Page 67 of The Summer Island Swap
‘Cacao House. I think we should go for it.’ Rick looked sideways at me. ‘By the sounds of it your talents are wasted in Best Travel. How much longer will you stay there?’
‘Who knows?’ I said, brightly. ‘It pays the bills. There’s no rush for me to take my career in a different direction. With a mortgage to pay I’d need to think very carefully about change.’
I’d eat plain toast for a year if I had to, to have a job where my input was valued. But I had to keep that to myself for now.
Rick got to his feet, extended a hand and pulled me up. His phone made a vibration noise and he took it out of his pocket and read a text.
His brow tightened and he angrily swiped the message away. ‘Chocolate-making, cookery lessons… we certainly won’t have to worry about those for the next few days…’ His nostrils flared as he retrieved the text and turned the phone’s screen to me.
Rick. Think I forgot to mention. My mate, Jason… This trip is his stag party. Make sure you’ve got plenty of booze in. I’ve done a bit of research. There are a couple of strip clubs on Tortola. If Jason’s Facebook page is anything to go by that might be their sort of thing. We’re probably talking extreme sports. Pub crawls. I trust you’ll get it sorted. Should be fun! Cheers. Lee
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A stag party? In an exhausted daze I went back to camp. Strip clubs and pub crawls? You couldn’t get further away from what Seagrass Island was about.
But this is business, said a voice in my head and I tightened my ponytail. Part of me understood why Lee had grabbed the opportunity to get a booking.
I’d done my best to calm Rick. Brandon turned up. Said he’d seen stag party holiday at the hotel he and Nia had been working at, on Tortola, so could draw up a list of suitable bars and excursions. It was almost lunchtime by the time the three of us had talked everything through. I left Rick to Skype his gran. I needed to ask Jonas and Benedikt about playing to the guests over dinner, and to tell Malik about the possible rowdiness of the guests he’d offered to take out and how they weren’t actually couples. I quickened my pace.
‘Sarah!’
I lifted the brim of my cap and stared into the distance. Amy stood waving her hand, a towel wrapped around her head. I hurried over and joined her in the shade, by our shack. We hugged.
‘I’ve hardly seen you all week. Here’s you pulling over-nighters up at the house…’ Playfully she shook her finger. ‘I do hope you took precautions.’
‘Did you really just say that?’ I raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh. ‘I told you, I had a website to design. I’ve hardly slept – and not for the reasons you think. The only viruses I could have come into contact with would have been computer ones.’
‘You haven’t even shared a kiss?’
I cleared my throat. ‘Amy, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to go, you see I need to find Malik to—’
‘Oh. My. Goodness. Things have at least progressed.’ She jumped up and down and punched the air as the towel unfurled like a huge snake and fell onto the ground. ‘I’m so happy for you! He’s compassionate. Intelligent. As for those Calypso hips…’
‘And he lives four thousand miles away from me in England. So don’t get too carried away.’ I picked up the towel and gently whipped her with it, before handing it back.
Amy stuck out her tongue and we both grinned. It was something she’d do to me as a small child if I insisted on holding her hand when we went shopping – or reminded her to wash her hands after using the bathroom. Mum used to do things like that. Anabelle wasn’t clued up at first. I’d understood that, even though I was young. She didn’t have kids of her own. But Dad didn’t get it. I’d found her crying a few weeks after the honeymoon. She muttered something about being a useless stepmum after failing to keep us both supplied with clean school shirts and neither of us much liking her cooking. So Amy helped me bake her a cake. It was wonky and the buttercream ran but it made her cry again. She even ate a big slice, knowing Dad wouldn’t have approved. He made it clear he liked his wife slim.
‘How are things going with Jackie?’
Amy dragged a brush through her knotted hair and talked about cleaning out the animal enclosures. She hung her towel on a line we’d hooked up, leading from our shack to a nearby tree. We walked to the canteen.
‘I found a frog near the boa enclosure,’ she said. ‘It moved slowly and its eye looked odd. I reckon it’s been bitten by something – a mongoose perhaps. It was lucky not to have been eaten. One was brought into the surgery once. It had been bitten by a dog. Like that frog, its eye had become infected, so I asked Jackie if there was a suitable tank we could keep it in and if she stocked the relevant eye drops.’ She stopped for a moment. ‘It felt good, you know? Realising I could help this creature without anyone telling me what to do…’ Her cheeks pinked up.
Yes, you’re a vet in the making, I said – but only to myself. Observing Rick’s relationship with his brother was giving me a deeper understanding of my relationship with Amy and how I hadn’t fully let it evolve. I needed to let her make her own decisions – and hard as it was, mistakes too.
Lunch was Fungi, a common dish in the Virgin Islands made from cornmeal and okra and served with fish. Not my favourite. I caught Jonas’s eyes and we both wrinkled our noses. We had a form of communicating that didn’t involve words. Right from the first day, we’d felt exactly the same about so many aspects of the island. When I thought back to our arrival, I was amazed at how we’d now settled in. Jonas looked radiant and beckoned me over to where he sat. I hesitated but Benedikt gave me a warm smile. I got my food and headed over whilst Amy sat down next to Helga.
‘I’ve missed you, Schatzi,’ said Jonas. ‘How is the website going?’
Benedikt stacked his and Jonas’s plates and took them away.
‘Never mind my website,’ I whispered. ‘Tell me the latest about you and your favourite Hamburger.’
‘Nothing to tell,’ he said coyly and pushed his dreadlocks away from his face.
‘Have you spoken about your feelings to him?’
He broke eye contact. ‘Not exactly. But Alistair and Greg return to Scotland this weekend so we’ll have more private time.’
