Stolen Kiss (The Turners of Copper Island #2)

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Heidi

K eith lived in a supped up caravan at the bottom of their parent’s garden. Keith and Heidi were the fourth generation of Shaws to be born on Copper Island. They were also fortunate to live in a large house that could afford to have a caravan at the bottom of the garden and it not intrude on the eye. The old generation of Copper Island had the biggest land, the larger houses and the biggest sway on council meetings.

The first two parts were obvious the last not so much. Heidi and Keith’s parents lived a simple life and didn’t want to get involved with Copper Island politics unless they could help it. Or when Heidi forced them to head down to the town hall and make a vote.

Mostly the council voted on who could buy a property on Copper Island on behalf of Cynthia Turner. Cynthia had the final say and could veto but rarely did.

“We ready?” Freya said from the living room downstairs in her home.

“When you say we, you mean me, right?”

“Yes, so get your backside down here or I’m starting on the roast potatoes.”

That got Heidi moving because that wasn’t an idle threat. Freya loved roast potatoes and would make Heidi make them often. If she could get away with it, Freya would charm Heidi to make a batch before they went out drinking so that could eat them cold with mayonnaise at two in the morning while they watched trash TV until they fell asleep.

One more brush of mascara and Heidi was ready. It was Sunday and on Sundays, everyone congregated to Heidi and Keith’s home to eat themselves stupid with great food. Heidi was in charge of roast potatoes. Freya was in charge of dessert which was usually a cheesecake. Freya’s family did the veg and Heidi’s mum did the roast meat. Heidi’s dad was in charge of Yorkshire puddings. He’d had them in the pub one day and learned how to cook them. Now everyone insisted it didn’t matter which joint of meant they were having, it had to have Yorkshire puddings.

Heidi trotted down the stairs and headed straight to the kitchen giving her best friend the side eye, checking her mouth for grease marks. When she couldn’t see any her first thought was Freya had washed her face. Going into the kitchen, she lifted the foil over the potatoes and counted.

There was one missing.

“Freya,” Heidi called out, not hiding her whine.

“You took too long. Let’s go,” Freya said holding a large glass dish with what looked to be trifle.

Heidi grinned and lifted her tray and followed Freya out picking up their handbags on the way.

They could’ve walked to her parent’s place but with precious cargo they didn’t chance it. They each got into the golf buggy packed around the side of the house. Freya was driving which meant she wedged the trifle between her feet and the potatoes were on her lap, gently burning her thighs as they weren’t long out of the oven.

“I think I’ve got these the wrong way around,” Heidi said lifting the tray off her lap and holding it up, swaying with the buggy as Freya took corners on two wheels.

“We’re here, stop grumbling. You had it the right way, no way was I risking those beauties. The trifle could hurtle off for all I care. But those,” she said lifting the foil lid knowing Heidi couldn’t move. “These have my name on them.”

“There’s twenty here, two each. You’ve already had the spare.”

“You should buy a bigger tray, babe. I have needs.”

Giggling, Heidi nudged her friend, and they sashayed up to the main house and in through the unlocked front door. Her father greeted her like he hadn’t seen her for weeks with a bear hug and a wet kiss on the cheek. Freya got the same treatment and then the rest of the family joined in. Except Keith. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Keith?” Heidi asked putting the potatoes in the oven to keep warm.

“Down the garden,” her mum answered as she prodded the joint of pork with her new fancy temperature stick.

The butchers on the high street had got a few in a month ago and something snapped them up, so he had to order more. It displeased her mother she had to wait for the second shipment. She made it very clear to Mr Boyle that four generations on the island had to count for something.

Mr Boyle was in his nineties and was tired of keeping the peace. There was serious talk of him retiring the one hour a day he spent in his butcher’s shop he had worked in since he could see over the counter.

“I’ll go get him.”

“He’s in a mood, love.”

Heidi rolled her eyes. “He’s always in a mood.”

Her brother had been in a mood for eleven years. Even since he found out she’d been dating Jason behind his back. She wondered if the second Turner sibling returning had anything to do with his mood getting worse?

She marched down the garden, weaving through the different vegetable patches her dad grew until she walked through a patch of waist high shrubbery. On the other side was a thirty-two feet static caravan with a front porch. They arranged garden furniture in front of the porch with a dinner plate sized candle with black wicks. Heidi trotted up the three steps and stomped along the decking to let her brother know she was on her way. The door at the end was ajar, and she pushed it open. From the side she approached, the van looked basic and temporary but when she walked in the place never failed to take her breath away.

Her brother had bought three static caravans and had taken the sides out of two of them and sealed them together. It was all open plan apart from the bathroom. At the far end the doors slid open revealing a second decking with a balcony overlooking the cliff and out to sea.

“This view is amazing, Keith. Have you added anything new?”

Keith was in a comfy armchair that had been in the house for a decade. It was large enough for her to curl up in and read a book. A blanket was draped over the back for chillier days.

He looked up and tossed his phone onto the long sofa next to him.

“Hey sis. Is dinner ready?” he said ignoring her question. He didn’t seem that out of sorts.

He got up and walked over to give her a hug.

“Nearly. I’ve come to collect you.”

Keith had installed an intercom system so if their mum needed him, all she had to do was press a button and he’d hear her voice. Heidi didn’t need to come down, but she wanted to see his place and the recent additions.

Her brother was always adding something.

“I’ll just get changed, won’t be a second,” he said.

Heidi envied guys who could take a three-minute shower, get dressed and be ready in a maximum of six minutes. While she waited, she trailed her fingers over the vinyl records standing on their spine in the far side next to his record player. Before she knew it, Keith was back with damp hair and different clothing. He’d put on trousers and a shirt but no tie. It felt like he had two personalities, one was the surfer dude and the other was a dutiful son who cleaned up for Sunday lunch.

“Are you going to leave that behind,” Heidi asked while he was shutting up the glass doors.

“Leave what behind?”

“The scowl on your face.”

“That’s permanent, sis, goes everywhere with me,” he said with a grin.

“It’s scowlier than usual.”

“Scowlier? Is that a word?”

“I don’t know, we can ask Freya when we get up to the house, she’s the teacher.”

Keith chuckled and drew the curtains. He walked towards her, hooked her around the neck with his arm and they left his home and walked back up the garden.

Entering the house again, the noise levels startled Heidi. She was only gone fifteen minutes and the raucous laughter had notched up ten places. They couldn’t have consumed that much wine in the short time she was gone.

Keith let her go, and they split to walk around the kitchen island on opposite sides, both speed walking to get to the living room first. As always with his long leg span, Keith got there first. Hellos and hugs engulfed him from Freya and her parents. Then he went over to where Freya’s grandparents were sitting and he gave them a hug and a kiss.

“Are you okay?” Freya’s grandmother asked cupping his cheek.

Everyone’s eyes swung his way, waiting for Keith’s answer.

“Yeah, Mrs Shaw.”

“You don’t look it,” she answered in her clipped tone.

“Everything is fine,” he answered giving her a smile and holding his hand over hers on his cheek.

“Well cheer up then. It’s Sunday. We’re going to eat and drink ourselves into a stupor.”

Heidi watched as her brother held back what he wanted to say. When he stood, his frown lines were less drawn together.

Lunch was a noisy affair that took three hours to get through. They cleared the dishes, then the board game came out. Cluedo was that week’s choice. The winner of the previous week chose. Heidi, Keith, Freya and Freya’s parents were playing while everyone else watched on.

“I think Professor Plum did it in the library with the rope,” Heidi declared.

She took the small envelope from the middle and slid the winning combination out and thrust her hands in the air.

“Yes,” she shouted.

Keith threw his cards on the board like a poor loser and folded his arms across his chest.

“You looked at my cards,” he said.

“I did not, I won fair and square,” Freya said.

“That means it’s trivial pursuit next week,” Keith muttered but loud enough for them all to hear. “Can I cancel my attendance in advance?” Keith called out.

“No,” came the collective reply.

“I hear you met up with the Turner boy.”

All eyes swung to Freya’s grandmother who was sipping her third glass of red wine.

“News travels fast,” Keith replied, his deep frown returning.

“It’s an island, son, news like that travels faster than anything else here,” his grandmother said with a smirk. “Did you two work out your problems?”

“We don’t have any problems.”

“Then why did you stop being friends?” Heidi asked.

Heidi had been asking her brother the question for eleven years and eleven years her brother had walked away from the question. Most of the time it was over Sunday lunch and the usual move next was the scraping of his chair. This time he stayed where he was.

“It was a long time ago. I barely remember.”

“One minute Heidi is the happiest she’d ever been, and you were thick as thieves with Jason Turner and then when he went to work on the rigs, that was it,” Freya’s grandmother pushed.

“We had different futures. Better to cut it off there,” Keith said.

It was the most he’d ever said on the subject. The problem was if Keith had volunteered that information she knew eyes would swing her way along with the question. Her family and Freya’s family rarely crossed examine Heidi, but she felt all gazes on her.

Keith was on a roll. “It doesn’t matter anyway, he’s not here for very long. Get the business set up, hire good chefs and then he’s back to the mainland or overseas.”

“He said that?” Heidi asked.

“Not in so many words, but he never stays long.”

Heidi pushed her chair back so she could stand. It was time to gather up the parts of the game, put them in the box and get the hell out of the house before she started crying. She’d tried her best to not cry over Jason Turner but she could feel the burn in her throat and her nostrils sting with impending tears.

“You want to head back?” Freya asked gently.

“Yeah, why not. I see a nap in my future,” Heidi said.

“What about the gig racing? We haven’t discussed that yet,” Heidi’s mum said.

Heidi sat back down, grateful for the change of subject and hugged the Cluedo box.

“It’s Saturday at three o’clock,” Heidi said.

“And is it still girls versus boys?” her dad asked.

“Yep, but there is only one girl’s boat and three boys boats. So we have our work cut out.”

“Keith, are you in one of them?” her dad asked.

“You bet I am. Someone has to knock the smug smile off my sister’s face. I have spent an entire year with her rubbing it in she won last year.”

“Keith,” their dad warned. “No underhand tactics.”

“Not a chance this time. I want to win fair and square.”

“Is Jason Turner going to be on a boat?” Heidi’s mum asked.

Heidi whipped her head around to look at her mum. “I doubt it, we have six per boat already. We don’t need anyone else.”

“He’s come back big and strong,” their mother said. “Don’t dismiss him if you want to win,” she said to Keith.

“Mum, whose side are you on?”

“The underdog. I don’t to play trivial pursuit either,” she confessed.

Heidi burst out laughing and leaned across the table to give her hand a squeeze.

“Okay, if Keith wins then you can choose next week’s game.”

“Wait, why won’t I get to choose?” Keith said.

“Because I’ll be uninviting you because you’ll be over the top obnoxious about winning. You’ll spoil my appetite with your smugness.”

“Beats the frown,” Freya’s dad mumbled, but they all heard.

“All right, let’s get going,” Freya said.

A round of hugs and kisses and then Heidi was back in the buggy holding on for dear life as Freya drove them back to their houses. The buggy came to a screeching halt, almost knocking over a man standing in the way of their parking spot.

“Bloody hell, man, why are you standing there?” Freya yelled.

Heidi knew who it was, she’d memorised his new physique from the previous night. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, feet apart. Even with his back to them she knew who it was.

When Jason moved his head to look over his shoulder, Heidi heard her gasp when his eyes locked on her. Then a lazy smile graced his mouth. A mouth that had grazed hers less than a day ago.

“Oh,” Freya said.

“Hi,” Jason said turning fully making Heidi light headed at the sight of him. She put it down to afternoon drinking but knew deep down it was Jason giving her a full body sweep.

“I’m going to head in. Come round if you want to,” Freya said in a squeaky voice and hightailed it away from the smouldering atmosphere before her.

He broke it off all those years ago, so she couldn’t understand why he looked like a starving man and he wanted to eat her.

“Hi,” she said in the same squeaky voice Freya had just used.

“Where have you been?”

Jason shoved his hands in his pockets, staying in front of the buggy. Heidi hadn’t moved from her seat, still holding onto the grab rail above her head.

“Sunday lunch with mine and Freya’s family.”

“Keith there?”

“Yeah.”

“Did he say anything?”

“No more than usual. What was he likely to say?”

“Not sure. I went for a surf with him yesterday and he cut it short when I started asking questions about what happened eleven years ago.”

“What did happen eleven years ago?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

“I think you should talk first.”

The alcohol was making her bold. She climbed out of the buggy, put her handbag crossways over her body and scrunched her fingers into fists for a few seconds to fortify herself to move nearer Jason. When she was ready, she stepped towards him. He was between her and the path to get to her house.

“Why don’t we talk about what happened?” Jason said quietly when she was a foot away.

Heidi was getting light-headed as she inhaled his scent and got lost in his gaze.

“You want to do it now?”

“No. I want you to be sober when we talk. How about Wednesday evening? I’ll pick you up at six.”

Stunned, Heidi nodded. Then Jason took another step forward in her space and she could really smell him, getting drunk on his presence.

“Okay,” she whispered as his head bent to look down at her.

“Tell Freya, we’ll be using the buggy that night.”

“Okay,” Heidi said again risking a glance in his eyes.

Big mistake. She got trapped in his intense gaze, swaying nearer. Jason’s hand lifted to rest on her hip and she stilled for a second and then relaxed.

“I’ll see you then, sweetheart,” he said and dropped his head further to brush his lips over hers. The next second he was walking way, and she was swaying like corn in a field.

Jason Turner had given her a whisper of a kiss and she felt it all the way to her toes. Snapping out of her daze when a child screeched in excitement Heidi went straight to Freya’s front door and opened it wide.

“What the hell is going on?” she said to her best friend.

“What happened?”

“I’ll need the buggy Wednesday night.”