Never Ending by Martyn Bedford Read Free Book Online Page B

further up the coast with the son at the wheel while the father sat at the prow, smoking. One way and another, Shiv wasn’t getting to see as much of Nikos as she’d hoped. The ache in the pit of her stomach had nagged at her since she’d first set eyes on him and, if the boat trip hadn’t been so wonderful, she might easily have made herself miserable. But the turtles, the light sparkling on the water, the lulling rhythm of the boat, the spectacular cliffs, the tingle of the sun on her bare skin … on a day like this, she couldn’t fail to be blissfully happy.
    The boat slowed, describing a long curve into a cove where a finger of land provided a natural shelter and the sea calmed to pond-like stillness. Nikos brought the vessel to a halt and shut off the engine while his father dropped anchor.

    “You’ve got your hair caught in the buckle.”
    Shiv stammered a thank you as Nikos cupped the back of her head with one hand while he gently freed the trapped strands of hair.
    To be standing so close to him in her bikini … Jesus .
    She’d meant to put on her one-piece bathing suit beneath her clothes for the boat trip but had worn it without thinking for the pre-breakfast dip in the pool and it was still damp when they’d set off. The two-piece was brief , meant for sunbathing more than swimming. Shiv was the last of the snorkellers to kit themselves out; the others were in the water already, or lining up to go in. But Shiv had managed to make a hash of the headgear.
    “There you go,” Nikos said, adjusting her mask and repositioning the snorkel for her. “So, you been snorkelling before?”
    “A couple of times, yeah.”
    “OK, enjoy.”
    She made a sad face, as far as that was possible in a mask. “Er, sorry, I can’t.”
    He looked puzzled. “How come?”
    Shiv pointed at the floor. “You’re standing on my flippers.”
    Nikos laughed and took a deliberate step back, arms spread in apology.
    That was their first conversation. The second took place after the snorkelling, as the boat headed for home.
    Panos was at the wheel again while Nikos gave his final spiel. He was talking about turtles’ egg-laying habits and had produced the dried-out remains of a hatchling which hadn’t made it from the nest to the sea. The tiny corpse, like something made out of leather, was handed from passenger to passenger with a mixture of revulsion and fascination. Shiv thought it was the saddest, most exquisite thing she’d ever seen.
    After the talk Nikos set to work, repositioning the rubber fenders along one side of the boat, ready for docking. Shiv watched him covertly.
    Too soon the trip would be over. The thought sunk a weight in her chest.
    She noticed the baby turtle, then, lying on a seat where one of the passengers had set it down. Shiv checked to see if she would be noticed. No. Mum and Dad were engrossed in conversation with the old English couple and Declan was leaning over the side rail, one arm outstretched to catch the spray from the vessel’s wash.
    “You forgot this,” Shiv said, the desiccated creature in the flat of her palm.
    Nikos stopped what he was doing and straightened up. Thanked her.
    As he took the baby turtle from her she felt the graze of his fingernail. She kept her voice steady. “I never knew something dead could be so beautiful.”
    He smiled but didn’t say anything.
    “There’s a museum in Oxford,” Shiv went on, “where they’ve got these tiny heads – I mean, actual human heads that have been shrunk to about the size of an apple and, I don’t know, preserved .” She was losing her way with this, waffling on. She shrugged. “Anyway, that baby turtle kind of reminds me of them.”
    “Some folk think it’s fake,” Nikos said, slipping it back into its plastic case.
    “It isn’t, though, is it?”
    “No.” He put the case in his shorts pocket. Then, “You enjoy the snorkelling?”
    Shiv nodded. Her throat was so tight she could barely talk. She had put her T-shirt