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Ellie closes Alec’s office door firmly.
“You promised you’d take us.”
“Take you?” He sits back in his desk chair, folding his arms across his chest.
“Go with us, whatever.” She closes the gap to his desk. “Fred’s been looking forward to this for ages.”
“You can still go,” Alec points out, pulling off his glasses. “Nothin’ stoppin’ ya.”
She leans forward, one hand on his desk. “Fred could care less about going with me. For weeks he’s been going on about riding on Uncle Alec’s shoulders and eating 99s with Uncle Alec, and on and on – “
He sighs heavily. “Miller.”
“What? Do you want to tell him?” She places her hands on her hips defiantly. “Come on, Hardy, just bring your cousin along. Who doesn’t go in for a nice beach do? Everybody likes a bonfire, even the bloody Scots.”
He hesitates, shaking his head. “…Bit much at parties, the Hardy clan.”
Ellie raises an eyebrow. “Your family?”
He looks at her dead in the eyes when he says, “I’m the black sheep.”
She instantly starts snickering, covering her mouth. He glares at her.
“Sorry.” She collapses back onto his couch, her anger now more or less dissipated. “But think of it, will you, if you just bring him along you won’t have to entertain him. You can let the overly enthusiastic denizens of Broadchurch do the entertaining for you.”
It’s the perfect argument, really. She is exceptionally clever.
He sighs again. “I’ll ask him, all right?”
She smiles. “Thank you.”
*
Robby Hardy is five years older than his black sheep of a cousin. Alec, in fact, is more or less the baby of the family, believe it or not. He’s twelve years younger than his sister Greer. Robby and his brother Billy are the only sons of Alec’s father’s younger brother William. His son, Charlie, is nineteen and still has yet to meet his second cousin Daisy.
The Hardy family is, in fact, a close one. Only Alec has not allowed himself to fully be a part of it for quite some time. He is well and truly the black sheep, in more ways than he’d care to share.
Robby had been bullied into visiting his cousin Alec in Dorset when he announced to his family he’d be going to London on business. Few of the Hardys had been down south, as it were, in decades. Though Greer managed to get Alec to occasionally respond to the odd text (very occasionally), she was still desperate to dispatch a spy into her little brother’s neck of the woods. Alec hadn’t been given the chance to decline the opportunity to host his older cousin for the weekend. He was told only when Robby’s train would be arriving. No more.
Robby’s train arrived late Thursday evening and he was due to depart again on Sunday morning. On Friday night, after work, they’d had a nice supper out with Daisy. Alec gratefully used her as a buffer, a lubricant for conversation, a distraction. And Daisy was thrilled to meet a new member of the elusive Hardys.
When Alec mentioned the bonfire night beach party, Robby had been an enthusiastic yes. He, too, was struggling to close the gap between them, and his cousin’s general reticence wasn’t helping matters. But a party? That he could do with.
It’s arranged that Daisy will bring Robby along with her when she leaves for the bonfire so that Alec can stay late at work. Before leaving the office at 6pm, he unfastens his tie and tosses it off. He unbuttons one button of his shirt.
Casual enough, he thinks.
From work, he heads straight to the Miller house to pick up Ellie and Fred, as agreed.
Fred answers the door, wearing a little floppy hat. Ellie rushes in after him, calling his name.
“Hi,” Fred says shyly, but grinning.
“Hiya, lad.” Alec ruffles his hair. A cliché gesture but one he enjoys. “Ready to get on?”
It’s then he sees that Ellie is wearing a dress. A thin sort of sundress, sleeveless, the hem of the skirt just above the knees. Her hair is half swept up, half down. If she’s wearing makeup he can’t tell, except perhaps for the lipstick.
He swallows. “Look nice.”
“And you – “ She raises a pointed eyebrow. “Look like you came straight from work.”
“I did,” he replies, unsure what exactly the problem is.
She grimaces disapprovingly. Fred starts hopping. “Uncle Alec, can I go on your shoulders!?”
Alec reverts his gaze to Fred, startled. “When we get to the beach, eh?”
“LET’S GO!” Fred shouts, running past Alec out of the house.
Smirking, Ellie grabs her bag and tosses her keys in. “You’re the only reason we were actually ready to go on time, you know,” she tells him. “For once, Fred was the one rushing me.”
Alec has absolutely no idea what it is that endears him to Fred. Children are never drawn to him and for obvious reasons. He’s not very inviting. But Fred had taken a shine to him from day one and his affection had only grown from there. Fortunately, the feeling had been mutual. Ellie’s youngest son appears to have all of Ellie’s best traits but without the whole being right all the time thing that drives him mad. Alec finds this most pleasing.
Fred chatters away throughout the drive. Alec hasn’t a clue what the boy is on about most of the time, but he nods at him through the rearview mirror and listens carefully nonetheless. Ellie tries to hide her grin by staring out the passenger window.
At the beach, Fred immediately (politely) demands to be hoisted onto Alec’s shoulders. They walk together down to the crowded beach where all of Broadchurch seems to be gathered en masse. There’s food, drink, fire, music, all the things you could want on a summer evening. Though Alec and Ellie walk a few metres apart across the sand, there’s a certain intimacy implied that those in their community quickly become aware of. The three of them seem so comfortable together, even natural.
“I’m gonna eat everything,” Fred promises, looking around in awe.
Alec quietly snorts with laughter. “Like mother like son,” he mutters.
Ellie closes the gap between them and whacks his arm lightly. “Wanker.”
Robby has caught sight of his cousin and winds his way through the crowd. “Oi!” He calls out. “What’s this?”
Ellie is smiling with an odd sort of pride as she waits for Alec to introduce her.
“Ah, you made it,” Alec says with a curt nod. “This is, uh. DS Miller. We work together.”
Ellie holds out her hand. “Ellie,” she insists, with a slight roll of her eyes.
“Robby Hardy.” The older man kisses her hand.
“Oh.” Ellie is clearly charmed.
“And I’m Fred!” Fred exclaims, mussing Alec’s hair simultaneously. “I’m four and three quarters.”
“Are you then!” Robby replies, jauntily. “Look ten or eleven to me.”
Fred grins.
“All right, lad.” Alec lifts Fred off his shoulders with surprising ease and plants him in the sand.
“Mumma, I see Ryan and Colin and Peter and Holly and Sian and – “
“Oh, go on,” Ellie laughs, cutting him off. “Just stay where I can see you.”
“OKAY!” Fred runs toward his friends from nursery.
“Well then, DS Miller,” Robby says. He’s not taken his eyes off Ellie since they were introduced. “Might I get you a drink?”
“Please,” she replies.
“Right then, follow me.”
He holds his arm to her. She takes it, throwing a coy glance back at Alec, who is left alone. But not for long.
“Dad!”
Daisy comes running across the sand, a plastic cup in her hand.
“Careful with that now,” Alec warns her.
“Just the one, Dad.” Daisy rolls her eyes. “I saw Fred. Is Ellie here?”
Alec nods in the direction of the makeshift bar.
“You left her run off with Uncle Robby?”
Alec scowls. “She didn’t run off and I didn’t let her do anythin’, he asked her and she…went.” His face falls, the realization washing over him.
“…He’s taken a fancy to her then.”
He swallows, watching them.
“Dad.”
He shakes his head and looks at her. “Yeah.”
“She looks hot.”
He frowns. “What.”
“What?” Daisy replies innocently. “She looks good. Clearly Uncle Robby’s noticed.”
Alec opens his mouth then closes it again. “She’s --- “ He falters.
“Go get a pint or something.”
He shakes his head. “’m drivin’.”
“Just one pint.”
“Nope.”
“Fine.” Daisy shrugs, then starts to head off. “At least take that sodding jacket off! God’s sakes, you’re on a beach!”
Alec just stands there, flummoxed. If he takes the jacket off, what is he to do with it?! Carry it around all night? That won’t do. Although it would give him something to do with his hands…
He is frozen with indecision.
“All right, Hardy?”
Paul approaches, non-alcoholic beer in hand. Alec looks a bit startled, then returns to his normal disgruntled self.
“Fancy seein’ you back here.”
Paul shrugs. “Sucker for a bonfire do.”
“Ah.”
Paul nods in the direction of the bar. “Who’s that with Ellie?”
“My cousin,” Alec replies. “In from Glasgow.”
“Saw you arrive with her and young Fred.” Paul glances over at him, it’s not subtle.
“Yeah, so.” Alec barely looks at him.
“So why’s she off with your cousin then?”
Alec now desperately wishes he had a drink. “Free to do as she likes.”
“Sure, of course.” Paul offers him a skeptical smirk. “With whomever she likes.”
Fred comes running unsteadily through the sand. “Alec! Come build sandcastles with us.” He holds out his hand to him.
“Right.” He takes Fred’s hand and glances at Paul. “See you, then.”
“See you.” Paul grins to himself and takes a sip of his beer.
As they walk, Fred trips over his own feet and Alec keeps him upright.
*
Somehow it’s happened. Somehow there he is, sitting on the sand in his work suit, building a sandcastle. He’s working so hard there’s even a bit of sweat on his brow. Fred and his mates think he’s an architectural genius. And yet they keep “accidentally” knocking sand towers over.
In truth, Alec is only half paying attention to this very important project. One eye always seems to be on Ellie. For a while she was introducing Robby to her mates, keeping him in the circle with her as if he belonged.
He finishes building the moat and the kids run to fill buckets with water. When he looks up, Ellie and Robby are dancing in a crowd to some old rock song from the 80’s. Dancing. He stares at them, dumbfounded. She looks...free. Then suddenly he’s splashed with water.
“Oi!”
“Sorry,” Fred says, face turned downward in shame.
“Oh, no, hey.” He reaches for Fred’s arm and squeezes it. “Quite all right, mate. Hazards of the job, eh?” Fred looks up. “Could happen to anyone.”
Alec stands, brushing himself off. There’s a large dark spot on his trousers where the water got him and now sand is sticking to it.
“I didn’t mean to,” Fred tells him sadly.
“Nah, ‘course you didn’t.” Alec reaches for him and picks him up. “Let’s see what kind of trouble we can get into at the dessert table, shall we?”
“CUPCAKES!” The boy shouts with glee.
They walk past the de facto dance floor.
“There’s Mumma!” Fred points. “MUMMA!” He calls out.
Ellie turns and looks over her shoulder, grinning. She waves at Fred and blows him a kiss. Alec fears his heart may beat right out of his chest and then Fred blows a kiss back, exaggeratedly, and he’s done for.
“Mumma is dancing,” he says as they approach a dessert buffet. “Do you think Mumma is a good dancer?”
“Yeah, good.” He tries not to look back at her. “Cupcake or biscuits?”
“BOTH!”
*
Later on, Ellie takes Fred to the use the loo up by the car park. Robby approaches Alec and tries to offer him a beer.
“Nah.”
“You sure?” He shrugs and drinks it himself. “Your DS is quite the catch.”
Alec just looks at him, then looks out at the horizon.
“Did I – “ Robby suddenly looks confused. “Sorry, you said you work together, I assumed – you two are just mates, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Alec answers quickly.
“Right, okay. Wouldn’t want to step on any toes.”
Alec looks at him, frowning, but trying not to. “Step on any toes how?”
“Just, you know. Havin’ a go at her and all.” He takes a sip of his beer.
“You’re back to Scotland in the mornin’,” Alec reminds him. “She’s got two kids at home.”
“Right. Yeah.” Robby looks briefly dejected, but deep in thought. “Might manage a good snog behind the rocks there if I’m lucky though, eh?”
Alec feels like he’s been set on fire. Terrible images are flooding his brain, making him dizzy.
“You all right, mate?” Robby asks him.
“Yeah, fine.” He takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
Robby elbows him. “You’ll keep an eye on her wee laddie, won’t you, while I away with her?”
Alec stares at him. He has no words to say.
Ellie returns hand in hand with Fred.
“Alec!” Fred exclaims. “Let’s smash our sandcastle like Godzillas!”
Fred ditches Ellie’s hand in favour of Alec’s.
“HULK SMASH!”
Meanwhile, Robby now reaches for Ellie’s hand. “Fancy a stroll about?”
Fred drags Alec off before Ellie can look to his face for guidance.
“Yeah, why not.”
*
Once the entire kingdom has been destroyed, Alec steps back from Fred while the child stomps through it with his mates gleefully. He casts his eyes toward the rocks, searching for a glimpse of Ellie.
Daisy approaches, again carrying a plastic cup.
“Dad.”
Alec continues staring. “Yeah.”
“Where’s Ellie?”
He looks at her, then at the cup in her hand. “That better be the same one as before.”
Daisy smirks. “Didn’t realize you were so eco-conscious.”
Alec stares at her.
“Where’s Ellie?” She asks again.
He answers reluctantly. “Took a walk with your uncle.”
“Dad!” Daisy exclaims, frustrated. “Why don’t you just tell him you fancy her?”
“Fancy who?” He furrows his brows at her and folds his arms across his chest. “Miller?”
She stares back at him incredulously. “No, Becca Fisher.”
Alec scowls and recoils. “Bite your tongue, lass.”
“Go on.”
“…I’m mindin’ Fred.”
“I’ll mind him, you go.”
Alec hesitates, looking back and forth from his daughter to the rocks. “Yeah, all right.”
He finds them standing close, Robby towering over her. (His cousin is even taller than he is.) He has a hand on her waist. She’s smiling up at him. Then he lifts her up onto a flat rock to even out their height difference. Alec begins to jog.
“Miller!” He calls out. “Time to go, Fred’s knackered, pullin’ a tantrum and all.”
“Oh.” Ellie hops off the rock, landing a bit unsteadily. “Is he all right?”
“Yeah, he’s just – best be off.”
“Ah, shame,” Robby remarks. “Things were just heatin’ up.”
Ellie blushes at him, then follows Alec back to the bonfire.
There, Fred is just fine. He’s laughing and squealing, chasing one of his mates around a crowd of people. When Ellie sees this, she looks quizzically over at Alec, who does not look at her. She takes a run at Fred, blocking his way, causing him to squeal and cry out happily.
“You ready to go, my little love?”
“Um.” Fred frowns. “I guess so? Do we have to?”
Ellie looks over at Alec again, who continues to avoid her gaze. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and stares at the sand.
“Thought the lad was havin’ a rough go of it,” Robby says to his cousin.
“He was,” Alec replies defensively.
“Well.” Ellie is kneeling in front of Fred. “It's getting late, I do think we ought to start saying our goodbyes, all right, love? We’ll leave soon.”
“Okay, Mumma.”
Ellie is well aware of the fact that the only reason Fred is not throwing a tantrum about leaving is because Alec’s there. He is on his best behavior around Alec.
“I’ll be drivin’ Ellie and Fred home,” Alec tells Robby.
Robby smirks. “Ah, it’s Ellie now, is it?”
He shrugs. “Miller, whatever.”
“I’ll stick around a bit,” Robby says. “Make sure your Daiz stays out of trouble.”
“…Fine then.”
*
The drive back to Ellie’s is a quiet one. Fred falls asleep in the backseat. When they arrive, Alec walks her to her door. She carries a boneless Fred in her arms.
“Thanks for driving,” she says. Then: “Would you – would you stop in for a moment? I’ll just put him down quickly.”
He nods dutifully. “Yeah, fine.”
Alec stands awkwardly in the foyer while she carries Fred upstairs. He keeps his hands shoved in his pockets, glancing around with vague interest. She returns quickly, gliding down the staircase airily.
“Sorry. Um. Did you have fun?”
He unexpectedly finds himself laughing. “Was all right.”
“Hope Fred wasn’t too demanding of your time.”
“Well.” Alec sways a bit back and forth on the balls of his feet. “My dance card wasn’t exactly full so it worked out all right.”
She smiles. “Thank you.”
He shrugs nonchalantly. “Yeah.”
“Um.” She wrings her hands together a bit. “Why did you – you said Fred had had enough. Was that just because…you had had enough?”
“Uh.” He looks away from her. “Yeah, that’s it. Bit much, you know, the whole thing.”
“Right.” She nods. “Robby’s a nice bloke.”
“Yeah?” He clears his throat. “I mean, yeah, yeah. He’s a good one.”
“Thanks again.” She reaches out, to both their surprise, and squeezes his hand.
He holds onto it, looking down at her broodingly.
“Miller, um.” He clears his throat once more. “Did you, ah. With Robby, did you two um – “
“No,” she replies steadfastly, as if she’d been waiting for him to ask.
“Right.” He looks down at his shoes. Then he has an idea and looks up. “Looked good, looked – um – happy out there, dancin’.”
She smiles a bit shyly. “Did I?”
“Would you, um. Do you – if we tried that one night. Would you like that?”
Elle blinks at him, her lips slightly parted in surprise. “If we went dancing?”
Alec shrugs. “Yeah, or what have you.”
“You want to take me dancing?”
“No, not – just if you – you know, if that’s somethin’ you’d like to do, it’s somethin’ I could…try.”
Her mouth opens a little wider. Her cheeks are bright pink.
“…Yeah. Yeah.” She smiles.
He studies her carefully, the wheels turning rapidly inside his mind as he determines his next move. The confusion of it all is painful but the possibility is…exciting.
“Ellie.”
The surprise and delight of him using her first name creeps over her face. Then, keeping hold of her hand, he leans down and kisses her. It’s soft, sweet, and slightly hesitant.
She is flummoxed.
“Oh.” She breathes out. “…That’s why you said that about Fred.”
Distracted, he blinks at her. “Wha?”
“This is why you wanted to leave.” She smiles as her suspicions are confirmed. “You couldn’t abide me off with Robby.”
Alec grimaces. “No. Ah, no, it was just. No – “
“Hardy!” Ellie laughs.
He swoops down and kisses her again, his arm around her waist pulling her against him. Gradually her arms slide up around his neck and she moans softly into the kiss, curling his toes. They part to breathe only barely and just for a second before their lips go in again, more desperately this time. His hand travels down to her tailbone, not daring to go farther than that, and her hands cup his face as their tongues meet. Every particle in his body feels alive and electrified.
Finally she pulls back, breathlessly, and wipes her mouth a bit. “Blimey,” she exhales.
He leans back against her doorframe. “…Was that all right?”
She laughs out loud. “Could you not tell?”
“Ah. Well.”
Ellie grins, reaching for the buttons of his shirt and absently fingering them. “I should – get back to – we should…Fred’s just upstairs and Tom could be home any second and – “
“Yeah,” he agrees, though he does not. “Right. I’ll just – “ He opens the front door. “Well. See you Monday?”
Ellie nods, still smiling. “See you Monday.”
He backs slowly out of the door. “Night.” He walks into a potted plant. “Bollocks, ah, yeah, all right then.”
“Night.” She covers her laughter with her hand.
“Bye.”
“…Bye.”
He’s still watching her as he approaches his car door. “Sleep well.”
Ellie bites her lip and just nods, holding up her hand in a wave.
Alec gets into his car and turns on the ignition. Both hands grip the steering wheel and he stares, astounded, through the windshield.
“Ah for fuck’s sake, Hardy, what on earth have you done?!”
***