Page 65 of Second Chance Summer

He laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of her statement. ‘I am dreading the reviews you’re going to post: I almost drowned, had to cook for the hotel boss and build my own room!’

‘I haven’t had to build my own room,’ she said with a cheeky smirk that sent the temperature soaring. ‘But I am having to build one for Étienne and the girls.’

Sam couldn’t deny this and he was extremely glad of the help. Samphire was a suite, like her own cottage, with a bedroom and separate lounge area. Lily insisted on making up the bed and left a spare duvet and pillows in the sitting room for the twins.

‘Amelie and Tania are going to love sleeping on this sofa bed. I doubt Étienne will get much sleep though. They’ll be hyper with excitement.’

‘You’ll have to take them for a very long walk.’

‘I’d like to take them rock pooling,’ she said.

‘I thought we could have a fire on the beach after dinner, toast some marshmallows, hot chocolate …’ Sam said. ‘Maybe something a bit more exciting for the grown-ups.’

‘That would be fantastic.’ She held up crossed fingers. ‘I just hope the weather stays fine so their flights take off and they can see how lush the islands are.’

On Sunday they worked until lunchtime before Sam insisted that Lily take a break. Already he felt a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders with two cottages complete and thecavalry arriving to finish the third and fourth. Aaron was coming over the following day, along with an electrician and plumber.

Lily had urged him to start advertising all the units on the hotel booking sites. At her instigation, he’d also advertised for a seasonal chef and housekeeper, both locally and more widely on hospitality recruitment sites.

Lily made herself a sandwich for lunch and, at Sam’s insistence, took herself off for a break. He shifted some boxes of slate tiles to Starfish, meaning to finish the stone planter he’d built on the terrace.

He saw her strolling down the slope from the South Hill, wearing her bucket hat, carrying a bag with her sketch pad and paints. She looked relaxed – jaunty almost – and he was glad to see it. A moment later, she vanished amid the foxgloves and bracken.

The temperature rose but he had to push on, so he slathered on more suncream and fetched an old cricket hat of Nate’s. His brother had played for the island team for all of two games before he’d grown bored of ‘having a rock chucked at me’. He’d been a decent batter too, but couldn’t be bothered to stick at it. Only computer games had ever held his interest.

Time ticked by and the sun felt even hotter. Sweat trickled down Sam’s neck and his arms ached but the planter was finished. He swept up debris from the terrace. Once Aaron and his mates had spent a week at the retreat, Starfish would be ready for letting and Sea Holly and Scallop on their way, making a quintet of cottages in all. Maybe hecould even invest the revenue into developing the ruined ones by the bay.

He checked his watch. Wow, it was past four! He picked up his flask for a drink of cool water.

‘Sam!’

Lily’s shout reached him on the terrace. Sam dropped a slate on the ground and took off around the side of the cottage.

There she was: scrambling up the slope from the middle of the island, gasping for breath. He hurtled down to meet her and she flung herself into his arms.

‘What’s happened?’ he said, holding her tightly.

‘I saw it again! In one of the old cottages. This time, it wasn’t just a shadow, I’msureit was a person.’

‘Jesus. A person? It – they didn’t hurt you?’

‘No.’

‘Was it a man or a woman?’ he asked, still holding her, but gently. Her breathing gradually steadied.

‘I’m not sure. I know that sounds silly, but it was just a fleeting glimpse in deep shade. I went inside there to sketch the foxgloves around the hearth and the figure dashed across the open doorway. Itwasa real person, Sam. I shouted after them. Asked who they were. I wanted to go after them but I – I didn’t think it was a good idea, so I just left everything in the cottage and ran up here.’

‘You must have been petrified.’ He swore. ‘I’m going down there to find them right now!’

‘No, please.’

‘Why not?’ he said, his blood boiling at the thought of someone upsetting or even threatening Lily. ‘I’ll have to tellthe police. The chief inspector, Ben, is a friend of mine. He’ll take it seriously.’

‘No – don’t! I don’t think they mean any harm. They probably only want to prank me.’

‘Scaring you isn’t funny!’

Sam folded her to him until her breathing steadied. It felt so good to hold her, to comfort her. She lifted her face away from his shoulder and looked up at him. Too soon, she would pull away from him and this moment would be over, this moment that he wanted to stretch out forever.

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