‘Eh?’

‘Everything you need is right there.’ She throws out her arm in the direction of the beach.

She serves herself and sits down, then tells the three of them about the lifeguard earlier, and what he said about the spill. They’ve been a bit dismissive about her swims, as if she’s taken up a crazy hobby, but she’s delighted to see that she’s got their attention.

She tells them about how she walked along the beach with Dominica after their swim and she got chatting to Ella at the lifeguard’s office. A surfer and clean sea activist herself, Ella had told Claire about the beach clean project. She tells Ash about some sites that Ella has suggested and, to her surprise, Ash says that he wants to look at them with her after supper.

She thinks he doesn’t mean it, but then Pim declares that he and Felix are on cleaning up duty and he gets Ash’s laptop.

Claire pulls up the Surfers Against Sewage site and, before she knows it, Ash is delving deeper and taking notes.

‘This is perfect for the project,’ he declares. ‘There’s loads about it here. About the quality of the bathing water. And about the tankers offshore and the dredging in the marina, too. You’re right, Mum. It’s all right on our doorstep.’

Pim turns from the sink, the tea towel over his shoulder and gives her a wink. ‘Well done,’ he mouths and Claire smiles back, glad that he’s noticed she’s done something good for once.

24

Back to the Office

Dominica takes off her mask as she sits down at her desk, feeling the familiar leather cushion of her office chair still moulded to the shape of her bum. She adjusts the photograph of her and Chris on her desk. It was taken at a Christmas ball, and she’d felt like a film star in her glittery gown. She wipes the dust from it with the cuff of her blouse. God, it’s weird being back, she thinks. Everything is the same and yet different. As if she’s been in a dream, or under a spell and she’s just woken up. She turns in her chair and looks out of the window at the familiar view, noticing how the tufts of grass are poking out through the paving slabs below the benches where she and her colleagues used to eat sandwiches at lunchtime.

Whilst the garden outside has grown, the cactus on her windowsill has died. When she lifts up the pot, it’s feathery light. She goes over to the kitchen and turns on the tap and puts the cactus underneath it, but the water cascades out of the bottom through the desiccated soil.

‘Feels odd, doesn’t it?’ Bonnie calls over to her. ‘Being back?’

Dominica smiles and nods at her colleague. Because she’s right. It is odd. She doesn’t quite know how to fit back in.

Her phone buzzes with a message on the Sea-Gals WhatsApp. It’s from Helga wishing her luck for today and she smiles.