Page 39 of Escape to the Sun

Louis, dressed casually in a grey T-shirt and chino shorts, adjusted the backpack slung over a shoulder as he headed across the restaurant space, looking around before his gaze settled on their table, on her. He smiled, broad and bright, before he shut down the expression, exchanging it for an expression of uncertainty.

Ruth stood abruptly, greeting Louis before turning to the table.

‘Right, kids. Time’s a ticking. We’ll clear these plates, and we’ll see you in the foyer in a minute, Hannah. OK?’ She hustled her children away, Nathan shoving the remnants of his chocolatey toast into his mouth as he swept the empty sachets onto his plate and shuffled off.

Louis stayed put, impossibly tall from where Hannah was seated and far enough from the table to reinforce his obvious uncertainty.

‘I know it’s a bit last minute,’ he said, ‘And I know we didn’t actually make any firm plans for St Maarten, but I’ve got some time, and I thought… I wondered if…’

Louis did his best to hide his nerves by standing tall and pretending he didn’t care if her reply was negative. The seconds that lapsed before Hannah replied seemed to stretch in a way he remembered it doing when he was negotiating the start line-up for a boat race, back when seconds mattered, when every move to bring the boat as close to the start line as possible before the hooter blew could make the difference between a flying start and playing catch-up the whole race.

It was like the wait he’d endured before he discovered he’d been accepted as temporary captain of the Ballygowan.

The knot in the base of his belly felt the same as it had in those circumstances. Times where, regardless of how much he tried to brazen it out, the outcome really mattered to him. The sensation made him frown when he realised he hadn’t felt like this when he’d asked Annie out for the first time, all those years ago – feelings like this had come later. She’d been the only other unknown outcome he’d ever cared about to a similar extent.

Hannah didn’t smile straight away. And for a heart-stopping moment he thought she was going to tell him she’d rather he didn’t come ashore with her.

Then she edged from the seating, dragging her bag with her as she stood and squared up to him. His mouth went dry as she stared at him with those large almond eyes, framed by impossibly long lashes.

‘I’ve visited St Maarten before, so I could be a useful tour guide.’

He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to market himself harder, except he wanted her to say yes, regardless of the selling point. Wanted to go ashore and have some time together not cut short by the demands of his job.

She smiled, shy at first and then more convincingly as he smiled, too.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t caught up with you before now, but⁠—’

Hannah shook her head. ‘I should apologise to you, not the other way around. I drank far too much at that dinner. I was a mess, Louis, and I’m surprised you’ve come back for more. I’d run a mile, if I were you.’

‘I’m not that fit these days,’ he said, his smile becoming wry.

Hannah’s eyebrows arched, managing to highlight her gorgeous eyes even further as she grinned. ‘You look pretty fit to me.’

Glancing away, she drew the strap for her bag over her head and settled it across her body, her brow furrowed, and her cheeks turned a delicious shade of pink when she looked at him again.

‘How is it I always manage to say the wrong thing around you?’ she asked.

He went for a flippant answer, regretting its lack of depth almost as soon as the words had left his mouth. ‘Sounded good to me. I’ll take a compliment from you all day long.’

Her frown intensified and she paused, staring at him. ‘What’s going on here, Louis?’ she said.

Louis took in a long breath as he considered the layers involved within her question.

‘I don’t know, Hannah. But I do know I’d very much like to find out.’

‘Did you know that St Maarten is part French and part Dutch?’ Millie said, head bowed over Hannah’s travel guide in the back seat of the rental car.

Hannah was squashed in the central back seat, sandwiched between Millie and Nathan, while Ruth was in the front beside Louis, who had suggested he could drive them all, as he wasn’t intending to drink anything alcoholic.

‘Which bit of the island are we in?’ Nathan asked.

‘This southern part is Dutch,’ Louis said. ‘It’s the busier side of the island.’

‘So why are we heading to the north?’ Nathan asked.

‘Because Mum wants to go to the fort to see the view,’ Millie said, her tone suggesting Nathan was being stupid.

The exchange between the siblings continued across Hannah, heating up when Nathan called Millie a brat, to which she retaliated, saying she’d rather be a brat than a prat, because that was what he was. The insults intensified and threatened to boil over until Ruth called a halt, her own voice spiralling as she shouted at them to shush.