‘From where?’
‘Crewing for Jim Kelley. We head out first thing tomorrow.’
He sighed, looked out towards the open sea. ‘I worry when you’re out there.’
‘I’ll be fine. Jim’s been doing this a long time.’
‘Call me when you get back.’
‘I will.’
35
MAE
‘So wait, let me get this straight.Youspent the other night in a pop-up tent on top of a truck that was parked near the edge of a cliff, in a raging thunderstorm, with a man who looks like he should be on the cover of a Viking magazine, making sweet, sweet love under fairy lights, and you’re only just telling me about thisnow.’
I laughed at the indignation in Holly’s voice. ‘I needed time to process it myself. I kept convincing myself it couldn’t possibly be real, because it was so fucking incredibly romantic and the kind of thing you normally only read about. Or watch in a Reese Witherspoon rom-com.’
‘I loved her inSweet Home Alabama.’
‘Oh my God, me too. And Josh Lucas. His blue eyes? Mm.’
‘Agree. Anyway, back to you. How was it?’
‘How was what?’ The coffee machine finished dispatching coffee into my little mug, so I took it and wandered over to the cottage window, admiring the stillness of the early morning. A great blue heron was wading in the shallow water, ripples fanning out around it as it searched for food.
She sighed theatrically. ‘Don’t make me beg.’
‘It was…’ I sighed dreamily. ‘Amazing.’
‘I’m going to need more than that.’
‘It was better than I ever knew it could possibly be.’
‘You’re not going to go into specific details, are you?’
‘No, I’m not.’
She sighed again. ‘It’s very hard to live vicariously through someone when they’re deliberately vague.’
‘Sorry.’
‘It’s fine. My imagination can probably fill in the blanks.’
‘Doubt it. Think the most incredible sex you can think of, and then multiply that by ten.’
She was silent for a while. ‘I hate you.’
‘I know.’
‘Iloveyou, but I hate you.’
‘I understand.’
‘I am happy for you though. You deserved a good shagging after Nick. That guy was selfish with a capital W.’
‘W?’
