Bart, who is never shy about making his opinions known, turns to her, hands on hips.
“Happy with yourself, are you?”
Hesitation chases determination across her face.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” she says, sadly opting for offence rather than defence.
“No. You don’t. But as my mum says, you’ll have to look yourself in the mirror tomorrow morning. If you have any conscience at all, which I doubt, you won’t like what you see.” Jeremy glares at her.
These boys will give no quarter. It’s clear the camaraderie of this dig is over.
“You’d better get used to your own company, Riley, because I want nothing to do with someone I can’t trust.” Simon turns his back on her and slams food on his plate in obvious frustration.
“If you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have anything to worry about, do you?” Riley snaps back.
They all laugh. And it’s a bitter sound.
“I don’t know where you got the idea you’re the judge of anyone’s behaviour, but I’m with Simon.” Garret loads up a plate. “I can’t believe even you could be such a bitch, Riley.”
“What do you meanevenme?”
“Oh, come on. You know exactly what I mean.” He scoffs. “After the way you talked about Ethan and how you were going to snag him when he arrived? You did this out of jealousy. Everyone knows it.”
“Well,excuseme! Sadie was the one who said going after your professor was wrong. Then she went and did it herself.”
“See? Jealous. And I don’t know what you were seeing, but I never once saw Sadiegoing afterEthan. What I saw was two people who should be together, falling in love.”
Looks like we were nowhere near as discreet as we thought.
Riley looks tearfully from one angry face to another. I can’t believe she didn’t see this coming.
“Yeah, what he said,” Jeremy interjects. “After what he’s been through, Ethan deserves to be happy. He was my professor at Cambridge for two years. Every girl in the college was after him. I neveroncesaw him look at one. Until Sadie.”
They all head to the back deck of the boat, where they sit in a tight circle, excluding Riley.
They’re right. I never noticed other women when Jess was alive. And that didn’t change after she died. Until Sadie. Riley has ruined that. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it right when I get home. Her trust is hard won. I have no idea if I’ll be able to earn it back. And who can blame her?
The problem is, I’ve fallen in love. And the problem with falling in love is that the landing sometimes hurts. This one was brutal.
Chapter Forty-Two
Sadie
Poor Ashraf. He drew the short straw in escorting me back to Cairo for my flight home tomorrow.
He says nothing, other than sorting out the practicalities of travel, until he’s checked me into the same hotel we stayed at when we first arrived, all those golden, happy days ago. As I turn to get into the lift to my room, he puts a gentle hand on my arm.
“Things seem hopeless now, Amira, but your fate has already been written by the gods.Ma’atwill be restored.Inshallah.” And with a sad smile, he tips his head and leaves.
On any other day, I might smile at his blending of ancient Egyptian beliefs and Islam, but there will be no smiles from me today.
Now that I have a good wi-fi connection an email notification from Jennifer pops up. I’m not ready to read it, so I take a long hot shower. It doesn’t help.
Once I’m in my pyjamas, I figure there’s no point putting off the inevitable, so I open up my laptop.
It’s worse than I thought. Jennifer has also forwarded Riley’s original complaint. Not only did Riley report us to Jennifer, but she also copied Martin Collins on the email. It’s not just that she saw us kissing, but that Ethan had been favouring me since we arrived. That she had been treated unfairly. That our ‘personal’ relationship was impacting the experience of all the students on the dig. And that Ethan had put her life at risk on a camel.
Shit. I wish I’d done more than slap her face. My palm is still stinging from it. But right now, I wish I’d closed my fist and punched her. Split knuckles would’ve been worth it.
