Which means he probably also has a—
“Hi!”
A harassed-looking brunette who’s basically an older version of the pigtailed girl comes strolling towards us, completely oblivious to the minor drama that’s unfolding in my head as she approaches.
“Hi,” the woman says again, with a glance in my direction. “Who’s this, Jamie?”
I smile politely as Jamie fumbles for an answer. Icouldhelp him, of course. I could hold out my hand and introduce myself as an old friend who just happened to be passing, and whodefinitelyhasn’t been hanging out with what I’m assuming is her husband all week, without him saying a single word about her.
Icoulddo that.
But, right now, I somehow don’t feel like doing anything at all to help out this man I barely know, and owe absolutely nothing to. So I just stand there until he shrugs weakly and gives a slight shake of his head.
“It’s no one,” he says. “Just someone looking for a job.”
And there it is.
The Jamie of my teenage memories abruptly flickers and fades and all I’m left with is this stranger, standing there with the wife and child I didn’t know he had, with an apologetic look on his face.
“Sorry, love,” he says, looking at me. “You’d have to speak to the manager about that. I just work here.”
“No worries,” I say in a level tone which is completely out of step with the rapid beating of my heart right now. “I don’t think this is for me, anyway.”
Just as I’m about to turn away, I open my hand and let my bag fall to the floor, where it lands with a soft thud.
“Whoops,” I say cheerfully, waiting until Jamie bends down to pick it up for me, then crouching quickly down to join him.
“You’re a lying traitor, Jamie Reynolds,” I whisper in the seconds it takes for his hand to curl around the strap of my bag then hand it to me. “Guess you better hope I never tell anyone, huh?”
Jamie’s eyes widen in horror, but it’s too late, because by the time his mouth opens to say something, I’m already halfway to the door, striding through it with a confidence that’s quite unlike me, and not stopping until I’m outside in the sun, feeling it warming my skin after the cool air of the bar.
“Right,” says Chloe, wiping her hands on her shorts as she appears beside me. “What did I miss?”
***
“And then the kid was like, ‘Daddy! My daddy!” says Chloe, to a rapt audience consisting of Rita, Gerald, and anyone else who happens to be within earshot at the hotel pool a short while later. “Honestly, you should’ve seen it!”
“Youdidn’t see it,” I hiss, wishing she’d stop going on about this. “You were still in the loo at the time.”
“I can imagine it, though, can’t I?” says Chloe, unperturbed. “I cantotallyimagine it.”
She’s fresh from her massage, and, from the look of things, is never going to get tired of re-telling the sad tale of how Jamie Reynolds turned outnotto be the love of my life to anyone who’ll listen.
“So can I,” says Rita, her bracelets rattling as she reaches for her drink. “I just wish I’d been able to warn you, Summer, love. I saw something like this in the tea leaves this morning at breakfast, only I didn’t realize it was your Jamie I was seeing; I thought it were that Rishi Sunak.”
“Rishi Sunak doesn’t look anything like Jamie, though,” Chloe begins, and I tune out of their conversation to focus on Alex, who’s lying on the sun-lounger next to mine, his eyes hidden by dark glasses. He looked up briefly when we arrived at the pool, and said a quick hello, but he hasn’t said anything at all in response to Chloe’s dramatic re-telling of this morning’s Jamie-related revelations. I’m not sure he’s even awake, actually. I’m pretty sure he’s either sleeping or justpretendingto be sleeping, so he doesn’t have to get involved.
I can’t say I blame him, either.
“Are you okay?” he says in a low voice, proving my theory wrong. “That must’ve been quite the surprise for you.”
I shuffle forward to separate myself from Chloe and Rita, who are still discussing the tea leaves and Rishi Sunak.
“I’m fine,” I say truthfully. “I really am. Well, I’mannoyed, obviously. I wish he hadn’t lied to me. But I’m not upset that he’s married. I think I’d already figured out he wasn’t the person I thought he was. I’m just annoyed it took me so long, and I had to fly thousands of miles to do it.”
Alex says nothing for so long that I start wondering if he really has fallen asleep this time.
“Still,” I go on brightly. “It could have been worse, couldn’t it? Imagine how I’d have felt if I’d really been in love with him, and then his wife and daughter had come waltzing in? Nowthatwould’ve been a disaster.”
