Quickly she went to her call record and sure enough there was a voice message from him. With an apologetic look at Gabriel, she put the phone to her ear.
Martin’s voice came through but not very clear because of the poor signal. “Baby, can you ring me when you get this? Are you back tonight? Come over to mine, I’ll cook. I wanted to have a talk with you…” Something garbled which Pierre couldn’t make out, then “… to talk about our future. I think it’s time to make things more permanent.”
Her breathing stilled as she listened to the message again. Could it be true? That her weekend away had finally forced him to take her seriously?
She resisted the urge to listen to the message a third time. Instead, she texted.
PIERRE: Sorry just saw all your messages. Did you mean dinner tonight? Sunday? I’m still in Pembrokeshire.
She put the phone face down on the stone next to her and found Gabriel watching her.
“Boyfriend?” he asked.
She nodded, then felt a curious need to explain. “It’s complicated. I actually came on this tour to help clear my head and make a decision.”
Her phone dinged. She put a hand over her phone but kept it face down.
Gabriel smiled kindly and waved for her to go ahead.
She swiped the screen and the message opened.
MARTIN: Oh, thank God. I was starting to think about calling the police. Hate to interrupt your tour, but how long would it take you to drive back?
She checked the time. She could be back in Luton in time for dinner.
If she decided to go.
Or, she could make him wait till tomorrow because she really should not go running as soon as he crooked his finger.
But he hadn’t just crooked his finger. He had been trying to reach her since yesterday. And he had said he wanted to talk about their future, make things more serious. Wasn’t this what she wanted? Why make him wait? She wasn’t the kind of girl to start playing games as soon as she had him where she wanted him.
“Do you need to go?” Gabriel asked softly. His smile had disappeared completely.
She hesitated. “My things are at the hotel. Do you want me to drive you back?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’m going to stay and —" He pointed at the beach. “Maybe get an ice cream or even a hot dog to demolish what’s left of my vegetarianism.” He did smile for her then, but it was a sad smile.
“Are you sure?” She was already itching to get up. Martin was waiting for her, but she didn’t want to be rude to Gabriel.
“Go.” He nodded. “I hope he knows what a lucky man he is.”
“Okay.” She stood up. “And thank you for lunch and…” She looked down at her new shirt. “The Welsh dragon.”
“Thank you for saving me.” He waved her goodbye and turned back to watch the horizon.
It was only an hour later when she was on the motorway back to Luton that she remembered that they had never exchanged contact details for the Rapunzel pictures. She didn’t even know his last name.
three
A year later
The sun shone on the bronze information plaque at the beginning of the bridge or whatever one called the natural strip of land that linked the island to the small, pretty hill out in the sea.
The plaque on the bridge read:
La Canette Isthmus
Below in smaller print:
