Page 52 of The Christmas Holiday
‘Don’t watch me. You put me off!’
‘Seriously? You smack me with an oar and it’s my fault?’
‘I was doing all right before.’
‘Maybe you should call Marty over here and get him to show you how to do it again.’ There was an undertone of sarcasm which I wasn’tbig enough to ignore.
‘Maybe I will!’ I said, just to annoy him. Trying to regain my concentration, I swapped sides with my paddle and clobbered him across the back of the neck.
‘Jesus, Mia!’ He wriggled as cold water trickled down his shirt.
‘I’m sorry. I was doing fine until you distracted me!’
‘You OK there, guys?’ Marty paddled a little closer.
‘Absolutely!’ I called back,throwing in a winning smile for added effect.
‘Great! Just give me a shout if you need anything.’
‘Will do.’
‘I bet you will,’ Hunter added.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake. Stop being so bloody macho and ridiculous. Can we not just enjoy the experience?’
‘I’m trying to, but avoiding concussion is taking all of my concentration at the moment.’
‘You’re such a drama queen!’
‘Me?’
‘Yes! I only tapped you a couple of times. It’s not like I… oh! Oh, OK. Admittedly, that was kind of a big one.’ I put my paddle down for a moment. ‘Are you all right?’ Hunter hadn’t said anything yet. Well, apart from the chain of expletives that had drawn a look of admiration from Marty. Everyone was now drifting closer to us to check on the state of my crew mate, who was rubbing theside of his head vigorously.
‘You OK, buddy?’ Marty asked.
Hunter gave him a brief thumbs-up. ‘I’m good.’ The fact he said this through gritted teeth was hard to miss.
‘Are you all right?’ Sandeep asked as their boat drifted close to ours.
‘Mia was doing really well earlier. I’m sure she’ll get it again,’ Liv sweetly added.
‘He put me off,’ I defended myself.
‘Unbelievable,’Hunter muttered before turning a little more in the craft. ‘Do you need to sit further back or something? What the fuck was the oar doing right up by my head anyway?’
‘If you keep yelling at me, it’s going to be right back up there again.’
‘Concentrate!’
‘I’m trying! Now turn around, stop whining and paddle.’
He gave me a look and I held it before he turned back and we both startedpaddling in sync once again. I did actually feel kind of bad for whacking him but I was still smarting from the fact he’d automatically assumed I wouldn’t step up to the challenges that were suddenly in my way. It made me mad that he was still waiting for me to fail.
I slipped on my seat a little and lost my timing, catching Hunter on the arm with my paddle as I lifted it. We were alongsideLiv and Sandeep and they each pulled a face and then grinned.
‘Sorry.’
‘I swear to God, Mia. If you hit me one more time, I’m going to turn around, pick you up and throw you in.’
