‘Yes – if that’s what you want.’
‘Anyway, got to go,’ she said. ‘Apparently the clouds are lifting.’
She hung up, throwing her mobile onto the sand and gazing out across the beach from beneath a giant umbrella.
‘Doesn’t look like that lot’s going anywhere,’ the lighting director called to her, pointing to the sky. ‘We might as well call it a day.’
Tina hugged her long legs and rested her chin on her knees. It really was beautiful here, she thought, watching the clouds scud across the sky. She knew it was beautiful, she just wished she couldfeelit.
She picked up a handful of sand and let it trickle through her fingers. She had hoped Will would be more enthusiastic about the idea of her moving to Ireland. He had become distant lately, and she could feel him drifting further and further away from her. But she wasn’t someone who let things slip away – not without a fight. She was hard-working and ambitious, personally and professionally, and she wasn’t about to give up on Will. She knew they had drifted apart, and they weren’t in the heady ‘in love’ phase any more – but who was? That didn’t last for anyone, but it didn’t mean you just gave up.
She and Will made sense as a couple. They belonged to the same world and they belonged together. She would show him that. She would take the TV job and move to Ireland, and she would prove it to him.
‘Tina, you okay?’ one of the crew stopped to talk to her as he left the beach.
‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ She smiled up at him.
‘You seem a bit down in the dumps.’
‘Oh, it’s nothing a few toots won’t cure,’ she said, brushing sand off her hands and holding one out for him to pull her up.
‘Don’t forget we’ve got a really early start in the morning. You might want to have an early night.’
‘Oh, fuck that! Where’s the party?’
* * *
‘Oh, Will,’ Grace accosted him as soon as he returned to the house, ‘you didn’t seem to pick up that I was trying to give you an opening earlier to get more flirty with Kate. Maybe I was being too subtle.’
‘No, Grace, you weren’t.’
‘Oh! Then why?—’
‘Look, I’ve offered Kate the job in Tuscany, but as for the rest, I can’t do it.’
‘But, Will, you’ve met the Tree-hugger?—’
‘Yes, and I agree Kate deserves better – a lot better. But she doesn’t deserve to have me winding her up, toying with her affections.’
‘It’s only because we care about her.’
‘I care about her, too, but?—’
‘You do?’ Grace said.
‘Yes, of course. I’d like to see her give that smug, self-important git the elbow just as much as you would. He isn’t good enough for her.’
‘Oh, well, if that’s how you feel…’
‘It is,’ Will said firmly.
‘Well, let’s hope she takes the job in Tuscany, then.’
‘Yes, let’s hope.’ Will couldn’t believe she was going to let him off the hook that easily.
Grace smiled to herself as Will walked away. She knew it – hedidhave feelings for Kate. Why else would he be so vehemently opposed to the Tree-hugger? He just needed to spend more timewith her to realise how he felt – time they would have in Tuscany. Kate just had to take that job.
* * *
