Niki cut the motor on the dinghy and Minh lifted his camera as they bobbed nearby.
She directed us through a series of shots – me standing by the railing with Tommy in the background, Tommy pretending to hoist the anchor while I looked on… Dull as dishwater if you asked me, but I played nice, following Niki’s directions to the letter, wearing that fake smile the whole time.
I was apro.
When Niki gave the thumbs up, relief coursed through me, and I tried to side-step Tommy so I could get to the stern. Dale and Trudy had returned with the paddleboards, and it was my turn.
But he blocked my path.
‘Excuse me,’ I said firmly.
‘Ally, we need to talk.Alone.’
‘Seriously? How many times have we been alone today andnowyou want to talk?’
‘No, I meant later – tonight. It’s important, Ally.’
‘Whatever,Tom,’ I said, roughly pushing past him.
But I didn’t want to talk to Tommy – not then and not later tonight. I just wanted to do a good job for Julian, then get off that bloody island!
6
Thought of the day…
Setting boundaries –andsticking to them – is vital forgood mental health.
(And if anyone crosses your boundaries,activate the see-ya-wouldn’t-want-to-be-ya protocol.)
I pulled Niki aside as we sailed out of the cove.
‘What else is on your list?’ I asked. ‘Any nice-to-haves you were hoping for?’ A cunning little dodge – stay busy, avoid Tommy for the rest of the sailing trip.
She took out her phone and scrolled through a list. ‘We got the paddleboarding and the shots for Solari, the cove, lots of pics on the boat…’ she said to herself. She looked up. ‘What do ya reckon – see how we go?’
‘Okay,’ I replied, disappointed. ‘Let me know if something comes up.’
‘Sweet as.’
She left me to go talk to Tommy, and I looked towards the coastline. That olive grove I’d seen from the helicopter yesterday was now visible, the gnarly trunks so thick that the trees must have been cultivated decades ago, possibly even longer. I imagined the people who had planted them, living on this island for generations. Whohadowned the island before Julian?
It struck me again how unusual it was tobuy an island. I still hadn’t pressed Julian on what had prompted such a dramatic purchase, but I could bring it up at dinner.
And Julian wasn’t the only ex who’d made a life-changing decision. Tommy had left his career in structural engineering to sail rich people around the Aegean. Maybe Ididwant to talk to him – if only to ask how he’d ended up on Aetheria when he’d been hellbent on saving the world. It wasn’t as if there were any lifesaving wells to dig, or earthquake-ravaged dams to rebuild. As far as I could tell, the only thing broken on Aetheria was me.
As we sailed north, hugging the coast, the winds picked up and for much of that leg, the boat heeled at a steep angle. We all braced ourselves against the cockpit, holding on tight.
Even Elsa had to remain above deck. I kept checking to see if she had spontaneously combusted in the sunshine. Turned out to be wishful thinking.
When we rounded the northern point of the island, the wind behind us, the boat levelled off, returning to that gentle rise and fall. By unspoken agreement, there was little conversation. We all seemed content to soak in the scenery and sit with our thoughts.
I was wrestling with whether I should talk to Tommy later when Trudy suddenly leapt to her feet, shrieking with delight.
‘Dolphins!’ she exclaimed, her arm outstretched. Sure enough, three dolphins were zipping along with us, criss-crossing under the boat and riding the slipstream.
I laughed, giddy with excitement. Tommy caught my eye and we grinned at each other, everything else falling away – our troubled history, my conflicted emotions, regret… It was simply a shared moment of pure joy.
Eventually, the dolphins left us and excitement continued to buzz about the sailboat. With a bashful but slightly proud smile, Minh passed his camera around to show us the footage he’d captured. It would be brilliant in the promos.
