Surf's Up

 

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ALEX drops his bombshell on a Tuesday, his voice echoing over the phone.“I’m sorry, Melanie, but I’m not going to get home for several more weeks. We’ve hit a problem that threatens the whole project. I’ve got to go back into the field.” I groan aloud.

“Oh, no – the holiday! Travis will take

it badly.” “Is he there?” Alex sounds anguished. I sigh.

“He’s at tennis practice.”

“Well, try to explain for me.”

The phone signal fails and I’m left with nothing but a frustrating crackle.

Alex has been abroad on an engineering contract for months. None of us enjoys his absence, and the periods when he’s out in the field, and therefore out of contact, are the worst.

We’d planned to celebrate his return with a glorious holiday to nestle between Alex’s much-anticipated homecoming and seventeen-year-old Travis’s all important exam results.

But it’s left to me, fulfilling the role of both parents as usual, to break the news.

Travis’s eyes glitter with disappointment.

“It’s not fair!” He sets his jaw. “We’ll have to put the holiday back.”

I sigh sympathetically, brushing Travis’s hair back from his blue eyes.

“I’m sorry. Holiday cottages are booked in advance and Dad doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be away. The two of us will just have to make the best of it.”

“Oh, great!” Muttering, Travis takes himself off to the privacy of his bedroom.

* * * *

The journey to Cornwall’s a bit subdued, but Travis cheers up when he sees how close our grey stone cottage is to the beach.

It’s a surprise, then, that on our first day he wants to accompany me as I set out in the car.