We all exchange polite goodnights before heading to our rooms. The second I close the door behind me and Ethan, I whip around to confront him.
‘What the hell was that?’ I ask him.
‘What?’ he replies.
‘You, telling people we’re getting married,’ I reply, my voice squeaking with disbelief.
‘Oh, that,’ he replies. ‘You’re welcome.’
‘I’m… what? Why am I welcome?’
‘You want Beau, right?’ he asks – of course, I don’t answer. ‘And Eleanor was flirting with him, and everyone was talking about them getting together, so I said that to make him jealous, and it worked – didn’t you see the look on his face? So, yeah, you’re welcome.’
For a moment I don’t know what to say. Wow, that’s really… nice of him? What even is that? He’s helping me to bag Beau now?
‘And the thing tomorrow…?’ I say.
‘Oh, it’s nothing, Seph had booked some group thing – it sounded shit anyway – so when she was upset that it had been cancelled, I said I’d sort something, it’s no big deal,’ he replies.
Again, I’m speechless for a few seconds.
‘It is a big deal,’ I tell him. ‘Look, this family don’t think much of me. They think more of that stupid bench, that they’ve got locked away, protected by cameras, like it’s in some kind of vault.’
He laughs.
‘Really, it’s nothing,’ he insists. ‘Now, come on, wifey, bedtime.’
He strips down to his boxers, completely comfortable in my presence, before heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
For a moment I just sit there, on the edge of the bed, trying to make sense of everything in my brain.
Is Ethan working with me or against me now? I really can’t figure it out.
37
It occurred to me, when I woke up early this morning, that opinion of me is already quite low, so I could probably get away with a lie-in – even if it was just this once.
Ethan was starving so he went to join everyone for breakfast, which meant that I could spread out in bed, going full starfish, taking up every corner of the bed, and it was glorious. It was almost a shame that I had to get up at all. I know, I know, I’m in a beautiful country and I should be exploring, but you know that feeling where your batteries desperately feel like they need charging? I felt like that, totally flat, and with no remote control to steal the batteries from then a bit of extra sleep seemed like the best thing for it.
I’m up now though and it’s strange. I feel like Kevin, inHome Alone, because the house is completely empty.
‘Hello?’ I call out as I explore the rooms downstairs.
There’s no sign of anyone – well, I can hear the staff working in the kitchen, so I can rule out a zombie apocalypse. Actually, no, I can’t, because I’ll bet Chester’s parents would make the staff keep working, apocalypse or not.
There’s no one on the patio, no one around the pool – oh, I can hear voices though, coming from the beach, so I make my way down the garden and onto the sand.
And here they all are – playing cricket. Oh yay, another sport!
Chester is the centre of everything, as usual, standing in the middle of the ‘pitch’ waiting to bowl.
‘Lana, there you are,’ he calls out.
‘We thought you might sleep all day,’ Bea adds.
‘It’s a shock to the system, adjusting to the time difference,’ I point out.
‘We all did it,’ Bea points out.
