Chapter 24

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Orla and Roo walked back to Shay to see that he and Theo had been joined by Fern, Fletcher, Ocean and Bones. They were all chatting and laughing together. The dogs were all happily playing together. Shay looked really happy and she smiled at the thought that she might have had something to do with that.

His face lit up when he saw her and as she approached, he looped an arm around her shoulders, she wrapped an arm around him and he kissed her on the head. She quickly looked to see what everyone’s reaction was to this show of affection, but everyone clearly knew, as none of them looked shocked, only happy for them.

‘Well, we’ll see you both on the boat,’ Fern said, ushering everyone away clearly to give her and Shay some space.

He bent his head and kissed her and she smiled against his lips. ‘You taste sweet.’

‘I had churros. I did save you one, but Roo stole it.’

‘That’s OK, I can always get my own.’

‘Did you tell them about us?’ Orla asked, gesturing to their departing friends and family.

‘They kind of guessed. Theo saw us holding hands and Fern said I was glowing with happiness. You don’t mind, do you?’

‘No, not at all. I’d already talked to the girls when they came round. They were the ones that persuaded me to go for it and stop being a big scaredy cat.’

‘Then I’m eternally grateful to them.’

Ivy grabbed hold of Shay’s scarf and tried to tug it from him. He took it off and dangled it around for her to catch and chase. Orla couldn’t help smiling at the puppy’s antics.

‘If it helps, I’m scared too.’ Shay went on. ‘I want this to work more than anything. I love you. And I’ll tell you every day until you believe it. And I will understand if this doesn’t tick the box for you. It’s been twelve years since you loved me, I’m not expecting you to have held onto those feelings for me all this time, just because I have. So if in a few weeks or months you decide you don’t want this anymore, I’ll understand. But for me, I’m in this for the long haul.’

She leaned up and kissed him. ‘I just need some time. This feels like it’s come out of the blue a little. I had no idea you felt this way and I need to get my head around us in a relationship and not just friends anymore.’

‘There’s no rush. I know I hurt you and I have to earn your trust again, in that regard.’

She stroked his face. ‘I hurt you too when I ran away, after everything you did for me, not just that weekend but throughout all our years of friendship, I showed you that friendship was expendable. We both have some baggage we need to get past but if we can, then this will be something serious for me too. Just give me some time and let’s enjoy the now.’

He smiled. ‘Wise words.’

He bent his head and kissed her.

‘Oh my god!’

Shay swore softly.

Orla pulled back to see Carrie and Antonio walking towards them, Carrie had the biggest grin on her face as if she’d just been told she’d won the lottery.

‘You’re dating? I had no idea. How long has this been going on? Why didn’t you tell me? There’s me inviting you to stay at my house earlier today and you two were secretly together.’

‘We weren’t dating,’ Shay said. ‘Not then. We are now.’

Carrie’s face lit up. ‘This is all brand new? I’m so happy for you, for both of you. I could see how important you were to each other even back when you were kids. I always felt like you had a special relationship, I’m not surprised it’s turned into something more. Oh, how wonderful. Isn’t it wonderful?’ Carrie said to Antonio.

‘It is, of course,’ Antonio said, clearly looking amused by Carrie’s reaction. Carrie obviously wanted more than that. ‘Umm, congratulations.’

Orla smirked. ‘Thank you. We’re very happy.’

Carrie clapped her hands together in excitement. ‘And what’s wonderful about dating your best friend is you don’t have to spend weeks finding out if you fit with each other, you already know that you do. It’s almost too easy. And without all that second guessing, you can bypass all that dating stuff, which is purely to get to know each other and go straight for the serious stuff. I expect you’ll be getting married soon, or at least getting engaged.’

‘Mum, it’s been eight hours. I’m not asking her to marry me after eight hours of dating,’ Shay said.

‘Well, no, that might be a bit quick, but you don’t have to spend months fannying about either, that’s just a waste of time. You need to get your wedding or registry office booked sooner rather than later as these things get booked months in advance.’

‘Mum…’ Shay started.

‘And I saw the cutest little wedding outfit for Ivy the other day in one of the shops in town. Of course you’ll want to involve her in the wedding too. I should have bought it. I’ll see if it’s still there tomorrow.’

‘Why don’t we go and find Theo,’ Antonio interrupted. ‘There’s been a lot of planning for tonight and I’m sure he would appreciate knowing we are here to support him.’

‘Oh yes of course,’ Carrie said. She came over and gave Shay and Orla a big hug. ‘We can talk about all this later.’

Antonio quickly ushered her away leaving them alone.

‘I’m so sorry about her,’ Shay said.

‘Don’t be. She loves you and she wants you to be happy. And talking about weddings doesn’t scare me off. She’s right, if things go well for us –and by that I mean longer than eight hours’ track record – that will be the next step for us.’

His face split into a huge grin. ‘That would make me so happy.’

‘Not yet though, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.’

‘Of course, we should wait at least ten hours.’

She laughed. ‘Come on, we need to go and get on the boat.’

He took her hand and they walked down towards the little jetty where people were already boarding the boats. They handed over their tickets and boarded a boat that had been renamed, at least for this evening, the Snow Princess. The boat held around forty passengers and once it was full, it left the dock and made its way a little out to sea, along with the five other small passenger ferries and sightseeing boats. The boats themselves were decorated with lights and one of them even had a fully decorated tree stuck to the top.

The boats bobbed around in the sea for a bit and Orla shivered as she stood against the railing waiting. Shay moved behind her and wrapped his coat around her, holding her close against him, and she smiled as she leaned back against him. She suddenly wasn’t cold anymore.

Ivy poked her head through the railings of the boat as if she was excited for the parade too.

There was a cheer as the procession of sailing boats left the inner harbour and Orla leaned forward to get a glimpse of them. This had been a massive undertaking and Orla knew so many people from Apple Hill Bay had contributed to this. It had been a big community project.

The sailing boats all glided towards them. The first boat sailed past with the title of the story, The Christmas Wish, projected on its sail. Orla knew Theo had written the story and he and Roo had animated it themselves, She knew it was the story of a little boy asking Santa for a friend, although she didn’t know much more than that.

What followed was basically a short, animated film, with each sailing boat projecting a ten-second clip on its sails. The first one showed a little boy looking sad and lonely in his bedroom. The second clip and boat showed him writing a letter and throwing it up the chimney. The third one showed the letter travelling through the skies, clouds and stars as it made its way to the North Pole.

The animations were cute and beautifully done and she could see people were completely enchanted with the story as the boats drifted past.

The boats showed Santa in his workshop, the elves busily making the toys, the reindeer playing football in the snow, which made everyone laugh, Santa receiving and reading the note, the elves busily loading the sleigh for Christmas Eve including a special box that sat next to Santa as the sleigh took off, the lid of the box coming off and a puppy poking his head out. Santa tucking him into his jacket to keep him safe, Santa visiting various cities and sights around the world with the puppy taking it all in with wide-eyed excitement before he was finally placed under the tree of the little boy and curled up and went to sleep.

It was a gorgeous story and the boats looked so beautiful as they glided past in a long procession. Everyone cheered and clapped as the last boat drifted past. Even Ivy barked with all the clapping and excitement.

‘That was wonderful,’ Orla said.

‘It was. Theo and Roo have been working hard on it for months.’

She turned round and looped her arms around his neck. ‘I’m glad I got to watch it with you.’

He smiled and kissed her. ‘I think we’d planned to watch it together anyway, although there certainly wouldn’t have been any kissing or cuddling.’

‘I like it better this way.’

‘I do too. Come on, let’s go and find Theo and Roo and congratulate them, then I can take you home.’

She smiled at the use of the word home, even if he didn’t mean it like that.

They joined the others in a queue to get off the boat and waiting at the top of the jetty was a small stall handing out mince pies, glasses of mulled wine and cups of hot chocolate. Orla took a hot chocolate and passed Shay one too.

They spotted Theo and Roo with Fern and Fletcher although lots of people were coming up to congratulate them.

They made their way over and Roo hugged them both.

‘That was wonderful, the story, the animation, the boats, it was all beautiful.’

‘Thank you,’ Theo said. ‘The designs were all Roo.’

‘But you took care of the animation side of things,’ Roo said.

‘Well it worked brilliantly,’ Shay said.

‘Thank you,’ Roo said. ‘We’re very proud of it.’

‘I think we raised over five thousand pounds too,’ Theo said. ‘Probably more once we take a percentage from all the stalls.’

‘That’s great, what will the money be used for?’ Fern said.

‘Some new incubators for the baby animals that come into our care, and then just general upkeep,’ Theo said. ‘Oh, excuse me, we must just go and thank some of the boat owners.’

He and Roo rushed off.

‘Listen,’ Fern said to Shay. ‘You were supposed to be looking after Ocean tomorrow morning, but if you’re not feeling up to it after the accident, we can try to find alternative arrangements.’

Shay looked at Orla, which was sweet to include her when it wasn’t really her call to make, but she nodded anyway.

‘That’s absolutely fine, we’ll be happy to have her.’ Shay stroked the back of Ocean’s head as she was snoozing on Fletcher’s shoulder. ‘I’ve got some activities planned anyway, so it’s no bother.’

‘It will only be a few hours,’ Fletcher said.

Orla nodded. ‘You know I’m always happy to spend time with her.’

‘Thank you,’ Fern said. ‘Can we give you two a lift home?’

‘That would be great. I really need to sort out some kind of transport, but it’s probably easier to just wait until after Christmas now,’ Shay said. ‘And I have some things I need to take care of at home too so it will be good to get back sooner rather than later.’

‘No problem.’

They started walking back to the car with Fern and Fletcher a little way in front and Ivy bouncing along at their side.

‘What do you need to take care off back at your house?’ Orla asked.

Shay fixed her with a dark look. ‘You.’

She smirked and grabbed his hand and hurried to catch up with Fern.

Sitting in the back seat with Shay wedged in next to a sleeping Ocean in her baby seat, Orla felt like a giddy teenager again. Shay had his coat draped over her legs to keep her warm, but it was his hand on the inside of her thigh that was making her all hot. It was far enough down her leg that he wasn’t going to make her spontaneously combust in the back of Fern and Fletcher’s car, but close enough to make her heart race. He stroked the inside of her thigh and she looked at him. He gave her a wink, knowing full well what he was doing to her.

It had only ever been him that made her feel this way. Even back when they were kids, before they made love and she had all these seemingly unrequited feelings for him, she was always looking for a boy that made her feel the way she felt when she was with Shay, that giddy, excited, happy, joyful feeling. Of all the men she’d dated over the years, no one had ever come close to giving her that. And here she was, all these years later, and those feelings had never gone away, and in fact over the last few days they seemed to have intensified into something so much more.

‘Orla, I could stop by your flat on the way to Shay’s tomorrow morning, pick up some clothes if you want,’ Fern said from the front seat. ‘You can’t live in Shay’s clothes forever.’

‘No, probably not,’ Orla said, although she knew Shay got a big kick out of seeing her walk around in just his shirt or t-shirt. ‘That would be great. You still have my spare key, don’t you?’

‘Yes I do.’

‘Just grab some jeans, t-shirts and jumpers, oh and some underwear, that would be much appreciated.’

‘No problem. How long do you think you’ll be at Shay’s for?’

Orla fell silent. She couldn’t just move in with him, it felt like it was way too soon for that, but right then she was far too happy to want to go home.

Fern must have read her mind. ‘Concussion is a serious thing. It’s probably best if you have someone staying with you for at least another week, just to be safe. I’ll get enough clothes and underwear for a week and if you need more, I can always go back and get more for you.’

Orla smirked at the not-so-subtle interference. ‘Thank you.’

They went round a corner and Orla fell into Shay a little, which caused his hand to shift higher up her thigh. He still wasn’t touching where she needed him, which was a good thing, but she let out a tiny whimper of need and he had the audacity to smirk.

The car pulled up outside Shay’s house and Orla quickly got out.

‘Thanks for the lift,’ she said.

‘Yes thanks,’ Shay said, climbing out too.

‘We’ll see you tomorrow about ten,’ Fletcher said.

‘Yes, great,’ Shay said, lifting Ivy from the boot where she was snuggled up with Bones. He waved goodbye and ushered Orla up the drive.

Fletcher drove off and Shay quickly unlocked the door, bundling Orla inside. The door wasn’t even closed before he kissed her hard.

Clothes came off very quickly until they were just in their underwear. Orla laughed to see Ivy running off towards the bedroom, dragging Shay’s jeans behind her. Her laughter turned to a gasp as his hands started exploring her body hungrily as if he couldn’t get enough of her. He was insatiable and she loved it. The kiss continued as he removed her bra and his hands immediately encased her breasts, stroking them, caressing them until she was whimpering with need. He shuffled her back against the door and then trailed his mouth down her throat, over her chest and across her belly, then knelt down on the floor. He slowly peeled down the boxer shorts she was wearing, his eyes on hers the whole time. But there was no preamble this time, no building up to it, he kissed her right where she needed him the most.

‘Shay!’

She ran her hands through his hair. His kiss, his touch made her feel weak. It was everything. He knew her better than she knew herself. He very quickly took her roaring over the edge, leaving her gasping for breath. He stood back up and she kissed him, sliding her hand into his shorts. She could feel how much he wanted her. She moved her hand slowly over him and he groaned against her mouth. He caught her hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing her palm.

‘You keep touching me like that, baby, and this is going to be over very quickly.’

She smiled and kissed him, pushing his shorts down, and he kicked them off.

‘Where do you want me?’ Shay whispered against her mouth. ‘I’m yours, do whatever you want with me.’

She kissed him, shuffling him backwards until his legs hit the back of the sofa and he sat down.

‘Right there.’

He quickly leaned over and grabbed a condom from the little side table drawer. He had scattered them everywhere earlier like some sexy version of the easter bunny. She had laughed at his forethought, but she was grateful for it now. He quickly slid it on and she straddled him; with his hands on her hips he guided her down on top of him. She kissed him as he moved deep inside her, letting out a moan against his lips.

She started moving against him and he matched every move perfectly, his hands around her lower back, holding her tight against him. He moved his hands up her spine, stroking her, caressing her hair as it tumbled down her back. He kissed her throat, her breasts and she felt herself going higher and higher, that glorious feeling spreading through every inch of her body. She kissed him as that feeling exploded through her, moaning hard against his lips. He held her tight against him as he found his own release, making noises that sounded almost like a roar.

She pulled back to look at him, trying to catch her breath, and though she didn’t say the words, she hoped he knew that she loved him with everything she had.