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Hannah snorted with laughter, grabbing the bottle again as Trish leaned in so she could lower her voice. ‘Rob really missed out. It’s like a Venus flytrap down there these days.’
They both howled with laughter as they finished the bottle between them, shouting out scores as Gaynor and Jess performed increasingly elaborate stunts on the slide.
This is OK, thought Hannah.I can be this woman; I like her better than the old Hannah. And I’m ready for my next adventure. The question is, where does Rob fit in?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Hannah stuffed her clothes into her suitcase, having overslept after a night of tossing and turning, her mind whirring with conflicting thoughts. She was due to meet Rob in twenty minutes, and she still hadn’t decided what she was going to say. Maybe he’d still have a job, and none of this would be relevant. That was the ideal outcome, right?Right?
The knock on the door made her jump, and she wondered which one of the other women was hunting for missing hair straighteners. But when she opened the door it was Rob, looking like a man with a lot of stuff on his mind.
‘Are you OK?’ she gasped. ‘I thought we were meeting at half nine?’
‘I couldn’t wait that long,’ said Rob, glancing down the corridor. ‘Can I come in?’
‘Sure,’ said Hannah, hesitating for a second, then opening the door fully. ‘Should you even be here?’
‘It doesn’t matter, I’ve been fired,’ he said, wringing his hands with anxiety. ‘I need to pack and hand in my coaching gear, then take the next bus to the airport.’
Hannah covered her mouth with her hand. ‘Oh wow, Rob. I’m really sorry. What happened?’
He shrugged helplessly, then plonked himself down on the edge of her bed. ‘Mark didn’t believe me when I said nothing happened. I explained the whole story, but he wasn’t having any of it.’
‘Do you want me to try? I can go and talk to him?’
Rob shook his head. ‘No, he’s made up his mind. He acted like he’d caught me shagging somebody’s wife in the dining room, then wiping my dick on the curtains. It was insane.’
Hannah shook her head, her mind boggling at this very vivid description. ‘I’m so sorry, it was totally my fault.’
‘No,’ Rob said emphatically. ‘It absolutely wasn’t. That’s why I talked the woman on reception into giving me your room number – I didn’t want you to feel responsible. But I also didn’t want to go without saying goodbye.’
Hannah said nothing, her eyes casting around the room as she asked herself the question she’d been pushing around in her head for half the night.Does this feel like the right thing to do?She looked at Rob, sitting on the edge of her bed with his hands pressed against his face, and made her decision. ‘You don’t have to go.’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked, shaking his head in confusion.
‘You can come with me,’ she said, taking a step towards him, then changing her mind and folding her arms.
‘Come with you where?’
‘I’m off on a road trip for a couple of weeks,’ she said, keeping her voice clear and strong. ‘Thought I’d head up into the mountains, see a bit of Spain. I don’t really have a proper plan. You could come with me.’
Rob stared at her, clearly trying to put the words together into something that made sense. ‘Are you serious?’
She nodded emphatically. ‘I’ve been thinking about it all night, what to do if you got fired. Neither of us has anything to go home to, and I’m picking up my hire car in an hour. So you could just throw your stuff in the back with mine.’
Rob laughed, looking at her like she was insane. ‘Hannah, I love this idea, but we hardly know each other. What if I wreck your trip?’
‘I thought about that too,’ said Hannah, who’d spent hours working through the loopholes in her mad plan. ‘Let’s give it three days, see if we’re still getting along. If everything’s fine, we’ll do three more days. If it’s not, I’ll drop you off at the nearest bus station and you can head to the airport.’
Rob stared at her intently, and Hannah could see how tempted he was. ‘Come on,’ she said with a smile. ‘It’s an adventure. What’s the worst that could happen?’
Rob took some deep, calming breaths. ‘And just so I’m clear, on what basis would we be doing this? Just as friends, or . . .’
‘Definitely just friends,’ she said quickly. ‘Nothing’s changed about our respective situations, so you don’t have to worry about that.’ This was another decision she’d made in the early hours, not to overcomplicate things between them. Hannah was still on the rebound, and Rob was still a player. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have an adventure together.
‘So?’ she asked. ‘What do you think?’
Rob smiled, then breathed out slowly. ‘OK,’ he replied. ‘Why not?’
