‘Not telling you,’ she says sleepily, not falling for my ruse for a second.
‘Okay. You have to get out of bed. We’re leaving in under five minutes and Maxim said he’ll go without you. And so will I. So you’ll be left to the mercy of the wild animals outside.’
My lie works where ‘Dance Monkey’did not. She opens her eyes fully, sits up with the duvet pulled up around herself and says, ‘Shit.’
‘I know.’
‘Okay. I’ll be ready in five. If you wouldn’t mind…’
‘I’m on it.’ I scramble out of the room to give her space.
And to give her her due, she’s ready in only about twelve minutes and doesn’t hold the group up at all.
I feel as though my heart has lifted when she turns up in the lodge’s entrance, like her presence has lit up the room.
I hope we’ll stay in touch after this trip ends. I’d hate not to see her again.
11
FLAVIA
This morning’s sunrise is as spectacular as last night’s sunset. It feels like a huge privilege to see it develop, in shades of purple and orange, gradually illuminating the vast plains beneath. Along with the sun, everything else out here is waking up, including me: I wassotired when I got out of bed but now I’m almost fizzing with excitement for the day ahead.
We’re doing a bush walk before a late breakfast, after which we’ll go out in the jeep again.
Twenty-four hours ago, I’d have been petrified about the walk. But now I’m thinking that, rationally, we wouldn’t be doing it if it weren’t safe. Plus, our guides are experienced. And, also, Dominic’s right next to me, and, weirdly, I have this sense that if Dominic’s there I’ll always be safe. He’s just so… big, and solid, and sensible. But not in a boring way. I glance up at him and see that he was already looking at me.
‘You okay?’ he whispers.
‘Yes. Thanks to you, I’ve gone fully rational.’
He leans his head closer to mine, and says, ‘Don’t gotoorational. You’re perfect the way you are.’
I feel his breath against my cheek as he speaks, and his words are so lovely that it’s almost like they’ve physically caressed me.
‘Thank you,’ I manage to say, around a sudden lump in my throat. ‘You aren’t too bad yourself exactly the way you are.’
Somehow, his right hand finds my left hand, or maybe mine finds his, I’m not sure, but whichever way round it feels as though our hands were designed to fit together, and we begin to walk along with our fingers linked.
I love the handholding. Last night, I wondered if something might happen in the room together. Iwantedsomething to happen. I wanted a meaningless holiday fling to begin. I had high hopes when Dominic suggested we share the bed, but – despite the way he’d been looking at me – it turned out that he clearly didn’t want anything to happen between us. He put such an enormous pile of cushions down the middle of the bed we were practically in separate rooms, so I just gave in to my extreme tiredness and went straight to sleep.
He squeezes my hand and I return the squeeze and smile. Maybe this is as far as a holiday fling between us will go. I’ll be a little sexually frustrated if that turns out to be the case, I have to admit, but whatever. This is still lovely. As is Dominic.
It’s so odd. We seem to have so little in common. But, as it turns out, that doesn’t stop melovinghis company.
‘Do you have time for hobbies?’ he suddenly asks me as we head out of the lodge’s grounds. Maybe his thoughts were running in the same direction as mine.
‘I lovedoingthings,’ I tell him. ‘And I always have more I want to do. I don’t think I’d ever be bored. Like, if I had extra time there’s so much more I’d do. I’ve just joined a local netball club, which is training once a week and there are matches at the weekend. And I’ve been trying to cook one completely new dish a fortnight. And I knit scarves. A lot of scarves. And soft toys for the kids of family and friends.’
‘That all sounds great.’ Dominic’s voice has changed, almost as though he’s feeling emotional about something. ‘Knitting. Do you have pictures of the scarves and toys?’
‘I actually do, and later, when we have time, I’ll show you, and you’ll regret asking the question, because there are alot, and you’ll run out of platitudinal compliments very quickly.’
Dominic laughs. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’
‘What about you? Hobbies?’
We’re following a track now, and we’re still lightly holding hands, which I’m loving.
