Page 64 of The Summer Island Swap
Rick tilted his head slightly.
‘He looked out for you when you were younger as well?’
‘Yes. The older boy next door punched me once. I was at junior school. He was at high school with Lee. He said I’d looked at him in the wrong way. My brother went mad. I don’t know what he said or did but that boy never bothered me again. And I had a car accident when I was eleven. Almost didn’t make it. Lee visited me every day in hospital after school, missing his favourite clubs and getting into trouble for not doing homework. I remember his red eyes. I was asleep one day and heard him whisper that he loved me. After that he was a like a shadow when I went out – like a bodyguard, looking out for me more than ever.’
‘He probably doesn’t want to see you hurt in any way again – trauma like that can be hard to shake off.’
‘You sound as if you speak from experience.’
‘Our… messy childhood is a long time ago, but when I look at Amy, often I still see that young girl who used to get hurt. Perhaps Lee still thinks about the time he almost lost you and pictures his younger brother in that hospital bed, recalling the sense of helplessness he must have felt.’
I’d never forget seeing Mum in hospital at the end. How I sat, holding her hand. Dad wouldn’t let me stay long. He was more clinical than the doctors. I’d studied her petite, slim fingers. The ruby ring that had belonged to her mum. The immaculate nails – I’d never seen them chipped before. The small wrists. She’d longed to get a bracelet tattoo with meaningful charms attached. A cake because she loved baking. A bird due to her love of wildlife. A book because I loved reading. Amy wanted her to get a cat or a dog to represent her. But Dad had scorned the idea and declared she must have been going through an early midlife crisis. I wasn’t sure what that was, at the time, but reckoned he must have been wrong. I thought the tattoo idea was all about Mum’s love for things and people and sounded ace.
I understood Lee. I’d always done whatever I could do protect Amy. It has become an ingrained habit.
I stared at Rick, each of us in an opposite position – older sibling, younger sibling… either way it was complicated.
‘But inviting people over for almost a week to a hotel that hasn’t even been set up yet?’ Rick grimaced. ‘They’ve managed to get their flights refunded. Lee’s got a friend in the travel industry and she found them last minute cheap ones to Tortola. Lee said I was making a fuss over nothing and needed to pull my head out of the sand; that they’d be the perfect guests to test our hospitality skills on, that it would easier for me and that five nights wasn’t long.’
‘Hospitality skills? What even are they without a firm team in place to change beds, make meals, to take them out on excursions and…?’
‘And guess what?’ Rick ran an arm across his brow. ‘They arrive this Thursday. That gives me just three days to prepare.’
29
‘Sarah, wake up.’
The words sounded muffled. I opened my eyes and sat up, focusing on uniformly coloured turquoise waves. Rick’s pool did look inviting. I lay on a wooden beach bed. A lap top snoozed on the floor next to me. I gazed across to the other bed. Rick was stretched out there, head propped up on one hand, stubble beard thicker than usual, shirt ruffled, eyes half-open.
‘I can’t believe we fell asleep out here,’ he said. ‘Brandon and Nia just woke me up.’
They were a married couple who worked for the Crowley family before the hurricane. She cooked and maintained the gardens. Brandon did the housekeeping duties and tended the pool.
‘They’ve been brilliant this week, helping you get this place ready for guests.’ With a yawn I adjusted the bed so that I could sit up.
‘We were sorry to see them leave after the storm but they promised they’d come back when the building work was done and have been working in a hotel on Tortola in the meantime. Lucky for us they weren’t happy there and didn’t have to give notice to leave.’
‘Don’t they mind the extra hours this hospitality venture is going to involve?’
Rick and I had been too busy for chit-chat this week. Both of us had barely slept. Troubleshooting. Cleaning. Panicking. Telling ourselves it was all for the greater good. Jackie managing the conservation volunteers, which was where Rick would much rather have been.
‘No. They haven’t got children and they lived here anyway, with Gran. The gardens need tending all year round and she has a lot of guests – mostly family members but they still need food and beds changing. They just see it as one job – whatever is involved doesn’t seem to bother them.’
‘Brandon’s done well, emptying the pool, cleaning and refilling it.’
‘Yes, and I couldn’t have got the kitchen ship-shape without the two of them, him fitting all the appliances and Nia giving the walls a lick of paint. It’s a bit makeshift but will have to do until these guests have left.’
I yawned again. It was Thursday morning. I couldn’t believe Lee’s friends would be arriving in… I gazed at my watch. Eight o’clock. Their plane landed at Beef Island airport in nine hours.
‘Talking of people being brilliant…’ Rick sat up too and reached out his hand. I slipped my fingers into his, ignoring the electric buzz.
I’d seen a programme, once, about falling in love. The high people felt during those initial months of a love affair was because the brain released chemicals similar to morphine. You soon became addicted. It was nature’s way of guaranteeing our species formed relationships. The pain of a broken heart was a real biological thing caused by the withdrawal of those chemicals once a romance ended. It was finally my turn to experience it.
To help cover his absence Jackie had given Amy responsibilities like supervising the animal feeding. My sister couldn’t have been happier. The long-term volunteers were able to look after the new arrivals. Only a couple had trickled in on Monday. A larger number would be arriving next weekend, coinciding with a group leaving so the overall head count wouldn’t change much.
‘You know me,’ I said. ‘I’ll do anything to avoid the dreaded trail clearing and—’
‘Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down. You’ve been magnificent.’
