‘They’re good,’ she said. ‘Not too greasy.’
‘Fluffy,’ he answered.
She began to laugh.
‘What’s wrong with sayingfluffy?’
‘Nothing.’ It just sounded funny coming from someone so manly as him – she expected gruff outbursts and confidence, not talking about the inside of a chip in such a delicate way.
‘Feel like having chips again with me tomorrow?’ he asked.
Suddenly, she wasn’t sure. ‘How old are you?’
‘A bit older than you, probably.’
‘You’re avoiding the question.’
‘I’m twenty-three.’
‘I’m seventeen. Almost eighteen.’
‘So do you want to meet up?’
‘Okay. But can we do later? I have to look after my little sister until closing time at the café.’
‘Is that who you were with when I saw you in the café that time?’
So hedidremember the details about that day. ‘Yes, that was my sister, Addie.’ Had he thought about her as much as she’d thought about him? Especially when she went to bed, hoping she’d fall asleep and dream about him.
‘Meet me 7p.m.?’ he suggested.
And that was how it had started. She’d fallen for him more and more as the days went on. Each day after school she’d get her homework done and he’d either come into the Sweet Life Café to meet her or she’d run down to the marina to surprise him. They’d talk and talk, laugh hard, go on walks and kiss whenever they could. They’d sneak onto boats and have little romantic picnics as if they were the owners of a vast yacht and sailing around the world together. They got serious really quickly and Susanna couldn’t imagine it any other way. She’d even started to question whether she wanted to run far away from the island and go back to the mainland. The thought of leaving Mateo was almost incomprehensible.
One morning, Susanna had skipped school. She knew it was bad, but it was gloriously sunny and she hadn’t seen Mateo for a few days. Sometimes she worried that she wasn’t mature enough for him, that with her still going to school he might decide he wanted someone older. But he’d told her he loved her many times, and she’d said it back. Nothing was going to come between them; she just had to be careful Aunt Gayle didn’t find out about her coming here rather than to school. She’d have to make up a cover story because the school would be sure to get in touch with her aunt, given her absence.
She reached the marina and her heart lifted when she spotted Mateo, but as she quickened her pace around the boats on dry land to reach him she came to an abrupt halt when she saw her aunt standing near him. She hadn’t been able to see her from further away, her view being obscured by the other boats.
She hid so neither of them could see her, her cheek catching a coldness from the body of the boat she was hiding behind. She wondered why her aunt was here. Was she looking for her?
‘She’s so much younger than you,’ she heard Aunt Gayle say.
‘I’m not going to hurt her,’ Mateo had replied. ‘I told you before that I wouldn’t do that.’
So they’d had a conversation before? Mateo had never told her, and neither had Aunt Gayle.
‘Well, you are indirectly hurting her because she’s started skipping school,’ said Aunt Gayle.
‘That’s news to me,’ Mateo replied. He was being so polite. If it was her, she’d tell Gayle to mind her own bloody business.
‘She’s also not doing her homework – she’s rushing it all, she’s distracted.’ Silence until Gayle spoke again. ‘You know she wants to go to university, don’t you?’
‘She hasn’t mentioned it for a while.’
‘That’s because you’re all she’s thinking about these days. She has a plan, or at leasthadone. She wants to leave the island, and if she is after a decent future she needs some qualifications.’
Susanna’s heart thumped as she froze on the spot, waiting to hear what her boyfriend replied. It was true, she did want to go to university – at least, she thought she did. But she would still want Mateo. Why couldn’t Aunt Gayle work that out?
‘Gayle, I’m not out to hurt Susanna. I love her.’
