Page 17 of Someone in the Water
Izzy’s warning comes back to me.How she saw Salvo talking to dodgy men in the middle of the night. ‘I need to go,’ I blurt out, not wanting to hear more. I turn towards the beach bar, my need to pee forgotten, but Salvo reaches for me. His fingers curl around my wrist and it makes me want to run even more. But my feet won’t move.
‘I didn’t mean to scare you,’ he says, his breath warm on my skin. ‘I will always protect you, Francesca, for your dad’s sake.’
‘From what?’ I manage.
‘Hey! Frankie! Is that you?’
I look up. Relief floods through me. ‘Dom!’ Normally I keep Dom at arm’s length on a night out. He always gets drunk and plays a stupid joke that only he finds amusing. But right now, I love the familiarity of his slurring voice. ‘Over here!’
‘You need to trust me, Francesca. I promise.’ Salvo releases my wrist, then twists in the sand, his gnarled bare feet catching the moonlight as he disappears up the beach.
‘I was looking for Izzy; she was supposed to get us some wine.’ Dom pauses, a hiccup making his chest jump, as his eyes narrow. ‘That looked a bit intense.’
‘Huh?’ My brain is stuck on a loop. Salvo’s words spinning around in my head.I didn’t mean to scare you. I will always protect you. You need to trust me.
Suddenly a physical urge swamps me, a need to be distracted from the strange old man and Izzy’s warning about him. Without thinking, I reach out for Dom, slip my arms around his muscular torso, pulls him towards me, rest my head on his chest.
‘Well, hello,’ Dom says, his voice somewhere between confused and thrilled.
‘Don’t talk,’ I instruct quietly. Then I tilt my chin, lean in closer, and shut my eyes as our lips connect.
Frankie
22nd June
As my eyes open, I feel a rush of panic. Where am I?
I draw in a breath, and hold it, as memories from last night flash up. My conversation with Salvo. Dom appearing from nowhere. Wanting his physical reassurance. Kissing him. Saying yes when he invited me back to his room.
I turn my head, slowly, silently, against the pillow. Dom is fast asleep next to me. As quietly as possible, I peel back the sheet and slip out of bed. I inwardly cringe at my nakedness, but it’s not a shock. It might have been the alcohol that made sex with Dom seem like a good idea, but I was sober enough to know what I was doing.
I pull my crumpled dress off the floor and over my head, then pick up my underwear and sandals, and tiptoe to the door. The lock makes a clunking sound as I turn it, and I freeze, my heart hammering. Of course it’s ridiculous. Dom and I work together, spend up to ten hours a day on a boat that’s less than three metres wide. I will have to face him at some point. But I need a shower and a fresh pair of knickers first.
I yank the door open, close it quickly behind me, and scamper down the corridor. Izzy starts squealing as soon as I walk into our room.
‘Oh my God, Frankie! You minx. It was Dom, right? That’s where you’ve been? Why the hell did you sleep with that loser?!’
I groan and drop onto my bed.
‘I thought you found him annoying. Isn’t he always playing stupid jokes on you?’
The mix of disapproval and confusion on Izzy’s face makes my cheeks burn. ‘It was kind of an impulsive thing,’ I mumble, sliding my underwear under my pillow before she notices. I don’t want to mention the role Salvo played in my decision to launch myself at Dom. Not because I don’t trust Izzy, but sleeping with Dom because Salvo scared me isn’t a great look.
‘So it was just a one-off?’ Izzy asks. ‘A drunken mistake never to be repeated?’
‘Yeah, of course,’ I say, smoothing down my dress. I don’t know why I feel uncomfortable about saying that. Dom is annoying, but he was a gentleman last night. Respectful, generous. I feel a bit weird about just brushing him off.
‘Well, we’ve all made those in our time. Don’t worry about it.’ Izzy gives me a sympathetic smile, then leans over and kisses the top of my head. ‘But you do need to make it clear to him that you’re not interested. Men can be a bit slow when it comes to opinions they don’t want to hear.’
I sigh, as silently as I can manage. I don’t want to have to deal with the fallout at all, let alone address the issue head on. ‘We need to work together though,’ I say. ‘So I can’t be too harsh.’
‘But you don’t want to lead him on either,’ Izzy presses. ‘What’s that English saying? You must be cruel to be kind?’ She’s wearing her usual wide smile, but there’s a hardness in her eyes. It highlights our age difference, I think, how Izzy has eight years more life experience than me.
‘I guess I should get ready for work,’ I say, not wanting to think about Dom, or Salvo, or what I do or don’t regret anymore. ‘And I need a shower first.’
Izzy looks at her watch – a navy-and-white Swatch Scuba that I desperately wanted for my birthday but knew there was no point in asking for because it was too expensive. ‘Well, you’ve got five minutes, so you better hurry up.’
Amazingly, I’m only a few minutes late for work, and there are no guests hanging around the waterfront when I arrive – clearly it wasn’t just me who enjoyed the summer solstice party. I’m leaning on the desk, checking the water-skiing sign-up sheet, when someone taps me on the shoulder. I twist around.
