Page 13 of The Island of Hopes and Dreams

‘Is there ever a good reason to punch someone?’ Rhys clenched his jaw. ‘I’ve never done anything like that before, but I was incensed. And drunk?—’

‘That’s never a good combination, as you well know from my vomiting incident.’

‘No, it wasn’t and maybe I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did because it showed me as the bad guy. I can’t say I was happy about Freddie being with Zoe – my ex – but it was the fact I found out she’d cheated on me with him when we’d been together at university that threw me. I flipped.’

‘And now you’re all here together with you feeling shit about the way you reacted and them parading their relationship in front of your face.’ He was in an impossible situation and Lola really felt for him.

‘And we’re all staying in the same villa together. I know it’s a seriously big villa, so it’s not as if we’re going to be on top of each other all the time – so to speak,’ he grimaced, ‘but there’s no getting away from them. Fabs suggested I could stay with them here, but it’s just the family. It wouldn’t feel right.’

‘And why the hell should you be the one to be treated any differently when you haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘Except the punch.’

Lola waved her hand. ‘I’d have done the same. In fact, there’s an ex of mine I’d quite happily do that to…’ She trailed off as the thought of Jarek and how he’d treated her came crashing into her head. She didn’t need to go spinning off on that; dwelling on his behaviour and how easily she’d been taken in by his lies. She needed to turn her focus to living in the moment and enjoy the experience of being on Sardinia. Focusing on what she had and taking her life into her own hands was what she’d promised herself since leaving him. So why couldn’t she do that now? An idea was beginning to form. ‘Do you know what we should do.’ She slapped her hand on her maxi-dress-covered thigh. ‘Team up.’

Rhys’s eyebrows furrowed. ‘Team up how? I can’t erase Freddie and Zoe being here, although maybe I can have a word with your friends, suggest they give you some space, but I’m not sure if that’ll help.’

‘Team up in the sense of being together.Pretendingto be together. A fake relationship. Like they do in romance novels and romcoms. We pretend we’ve hooked up tonight.’ Lola turned to face him, the idea growing, along with the possibility that it might actually work to help them both. ‘It would show your ex that you don’t give a shit that she’s here with one of your friends, that you’ve moved on from her, while it’ll get my friends off my back and stop them trying to set me up with whichever Italian takes their fancy. I don’t want to make a fool of myself again.’

Rhys nodded slowly, and she could tell he was thinking it through.

‘And what do we mean exactly by hook up?’

‘We kissed.’ Lola shrugged. ‘But an epically good kiss, mind, because of course that is how it would be if it had happened for real.’ She laughed, although inside she was squirming, wondering if he was thinking she was mad to be suggesting something this crazy. Perhaps he’d laugh in her face and head back to the party to his cheating friend and his ex – he might think that preferable to spending time with a deranged woman.

‘That might work,’ he said slowly, making her insides less squirmy. ‘Although it’d be more convincing if we disappeared for the rest of the night.’

‘Make everyone wonder.’ Lola grinned. ‘I like it!’

‘They might notice we’re both gone and put two and two together?—’

‘Which will get the rumour mill going. We’re genius at this.’

‘So, um, shall we get a taxi back to the villa?’

‘For a nightcap and a pretend snog.’ Lola stuck out her hand. ‘We have a deal.’

Rhys took her hand and shook it firmly. They grinned at each other.

He wasn’t a dark and brooding Italian, but he had soulful eyes and was easy to talk to. It would be no hardship to pretend stuff had happened so they could control the narrative. She wanted to be left alone to soak up the sights and experience Sardinia, not think about men or mistakes. Rhys seemed to be on the same page, so they might just have fun, playing the game their way. Perhaps she’d even gain a new friend.

7

Rhys could see why Lola and Mirabel were friends. They had the same sparkling personality and there was something intriguing about them both. The first time he’d met Mirabel, he’d understood why Fabs had fallen for her so hard. As for Lola, she was likeable, upbeat and confident, but her beauty put her way out of his league. Zoe was pretty, but Lola was beautiful in an understated way. Zoe always tried too hard. Okay, perhaps he was being bitter because of the way two of his supposed friends had behaved behind his back. This pact with Lola would give him a barrier to hide behind, plus it would be no hardship to spend time with her; Lola’s openness was refreshing and he’d felt at ease chatting to her. He liked talking one on one. He often felt lost and unheard when in social situations. Pretending that something had happened between him and Lola, though, might put them firmly in the limelight, but at least the attention would be turned away from him being alone and heartbroken.

Leaving without saying goodbye and ‘grazie’ to Giada and Lorenzo felt brazen, but Lola was right that the two of them disappearing would get the rumour mill going.

He’d called a taxi before they’d left the jetty, then they’d snuck out through the garden, skirting the long way round to avoid the groups of friends spilling onto the lawn in front of the terrace. Lola had nipped inside to grab her bag, then they were in the taxi and zooming the short distance down the coast to Villa Capparis and back to the air con. Hopefully it would be an easy story to sell, that they’d become swept up in the romanticism of the evening and the location, because it was stunning, not just Fabs’s family home, but the island itself, a jewel in the Mediterranean.

‘It’s weird being the only ones here,’ Rhys said as they strolled into the empty central living area with its patio doors that opened directly onto the garden.

‘I could get used to it.’ Lola went over to the bar and rummaged for glasses. She pulled out a bottle of wine from the fridge. ‘You like white?’

‘I’ll have whatever you’re having.’

Lola opened the bottle and joined him on one of the cream sofas. She poured two generous glasses of wine and handed him one.

‘To our love pact,’ she said as they clinked the glasses together. ‘Let’s give your ex and your bastard friend something to talk about.’

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