He cleared his throat. ‘I’d better get going.’
‘Do you need anything before you go?’ Jason asked.
‘No, I’m good, thanks. Well, maybe just some flip-flops.’ Kind of rude to come into a shop, participate in the partial destruction of the displays and then not buy anything.
He chose a pair of black flip-flops while Lily paid for her sarong.
‘Black. You don’t like colour?’ the man said.
‘I’m good with black,’ Matt said.
Lily nodded and he said, ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
Matt shook his head. ‘When you know what suits you, why wouldn’t you stick with it?’
‘Absolutely.’ Lily sniggered. She’d always teased him about how conservatively he dressed, and he’d teased her back about her obsession with colour.
He nudged her arm with his elbow and said, ‘Shut up,’ and then wished he hadn’t. Far too intimate a gesture.
They sank into another silence while they both finished paying, and then walked out of the shop together, still in silence, and paused just outside the door, in the shade under the shop’s awning.
‘So, great to see you,’ Matt said. Whichever way she went now, he was going the other way.
‘Yes, lovely to see you. Bye, then. Probably see you at the wedding.’ She switched a big fake smile on, which jolted him right to his core – not the fact that it was fake, but the fact that heknewit was fake. It was the one she’d used when they’d been at work dinners at his firm when she hadn’t been enjoying the conversation. When she looked like that in the past, he’d catch her eye and smile a secret smile at her, and her expression would lighten and he’d know that that real smile was just for him.
And right now he was the one making her smile her pretend smile.
‘Bye. See you there.’ Matt hesitated for a moment and then leaned forward and pecked her cheek. No, not good. Too much of a sensory overload, plus he’d just had a wave of extreme desolation at behaving like a distant acquaintance with someone he’d spent over a year hoping he’d spend the rest of his life with.
Lily half-raised the hand that wasn’t holding the sarong before beginning to walk in the direction of the beach.
Matt watched her go for a second and then ducked under the shop awning and began a slightly self-conscious amble in the opposite direction.
He stopped in front of a little art gallery and looked in through the window to kill a few moments.
Meeting Lily shouldn’t feel awkward, or a big deal, or anything. It was eight years now since they’d split up and he’d been married and divorced in that time. Anything between them was way in the past. But, Lily. She’d broken his heart even more than his actual divorce had, if he was honest.
Well, their first meeting was done now. And there was no point wishing that he hadn’t agreed to join Tom on this stag holiday. He’d met Tom at a barbecue with Tess several years ago and had hit it off immediately, and then he and Tom had become close friends in their own right. He couldn’t have said no to the wedding invitation given how close he was to Tess and Tom, plus his parents couldn’t make it because they’d already had a big trip organised to Australia to visit Matt’s older brother and his family, and someone should be representing their side of the family; and equally he couldn’t have said no when Tom had invited him to his stag do.
Anyway, he and Lily might see each other at a distance over the next couple of days, and obviously a little at the wedding, but not to talk to – no reason for any substantive chat – and then they’d both be on their way and that would be that.
‘Can I interest you in any of my artwork?’ An orange-suited man had emerged from the gallery. Damn. Clearly Matt had been standing staring into space for too long.
‘Maybe later,’ he said. ‘It all looks great but I’m a little busy at the moment.’
He turned round, scanned the street to check that Lily had disappeared into the distance, and began the walk back to the beach.
He hoped he wasn’t going to spend the next three days permanently on edge.
There was something about unfinished business, though. Hurtful unfinished business. He still wanted to know why they’d split up.
He and the rest of the stags were finishing a long, relaxed lunch when a woman’s loud voice boomed, ‘Hello, my darlings,’ and Matt was enveloped from behind in a perfume-laden hug.
‘Hello, Auntie Carole,’ he said.
‘Hi, Carole,’ said Tom.
