‘Having a good day?’
I had a pita chip dripping with tzatziki halfway to my mouth when Tommy appeared next to me.
‘Yes, actually,’ I replied, putting it back on my plate.
I was full anyway. Elsa may have been a cactus in humanoid form, but she’d served a delicious lunch:horiatiki(Greek salad to us non-Greeks) with the ripest, most delicious tomatoes I’d ever tasted (seriously, I’d been ruined for life), fresh, garlicky tzatziki and pita chips, spanakopita with flaky filo pastry, feta and watermelon salad with mint, and octopus salad with red onion and capers.
It only occurred to me as I set my plate down that lunch was more likely Dimitra’s handiwork than Elsa’s. That was some Michelin-starred dip! But entertaining trifling thoughts about who prepared lunch was merely self-preservation – or alifebuoy, to use a nautical term.
Because the truth was, I’d been hyper-aware of Tommy’s presence since we boarded. He was the human equivalent of an eclipse – likely to cause long-term damage if I so much as glanced at it. Or rather,him.
At least I was wearing my own clothes again. In my bikini and a coverup I felt far less exposed than I had during the Solari photoshoot –and, by extension, less susceptible to an emotional stumble.
As the gargantuan silence stretched between us, I stared out at the cove where Trudy and Dale were making a valiant attempt at paddleboarding. Dale was doing okay, but Trudy had plonked her arse on the board, legs dangling, and was going around in circles.
Tommy had done his best to instruct them from the boat, but when it comes to paddleboarding, putting instructions into practice is something you have to figure out yourself.
‘Seems like they got some good photographs,’ Tommy said eventually.
Sticking to small talk, I see.It was a safe option, but even Elsa would have been preferable company to Tommy. Being alone with him was straining my resolve.Bugger off, Tommy!I willed him silently. Annoyingly, he stayed put.
‘Mmm,’ I murmured in reply.
‘And that teeny aqua bikini…’
I swivelled my head towards him. ‘Don’t you dare flirt with me,’ I snapped.
He lifted both his hands. ‘Not flirting, merely an observation.’
Yeah, right.
I held his gaze a moment longer and his dark-brown eyes bored into mine. Yep –exactlylike an eclipse.
I looked away just in time to catch Dale coaching Trudy. She nodded a few times, planted her feet, then slowly straightened.
‘I’m doing it, I’m doing it!’ she shouted, laughter in her voice.
‘You’re doing it, babe,’ Dale called out proudly.
‘Woohoo!’ she bellowed, and I laughed, caught up in the joy of the moment.
I’d encountered happy couples before, two people in love who had gone the distance. For all intents and purposes, my parents fit into that category. They’re less overtly affectionate than Dale and Trudy were, but they adore each other.
Which is why, whenever the topic of marriage comes up during family occasions, Claude and I band together. Mum, in particular, cannot fathom how both of her daughters ended up divorced. Apparently, that isn’t how we were raised. And, as I’ve committed that ‘sin’ thrice, I’m on the receiving end of three times the disappointment.
But I digress.
As I watched Dale and Trudy paddle around that stunning cove – its backdrop a sheer, limestone cliff face, and the water a shade of aquamarine I’d never seen before – I felt a pang of wistful longing.
Because I’d had that once. With the man at my side.
Until I didn’t.
‘Looks like they’re heading back,’ Tommy said, gesturing towards the dinghy, which Niki was steering towards us. She and Minh had taken it to shore to get some shots of the sailboat in the cove.
When they got closer, Niki called out, ‘Hey, Ally, can we get some pics of you standing on the bow?’
‘Sure,’ I replied, relieved to have a distraction. Reminiscing about what I once had was putting a dampener on the day.
