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It simply wasn’t meant to be.
Maggie went into the dorm to collect her toiletry bag before heading for the shower.
‘What did Tazia want?’ Suzanne asked.
‘The trip to the desert tomorrow has been cancelled.’ Maggie sighed. ‘I’m going to take a shower.’
‘While you do, is it okay if I borrow your phone? I just want to send a text to Glen.’
Suzanne’s phone had got wet and so for the last few days she had been using Maggie’s.
‘Sure,’ Maggie agreed.
The shower was far from luxurious but after a year spent in hostels Maggie was more than used to it.
The water was cool and refreshing and so Maggie stayed under for a while, rinsing off the copious amounts of sun lotion she had applied to her pale skin. Then she massaged conditioner into her long red curls while trying to let go of the hurt that Suzanne’s thoughtless words had caused.
‘It’s not the same, though, is it?’
It had been a throwaway comment, yet it still buzzed around in her head and so, rather than think of old hurts, Maggie turned her mind to all that had happened today.
Or rather all that hadn’t!
She was terribly aware that she was light years behind her peers in the sexual department.
It wasn’t through lack of opportunity. In the café where she worked at home there were endless clients who tried to flirt or outright asked her out. Occasionally Maggie went along, but it was always the same outcome—a few awkward kisses were the sum total of her dating repertoire.
Still, even if there hadn’t been so much as a flicker of attraction, Hazin had been interesting to talk to. For all his good looks and privilege, he had seemed refreshingly down to earth. Usually when she told anyone that she had no family they would offer awkward sympathy. Hazin had grinned and told her she was the lucky one, then had proceeded to tell her about his parents and the cold way in which he and his older brother, Ilyas, had been raised.
‘Are you close to your brother?’ Maggie had asked.
‘Who? Ilyas?’ Hazin grinned. ‘No one could get close to him.’
Yes, it had been interesting indeed, and now Maggie could not wait to email Flo and bring her up to date. She turned off the taps and reached around the curtain for her towel and change of clothes.
For Maggie there was no question of drying off in the open dressing area. She had lived in too many places and with too many strangers to trust others and so always emerged from the shower fully dressed.
Thankfully, the copious amounts of sun lotion she had applied through the day seemed to have done the trick because as she dried off it would seem only her shoulders were a touch pink. The rest of her was as white and freckled as ever.
Maggie was incapable of getting a tan and had long since given up trying. In fact, she looked as if she’d come from an English winter rather than a sun-soaked Middle Eastern summer.
She pulled on some pale yoga pants and a long-sleeved top; though the days were hot, the desert nights were cold. Maggie was just thinking about what to have for supper when she returned to the dorm and saw that Suzanne was packing.
‘Getting ready for tonight?’ Maggie asked.
‘No,’ Suzanne said. ‘There’s been a bit of a change of plan. I’m checking out and meeting up with Glen in Dubai.’
‘Oh,’ Maggie said. ‘Tonight?’
‘I’m to collect the ticket at the airport.’
‘Wow! Well, I guess this is goodbye, then.’
Suzanne nodded and smiled. ‘It’s been nice spending time with you.’
‘It has,’ Maggie said politely. There was no offer to keep in touch, from either of them.
Maggie didn’t find goodbyes hard in the least—her childhood had guaranteed that she was very used to them.
