Page 6 of Ride the Wave

‘Stop it, you.’

‘There’s more where that came from if you find me a nice room in Burgau,’ I promise her, smiling as she laughs. ‘And, look, I’m not expecting anything fancy or big. Just somewhere clean would be nice.’

‘Leave it with me,’ she says before I thank her profusely and we hang up.

Jumping to my feet, I select an upbeat playlist on Spotify and get back to folding.

‘I want you to try this wine,’ Mum announces, appearing again in my doorway but this time with two glasses of white wine, one of which she passes over to me. ‘A friend brought it over last night for dinner and it really is delicious. A Gavi di Gavi. It’s currently on a deal at Sainsbury’s. What do you think?’

I swirl it around the glass, have a good sniff and take a sip.

‘Very nice,’ I say, impressed.

‘I thought the same. He always gets it right. I wish I knew more about wine, but you know that was your father’s expertise. I should have listened to him when he talked about it. I’m glad you got an interest in it, at least.’

‘Hang on.’ I hold up my free hand to her. ‘Did you say “he” gets it right? Who is this friend who came round for dinner?’

She gives me a pointed look. ‘Don’t, Iris. He really is only a friend. Purely platonic.’

I nod, clasping my glass with both hands. ‘I wouldn’t mind if…’

My sentence trails off; I can’t quite bring myself to say it.

‘Thank you, darling, but I’m not there yet,’ she says simply but firmly. ‘It will be a long time before I’m ready for romance again.’ She pauses. ‘What about you?’

‘Whataboutme?’

‘Any love interests I should know about? You don’t tell me things like you used to.’

‘That’s because I have nothing to tell. Nothing serious anyway. All good fun.’

‘As long as you’re happy,’ she says with a sigh. ‘It’s been a while since anyone really took your fancy; you’ve been keeping them all at arm’s length. Might be a good thing to let someone in for once.’

‘I’m too busy for a relationship.’

This is mostly true.

But it’s also that I prefer to keep my romantic entanglements short and uncomplicated. If I were to analyse that, I might put it down to Dylan, my last long-term boyfriend who broke up with me the day after my twenty-fifth birthday. I was so hungover, I listened to his prepared break-up speech and then promptly vomited into a bin on the street outsideLes Misérables, the matinée show of which he’d booked as my gift. We’d been together for three years and I really did think he was it. But he’d been offered a job in Amsterdam. He didn’t want to do long distance, he said; it would be too hard.

You’re not worth the effortis what he meant.

It was one of the worst days of my life and I didn’t even get to see the show. Dylan took a long time for me to get over and from then on, I’ve protected myself from that pain. Putting yourself in that position – it’s terrifying – and no one I’ve met since has seemed worth the risk.

Mum glances at my open suitcase. ‘I am proud of you, darling, and impressed at how you take these trips all over the world to meet such impressive people,’ she says.

‘You could travel too, if you wanted, Mum. Nothing is holding you back. Now’s the time to… grab life by the balls.’

She rolls her eyes, muttering, ‘Really, Iris, no need to be so crass.’

I can’t help grinning. She’s so prim and proper, she makes it easy to tease her.

‘Sorry, Mum. I’m not wrong, though.’

She sighs. ‘Hm. Anyway, I’ll let you get back to your packing.’ She stops in the doorway, turning back to me. ‘Iris, are you sure this is the right feature for you to take on? A surfer? Only, I know how you are around the sea—’

‘I’ll be fine,’ I assure her, not wanting to think about it.

She watches me carefully, nodding. ‘If you say so.’

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