‘He’s probably had enough sun,’ she said with a sniff. ‘He’s been out here for ages. Which one of us is going to tell him?’
Stella pulled a face.
‘All right,’ Louise said tetchily. ‘I’ll do it.’
Stella watched while her friend walked over to where Jon was lying and said his name. When he failed to respond, she poked him in the side and repeated ‘Jon’, much louder this time.
His leg twitched and he grunted something unintelligible before sitting bolt upright and staring round in confusion.
He was in such a daze, he clearly had absolutely no idea where he was. Before long, his eyelids started drooping and he shut his eyes again, as if intending to block everything out and go back to sleep.
Louise was having none of it.
‘YOU NEED TO GET IN THE SHADE,’ she shouted, shaking him roughly by the shoulder. ‘You could get heatstroke.’
Slowly, Jon started to rise from his chair and stagger towards the shade. Once his focus became clear, he spotted Stella, standing close by, watching, and an expression of fear and recognition crossed his features.
The skin on his face, chest, arms and thighs looked red, tight and burning. He swayed slightly and Stella thought he might faint.
‘Oh my God!’ she said, running over and grabbing him round the back with both arms. ‘Help! Louise! He’s going to fall.’
Louise rushed to his side and together, they helped him struggle to the lounger in the shade, where he flopped down.
Grabbing a bottle of water lying on the grass, Louise shoved it in his hands.
‘Drink this. All of it.’
She sounded cold, hard and angry. She’d come to his rescue out of a sense of moral duty, but it was obvious that as far as she was concerned, he was nothing but a pain in the neck. Her lack of sheer human sympathy made Stella cringe.
They both watched while he greedily glugged the water.
‘What an idiot,’ Louise muttered, before glaring at Stella. ‘Sunstroke can be really dangerous, you know. We’ve got to cool him down.’
Stella clenched her jaw and narrowed her lips to stop herself from lashing out and saying something she might regret. Louise intended to make her feel stupid, too, as if this was somehow all her fault. She supposed it was, in as much as she was the one who’d invited Jon. But Louise should have woken him earlier, instead of thoughtlessly leaving him to fry. She herself was far from blameless.
When he’d finished all the water in the bottle, he took a deep breath and scratched his head. He was already looking more normal.
‘I’ll get in the pool,’ he said. ‘That’ll sort me out.’
It seemed like a sensible plan. The women kept a close watch while he walked slowly, unaided, to the edge of the pool and sat down before launching himself in.
‘D’you think he’ll be okay?’ Stella asked as he bobbed beneath the surface and managed to swim a few strokes. ‘Should I find a doctor?’
Louise made a sucking in sound at the back of her throat, like a low growl.
‘No. He doesn’t need one. His skin’s going to hurt like hell, though. I should care, but I really don’t. He’s a bloody liability.’
Stella glanced at her friend, who was scowling. She looked angrier than Stella had ever seen her.
‘Hey?’ she said, hoping to go some way towards placating her, but she shook her head.
‘Don’t. Say. Anything,’ she muttered, extending her arm and placing her hand, face up, between them, like a barrier. ‘You want him to stay? You look after him. He’s your responsibility. I wash my hands of the whole affair.’
* * *
So much for trying to smooth things over with Louise. Her savage words about Jon had an air of finality that Stella couldn’t ignore and made her wonder if, after the holiday, their friendship would survive at all.
The last thing Stella wanted was to be Jon’s nursemaid, but as no one else was willing to care for him, least of all Louise, it was down to her.
