Page 80 of Try Line Hearts
Lucas didn’t move away.
Evelyn straightened, watching the moment pass between them like someone reading a subtitle no one else could see.
“Right,” she said softly. “I’ll go say hello to the volunteers over there.”
She left them standing together, the space she vacated loud.
Eli exhaled through his nose. “She seems nice.”
Lucas glanced at him. “You don’t like her.”
“I don’t dislike her,” Eli said. “I just… don’t need to.”
That surprised a laugh out of Lucas. “You’re usually much nicer than this.”
Eli’s eyes met his. “I know.”
It was the closest thing to an apology Lucas got.
A little way down the beach, two of the lads had stalled with their bin bags, attention drifting despite themselves. Evelyn stood with Eli and Lucas near the dunes, sunlight in her hair, saying somethingthat made her laugh as she brushed sand from her hands.
“Byrne’s a lucky bastard,” one of them murmured, nodding that way. “Getting the full celebrity treatment.” He tilted his head, squinting. “Although he looks like he’s being led to his own execution.”
The other snorted softly. “Yeah. I don’t think he sees it as luck.”
“What d’you mean?”
He glanced back again, slower this time. “Just saying—Kaine looks even less interested than Byrne does.”
The first frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Doesn’t have to,” the other said, already bending to grab another bottle. “Drop it.”
A minute later, as they worked again, the second lad glanced once more toward the dunes—at the way Lucas stood a half-step closer to Eli than necessary, at the way Eli angled himself without thinking, like gravity did the work for him. He thought, briefly, of that housewarming photo that’d been floating around online, the one where neither was looking at the camera at all.
People looked a certain way when they felt a kind of way, he’d learned that much.
He shook his head, huffed a quiet laugh to himself, and kicked a can into the bag. “Anyway,” he said, louder now, changing the subject with practiced ease. “You see the state of this beach? Absolute disgrace.”
Evelyn didn’t stay long. Photos were taken—group shots, candid bends, smiling glances. She touched Lucas’s arm once for the cameras, light and public. Eli watched without comment, his expression blank.
When she left, she hugged Lucas and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips—smiled softly, almost sadly at Eli as though she were trying desperately to apologize and departed.
Cameras clicked.
Lucas watched her go with something like gratitude and something like dread.
The team loaded back onto the bus. The mood was louder now—sunburnt, tired, satisfied.
Eli sat beside Lucas this time.
The inn sat at the edge of a village that smelled like peat and bread and old wood. Rooms were assigned. Dinner was loud and filling. His phone buzzed.
Evelyn: Thx for agreeing to today – I know this isn’t ideal but apparently, we both “need” it for PR.
Lucas: Np. It was nice seeing u.
Evelyn: Please tell Eli it was nice to meet him… and I’m sorry for everything.
