To the Sea by Nikki Crutchley

Author:Nikki Crutchley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

Anahita

Eighteen years ago

They lay side by side on an old woollen blanket, the buckled wooden planks that made up the floor digging into their spines. The cabin that hugged the pine forest at Iluka was missing glass from all the windows along with most of its roof, and Anahita and Tom stared up at the sky, a swathe of blue interrupted occasionally by a wisp of cloud. Anahita knew they were safe from prying eyes here. Hurley rarely had any cause to come down this end of Iluka and no reason to enter the cabin. Right now, he and Dylan were on the other side of the property, clearing the far corner of gorse so they could plant the pine seedlings Hurley had ordered. Dylan, at fourteen, didn’t enjoy doing anything with Hurley, but Anahita could tell he loved the physical work.

Their hands were linked – hers were almost the same size as Tom’s, both callused. She kept her eyes closed as he rubbed his thumb over hers.

They’d both celebrated their birthdays together, Anahita’s eighteenth and Tom’s twenty-fourth. Tom flipped on his side to look at her. She smiled, locking onto his blue-grey eyes. He eased forward, kissing her softly on the lips. They’d shared their first kiss a few weeks after they’d met, hiding in the rocks in the corner of Fuller’s Bay. Anahita had felt a mix of exhilaration and like she’d done something wrong. A month ago they’d had sex in this very spot, past midnight, while Hurley and Dylan were asleep in the main house. Again, she’d felt she was doing something wrong. She couldn’t discuss it with Tom. He wouldn’t understand. And deep down, she knew it was because Hurley wouldn’t approve.

Tom hadn’t said anything to his parents, either. They’d made a pact to take their time with the relationship, making sure they knew what they wanted before any kind of parental opinion was given. Tom had said he hadn’t even told Brent, but she wasn’t sure. She knew the two brothers were close, even if they didn’t get on all the time. They worked on the farm for hours by themselves every day. Surely they talked. She had never spoken to Tom about seeing Brent at Wanda’s months ago. She never saw Brent these days, and rarely saw Wanda. Cleo was at their place almost every day, she and Dylan inseparable. She often helped him with his chores and when they were done with that Anahita saw them swimming or fishing or lying in the grass in the paddock, pointing up to the sky. She didn’t know the young girl well, but Anahita knew she was unhappy, scared. She often had the look of a caged animal, only relaxing when she was in Dylan’s company. She suspected Dylan knew what was going on with her, although he never said much.

Tom kissed her once again and then said, ‘Do you want to go for a surf this afternoon?’

‘Sure,’ she said. She was just learning and was getting better at it.

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