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‘Oh, thank God, it is you,’ said Luke, turning back to shout through the door. ‘Dan, I’ve found her.’
‘Is that your brother?’ asked Rob, as Guy and Kate leaned forward to see what was going on.
‘And his boyfriend,’ said Hannah, hurrying up the steps and yanking her dress over her wet head. An acid feeling of panic bubbled in her stomach, like today was spiralling even further out of control.
‘Hey,’ said Luke, glancing at Rob curiously as he climbed out of the pool and grabbed a towel.
‘What are you doing here?’ Hannah asked urgently.
‘I didn’t know where else to go,’ said Luke. ‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day.’
‘Wait, what?’ said Hannah. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Yeah, we’re all good,’ said Luke, holding up the palms of his hands to calm her, and checking out Rob again. ‘But you haven’t been answering your phone.’
Hannah covered her mouth with her hand, remembering putting her phone in her tennis bag last night, so everything was packed and ready for them to leave straight after the tournament. Rob’s phone had been hooked up to the hands-free in the car, and so much had happened she hadn’t thought to check if she had any messages or missed calls. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’
‘It was a spur-of-the-moment thing – we just decided to come late last night and jumped on a flight this morning. And when we couldn’t get hold of you, we came here, thinking someone might know where you’d gone, like maybe you told one of the tennis coaches or whatever.’
‘I didn’t tell anyone,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I know that now. So we booked some rooms and thought we’d try you again tomorrow.’
‘You and Dan can share a room, Luke,’ she said impatiently. ‘You don’t have to hide that you’re a couple; half the staff here are gay. Hi, Dan.’
‘Hi,’ mumbled Dan, looking like he’d been strong-armed into gatecrashing a party when he’d much rather have been at home watchingBuffy the Vampire Slayer.
‘We ARE sharing a room,’ replied Luke, rolling his eyes.
‘Then who’s the other one for?’ asked Hannah, the panic bubble expanding to fill her chest.
‘Mum’s here.’
‘What? Are you kidding?’
‘No. She wanted to come so we could all speak to Dad together, we had this whole big heart-to-heart thing last night. But that’s not . . . oh shit.’
‘Hannah!’ sang Elena, appearing through the doors to the hotel in a black maxi-dress with white sleeves and a pair of enormous Jackie O sunglasses, like an orca at a Greek funeral. She shifted to avoid a pool lounger and for a minute Hannah was blinded by the late-afternoon sun, but then another figure appeared in Elena’s wake, and the shadow was unmistakeable.
‘Graham?’ gasped Hannah, grabbing hold of Luke’s arm so she didn’t pass out.
‘Shit, really?’ said Rob with a nervous laugh.
‘Ah, fuck,’ muttered Luke. Guy and Kate took in the whole scene like they had Centre Court seats at Wimbledon, but had no idea who the players were or who was winning.
‘Another gin?’ muttered Guy.
‘Only if you’re getting it,’ Kate replied. ‘I’m not moving an inch.’
‘I can probably wait,’ said Guy mildly, leaning back in his pool lounger and folding his arms. Hannah waited for any sign that this was a nightmare and she’d wake up soon, but no. This whole scenario was actually happening.
‘Excuse us for a second,’ she said to nobody in particular, grabbing Graham by the arm and marching him to the far end of the pool, out of earshot. Hannah clocked Elena joining Luke and Dan by the next set of pool loungers along from Guy and Kate. Even the dark glasses couldn’t hide the disapproving glances she was throwing in Rob’s direction as he re-joined his parents and towelled off. Hannah wondered with a sick feeling of despair what he must think of her and her mad family, but there was nothing she could do about that right now.
‘What are you doing here?’ she hissed at Graham, angling him so his back was facing the avid spectators.
‘I wanted to talk to you,’ he said softly, turning his palms up like he was the only reasonable person in their current postcode. His face was pink from the heat and he’d done the top button up on his purple polo shirt, which made his blotchy neck look like a German sausage. Hannah forced herself not to look at Rob, whose thighs were still glistening from the pool, the tanned muscles of his arms rippling as he pulled on a T-shirt.
‘About what? We’ve said everything there is to say.’
