Page 53 of Will You Stay Another Day?
‘Yes, exactly, so why would I want to get rid of it? Like Em teaching me to drive. I accidentally went right over a mini roundabout once. She got really cross and threatened to stop my lessons. Then there was the time we broke down, in the summer, on a country road. Em’s phone was out of charge and I couldn’t get a signal, so I suggested climbing over a fence and spending the night asleep amongst a pile of haystacks, even though the field stank of cow dung. Colonel Mustard was way too small and cramped. When we woke up, a bull was staring straight at us. We’d never run so fast in our lives.’ She lost herself in the memory for a moment. ‘What about you?’
‘It is very boring, you’ve been warned. I’d just like to give the house a refresh. Modernise the décor, perhaps add a conservatory. The rooms are so dark it can get depressing, especially in the winter.’
She could almost hear him say the words ‘especially without my brother’.
‘I tell you what won’t be depressing,’ said Lili, and she finished the last mouthful of sandwich. ‘A swim back at the hotel. Have you seen the photos? The indoor one is a kidney bean of blue. Cushioned loungers are everywhere, glossy plants too, and these incredible swim-up bars.’
Dylan gave a thumbs-up. ‘You had me at kidney bean. As long as the water isn’t too chilli con carne.’
Lili rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smiling at his joke.
34
In Riviera-turquoise swim shorts, Dylan strolled towards her, softly toned, a guy who didn’t try to look like a model strutting down a catwalk. A group of young women in the pool checked him out as he passed. Oblivious to the admiring glances, he sat down on the lounger next to Lili. He put in his ear pods, closed his eyes, put his hands behind his head and lay back, one leg bent.
Understated. Unassuming. And sexy as hell.
A woman lay on a lilo at the far end of the pool, bobbing up and down. She held a fancy drink with a sparkly cocktail stick in it. Behind the loungers, on the far side, the wall had been designed like a rocky cliff, with a waterfall flowing down that people used as a shower. Palm trees and laughter complemented the background dance music. An oasis of summer in the middle of winter. The air as well as the water was heated. For a second Lili wished she could stay here forever. It was just over a week till Christmas Day and when she got back it would be hectic in the shop, with busy evenings doing last-minute shopping and packing for Manchester.
Dylan stood up, stretched and walked to the pool’s deep end. Easily, he dived in and surfaced at the edge, near Lili’s feet. His torso appeared, water trickling down his pecs, his black hair drenched and curling more now it was wet. Dylan was hot. No doubt about it. Heat smouldered between her legs at just the memory of the night they’d had together.
He clambered out of the pool, did a small run-up and went to dive in again. He couldn’t have seen that the tiled floor was wet.
He slipped, at speed.
Falling backwards, Dylan managed to straighten up but then another slip threw him forwards. As he skidded to the edge of the pool his ankle twisted and both legs gave way. He toppled headlong and fast, into the water.
It felt like minutes, but seconds later he surfaced and pulled himself to the side, spluttering. To save him any embarrassment Lili looked away, focusing on a magazine that had been left on her lounger.
But there was shouting. Wait… What was going on? She looked up. Where was Dylan? Lili rubbed her head as the lifeguard jumped in and disappeared beneath the water’s surface. She couldn’t see Dylan.
Shit! No. No, no, no. Lili got to her feet.
He must have gone under again, must have suffered some sort of… of… heart attack? But he couldn’t have; he was only young. The lifeguard soon resurfaced, with Dylan in his arms. She ran over to help, risking slipping herself, but another guard appeared and the two of them got him onto the side.
The kiss of life? That meant…
Was that water running down her face or tears? She wiped her eyes, kneeling by Dylan’s legs as the lifeguards continued to work on him. This was like a scene from a tragic movie.
The prospect of Dylan not being around any more left her heart shattered in pieces…
Heart pulsating, Lili shook herself and sat up on the lounger. When Em first died, when the shock was still raw, Lili would play out traumatic scenes like this, in her head, about other loved ones, and they felt so real, had been so vivid. Dad in a car accident. Mum getting cancer. She’d torture herself with these imaginings, afraid of losing someone else. It only happened with people she felt really deeply about and hadn’t happened for months now.
Not until now. Not until Dylan.
As he got out of the pool and came over, Lili could deny it no longer – here was a man she wanted to have a grounded, long-term… loving relationship with. No more pretence. Not about Em. Not about Harry. And not about her true feelings for this man who’d entered her life and shaken it upside down as if making a cocktail full of fizz, full of flavour, full of zest for the next chapter. Lili could see now that she’d had a committed, platonic relationship with Em – and that had been fucking brilliant. So this could work with Dylan, right? If he felt the same? If he saw her as more than a friend, than a business contact?
Dylan picked up his towel and bent over her, shaking his head so that water drops fell onto Lili’s dry skin. The two of them laughed.
Heart spinning like a roulette wheel, her decision was made.
Before they left Las Vegas, she’d share her true feelings with him.
35
A 6 a.m. start wasn’t what you normally expected from a holiday, especially when you were still a bit jet-lagged, but it was several hours to get to the Grand Canyon. They’d leave Nevada and enter Arizona. Lili and Dylan were given bottles of water as they clambered onto the coach that picked them up outside their hotel, in the dark. On the journey, the guide handed out a breakfast menu. The trip included a stop-off at a canteen. Dawn arrived as they sped through the desert, along the dusty route, punctuated by the occasional small settlement. Dylan fell asleep, his head resting against her shoulder. She didn’t move an inch, not wanting to disturb him, glad to see him catch up on sleep – he looked so tired, so strained, and obviously hadn’t slept much since their fallout. And then they’d stayed up late last night, after dinner, talking in one of the hotel’s bars about work, family, Christmas, Cornwall, Devon… Effortless chat over a couple of margaritas. Despite the pull of pancakes again, when they took a break from the journey, they both chose eggs sunny side up and hash browns, with black coffee – the full American experience. Egg yolk dribbled down Dylan’s chin and Lili leant forward to wipe it with her napkin. Her fingers brushed against his stubble and they tingled. Did he feel it too?
Rays of sunshine greeted them as they emerged from the canteen, reenergised. They climbed back on board the coach, fully awake now. This leg of their trip passed much more quickly, and they arrived at an official entrance point. After parking up, they queued for a shuttle bus that ran on loop and took visitors to Eagle Point first, ten minutes away, where the Skywalk was located to allow people to discover the Grand Canyon West Rim. The Skywalk was a large, glass, horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge that stuck out over the canyon, which was one mile deep. Lili was glad she’d layered up, as the air had a crisp bite. The bridge even had a glass bottom and was owned by the Hualapai Indian tribe. They sold gifts nearby and performed traditional dances.
