Page 17 of Escape to the Sun

‘I certainly do,’ he said, eyebrows arching as he remembered. ‘There was a lot of blue in her painting, sea and so on. Some of it ended up on⁠—’

‘On the back of your shirt…’ Hannah grimaced, her guard dropping again. ‘I’ve been feeling guilty about that ever since. I should have stopped you and said something, but…’

‘Don’t worry about it. The laundry service on the Ballygowan is staffed by miracle workers; you’d never know it had happened.’

‘Well, that’s a relief. Anyway, if you’ve forgiven her, Millie – that’s her name – is desperate to meet the ship’s cat. Is that something you could organise for her?’

‘I’m sure we can sort something out. Is she on board with her parents?’

‘Her mum and brother.’

‘Let me see what I can do. What are their cabin numbers?’

‘They’re all in one cabin, on deck 3. More than that I don’t know.’

‘Surname? We can look up their cabin number.’

Hannah pulled an embarrassed face. Louis grinned. ‘You don’t know?’

‘They are extremely new friends. Without them I’d be completely alone on this ship.’

The frown was back, and Louis itched to ask her what had happened to make her cruise on her own. But he was almost certain she’d view it as a massive overstep. He barely knew her. And if he’d learnt one thing from his latest disastrous relationship, with Serena – a whirlwind of a few months, which had concluded abruptly when she’d found someone she far preferred to him, and had dumped him after criticising his well-meaning attempts to show an interest in her life that she’d interpreted as him being a nosy bastard – it was not to ask unwelcome questions.

‘No. Fair enough – I’m sure we can work it out.’

‘What’s taking so long with my wine?’

Someone else slotted themselves into the mix, an older woman with short hair and an open, expectant expression. When the new arrival noticed him, her eyebrows lifted.

‘Oh, hello, Captain.’ The woman grinned, almost laughing as she added, ‘Nearly said “hello, sailor” but that’s completely inappropriate, so it’s as well I stopped myself in time. Usually, I’d have just blurted it out and embarrassed myself, so this is progress.’

It took a while for Louis to absorb the words, which came fast and unfiltered, and made Hannah laugh.

‘This is Ruth – Millie’s mum,’ Hannah said.

‘Millie with the paintbrush and a penchant for cats?’ Louis asked.

‘The very same. I’m mortified about the shirt, by the way. Was it ruined?’ Ruth said, reaching through for her glass of red.

‘Not at all. I was telling Hannah about the superb laundry we have on board.’

‘You’re stood here with a beautiful young woman and you’re talking about laundry? No wonder you’re single…’ Ruth took a mouthful of wine as her new friend chastised her with a look, colour flooding Hannah’s cheeks. ‘Apologies. The post-fifty collapse in any functioning filtering system from brain to voice box is both a blessing and a curse.’

Louis smiled. He liked this woman, lack of filter and all. ‘I’d love to invite you and your children to visit the bridge, and to meet Portus the cat, if you’d like?’

‘Millie would love that – we all would. Thank you,’ Ruth said.

‘Let me have your surname and we can organise an invitation.’

Ruth pulled in a deep breath. ‘It’s Herring. I know, I know – you don’t need to say anything. Awful. A bit like the bloke who gave it to me. But that’s a whole other can of worms. Cabin 33-42.’ She glanced between him and Hannah, her eyebrows arching again. ‘Do you know what, I’m feeling rather tired, and I think I should go and check the kids have made it back to the cabin. I’ll leave you to it.’

‘But you’ve only just started your wine,’ Hannah said.

‘Easy fix,’ Ruth said, necking the rest of the glass. She slid it onto the bar and turned to go, glancing back with a twinkling expression. ‘And FYI, Captain – Hannah’s single too.’

11

Hannah woke the next morning to the arrival at their first port. The beautiful sunshine and the glorious green landscape of the Azores. It had been odd, trying to pack for this trip when the weather had been so grey and damp at home.