Page 36 of The Lucky Escape

‘He found me,’ Patrick pressed on. ‘He was gone for two whole days, and then on the third day I heard a bark at the front door and there he was, just chilling out, on his own. I tried asking him where he’d been, but he was pretty tired.’

Freddie seemed to understand what he was saying.

‘We’ll find Carol,’ I said, sensing that she was able to actually understand me now she’d relaxed. I’d relaxed too – what Patrick had said had soothed me into submission as well.

‘I’ll go out again now, Annie-Doo. She must be out there somewhere. Dad said he’ll come too, once he’s had his cup of tea.’

‘Perfect.’

‘Okay.’

‘I love you.’

Patrick waved goodbye. ‘Good luck, Freddie!’ he said. ‘Try to think like a dog!’

She smiled and then caught herself, as if she didn’t want to be seen as anything other than devastated.

Once we’d rung off I said, ‘That was very level-headed of you. Thank you.’

Patrick smiled. ‘Are you okay? Are you worried?’

‘I mean, obviously. But there’s nothing I can do from here, is there? She’s a good dog. I just hope she doesn’t try to cross any roads or anything. Surely somebody would see a little thing on her own and look at her dog tag? Or if she didn’t have her collar, they really would take her to the vet’s?’

‘Exactly,’ he agreed. And then: ‘Hug?’

‘Okay.’

Patrick wrapped his thick, strong arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head as I pressed my cheekinto his bare chest. He was warm from the sun, and smelt like coconut. He rubbed my back and I sent a little prayer up to the doggy gods to keep Carol safe, and get her home as soon as possible.

‘Carol will come back to you,’ he said sympathetically. ‘Like Maktub.’

‘I’ve never heard that name before,’ I replied. ‘Maktub.’

‘It’s not really a name,’ he explained. ‘It’s a saying. It’s Arabic forit is written.Sort of a nod to fate. Everything was meant to happen because we were always supposed to be here,’ he said. ‘It was all designed to lead us up to this precise moment.’

‘Maktub,’ I repeated again, still pulled into his chest. ‘I like that. Do you still have him?’

‘Jess and Mark have him, now. They’re retired, so he gets better company with them.’

‘Oh,’ I said.

‘Keep the faith, okay?’

I tugged away from the hug, believing that if Patrick said Carol would be all right, she would be. He dipped to kiss my cheek, doing it with such tenderness that I instinctively reached up to touch where his lips had been. I held my hand there, suspended, before letting my fingers drift back down to my side. He’d already turned away from me to grab a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl we’d been gifted, as if what he’d done was nothing.

It is written,I thought, as he bit into an apple, watching the way his hand wrapped around it, how a tiny speck of juice landed on his bottom lip.

It took me ages to get to sleep that night. I lay in the dark replaying the day. I thought about the way Patrick wore hischecked shirt with two buttons undone on the way to the beach, but with three buttons undone on the way home, a sliver of toned stomach on show through the gap. I tried to remember how close I’d stood to him when I’d put suntan lotion on his back. Had I been an arm’s length away? Or had I been the measure of my own breath, close enough to feel the rise and fall of his body as he inhaled and exhaled?

I’d liked it when he’d told me I looked pretty, but then he’d instantly looked like he regretted saying it, as if he’d already changed his mind at the trick of the light that had made him think so. If I’d have stood on the shore looking at stingrays with Freddie, I might have put my arm around her, but I couldn’t think of another person I’d feel that comfortable with. I’d had to lean in close when he’d read me the paragraph from his book. Before we’d gone to bed he’d found me the poem he’d promised he’d look up, and it was as good as he’d said.

I played all of it over and over in my head, eventually grabbing my phone to message the Core Four.

Greetings from Aus!I typed.Just to say all is good here. Patrick a gentleman, sun unseasonably warm, period has finally come. Carol is missing though, so bit worried about that. Freddie hunting her down. Taking photos analogue so don’t use phone a lot – loads to show you though! Xxxx

I texted Freddie, too, just to say,I love you, Frou. Try not to worry!

When I lay back down I thought I’d toss and turn about the dog, but my mind went straight back to Patrick’s shoulders as he’d propped himself up on the towel that afternoon, the dusting of sand stuck to the backs of his firm, glistening biceps, sweat pooling at the back of his neck as he’d looked out to sea and said there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

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