Page 48 of The Island of Hopes and Dreams

‘Yes,’ Lola said tightly.

Zoe nodded. ‘Good. Rhys is dependable to a fault and will have your back. Until the trust goes, then it’s a different story.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘I don’t know.’ Zoe shrugged. ‘I saw you out here alone. Honestly, I wanted to check you were okay.’ She kicked her sandaled toes through the short grass. ‘I appreciate you all including me tonight. I often feel a bit of an outsider, particularly with women. I’m Fabs’s friend, not Mirabel’s. I’m the token woman when I’ve always felt like one of the lads, even if sometimes I don’t feel a part of the group like I used to. Actually, more often than not that’s how I feel.’

‘You went on the stag do.’

Zoe grunted. ‘And what a mistake that was.’

Lola raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. She hadn’t considered that the stag do might have been as challenging for Zoe as it had been for Rhys. Obviously for different reasons and she was the one who had treated him like shit, but still…

‘Change can be a right ball ache. I had a dead good time at uni, all my friends were men mainly because I did a course where the students were predominately guys. I’ve never really had girl friends, which wasn’t a problem till my male mates got into serious relationships. Barnaby’s wife doesn’t like me; I’m not sure how Mirabel feels, but I figure she’s too nice and polite to kick up a fuss?—’

‘I think she’s pretty secure in herself and her relationship with Fabs to not worry about you.’

Zoe gave a sharp nod and folded her arms. ‘I deserve that. Fabs is a great bloke and someone I never tried to hook up with because, believe it or not, I never fancied him.’

‘You just fancied Rhys and Freddie instead?’

Zoe pursed her lips and let out a long breath into the star-filled night. ‘Actually, yeah, I like down-to-earth guys and both Rhys and Freddie tick that box. And the trouble with being attracted to your mates means it kinda messes up that side of things, and not just with them, but the whole damn group. I see it now with all of them; it’s harder for me to be one of the guys like I used to be. Me and Freddie being together might make things a bit easier, but everyone knows my history, everyone has an opinion and considers me to be the bad guy – or should I say girl.’

‘Perhaps that has something to do with your track record of cheating on Rhys with Freddie?’

The words slipped out, but Lola didn’t regret them; she’d stand up for Rhys not because he’d do the same for her but because she wanted to defend and protect him. She hated the thought of him having been hurt by Zoe as much as she had by Jarek. Neither of them had deserved such destructive relationships.

That Zoe didn’t immediately snap back came as a surprise.

‘I behaved atrociously at uni, towards Rhys at least. We should just have been friends, the same way I was friends with Freddie back then too.’

Lola frowned. ‘You mean friends with benefits? You wanted to have fun with both of them with no commitment or pushback.’

Zoe shoved her hands into the pockets of her summer-yellow dress. ‘But Rhys isn’t built like that. When he’s with someone he’s all in, committed and so loving. I wasn’t ready for that when we were older, never mind as a student.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘Because I get the feeling you’ve had a shitty time of it in a past relationship and I don’t actually want to see Rhys get hurt. Again.’ She gave a weak smile, her eyes tinged with sadness. ‘I really am in love with Freddie; it’s not a stunt to hurt Rhys more than I already have. We have good memories together, it’s just the bad ones have overridden everything else. And I don’t want him to lose Freddie either. We have to move on and be happy. We were once really good friends; that was what our relationship was based on till I fucked it up. I lost his trust and friendship, which I deserve, but I miss him. I miss being his friend. My reaction is to fight back to protect myself and I’ve perhaps said some unfair stuff to him this week that I regret.’

That was news to Lola, but then she remembered the look on Rhys’s face when Freddie had announced his and Zoe’s engagement, so she wondered what else had been said.

‘Broadcasting you were engaged in front of everyone probably wasn’t the smartest move. Even if he says he’s over you, he’s still hurting.’ Lola glanced towards the jetty and remembered Rhys sitting at the end sad and alone. ‘This is probably a conversation you should be having with him.’

Zoe pulled her hands from her pockets, held them up and looked at Lola wryly. ‘Then consider this the start of me making amends.’

28

The lads’ only night at Villa Capparis was like the stag do, but in a more sophisticated setting than a city-centre bar and without as much drunkenness or a punch-up. After a few jolly hours of chatting, sensible drinking and games of pool and cards, by midnight Fabs’s family were in taxis on their way back to Villa Sereno and the friends were all heading to bed, with Fabs crashing on the sofa bed in the pool house.

Not that Rhys could get to sleep with his mind whirring. He presumed Lola had returned with the others when footsteps sounded along the hallway. The door to Zoe and Freddie’s room opened and closed. He briefly wondered how Zoe had coped with a whole evening spent with Mirabel and her friends. Not so long ago, it would have been Zoe returning to his room. To their room. Not that he actually cared any longer. He rolled on to his back and stared up at the dark ceiling. The anger he’d felt at the stag do and then again at the restaurant when Freddie had announced their engagement had dissipated because he knew he was better off without Zoe – he had been since the moment she’d walked out, chucking away a three-year relationship along with their friendship, but it had taken him being in Sardinia to realise. It had taken Lola to open his eyes to the truth.

Lola.

He sat upright in bed. He’d left the blinds open and he could see across the dark garden. The shadowy trees were backlit by moonlight. Lola would have a similar view on the other side of the villa; he wondered if she was still awake, her thoughts churning as much as his.

Rhys took his phone from the bedside table and scrolled through his photos. There were a few more of them together since that first-night selfie. Had his smile become more genuine as the days had gone by? Because of Lola’s influence? He certainly felt lighter inside and his heart brighter, as if he was worthy of being in a relationship again, that he had something to offer someone and space in his heart.

He clicked into messages and onto Lola’s name. As his thumbs hovered over the keypad, he was torn about inviting Lola to his room. Could he be as forward and brave as he’d been last night in the Airbnb? Just because he had enjoyed the hell out of their passionate kiss and fumble, that was all it had been. Perhaps she’d been relieved that it had been cut short. And perhaps he was now overthinking things and worrying about what she thought, when the simple truth was she made him happy in every way.

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