6
Young Edna couldn’t take her eyes off the man who was sitting precariously on the pier wall, dangling his legs over and swinging them to an inaudible beat. As soon as she’d spied him, his nonchalance and his worry-free demeanor had her hooked – even from a distance.
As she walked along the promenade, the dog at her heels, she couldn’t remove her gaze from him and the way his blond hair ruffled in the wind, framing his tanned face and especially his confident, gleaming smile. Good teeth were a novelty in her family.
Then, with no warning, the man fell! It seemed to take an age for him to hit the water below the pier, and when he did, he disappeared from view for more minutes than Edna could bear. She waited for him to resurface. He didn’t, so she made a dash down the steps to the beach, where she looked for him again. The dog, who hadn’t left her side, was wondering what was going on.
Just when Edna thought she might have to go in after him, a head bobbed up, soaked hair flicked a halo of drops in an arc, and the smile reappeared as the man strode out of the water and up the pebbled beach towards her, clearly unharmed.
Edna wondered if it was obvious that she’d been worried about this stranger – her panic now seemed like an over reaction. Especially when the man began to laugh at her.
“Looking for something, love?” he asked, unable to hide his mirth. “Do you need to throw someone a life buoy?”
Edna was unable to look the man in the eye, faced, as she was, by his fully clothed, wet self. He unnerved her. She couldn’t answer him, either, and remained quiet.
“Lost your tongue?” teased the man, but not unkindly. “Seriously now, if you were worried about me, there was no need. I’m just having fun, that’s all.” He smiled at her, as her eyes met his for the first time. “Wanna join me?”
Edna didn’t. Not really. And yet, she did. Because, now she’d looked into his mesmeric blue eyes, and been up close to him, she was bewitched. As much as she knew that jumping off Ventnor pier and into the sea was a silly thing to do, Edna found herself nodding, and, when he reached out a hand for her, she took it.
Together, they walked back up to the prom and onto the pier, with the dog following at a wary distance behind them.