“But I don’t know your mother, not really.”
“You said you liked her.”
“Yes, but I’ve spoken to her, like, five times!Would you leave your child with someone you’ve only spoken to five times?Leave him in a bar where people are drinking?How could I get so careless?So reckless.”
“You’re not careless or reckless.Calm down.”
“I am calm!”
“Then breathe.”He released her hand, and her lungs expanded.
With one deep breath after another, she scrambled for composure and reason.No, she was definitely not feeling like herself.
“Is this about what you told me today?”he asked.
She shook her head.Juliana’s email may have been the trigger, but if Libby wasn’t in love with Dan, what she’d told him today wouldn’t have mattered.His blatant lie wouldn’t have mattered either.
Boundaries.
She had to set some boundaries—fence in her emotions and keep them separate from everything else.
“Look,” she said on another exhale.“Friends don’t have sex with each other.Friends are platonic.If they have sex, then by definition they are no longer just friends.”
“You want us to stop having sex?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Or do you want us to be more than friends?”
“I don’t know that either,” she whispered.Everything inside was so mixed up.“All I know is that I need to get back to my baby.”
Chapter 29
Thenextmorning,thewind carried the sound of waves crashing against the reef to the beach café where Dan was having coffee with his mum.It was the same café he’d taken Libby and Karim to for lunch that day when Mum had arrived with Malek.
A full circle completed.Mum and Malek were flying back home tonight.
Dan glanced out to sea.A line of white waves pounded against the outer reef, as if the ocean was banging on the door, trying to get in.So much had happened since Mum had arrived.So much change inside him.He glanced back inland.Palm trees swayed out by the empty road that eventually led to Tia Rosa’s hut.
No sign of Libby and Karim.Dan’s gaze dipped to his coffee cup.
“How was Libby this morning?”Mum asked.
“I haven’t seen her yet.”Dan stretched his leg to the side of the table, staring at his scars.Last night after Libby had run off, he’d stayed on the beach, watching her push Karim away through the restaurant after she’d said goodnight to his mother and Malek.He’d wanted to walk back to Tia Rosa’s with her, but he’d stayed put, respecting that Libby didn’t want him near her.
When he’d eventually got back to Tia Rosa’s, Libby had already been in her room.He’d been about to knock on her door but lowered his hand when he saw her note on the kitchen counter.
I’ve set up Part Two to drop in the morning so I can take Karim straight to the beach.PS: I’m sorry.
But it was he who should have been apologizing.The way he’d walked off after she’d asked him about Isabella and those damn rumors had been playing on his mind.If only he’d stayed then, they’d have talked some more.About that awful gossip site she used to work for and what her old boss was asking her to do.Instead, any mention of Isabella had him running off, like he hadn’t wanted her to enter this new world he and Libby had created, full of tropical sunshine and beach walks.
“Last night, Libby seemed anxious,” Mum was saying, which didn’t make him feel any better.“You said it was because she wasn’t used to leaving Karim with other people, but you’re not looking too happy yourself this morning.”
“I’m never happy.”
“That’s not quite true.You’ve been happy with Libby.I’ve seen it.Are you two more than…?”
“C’mon, Mum.”Dan stiffened at the million-dollar question.“You know I’m not like Femi and Gabi, always on the phone to you discussing relationships.”He’d much rather retreat into a cave to stew and deal with things in his own time.
