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Understanding some of the sentiment behind his comment I smiled back at him. “I might have an idea, if you’re up for a day trip and something different?”
A plan popped into my head. We were going to be moving on from Sheffield today, heading for Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Just for one day the world of gigs, Natasha, and everything else could survive without Lennox Love – if he was willing.
“What have you got in mind?” he asked, his hand already dropping from his eyes and head.
“Do you trust me?” The question had been meant playfully, but Lennox’s reply of ‘yes’ met me with such an intensity I was positive he wasn’t just talking about today’s idea.
Acknowledging the depth of his response with a smile, I nodded. “Okay. Comfy clothes, your usual baseball cap and shades, a warm coat, and let’s get out of here for a while.”
A little over two hours later, Lennox and I were standing on the water’s edge, the wind blowing, and the white water chopping up the sea in front of us.
“If this doesn’t clear your head for you, nothing will.” I grinned as he stood on the beach with his eyes closed, drinking in the sensations of being blasted by wind and the sound of the waves.
“I can’t believe you brought me to the seaside.” He smiled back at me.
“A good thing, I hope?” Self doubt over my idea suddenly nipped at my heels.
“I thought you might like a change of scenery and pace for the day in the light of everything that’s been going on this last week or so.”
Lennox agreed. “Do you know, I’ve never been to Scarborough. But the beach is definitely my thing. It was one of the things I loved the most about living in Portsmouth growing up. The sea was always on hand when I wanted to clear my head. Something about it soothes my very soul.”
Warmth radiated through my body when he said that. I had intended it to be a nice day away but one statement about his attachment to the sea made it all the more special that I’d picked the right place.
“Ah, see, I grew up as a landlocked brat. Scarborough is a place my mum used to take me to all the time for holidays in a caravan when I was a kid. I have a lot of fond memories of this place. In fact, Scarborough is where I first kissed a boy, Harry Yates. His family were in a neighbouring caravan. They were in Scarborough to try somewhere different, they usually went to Wales.” Laughter bubbled up in me at the long-forgotten memory deciding to reappear in that moment.
Lennox was smirking. “Oh, is that so? Popped your gay cherry here huh?”
I chuckled. “Oh, I don’t remember it ever getting that far. Just a snog before he went home when we were fourteen. I don’t think we came back to Scarborough after that. Or anywhere else for that matter. I was at the age where I thought it wasn’t cool to head out on holiday to a caravan with your mam.” Shaking my head at my childhood idiocy I snorted a little.
“You clearly enjoyed it here, no matter what the teenage you said. You’ve gained a twinkle in your eye and a warmth to your smile that tells me you’re actually very fond of being here.”
How easily he could read me was something which continued to take me by surprise. To almost every other person I knew I was a closed book. I worked, I kept to myself, and with my line of work that wasn’t a bad way to appear. But Lennox seemed to see right through all of that. He made me feel seen, and that was something altogether new for me. It wasn’t something I had ever really had, and now that I did, I was starting to feel like I had been missing out.
Seeming to sense that I was getting a little lost in my own thoughts, Lennox hooked his arm through mine and started to walk us along the sea wall trail. An hour of walking along the coastline later, Lennox started walking with a little more purpose, pulling on my arm just that bit more.
“What are you doing?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He nodded with his head. “Look.”
Following the direction he was gesturing in, I realised where it was he was talking about. “The aquarium?”
His grin in reply was all I needed. “Okay,” I agreed.
We walked into the building that housed the aquarium like a couple of kids at Christmas.
“We have seven seals in the hospital at the minute, if you’re interested in having a look. They’re all pups, most less than three months old,” the receptionist told us as I paid the admission. She handed Lennox a guide to the exhibits, and a receipt to me. “Enjoy your visit,” she said brightly.
“Thank you.” Lennox smiled sincerely.
We made our way around the suggested path, and entered the first section. A huge demonstration tank filled the centre of the room, and lots of smaller tanks with observation portholes lined the walls. I watched as Lennox’s face lit up, and he wandered slowly from tank to tank.
“Have you ever been here before?” He turned to ask me while he was looking at a tank full of squat lobsters.
I shook my head. “I haven’t been to this one before. I visited one as a kid on a school trip, but honestly, I don’t remember much of it.”
Lennox smiled and led me over to the demonstration tank in the middle of the room. He pointed out all the varieties of fish and other sea life they had in the tank and explained how when the demonstration started we would circle back to here. He said the staff of the aquarium would put on a kind of show and tell, where they let visitors touch and hold the creatures in the tank. He was so animated about the types of fish and how to handle the starfish and sea urchins.
I felt a warmth permeating within me, starting in my chest and radiating out to every last inch of me, reaching my fingertips and toes. The more I listened to Lennox and watched him, the more I felt it. It was starting to consume me. I had never known anyone like Lennox in my life, and at that moment in the aquarium, I wasn’t sure that I ever would again.
