7
It was a huge relief to turn her back and plunge into the crystal-clear, greenish-blue sea. On reaching the surface again, she trod water for a few minutes while she adjusted her mask and snorkel.
Aware that Jon was watching her, she didn’t look behind once. She could feel his presence casting a big, black shadow and couldn’t wait to put some distance between them.
The water seemed to have warmed up and didn’t take much getting used to. She swam fast for a while then stopped and floated on her stomach, gazing down at the seabed.
At first, all she could see was sand, rocks, spiky urchins and seaweed, but then a small, olive-green turtle cruised slowly past, using its front flippers like paddles to propel itself along.
It was alone and appeared to know exactly where it was going. It didn’t seem remotely bothered by her presence until she had to kick her legs quite hard to stay afloat. Immediately, it shot off towards the rocks, leaving her marvelling at how fast it could shift when it wanted to.
Now that she was far enough away from Jon, it seemed unlikely he’d catch her up any time soon, so she headed back towards the shoreline where she hoped to spot more sea life.
A shoal of graceful, red and green striped fish passed by and she paused to admire them, holding her breath and diving below the surface to get a better look.
The silence helped her mind and body relax. When she surfaced again, all she could hear was the steady, high-pitched sound of air flowing through her snorkel, which was curiously comforting.
A little later, her eye was caught by a strange, brownish lump on one of the rocks below her feet.
Its surface appeared slightly different from the rest of the boulder – smoother and shinier. Intrigued, she watched for a while and was amazed when long, sinewy tentacles appeared from underneath the lump and it began to move.
An octopus! She smiled in wonder at its clever, stealthy crawling motion. She fancied the creature was grinning to itself, believing it had played a smart trick and hadn’t been spotted.
Not wishing to frighten it, she tried to stay completely still. Something must have startled it, however, because all of a sudden, it made a jet-propelled leap off the rock and scooted to a nearby boulder, trailing its tentacles behind. Once there, it drew them in and anchored itself to the surface with suckers, making itself blend in again and become quite inconspicuous.
Stella gurgled with laughter. She’d never observed an octopus up close like this and hadn’t realised the creatures were such brilliant masters of disguise.
A little further on she saw a pale, delicate seahorse, hiding in a clump of swaying reeds. There were also brightly coloured corals, eels, scuttling crabs and spectacular round, yellowish-brown jellyfish, which looked like bouquets of flowers from the side.
Mesmerised, she circled round some of the rocks several times before holding her breath to dive down again and peek in a small, underwater cave.
She was so absorbed, she totally forgot about the others, until it occurred to her she’d been out here so long, Jon must surely have overtaken her and reached the shore by now.
The mere thought of him gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. She was convinced, as she’d told him, that his ‘love’ for her was nothing more than a confused manifestation of grief and loneliness.
The point, though, was he believed it was real. She could only pray her comments about Al had done the trick and destroyed any false hope he’d been harbouring.
Leaving the rocky area behind, she struck out now into deeper water, thinking all the while about what had happened. She realised Jon’s harsh words about Al had made her angry, even though he’d really only repeated some of the things she’d said to him.
What’s more, she’d had to stop herself leaping to Al’s defence. What was that about? She prayed it had nothing to do with her inkling that he might be seeing someone else. God forbid she should turn into one of those nasty, jealous creatures who didn’t want their ex, but didn’t want anyone else to have him either.
As she came closer to the beach, she could see it had filled up quite a bit in the time she’d been gone. There was no sign of Louise, Jon or the others, but she spotted their towels on the sand and guessed they’d taken her suggestion and gone to the restaurant.
Dreading seeing Jon again, she was tempted to swerve lunch and sunbathe instead. She knew she should eat, however; and besides, she’d only be putting off the inevitable. She’d have to face him soon enough and do her best to act as if nothing had happened.
After struggling out of her bathing suit and into her clothes, she strolled barefoot to the taverna, which gave off an inviting, laid-back, bohemian vibe. It was painted yellow, with leaping blue dolphins on the side. The outside tables were all shaded by the rustic blue, grassy awning.
As soon as she’d walked up the gangplank, she spotted her group sitting at a rough wooden table at the far end of the restaurant, looking out to sea.
Louise waved at her while Jon, who was facing the other way, turned briefly and gave a small nod of acknowledgment.
There were plates of food in front of them and several large sharing bowls in the middle.
‘Come and join us,’ Louise called when Stella was close enough to hear. ‘We’ve saved you some food but you’ll have to hurry!’
There was an empty chair for Stella at one end, next to Lily and Amelia. As she settled down, she was grateful to notice Jon was focusing intently on his plate, not her.
‘Fancy a glass of wine?’ Louise asked, reaching across the table and picking up a bottle of white, which was three quarters empty. Stella shook her head.
