House Swap Page 12