“It depends—would the pizza be burned too?”
He opened his mouth to respond but then her phone rang.
She assumed it was Abby and grabbed it, but then saw it was the night manager at the hotel.
“Oh please. Now what? There should be a limit to how much crap each day can deliver, don’t you think?” She took a breath and answered it. “Rick? Is everything okay?” She listened. “She what? Are you serious? I’ll go to the hospital—are you sure? Well, if she calls you, give her my number.”
Luca frowned. “Hospital?”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. And thanks, Rick.” She ended the call. “Chrissy Robinson took the kids to the beachthis afternoon. Late afternoon. Holly got caught in a rip current. Sorry, I forget you don’t know the guests as well as I do. Holly is—”
“Her eldest. I know. She loves my fish goujons.” Luca’s expression was grim. “Tell me she’s okay.”
“She almost drowned, but fortunately she was rescued and now she’s in hospital.” Evie couldn’t begin to imagine how terrifying that must have been for Chrissy. “They’re keeping her in overnight and Chrissy and the baby are staying with her.”
“Thank goodness for lifeguards.”
“Well, that’s the thing—” Evie still couldn’t quite believe what she’d heard. “There are no lifeguards on that beach after 4 p.m. It was Abby who rescued her.”
“Abby?”
“Yes. Rick heard it from Jim, who witnessed it from the harbour. Maybe that’s why she’s not answering.” She picked up her phone and called Tristan. He answered immediately and she listened while he gave her a summary of what had happened. “She’s in bed now? Okay, well I don’t want to wake her, so I’ll see her tomorrow.”
She ended the call and stared at Luca. “Tristan says she’s okay apart from a cut on her leg. He said she was tired, but that was partly stress and partly a hangover—literally—from last night. Do you think I should go to the hospital to check on Chrissy?”
“Where’s her husband?”
“He’s in London. Rick said Chrissy called him but as it seems Holly is going to be okay he decided to carry on with the meetings he has planned for tomorrow and come up for the weekend as planned. What a total b—” She stopped herself in time but Luca nodded.
“I agree. I was thinking the same thing, only in Italian.”
“Who does that? She needs his support. She’s on her ownwith a baby and a sick child. He’s probably staying with his girlfriend or something, do you think?” She felt awful for Chrissy. “I think I should go to the hospital. Will you hate me if I desert you? Sorry.”
“Why are you apologising? I agree we should go to the hospital.”
“You don’t have to come.”
“I do. I don’t want them feeding Holly any old rubbish. She’s particular about what she eats, and food is an important part of recovery.”
Evie grabbed a few things she thought Chrissy might find useful and stuffed them into a bag. “I had a glass of wine. We’d better call a taxi.”
“I didn’t drink. I’ll drive. My car is parked up the road next to yours.”
“Why didn’t you drink?”
He flashed her a wicked smile. “I didn’t want to risk impairing my performance later.”
Her insides melted and she grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged him towards her. “There’s something I need to tell you. Right now.”
“Could you tell me without tearing my shirt? I don’t think Chrissy wants to see me bare-chested.” But he slid his arms round her and pulled her close. “What did you want to tell me?”
She lifted herself on her toes until her mouth was a breath away from his. “I like you. I really like you. And not only because you can make pizza and have eyelashes like Bambi.”
“Good.” He lowered his mouth to hers, his kiss swift but devastating in its impact. “Because I really like you, too.”
She sighed against his mouth and reluctantly pulled away from him. “And now we really have to go.”
“We really do.”
