Twelve ~ View

With my back in no state for sunbathing, and Mia having a day off from work, we ventured away from Camberley. Mia was keen to show me more of the Outer Banks, worrying I'd go stir crazy if I spent every day on the same beach.

I packed frozen bottles of water into a rucksack while Mia strolled around the kitchen, inspecting gadgets as she did so.

Unlike Brent, my family's wealth hadn't disgusted her; it had fascinated her. I watched as she picked up an implement hanging off a hook on the wall and turned it over in her hands.

"What's this?" She twisted to face me, waving it around.

"An avocado slicer."

She looked at me for a few seconds more before placing the instrument back on its respective hook. "Huh, there's something I never realised I needed."

Our excursion took us to a lighthouse, supposedly the tallest brick one in the world. Before moving out here, I'd done a little research on the area, and Cape Hatteras rang a bell as a prime tourist attraction nearby. It felt strange to be visiting a place I'd come across when Googling the Outer Banks, and even stranger to be excited about it when my first reaction had been negativity at the prospect of leaving London.

The light sea breeze provided the only relief from the scorching heat and humid air as we stepped out of the car upon arriving. Shielding my eyes from the sun's glare, I craned my neck to look up at the lighthouse, admiring the black and white bands that looped diagonally around its cylindrical body.

Despite my protests, Mia insisted on paying for the tickets. She'd apparently been dying to show me the surrounding area, and I wondered if it was really that obvious that I struggled to entertain myself in Camberley.

And so the much-anticipated climb began as we started our ascent up the two hundred and fifty-seven steps to the top. The steps weren't the issue; intermittent landings provided plenty of opportunity to rest our aching thighs. The difficult part was the temperature. In such a closed environment without air conditioning, the heat had nowhere to escape. Three quarters of the way up, Mia and I devoured most of the water while taking a break.

Relief consumed me upon reaching the top—both at the climb being over and the wave of fresh air that followed.

Awe soon replaced it, though. The view was incredible: greenery, sand and ocean for as far as the eye could see. Mia and I didn't say a word to one another for several minutes as we both absorbed the picturesque landscape.

When I began to take photos, Mia gave me a sense of orientation. She pointed out the direction of Camberley and other places that she'd mentioned in passing, like Duck and Buxton.

"I love the colour of the water," I said, rotating as I tried to capture a panoramic photo. "It seems so much more vivid from up here when you compare it to the sand and the green."

"It does. The light from here is visible twenty miles away."

"Is it quite rocky around here, then?"

"The Diamond Shoals are the biggest hazard, really," she said, which meant nothing to me.

"The diamond what?" I narrowed my eyes, squinting to stare out into the ocean, almost expecting to see something sparkling in the water.

"The Diamond Shoals. It's a sandbar that's about ten miles long."

"Oh, a sandbar," I said, Brent's lesson springing to mind. "Wow, ten miles. That's one hell of a sandbar."

Mia regarded me, the wind blowing her dark hair around her face as she did so. She scraped it back with one hand and fixed it behind her ear before she spoke.

"I can't tell if you're just playing along or if you actually do know about sandbars."

I smiled in triumph. "Actually, I do. Brent explained it to me the other day."

"Brent, huh?" she asked with a playful smile.

My initial pride faded at Mia's teasing. "Not like that. Although I did find a great way to force him into being civil with me: I cornered him."

Still battling with her flyaway hair, Mia laughed. "You cornered him?"

I shrugged. "In a fashion. I went into the water and there was no way he was going to leave me unattended in there."

She laughed again, throwing her head back as she did so. "Fantastic. And what great friendship doesn't start with force?"

"Precisely. Anyway, tell me more about these diamonds."

She smiled and began to explain how two different currents—the warm Gulf Stream from Florida and the cold Labrador Current from Canada—collide, creating turbulent waters and pushing ships into the Diamond Shoals. This section of the coast then earned itself the name Graveyard of the Atlantic due to the thousands of shipwrecks caused by it.

"That's creepy," I said. "Fascinating, but creepy."

"What makes it even creepier is that it gets very foggy. The Labrador Current is often accompanied by thick fog, so then you've got that stereotypical image of a foggy graveyard."

"Thanks, Mia," I said, wrinkling my brow. "I came to this lighthouse for a nice day out and some pretty views; instead you've put images of wrecked ships in my head."

She shrugged. "Don't complain. You're getting a tour guide for free."

~~~

With the lighthouse well and truly explored, we returned to Camberley mid-afternoon. Spending the day with Mia had distracted me from the worrisome thoughts that had been occupying my mind of recent, and it had been great to see more of the region. It really was beautiful around here; there could be far worse places in which to be trapped.

Alastair remained in my head like a catchy tune, though. Every time I learnt something interesting, I'd automatically think, I can't wait to tell Alastair about this. Every time I saw something impressive, I'd automatically think, I wish Alastair was here to share this with me. I'd then remember Daisy and, instead, I'd automatically think, I wonder if he's with Daisy right now... It was a horrible, tormenting, vicious circle.

When we pulled up in front of the house, I noticed Mum's car sitting in the driveway. Mia jerked her head towards it as she swung into the adjacent space. "Is that your mom's?"

"Yeah." I glanced at my watch. "She must be home early."

"Cool. Can I meet her?"

At first, I thought I'd misheard. However, Mia's wide-eyed eagerness suggested that I had, in fact, heard correctly and she did want to meet my mother.

"You want to meet my mum?" I raised my eyebrows at her for clarification.

She nodded and turned off the engine. "Sure."

I hesitated, but then agreed. Mia always seemed keen to learn more about me and my life, and that was a kind of affection and friendship that I'd never encountered. When we headed into the house, the aroma of my mum's cooking filled my nostrils. She must have heard us come in because she appeared in the kitchen doorway, an apron secured around her waist and her hair pulled back into a bun.

"Hi, Darling. How was Cape Hatteras?"

"It was great," I said. "Mum, this is Mia Johnson."

"Hi." Mia beamed at her, strolling forward confidently and extending her hand towards my mum.

"Mia," Mum said, shaking my friend's hand with a level of excitement rarely witnessed. "It's wonderful to meet you. Rosalie talks about you such a lot; I must say it's great she's finally settling in here."

"We love having her here." Mia glanced back at me with a smile.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Mum offered. "We're having slow-roasted duck."

Once again, Mia looked at me, almost as though to ask permission. Why she'd need my permission I had no idea, but I smiled in encouragement anyway, happy that I could go some way in repaying the favour of today's trip.

"As long as I'm not imposing, I'd love to."

"Fabulous," Mum said with a cheery grin, clapping her hands together. "It'll be ready at six."

To pass the time, Mia and I headed upstairs. She slipped through the billowing curtains of the balcony and I heard a gasp of shock escape her mouth. After kicking off my pumps and sliding my feet into some flip-flops, I joined her outside.

"I can't believe there's a view like this in Camberley," she said, eyes wide as she scanned the vast expanses of ocean.

"Seriously?" I asked, my lips quirking in amusement. "We climbed one of America's tallest lighthouses today and you're impressed by this?"

"You expect to see a view at a lighthouse that you have to pay to climb."

I shrugged. "It's nice, I'll admit. I hated it at first, though. It just reminded me of how much sea is between here and England."

Mia offered me a sympathetic smile and squeezed my hand briefly. "How's it going with Alastair?"

I let out a sigh and focused my eyes on the horizon. For all I knew, I could be looking in completely the wrong direction for England, but what did it matter? Looking at England wouldn't make it any closer in reality—what was I going to do, swim there?

"I don't know. I've resigned myself to the fact that it'll never be good between us while I'm out here. We're not a long-distance kind of couple. We work best when we're together."

A lengthy silence fell between the two of us as we gazed at the water, but I could tell Mia wanted to say something. Her fingers tapped against the balcony edge, too distracted to tame her hair that was blowing in and around her face.

"Do you ever see yourself not with him?" she asked me eventually.

As we'd become closer, I'd confided in her about the cheating, but she hadn't once criticised me for staying with him.

"Not really," I said.

"But surely there's more to a relationship than just a decent partnership?" Mia pressed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I've got so much respect for you, Rose, and I wouldn't be able to live the kind of lifestyle that you lead... But don't you ever wonder if there's more to life than just, like, keeping up appearances?"

I sighed and scraped my hand through my hair. Although Mia would never judge me, I knew she found my lifestyle hard to comprehend sometimes. This was a conversation I often tried to avoid, because even I could sense the illogic behind some of my explanations.

"Do you believe that people's lives are mapped out for them?" I asked her.

For a few moments, Mia's eyes remained on the view. Then, she sighed and twisted to face me, her gaze locking onto mine with pure intent.

"No," she said. "I believe we draw our own maps."

"So, you don't believe in fate and stuff like that?"

"Actually, I do. But this isn't fate. This is the opposite. Your life has such structure and such expectations... How can you rely on fate when you're not giving fate a chance?"

"Because that's how it is."

It was obvious she had more to say on the matter, but she let it drop, twisting back to look at the ocean and resting her head against my shoulder. No words were spoken between us, but it wasn't necessary. I knew she was there for me, and that meant more than any verbal promise.

~~~

Mum led the conversation over dinner, taking a keen interest in both Mia's job and her university education.

It was strange to think there'd come a point when Mia and I would rarely see each other. Our friendship had grown with strength and speed since we'd first met. The feelings left me conflicted; I spent so much time fretting about leaving London behind, that the notion of missing something from here was disconcerting.

When I walked Mia out later that evening, I shut the front door after myself to give us some privacy.

"I'm sorry about earlier," I said. "You're just looking out for me and I know how silly it must seem to you..."

Mia managed to keep her face neutral, but she nodded and wrapped her arms around my neck to pull me into a longing hug.

"You can tell me anything," she said. "I might not understand, but I won't ever judge. I'm here for you."

I could feel tears burning my eyes as I nestled my head in her shoulder.

"You promise you'll come to London to see me?" I asked, pulling back.

Mia smiled. "Of course. You're not getting rid of me that easily. And if I have to swim from here, to there," she said, indicating between the beach and the horizon in a clear reference to our earlier conversation, "then I will."

"If you can make it past Brent," I said with a smirk.

"If I can make it past Brent," she agreed, nodding.

We both laughed and embraced once more before she headed towards her car. I watched her pull away, waving her off, before turning and going inside. Mum was clearing the dinner dishes and smiled when I started to help. As I placed my plate on the worktop, my eye caught sight of the implement that Mia had been so fascinated by and an idea came to me.

"Mum?" I called across the kitchen. "Where didyou get this avocado slicer from?"

~~~

Thank you for reading :) xx

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