Page 40 of High Season
“I’m just saying, it’s not a big age gap.”
“Alright then. Don’t you think you should be dating someone who isn’t a convicted criminal?”
There’s a glitter behind his eyes. “I always liked a bad girl,” he says, deadpan.
Josie laughs, in spite of herself.
“Come on,” he says, cajoling now. “Give me your number, and I’ll plan something fun for us. I reckon you could do with a night out. That is…” He pauses, a smile spreading out from the corners of his mouth. “That is, assuming you have a mobile phone, of course. You never know, with thirty-five-year-olds, if they’ve caught up with the latest tech.”
“Very funny.”
“Is that a yes?”
She holds out her hand. She’s smiling now. “Give me your number,” she says. “I’ll contact you.”
FOURTEEN
2004
SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Hannah did not have to work on her Oxford application that afternoon.
She was not used to lying to Josie like this.
She always told Josie the truth, even about the stuff she’d be embarrassed to say to anyone else—the fact that she’d once had a crush on their maths teacher, or that she’d once cheated on a history exam and still felt bad about it. And yet, when she had received a text message from Blake that morning, she had known that she would not tell Josie. She had known, somehow, that this was something she wanted to keep for herself.
What are you up to today?the message had read.
Not much, she typed in response.Might go to the beach. Might help out my parents with some diving lessons later.
The reply was almost instant.
You know, I’ve never dived before. Crazy right?
It took Hannah a few minutes to respond to this. A pause as she agonized over the right thing to say. Was Blake hinting that he wanted to go diving with her? Was she reading too much into it? What if she suggested it, and he responded with complete repulsion at the idea they might spend more time together? What if this entire thing was in her head?
I could take you out, if you like?she had eventually replied. Casual. Like it didn’t matter to her either way.
She held the phone tightly in her hand, the screen inches from her face. Holding her breath as she waited for it to light up again.
I thought you’d never ask x
Her parents were late coming back from the dive lesson that afternoon. They were irritable, short with each other as they navigated their nightly ritual of counting the day’s takings. Hannah could tell they’d been fighting again. When she asked if she could take the smaller boat out—the speedboat that they used for private lessons—they were too caught up in their silent grievances to ask why.
By the time she got to the beach Blake was waiting for her. She was out of breath from hauling diving equipment all the way from the shop, her feet catching in the sand in her hurry not to be late. He was dressed in swimming trunks, his chest bare. The suggestion of a tan.
“I thought you’d stood me up,” he called, getting to his feet as she approached. “Here, let me help you with those.”
He jogged over and prized an oxygen tank out of her hands, staggered with the unexpected weight.
“Shit,” he said, laughing. “They’re heavier than I thought they’d be. You must have muscles.”
Hannah wasn’t sure whether having muscles was supposed to be a good thing. The girls she usually saw Blake with were petite, their bodies neat and toned from horse riding and hockey.
“It’s pretty physical,” she said. “Come on, we’re going this way.”
“Aren’t we going in the sea?”
