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CHAPTER 18
Maya’s late night with Pierce left her jaded on Thursday morning. Emma had raised a cheeky eyebrow as she’d walked through the door just after midnight, and had insisted on hearing all the details. After Bottelino’s, Pierce had driven Maya back to his for a nightcap.
“Is that what it’s called now?” Emma had said, jovially. To Maya’s relief, she hadn’t judged her. In fact, she’d encouraged it. “About time you had some fun. You make the most of it.”
Maya’s tiredness was due to a combination of alcohol and lack of sleep. She had to rise early, but the kids woke her earlier than her alarm clock due to the television being on loud and them arguing about what to watch. This didn’t set her up for the day in a good mood.
In the diary that morning, Maya had a couple of trusted clients who could come to the house for their treatments — she only allowed this during the holidays, being choosy about who she permitted into her home. Amber and Lewis were usually pretty good and didn’t disturb Maya, but she only booked treatments that the kids could walk in on if there was an emergency, like manicures and pedicures. She didn’t have room in her house for anything else, and she couldn’t set up the right environment for a relaxing back massage. Privacy would be an issue, too. In hindsight, she wouldn’t have booked these clients in if she’d known she would be taking the kids away for the weekend. It had been a last-minute decision when Kyle had let her down. She’d perused websites late into the night a few weeks ago, looking for an affordable seaside break — and at such short notice.
While drinking a cup of strong coffee, Maya wrote a list of things she needed to do that day. Once her last client had left, which would be at around three in the afternoon, she would load the car so they were ready to leave first thing on Friday morning, maybe catching a McDonald’s breakfast at one of the motorway services.
Throughout the day Maya ticked off her to-do list in between clients, making sure she’d packed everything needed. If she was visiting Spain it would be shorts and T-shirts, but for the English coast in April — she needed to pack for every eventuality.
Pierce had texted on his way to work, and occasionally throughout the day. She liked that he kept her phone busy. His messages always made her smile. It wasn’t until the afternoon when she remembered Sam had texted and she hadn’t replied to it. She sent him a quick apologetic text, confirming they’d catch up next weekend.
By the end of the day, Maya was exhausted. She climbed into bed early, not long after the kids had gone to bed, ready for the silly o’clock start to her Easter weekend break.
The next morning, Maya was on the road by six a.m., her silver BMW estate fully loaded, so that she could only just see out of her rear-view mirror. She was relieved to find the motorway quieter than she’d expected it would be. They stopped at the services for their McDonald’s breakfast, and Maya savoured her first coffee of the morning. The pitstop took no more than half an hour. Quickly, trying not to let the kids see, she sent a text to Pierce to say she was on the road.
“First one to see the sea buys the ice-cream!” Maya said almost two hours later, driving slowly down a narrow country lane. The sat nav claimed they were only ten minutes away from their destination.
“We don’t have any money,” Amber said. Maya looked in the rear-view mirror. Her daughter had a smug expression and her arms were crossed.
“I brought your pocket money.” Maya smiled into the mirror.
As the road dropped down and round a bend, the beach came into view.
“I can see the —” Lewis said excitedly, then stopped, realising he didn’t want to buy the ice-creams.
“It’s okay, Lewis. I’m paying really.”
“Wow, Mummy, the beach is awesome.”
They could see the expanse of golden sand with the tide way out. Anyone mad enough to be in the water were black dots immersed in white foam. Maya hadn’t been to this part of the country before and was rather looking forward to discovering a new corner of England. The beach narrowed at the top, but as it went out, with the water at low tide, the bay widened, leaving parts of the coastline reachable from the beach. Maya liked it. It was a small, enclosed beach, especially at high tide, but large enough to share with other holidaymakers without being on top of one another.
It was too early to check in at the bed and breakfast, so Maya parked up in a car park behind the small high street which overlooked the beach.
“Can we have ice-cream now?” Lewis pleaded, as they got out of the warm car. Although the sun was shining, there was a strong wind coming off the sea, and Maya fumbled in the boot to find their coats. A chilly reminder that it was still April and not August.
“Let’s have an explore of the area, and then we can go buy one,” Maya said, zipping up her jacket. Both children nodded eagerly, beaming with excitement. Looking at their happy faces, she knew that this Easter break was going to be just what they all needed.
