Page 70 of Escape to the Sun

‘How have you found the cruise so far?’ April said, her change of conversational direction gentle but her gaze sharp.

‘The ship and the destinations have all been fantastic.’

‘And…? Or should that be but…?’

Hannah frowned. She didn’t want to discuss any of it, had no idea where to start.

April seemed to understand, patting her on the arm before she stood and made to leave. With her stool in one hand and half-drunk mug of coffee in the other, April paused.

‘I’m just going to say I’ve never seen Louis King look as happy as he has lately. I would have expected the captainship to weigh him down, but he seems a lighter, better version of an already great work colleague.’ She shrugged. ‘None of my business, just wanted to say it.’

Hannah managed a thin smile, relieved when April returned her stool to the edge of the gallery space and left her alone.

Ruth could get used to this life. Another day, another beach – and with her children, Nathan’s new friend, Keisha, and Teddy, Ruth thought she could do this forever.

Obviously, she’d have to win big on the lottery or rob a bank – maybe a French museum full of priceless gems she could pinch using little more than a ladder, a glass cutter and a lot of front. She grinned at the idea of herself shoving tiaras and diamond necklaces into a swag bag, before shinning down a drainpipe.

Maybe not. Her upper body strength hadn’t ever been anything to write home about. And it would be a challenge to scarper from the gendarmerie on a broken ankle.

Today they hadn’t strayed far from the cruise ship terminal. St Vincent seemed dominated by its mountainous centre and a monster volcano to the north. Dense rainforest covered large swathes of the island and Ruth was more than happy to spend a large proportion of the day lounging around on a decent beach with the prospect of a drink or two and a grill lunch from the beach club situated at the top of the sand.

‘I could do this for another month,’ she said, pinching herself at the realisation she was spending Boxing Day on a Caribbean island.

‘If I didn’t have to get back to the business, I’d agree with you,’ Teddy said.

‘How is the world of garden design these days?’ Ruth asked.

‘Busy – I took on two more people last year to cope with the demand for fencing. Long may folks continue to want their leylandii hedges removed in favour of laurel. And I recently branched out⁠—’

‘Ha ha!’

‘Too much?’ he said, squinting in her direction.

‘Never,’ she said.

‘I’ve branched out into hiring out machinery, so people can have a go at doing stuff for themselves. Obviously, the hope is they mess it up and then get us to sort it out – double win. It’s going well so far. Dull, I know.’

‘You’re not dull, Ted.’

‘Well, I always did find you the easiest person to talk to – I could tell you anything with no fear of judgement. And I thought you could do the same with me. Which was why I couldn’t believe it when we split. I would have forgiven you anything, Roo, if only you’d let me.’

‘Do you mean that? What if you’d got five years down the line and started worrying what I was up to every time I went out? Because I think it would have been unfair to expect you not to.’

‘I loved you with all my heart, Ruth. Do I really have to spell it out for you? And meeting you here, now, it seems like it was meant to be. You know?’

Ruth nodded. She did. It was exactly how she was feeling too.

Teddy reached across, taking hold of her hand in his and squeezing. Ruth smiled, and in unison they tipped their faces towards one another and kissed.

36

Although Hannah knew she couldn’t spend the rest of the cruise hiding in the art gallery, she had no idea how she was going to navigate her way through the remainder of the trip.

She’d boomeranged from thinking of Ian as someone who had let her down badly enough to wipe him from her life, to checking her phone with increasing regularity to make sure she hadn’t missed a call from him. It was making her head spin.

The spinning only increased when she thought about Louis and tried to work out how she truly felt about him. Was it nothing more than a moment in time, as Ruth had suggested? Had she been swept up by his uniform and his deliciously sparkly eyes; had her inhibitions fled purely because he was gorgeous and fun and sexy as hell – or did she feel a deeper connection with him?

Had she done the classic rebound with the nearest attractive and available man? Or did Louis mean more? Maybe the real question was, could he mean more to her than Ian?