Page 40 of Escape to the Sun

‘Lord, give me strength,’ Ruth said, a hand at her brow. ‘I’m so sorry, Hannah. And in the presence of the captain of our ship, kids? Really?’

‘It’s fine,’ Louis said, grinning as he glanced in the mirror. For a second, Hannah thought he’d winked at her, but it could have been a trick of the light.

‘Go on a cruise, they said. It’ll be restful and fun, they said…’ Ruth rolled her eyes and the kids fell silent, Millie’s nose back in the guidebook, Nathan staring at the middle distance from the window.

At the fort, parking proved straightforward, and once the kids had climbed from the car, Hannah got out, pulling her bag from the footwell and threading it over her head.

‘You kids ready?’ Ruth asked. When she was satisfied with an enthusiastic nod from Millie, and a half shrug of agreement from Nathan, she headed off with tour guide determination. Louis lingered and Ruth turned. ‘See you guys up there, yes?’

Hannah nodded, and Ruth grinned, taking the first series of steps like a mountain goat.

‘Slow down,’ Nathan said. ‘You’ll have a stroke or something.’

‘I will not. Perfectly fit,’ Ruth said, bounding up the next group of steps, her kids following in her wake.

Hannah took the first few low-profile steps at an easier pace than Ruth. She knew what Ruth was doing, creating space, and Hannah decided to take advantage of that, meandering her way up the easy gradient pathway, taking her time to look out at the ever-improving view over the town of Marigot and the harbour beyond.

Louis seemed in no hurry, either. When she paused to adjust the strap on her bag, easing it to a more comfortable position, he stopped beside her, hands on hips with his gaze on the horizon.

‘This is lovely,’ she said. With bright sunshine flooding the scene, the sea glistened as though lit from beneath, mid-sized yachts moored in the deeper water.

‘I’m not sure I could live anywhere too far from the sea,’ Louis said, his gaze on the water.

‘I don’t know if it’s just because I’m on holiday, but I think I know what you mean. Which is weird, because even though I’m only a stone’s throw from the sea at home, I hardly ever go to the coast,’ she replied.

‘But you know it’s there, if you need it.’

Hannah frowned. She’d never thought of the sea in that way, as though it was something to be called upon in moments of need. Although now she thought about it, she had spent some time on a beach when her gran had died. Somehow sitting on the pebbles staring out at the Solent had calmed her grief, given her a sense of peace, as though Gran were still there with her.

She turned to Louis, her frown falling away as his gaze found hers and he smiled.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that before, but you’re right. It’s dependable; it’s never going to change.’

Louis laughed. ‘Unless you’re in a boat, and then it changes all the time. But it is a constant in a larger sense, that’s for sure.’

‘Why can’t people be like that?’ she said.

He drew in a deep breath, as though weighing up what to say. She instantly regretted the question, because it pointed in only one direction – towards her messy situation with Ian.

‘I think the right people are,’ he said. ‘But sometimes finding those people can be a bit of a challenge.’

‘A bit?’ She scoffed a laugh, which then added to her feeling of regret. He wasn’t wrong, but she’d made it sound as though she thought him an idiot.

The summit of Fort Louis was little more than a grouping of ruined granite walls, but with the view that Ruth had been so keen to see making up for any shortcomings where buildings were concerned.

Hannah could see Ruth making the most of a bench further across the space, flanked by some historic canons, her gaze fixed out across the harbour and beyond as Millie and Nathan scrambled over rocks.

Louis ambled across the tufty grass and Hannah went with him, picking her way across the exposed black bedrock.

‘What’s that?’ she said, pointing down to the sea where a circular construction stretched out into the bay.

‘A man-made harbour for some of the yachts, I think,’ Louis said. ‘I believe you can walk along it, too. I don’t think it’s restricted to yacht owners, like some places.’

Hannah screwed her eyes against the sun, bright even though she was wearing dark glasses, not wanting to miss a thing from the sensational view.

Louis pointed to the town below, then off to the left. ‘That’s Marigot, obviously, and that way you can see the airport, and I think that’s Terres Basses beyond – lots of beaches there. And way out in the distance you can just about make out Anguilla, another island.’

‘Where?’ She held the flat of a hand above her eyes, frowning with concentration.