Funny to think he could still read my mind after all this time – almost. That he knew me and didn’t know me at the same time. How had it all gone so wrong? To have been on such a level together and now back to being strangers.
‘I was thinking about us running over the coals,’ I said, lying through my teeth.
‘Really?’ he said, a sly smile on his lips. ‘Did I look good? Did you get a photo?’
I laughed. ‘No. We’re not meant to have our phones, remember? Taking photos would defeat the object of it being a personal, physical,visceralexperience. An inner journey.’
‘Yeah, but it’s nice to put it on the socials though, eh? Show everyone how it’s done. Hashtag serenity. No – I’ve got it – hashtag life coals.’
I snorted with laughter. ‘Too blessed to be stressed.’ Our neighbour’s favourite hashtag – who was alwaysverystressed.
‘You’ll just have to keep the mental image in your mind.’
Mark slung his arm around me like he’d done a million times before, and I turned and kissed him likeI’ddone a million times before. My muscle memory taking over. It was the same old familiar kiss, but it only lasted a second before Mark jumped back and pushed me away.
‘What are you doing?’ he said, his face full of panic. ‘Sorry, Sara, I shouldn’t have sat so close. This isn’t what I want.’
‘Oh! No, nor me,’ I said, sitting up and shaking my head. I’d been snuggled and cosy and wasn’t really thinking. Mark’s arm had felt so familiar and I was like a coiled spring after being so close to Henrik. ‘Let’s pretend it didn’t happen.’
He was suddenly very sober. ‘I thought we were good?’
Mark saidgoodin the same tone Mum saved fordairyas a lactose-intolerant.
‘We are. Calm down, it was an accidental kiss. And you made the first move, with the old arm-around-the-shoulders trick!’
He pulled himself out of the hot tub. ‘It’s late. I’m going to bed.’
‘Bloody hell, Mark! Overreaction, much? It’s not like we haven’t kissed before.’ What was I doing? And more to the point – what was Mark doing in my hot tub in the middle of my holiday? Auto-kissing the ex-husband was never a good look, but it was all Henrik’s fault for giving me the horn. And on top of the alcohol and the high of firewalking, I’d been completely discombobulated – in the worst possible way.
