Panic made Ginny’s temples throb. She was the one who’d invited Heather on holiday. She’d persuaded her to come to the beach bar and now she’d vanished. She looked around her, and at the others searching helplessly. Were they all too late?
“Can someone give me a hand?” a woman’s voice said from behind them.
Ginny turned to see Heather treading tentatively along the sand holding a tray full of cups.
“I thought you might all need warming up,” Heather said. She halted and frowned. “Um, why are you all looking at me like that? Have you seen a ghost or something?”
“Oh, god.” Ginny gulped. “We thought that you’d...gone.”
“What?You mean, drowned?” Heather lowered her tray. “Don’t be silly, I went to get drinks.Cioccolata calda, Italian hot chocolate.”
“You didn’t get hit by the wave?” Edna asked. “I thought I saw you...”
Heather shook her head. “I didn’t stay in the water.”
“I usually have magnificent vision...”
“The salt water must have gotten into your eyes, Edna,” Curtis said.
Loretta hugged her towel around her. “Papà is going to kill me when he sees me like this.”
“It’s my fault,” Curtis repeated. “I’ll take full responsibility.”
Ginny couldn’t believe they’d done something so foolish, but along the coast she could still hear people playing in the waves.
Eric pulled all their sun loungers closer together so they could huddle and drink their hot chocolate. Ginny’s shoulders shook and she gripped her cup with all her might. She caught sight of her watch and saw it was just before midnight. It was almost her wedding anniversary, and she allowed herself a few moments of self-pity. What ifshehad drowned? Adrian would have been left without a wife, and Phoebe without a mum. She’d never have met her grandchild. All because she’d wanted to escape her life at home for a while. Her head suddenly felt too heavy for her neck to support.
“Perhaps we should go home,” Loretta said, looking down at her sodden dress. “Is that okay, Curtis?”
He nodded meekly.
“I’ll go find Gianfranco.”
Ginny, Heather, Edna and Eric agreed to go with her.
Curtis dried his phone with a towel and played around with it. “It’s still working,” he called out, as the screen lit up his face with a silver glow. “I’ll follow you all in a mo. I want to jot some stuff down.” He watched the video of himself hurling pebbles into the sea and his face grew stern. Without looking up, he started to type.
Before she left him alone, Ginny picked up a towel and draped it around his shoulders.
28
Fireflies
The atmosphere in Gianfranco’s minibus was downcast as it approached Splendido. Edna had fallen asleep with her face resting on Eric’s shoulder and she emitted small rhythmic snores. Curtis was still typing on his phone and Heather’s thoughts were elsewhere. Ginny didn’t have a clue what to feel. Her emotions were all over the place, ranging from relief at escaping the waves, to sorrow about the state of her marriage to lingering giddiness from dancing.
“I hope my seats are not damp,” Gianfranco muttered as he drove through the gates of Splendido. “They are made from the finest leather.”
“They are fine. We’re sitting on towels,” Loretta said glumly.
Curtis finished writing up his blog. His movements were jerky as he put his phone away. “What are you going to tell your dad?” he asked her.
“The truth,” Loretta said. “We were paddling in the sea, there was an unexpected wave and you saved Ginny’s life.”
Ginny turned to gape at her. “Please don’t tell him that,” she said. “We don’t want to worry him.”
Loretta fixed her with a stare. “You tell me to be honest with Papà about my job, and then ask me to keep a secret from him,” she said. “Make up your mind.”
Gianfranco kept jerking his head around, listening to their conversation. He pulled on his handbrake in the courtyard and spoke to Loretta in Italian, so Ginny couldn’t understand.
