Page 50 of On The Edge

“Yes, I kind of escaped to an island!” Cat chuckled.

“Did your boyfriend enjoy it too?” he gestured behind Cat. She spun around to find Dave at a table with a girl. Dave noticed Cat too and stopped talking; the girl with straight silky brown hair cast her eyes over Cat in a questioning way as Cat approached them.

“Hi Dave.” She smiled awkwardly and extended her hand to the girl. “Hi there, I’m Cat.”

“Cat, Hi!” Dave looked over to his companion. “This is Louise.”

Cat shook the girl’s hand, Louise looking her up and down, trying to work out who she was to Dave.

“It’s nice to meet you Louise. Dave’s told me all about you. I just want to offer my congratulations to you both.” She gave Dave a smile. “I think you’ll both make each other very happy.”

The girl still looked confused.

“I’m an old friend of Dave’s by the way,” she clarified quickly. “It’s good to see you Dave, and so nice to meet you, Louise.” She smiled at them both and walked back to her table.

“Who’s that?” Jess scrutinised Dave from the table. “And where’s our drinks?”

Cat glanced over once more to Dave and gave him an apologetic smile. “Yeah, I’ll tell you about that soon, but I think we should go – I may have just accidentally spoiled a marriage proposal!”

That evening they landed back on the island, and as their plane touched down, Jess mentioned her friend Andrew would be picking them up from the airport.

“Oh Andrew, is it?” Cat mocked as Jess’s cheeks turned pink.

“Shut up!” Jess folded her arms.

Cat nudged her friend. “Jess and Andrew up a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Shut up!” this time face turned crimson. “He’s just a friend!”

“What are you waiting for Jess? I know from personal experience. Don’t wait, if you like him, and he likes you; go for it!”

Cat spent the next few days at the gallery, and gave Jess time off to spend with Andrew. Andrew worked at the diving centre and took Jess out along with his groups; each day he’d pop into the gallery looking for her, and Cat would roll her eyes. “You again, Andrew! Can you not leave each other alone for five minutes?!”

Andrew’s cheeky smile was however irresistible, and she could never make fun of him for long.

The pair spent the days together, and the nights also.

“Oh my god, Cat,” Jess swooned one afternoon, recounting all the moments spent with her new man, “he’s a diver in more ways than one!” Jess laughed as Cat covered her ears.

“Please...don’t say anymore!” Cat cried. “If you tell me all your sex stories I won’t be able to look him in the face!”

“But he does this amazing thing with his-”

“NO!” Cat walked out of the quiet gallery leaving her friend giggling with unashamed pleasure.