“I couldn’t tell you the truth. And I thought that maybe once you’d calmed down, it would be a good surprise…”
The dark haired woman didn’t respond. She lifted her hands up to her fiancé’s chest and pushed, the glass muffling the sound of the splash as Maxwell Callaghan’s back hit the water.
Seph was filming the whole thing.
“I take it your brother can swim?”
“I think so.”
He carried on filming as the woman walked off, not even glancing back to see if her fiancé had drowned.
“Do you need to give him a hand?”
“Absolutely not. This is the stuff of comedy gold.”
Maxwell pulled himself out of the lagoon, his expression a mix of anger and awe. He was unaware that Seph was filming him, stropping off in the direction his fiancée had gone in.
“So your brother’s future wife booked here for a holiday with her friends and you lot have crashed it?” I was trying to get my head around this. My one major relationship – if you could call it that – had been with Amber, and it hadn’t been conventional. I’d been emotionally unavailable, according to her, but then she’d been happy enough to use me as a real life vibrator when it suited her.
“That sums it up.” Seph put his phone away. “Max and Vic will simmer down. She’ll ignore him for a few hours, he’ll do the whole smoulder thing and she’ll give in. The rest of my sisters are pretty glad their men are here. I think. At least I haven’t heard Claire threaten to murder anyone yet.”
“Claire?”
“Eldest sister.”
“How many have you got?” I was an only child; the kids I grew up with in the care home didn’t count, so big families fascinated me.
“Three sisters and three brothers. My brothers and one of my sisters are actually half siblings.” He shrugged. “And they all have partners. I’m the only single one.”
“You mean the woman out there hasn’t got any single friends for you to hit on while you’re here?”
“There are a couple. But neither are options.” He got off the bar stool. “We’re going out in snow mobiles tomorrow. I know we’re strangers and all that, but join us if you have nothing better to do.”
It was meant sincerely.
“Thanks, but I have work to get on with. The offer is appreciated.” It was, but I wasn’t up for being sociable.
“No problem. We’ll see you around. Should provide you with some entertainment.”
I nodded. Moved my facial muscles to what I figured looked like a smile.
It had been a long time since I’d smiled.
3
Sophie
“Max is still outside, Victoria.” Just as he had been for the last twenty minutes. I was giving him five more then he’d revert to type and they’d be at loggerhead until they had sex, which would be that evening.
Vic’s sex life was legendary. She said very little about it, but we all knew she and Max were at it like rabbits on Viagra. There were lunchtime meetings and too many occasions when they were late to nights out, both of them turning up dishevelled. There had also been a few times when both of them had gone missing at the same time and the disabled toilet had been engaged for over twenty minutes.
We were just jealous. I was just jealous. It had been a long time since I’d had anyone worthy of slipping away for some afternoon delight. I’d sworn off dating and even having someone fun to scratch an itch because it was all becoming routine and a case of going through the motions. I’d been married – just the once, officially – and I’d had a serious relationship which had been like a marriage, but then I was thirty-seven and those years came with baggage.
“He can stay outside. I’m still mad.” She stretched out on the heated bed in the tepidarium. “I may be mad for some time.”
She sounded anything but. In fact, she was pretty much half-asleep.
“It’s quite sweet, really.” Vanessa attempted to soothe the waters.
