The Bay of Shadows by Samantha Wood

Author:Samantha Wood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samantha Wood
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

THE NEW SECURITY INTERCOM SOUNDED. Elena went to the door. The silver car was there, idling outside the gate, Tommy behind the wheel. She felt her heart skip at his arrival. Earlier that day, he’d taken his nephews and Daniel to a weekend soccer clinic on the other side of the bay, and had rung from the bottom of the driveway to let her know he was coming back to cook dinner. “So be prepared,” he’d laughed down the phone, “for your tastebuds to be amazed.”

Elena smiled at the memory. She buzzed him in.

They shared an awkward kiss at the door, not yet familiar in each other’s personal space to touch unselfconsciously. Then they took the groceries in together, went straight to the kitchen. Tommy put the bags on the table. “I have something for you.” His voice was muffled inside the one bag – hessian with fabric handles – which he hadn’t allowed her to carry. He removed a package wrapped in brown paper, not looking her way.

“What have you got there?” she said, then she realised and felt her heart lurch.

“Not that easy to get a hold of one of these,” he said. “I had to get in touch with one of my dad’s army mates, but even then he had a bunch of questions. It was looking dicey for a while there, but I managed to bring him around.” He was talking at a pace, perhaps to dispel her unease. Perhaps his own. “Sometimes it pays to be an army brat,” he added, aiming to ease the tension with a joke. And he straightened, holding out the parcel like a Christmas gift, gave her an awkward smile.

Elena felt her cheeks burn. Her lips opened to speak but the words evaporated on air. A hard swallow and she tried again: “I don’t know how to thank you. I’m just so —”

He pinched his lips together and shook his head. “It’s fine, Elena. Just make sure it’s fully charged, and keep it somewhere close. Maybe in your bedside table.”

She nodded. “Yes, of course.”

Her hands were unsteady, taking it from him. Up to that point it had been merely an idea, something intangible, but facing him in the pale late-afternoon light, she felt the mental shift. The line that she’d crossed when she’d first asked for the weapon had now been obliterated by the physical act of holding it in her hand. She felt a fresh wash of shame, hot and sudden. How had she reached this point – where right and wrong had become so blurred? And where would it all end? She didn’t even know.

“Thanks again,” she said for something to say.

“It’s fine, really.”

For a long minute, neither of them spoke. It was there between them, this heavy atmosphere, the fear she could barely suppress, of danger close enough to touch.

“Right, then,” Elena said with a voice as even as she could muster. “I’d better put this away.”

He smiled gently, patiently. She could see that he wanted

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