Days passed where I saw nobody but Maisie. The idea of returning to my reading spot was out of the question with the chances of Logan looming nearby. And now, between working with Susan and Mallory and trying to distract Maisie from her Dan-issues with girly activities I was beginning to feel a little crazy. My hypothesis was that it was my separation from the beach, the rolling waves and happy sounds that allowed me to have an hour or so of peace in the mornings absent from my day-to-day life was absent, leaving me restless.

But, even if I did conjure the courage to venture down the steps to the smooth caress of the sand between my toes, it wouldn't be a peaceful place. Not when the tension between Logan and I was burning beneath my skin and I still felt like screaming in his face. No, maybe it was best to do exactly what he'd suggested. Never see him again.

Of course, that was easier said than done, but I could at least try to maintain it with all the power I had.

Logan wasn't the only boy causing me grief, though. There was Daniel. I hadn't even properly spoken with him, but he was already irritating me through Maisie. It was turning into a game to me of 'how long can I distract Maisie before she brings him up again?' They needed to sort it out, desperately. I was beginning to think that maybe I needed to be the one to shunt them together. So, I insisted Susan roster me to work with him this morning, in the hopes of executing a genius plan I'd been hatching.

I think a look of fear crossed his face when he saw me walking across the lawn, dressed in my sky blue uniform with a determined look on my face.

"Morning," I greeted sweetly.

"Hey, Val." His tone was nervous, a little hesitant.

The temperature was already starting to rise so I shrugged off my sky blue cardigan. My apron was hanging from a hook at the back of the room and I tied it around my waste, shimmying a little to the cheerful music playing.

Daniel looked, to put it bluntly, like crap. His red hair was askew, his eyes were saggy and possibly a little puffy, and his posture was defeated. Maisie had refused contact with him, and it was clearly taking out its toll on both of them.

"Before you get started, I just wanted to let you know that I already know I'm in the wrong," Daniel said when I didn't start the conversation.

This didn't surprise me, Daniel was honourable and he never pretended to be perfect to protect his ego. "I think we all know that."

"But I can't even apologise anymore, Val, she won't contact me, won't even let me know what she's thinking. I-"

"I'm not going to pretend I understand why you were talking to Mallory in the first place," I interrupted. "But what I do understand is that you two need to sort out your issues, whether this all ends on a good note or a bad one."

Daniel gulped, but he nodded. "What can I do?"

"You need to do exactly what we know she'll be secretly expecting. You're gonna have to go all movie-star heart-throb on her. Balloons, flowers, chocolates, I don't know." I screwed up my nose at the thought. Cheesy romance was far away from ever being my thing. But I'd been planning this for a while, delicately creating some kind of method for him to earn back her forgiveness. "You have to put up with her yelling at you and explain to her why you did it. Most importantly, if you want to keep her, agree to have no private contact with Mallory. At all."

"Of course." Dan was now nodding enthusiastically. "That sounds perfect, but how can I catch her alone?"

"Leave it to me," I assured. I would lure Maisie to lunch with me and leave her at the table for Daniel to find her. "But you better go and get organised, I'll cover you. Meet you at Bryce's Bakery at twelve."

When Daniel was gone and the esplanade remained empty (it didn't start flowing with people until about eleven) I did the next thing I'd vowed to do. Because there was another boy who I hadn't seen in a while, who I was slowly becoming more and more interested to see. It was like a rapidly growing plant had been buried in my mind and it was spiralling into my thoughts, reminding me every so often of his existence.

I inhaled as I found his number in my phone, he was the first listed in my contacts. I hadn't called him before, but his absence left me no choice. Each day I'd been expecting to see him at work, or walking the streets with Lottie, but the few times she'd seen Maisie and I he wasn't there. And I didn't dare bring him up, with the fear of giving people the wrong idea.

He answered on the second ring, with a chirpy, but curious 'hello'.

"Hi Alastair, it's me." Great, like he would know exactly who 'me' was.

"Oh, Valerie, hi!" He seemed to let out a breath of relief over the phone line. His voice sounded so different through a speaker, a little husky with his accent amplified.

"Sorry to bother you, I was just wondering..." What was I wondering?

"Where I've been? I could ask you the same question. I haven't seen you at the beach."

That was strange, if he wanted to find me he could have taken a stroll to the ice-creamery or hung out with Lottie when she saw us. Or even knock on my door or give me a phone call. You know, things normal people do. "Yeah, beach is off bounds at the moment."

"Did something happen?"

"Well, kind of. Can I tell you about it in person?" I asked.

"Sure. What are you thinking?"

"Well." I blushed slightly and played with the strap of my apron. I'd been thinking of something I could do with Alastair to show him the nicer parts of the area, considering he was holidaying somewhere that became boring fast. "I was thinking of taking a drive to Port Lewis... there's a reef there, it's really cool for snorkelling and I guess there's little shops and touristy stuff... Maybe it could-"

"That sounds really great," he said to cut off my awkward description. "Really. We even have snorkelling gear here in the house. When can I pick you up?"

I organised for Alastair to meet me outside the bakery when Maisie was left with Daniel. This way I could escape a pissed off Maisie and get out of the town for a bit. It wasn't long before Mallory and Susan came to relieve me of my ice-cream duties. Things were weird with Mallory because she didn't know that I knew that she had caused trouble between Daniel and Maisie. Well none of us spoke to each other about it at least.

I went home to change and Maisie was already waiting for me.

"Did you see him?!"

"Wow, yeah Maisie I had a great morning, thanks for asking," I said sarcastically as I let her in. She'd been sitting on my front step with a book. "I did though. He seems very... remorseful."

"Well of course he's remorseful. But does he seem to be losing sleep? Eating?"

"Yes and perhaps. I don't know. He looked like crap."

Maisie didn't look much better off than him. Her eyes carried bags beneath them and her skin was blotchy from her lack of sleep. It didn't stop me from dragging her to lunch though, insisting I was craving a custard filled chocolate donut form Bryce's Bakery to give her reason to agree.

When we arrived at the bakery, I told Maisie I needed to go to the toilet. There was a few tense moments as she debated whether she'd join me or not, but thankfully she opted to find a table instead. Perfect. Plan A was working well so far.

I texted Dan and told him he had his chance now. There was a side exit where the bakery kept the laundry gear. Maisie and I had discovered it a few years ago and today I used it to escape without alerting her. I didn't wait to see if Daniel was entering the bakery, instead I made my way to the car park where I knew Alastair would be waiting for me like I'd asked.

He was driving the same Mercedes he had the other day. I saw the back seat was loaded with colourful flippers and masks, which would save us from hiring them when we got there. Alastair looked even more tan than he had been when I last saw him, and I realised I hadn't actually seen him since New Year's Eve when he'd walked me home. I blamed not seeing him in a while for the momentary shock I got as I took in his godly looks.

"Hey, Sullivan."

"Nice of you to pop in, O'Conner. How did Operation Daisy go?"

I smiled at his reference to the nickname I'd given my little mission to him over the phone. Operation Dan Maisie. Operation Daisy.

"She fell for it. Now I just have to wait to hear from them. It either went really bad or really good."

"Well, lucky we'll be far away so we won't catch the debris that could go flying."

Alastair followed my directions as we turned onto the barren highway that connected Sandy Cove to the rest of the world. The road was flat on either side, dotted with the occasional bush or tree but mostly composed of carved, rocky paddocks housing handfuls of stock animals. The day was perfect for snorkeling, clouds were almost non-existent in the picture perfect sky. Signs chartered our journey, eventually presenting a happy little picture of the sea with the words 'welcome to Port Lewis' printed in cursive.

"Well, I didn't realise how far away everything is in Australia," Alastair mused. "If we'd driven this far in England we'd probably be in another country by now."

We'd only been driving for about an hour, and I knew he was exaggerating, but he made it feel like we were thousands of kilometres from home, somewhere completely different where we were far away from everyone else.

I'd ventured to Port Lewis frequently as a kid, my dad always visited friends who had long since moved away. It was purely a tourist town with protected fishing areas, and although it was even smaller than Sandy Cove, it was packed with things to do.

"Want to grab lunch?" I asked as we pulled into a parallel park along the busy tourist street.

"Sounds good to me."

We ambled down the cluttered little street. The shops were painting different pastel colours and were plastered with signs designed to draw people in. There were little souvenir shops, small boutiques and ornament displays and we frequently paused to comment about a funny little ceramic whale or gawk at a triple layer fur coat draped over a mannequin.

"So you must travel a lot," I found myself saying. "Considering your family own hotels. Where haven't you been?"

"Hmm." He looked thoughtful as our eyes traced over a finely patterned quilt hanging on the wall of a dainty trinkets shop. "I've never been to South Africa. It's definitely somewhere on my list."

"South Africa would be so good to visit," I agreed. "It would be amazing to surf the beaches there. Amazing."

"I don't know about the surfing," he laughed.

"Why? You picked it up pretty well." He should be flattered by my compliment, I was not usually one to inflate egos but I thought it would be harmless. Or maybe, unlike most guys, I felt that he actually was worthy of nice comments. Or at least he wouldn't throw them back in my face like another particular guy I knew.

"What about you?" he asked. "Have you travelled much?"

"Not really," I admitted. "I've been to Sydney a few times, never further though."

"Where would you go, if you could go anywhere?"

I thought about it for a moment before finding an answer. "It's pretty typical I guess but Hawaii. I've only seen pictures of course, but God the beaches look wonderful. And the tropical atmosphere - I would just love it."

"Hawaii is great," he said. "We have a resort there. If you ever fly over you should stay there, it has five pools and spas on each floor."

"Wow," I snorted. "Somehow I doubt that would be within my budget."

I guess it was just a reminder that we were from completely different worlds.

We found a French themed cafe and ordered lunch. It was beginning to feel odd, spending time along with Alastair. I mean, sure, we'd done it before, but it was never planned, or far away from everyone else. I wouldn't deny that it was nice, but I felt as if we were treading on a thin plank of wood and an easily mistaken step would land us in awkward territory.

"What were you studying at university?" I asked as I cut my ham and cheese croissant into fours.

"Engineering," he shrugged. I could already tell this was a topic he didn't find easy to talk about by the way I observed the metaphorical shutters making their way down on his ability to talk comfortably.

"That's cool... do you think you'll continue it?"

"Maybe," he said bluntly. I could already sense him changing the subject. "What about you, don't university offers come out for you soon? What did you apply for?"

"Yeah they do. I applied for commerce, and I got the score to get in."

"Where are you going to study?"

I sighed, that was the one particular piece that didn't quite fit in the puzzle that was my future. "I applied to Perth for Dad, but..."

"You want to study elsewhere?"

"Yeah." I grimaced, I'd never actually spoken my conflicting thoughts out aloud. Not even to Maisie. "Sydney. I looked at the university there a few years ago and it's just been playing on my mind since. It has an amazing program. But Maisie would be annoyed, Dad would be upset. I guess at least Mum-"

I hastily stopped my speech mid-sentence and shoved a bite of croissant in my mouth casually.

"Why are you making this choice based on what other people want for you? I mean, from what I see you have so much freedom."

"It's not that, Sydney is just on the other side of the country."

"I guess." He shrugged. "Just thought you were a little more determined than that."

I scowled at my plate but didn't retort. He was right, I didn't put enough of a fight into this one. But he didn't understand how lonely Dad would be if I left the house.

"You said it would be good for your mum?"

"Oh, yeah..." I thought about it, I guess it wasn't too uncomfortable to disclose the basics. "She lives in Perth with her fiancé. It would be nice to avoid that whole situation."

"Right." He nodded.

"What about your parents?" I asked. "Did they have much say in your university choice?"

He snorted. "Val, they've written my whole script for me. I think I got to pick my course electives, but everything else? Out of my control."

"Seriously?" I found it hard to imagine anyone bossing Alastair around.

"Seriously. They're crazy when it comes to reputation and building a solid life foundation," he mocked in a deep voice.

"But you got to choose your degree right?" He shook his head. "What if you wanted to become... I don't know, a doctor or something?"

"Nope. They had it set out, I'd be an engineer and Lottie would do business so we could continue the hotel franchise together."

"What if you don't want to?"

"I don't think you know my parents."

"They're that bad?"

"Oh yeah." He chuckled. "I should invite you for dinner some time, now that would be amusing."

"Well I guess I don't feel as constricted anymore," I said with a small laugh. "But I guess we're both a little stuck."

"I'm not exactly stuck, I'm just on family arrest across the world."

"Right, you're kicked out," I recalled. "What did you do?"

He narrowed his eyes, catching me in my straight-forward attempt to find out what he did to get himself kicked out. To my surprise, he actually answered this time. "Long story short, I threw a party."

"A party? What's wrong with that?"

"The party happened to be on campus."

"Oh."

"In the Vice Chancellor's office."

"Oh."

"And my friend got caught having sex with his secretary on his desk."

"Oh!" I choked on my food as I exploded with laughter. "Holy shit, that is hilarious."

"My parents didn't think so."

"That's like something out of Gossip Girl or something," I mused. Who knew Alastair had a bad boy streak in him? I was truly amazed that someone who seemed so posh and polite would do something so crazy. But then I remembered the casual way he'd initially pursued me and something about his charismatic nature made me not so surprised.

"Well, it was enough to send my parents running. Lottie was really pissed about it as well."

"I could imagine." I recalled how Maisie had told me Lottie was forced to study online while she was here.

"I've had countless Skype interviews with people because my parents keep trying to pull strings, but it's hopeless. No amount of money or manipulation could get me back in, not when everyone knows about what happened already."

"Can't you go to a different university?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not according to my parents. They wanted me to go to that one since I was born, it's private and wealthy and the whole family has studied there. As you could imagine, I'm quite a disgrace at the moment."

"Why did you do it?" I asked. "I mean, if you knew how much of a big deal it would be."

"Rebellion, I guess. And alcohol, a lot of alcohol."

It made perfect sense that he'd rebel, especially if his parents spun such tight restraints around his life. "So your parents are hiding you away."

"Pretty much."

We were silent for a few moments as we finished our food. When the waitress took our plates we made our way back to the car, walking on the other side of the small street to look at different stores this time.

"Wow, look at them all." I paused to observe a wall stocked with hundreds of snow globes, all decorated intricately with different designs.

"They're so cool," Alastair commented.

I picked one out from the crowd, pointing at it through the glass. It had a miniature sailboat inside. "I remember having one like that as a kid."

"I remember bringing one home from a school camp one day," Alastair said. "My parents threw it out, I was never allowed to have things like that because they thought I would break it and ruin the furniture."

"Well you were missing out," I said jokingly. But really I was in disbelief, who would prevent their child from having a snow globe?

We gathered the snorkelling gear from the car, each holding a pair of flippers and a mask. I noticed a few missed calls from Maisie on my phone, but promised myself I'd call her back on the ride home. I instructed Alastair that the best place to snorkel was further along the foreshore, and so we walked ten minutes or so up the beach. The water was calm compared to Sandy Cove, and the surface was dotted with deep green, signifying rocky valleys beneath the water which would house thousands of coloured fish and coral. There were a handful of people out on the water, their coloured flippers bright in the sun.

"Have you ever snorkelled before?" I asked Alastair as we sat down where the water licked at the sand every so often. We were pulling our flippers around our ankles.

"No." He tossed his hair out of his face. "But it can't be that hard, it's just like swimming, right?"

"Right," I nodded. If he picked it up as fast as he picked up surfing, then he would be fine.

We dived into the crystal water, immediately finding picturesque views under the surface. The water was completely clear. We weren't deep enough to reach the reef yet, but the sand below was beautiful enough, the currents beneath the water carving intricate ripples on the sea floor. Alastair kept up with me as I glided towards my favourite part of the reef, a long beam of rock which was always buzzing with life.

It never failed to disappoint, especially today. I could see Alastair's face beneath the water, he was clearly enjoying the experience, his lips pursed in the best smile he could manage around the snorkel mouthpiece and his hands were waving enthusiastically for me to look at something whenever it struck his interest.

I'd seen it all before, but I hadn't seen him. I didn't know whether it was being beneath the water or some weird mixture of hormones in my body but I couldn't stop looking at his chest, his arms, his abdomen, his legs, his being all together. Maybe it was because he was just good looking enough to catch even my attention, or maybe it was something else. But I ensured he would never catch me looking at him that way.

He may be attractive, but I would never consider Alastair Sullivan anything more.

AN: just wanted to let you guys know there will be 30 chapters plus an epilogue planned for this book. The next chapter happens to be my favourite so far.....Thanks so much for reading!