Page 74 of The Summer Island Swap
‘Can’t remember,’ mumbled Jason.
‘I’m sure we turned the key,’ said Steve uncertainly.
‘It was a bolt,’ said Jackie.
‘A heavy one. You’d remember pulling it across,’ said Amy.
‘Come on,’ I said to Rick. ‘Let’s get our shoes on and go and look. He can’t have gone far.’
Nothing else mattered at this moment. Not the success of this week. Not the bigger vision for the hotel venture. Not my unemployment back home.
‘We’ll come. Just let me get dressed,’ said Jason and turned to go inside.
‘You’ve done enough already,’ snapped Rick and he hurried back into the house.
‘Just leave it,’ I muttered to Jason and Steve. ‘I’m sure Chatty will be all right.’
But I was far from sure. He couldn’t see. That made him the perfect prey. What if he’d crossed a snake or fallen into a stream? I shivered, partly due to the temperature that was unusually lower today – but mostly because I felt fearful for Chatty.
I followed Rick in. Amy and Jackie stayed to get more details from the two men.
‘It’ll be all right. We’ll find him,’ I said as he picked up a pair of trainers he’d discarded near the piano last night.
Rick shook his head. ‘I should have never listened to you.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘This stupid hotel idea. I should never have let my gran be persuaded.’
‘I don’t think your granletsherself be persuaded by anyone,’ I stuttered.
‘What was I thinking?’ he continued. ‘Allowing total strangers, who aren’t interested in conservation, onto our precious island – an intoxicated stag party at that? I know you want to move into luxury hospitality at some point in the future, Sarah, but using us to test out what it’s like…’
‘Now, just wait a minute, that’s not fair,’ I said as he bent down and slipped on his trainers. ‘You and I, Lee and your gran – we all talked this venture through.’
‘I got carried away with your enthusiasm. And why the hurry to change direction, anyway? Is your job back in England really that bad?’
‘It’s okay…’ I broke eye contact.
‘Sarah? What aren’t you telling me?’
I met his gaze. I couldn’t hide the truth any longer. Not in the face of what had happened. ‘It’s just that technically, it’s not my job anymore. The manager let me go. She never took on my new ideas and—’
His jaw dropped. ‘What? You’ve been lying all this time…’ He swallowed and muttered something about thinking I was different. ‘I’m all for ambition but this is taking things too far…’
‘What on earth are you talking about?’
‘You… creating your own job, here. What was your next step? To convince my gran that you’d be the perfect person to run this place permanently? Has that been the real motive? Pretending you still have a job back in England so that we wouldn’t suspect that your motives were less about helping us and more about your career?’ He shook his head. ‘Lee would consider your drive admirable but me… why not come clean instead of deceiving me?’
I gasped. ‘No, of course that wasn’t my motive! I just wanted to help. None of that ever even crossed my mind.’
In silence he walked past. I grabbed his arm.
‘You really think I’m just out for number one?’
‘I don’t want to, Sarah.’ His shoulders bobbed up and down. ‘But why not tell me you’d been sacked, right from the start? We’ve talked about your job several times yet you never let on. What am I supposed to think?’
‘I… I didn’t want to worry Amy. That’s why I didn’t mention my sacking right from the beginning. It only happened just before we came here and—’
