Something about this news delights him. “What did you do?”
“Not telling you. All I’ll say is it involved a Subway and a seagull.”
I can see him calculating the possibilities. “I have so many questions.”
“Keep them to yourself. I grew up in Brighton. Seagulls feature in nearly all my stories.”
“I like Brighton. You still live there?”
“I do.”
“Do you like it?”
“I enjoy the energy of the city. It’s been my home since I was a kid. I don’t know if I could see myself anywhere else. What about you? Where are you based?”
He twists his lips. “I’m from the Cotswolds. But I don’t feel like I have a home anymore. I’ve been here there and everywhere for so long now. More recently I was staying in the townhouse in London that my band and I bought years ago as a base for when we were in the studio. It was kind of lonely to be honest.”
“The band weren’t there?”
He frowns. “No.”
He goes back to picking at his slice after this, so I seize the moment to phone the cruise company. I give up after the sixth ring when they don’t answer and try the insurance company instead. After sitting on hold, listening to the elevator music for twenty minutes, they pick up, only to quickly inform me that I didn’t pay the additional surcharge to cover abandonments.
Excellent.
We’re truly on our own.
We talk until Gus decides an evening walk will do us good. We amble the streets of Split with full belliesand a relaxed feeling in our bones, knowing we’re going to make it to the port in time to catch the cruise again tomorrow. If anything, it’s a moment of clarity that I wouldn’t have seen the city like this at all if I’d made it back to the ship in time. I’m completely at ease as we walk the cobbled alleyways, listening to the bustling, busy restaurants, with tables lining the walls outside. I allow myself to soak it in.
Gus takes a few pictures, and I pretend not to notice when he snaps a few of me.
On the way back to the BnB, I pop into a small store to stock up on things we need, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, a pack of clean underwear, deodorant and a hairbrush. I’m thrilled to discover my phone wallet app works here. The shop also sells cheap t-shirts, and I gasp dramatically when I find a black one with Just4Summer branding on the front. Four young faces grin enthusiastically, like all their wildest dreams have come true before they’re even older enough to graduate from school.
I hold it up against me, spinning to show Gus. “It’s five euros. What a rip off!”
“Hey, now. I feel like we’re pushing our luck if you wear that. Especially with my face on the front.”
I snort, grabbing an XL so I can wear it like a nightie. “You barely even look like this now. When was this taken? In nursery? Surely, that will make us less suspect. Who walks around in a t-shirt with the face of their companion on it? That’s insane.”
“You’re actually buying it?”
“I’m going to wear it to bed,” I say, thinking nothing of it.
But after I’ve paid at the till and turned back, he’s stood outside the shop again with a cautious look on his face. I pause. “Oh shit. Was that insensitive?”
“Was what insensitive?”
“Me. Buying that t-shirt.”
“No, Sara. That’s…” He licks his lips and forces a smile. “You’re fine.”
TenCruise Location – At sea.Next Port – DubrovnikTime of Arrival – 10:00 (GMT+1)
When we return to the BnB, the owners offer us red wine and practically beg us to sit with them in the courtyard. The old man feeds us with the history of the building and how it’s been in his family for hundreds of years. Always run the same way.
Later on, once the sky has turned a dark navy, littered with stars, we manage to persuade them to give us more bedding, making up a story about being chilly sleepers, despite the nightly temperature here at this time of year being lows of thirty degrees, and Gus sets up on the cold floor as I tuck myself in for the night. I do feel a bit sorry. But then again, I don’t want to share a bed with a stranger. No matter how famous he might be.
We leave the window open, the shutters squeaking when the warm wind whistles through the alleyways.
