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‘But you couldn’t have been a cocoa grower in the Cotswolds,’ she blurted out before thinking her words through, her fuzzy, anxiety-ridden mind beginning to throb with the rising humidity.
‘I’m not a gardener! I’m an estate manager! I have an honours degree in business management, and I also have an internationally recognized qualification in horticulture. Tree disease is a constant threat wherever you are in the world. Here in St Lucia, its spread has a devastating environmental impact not only on the rainforest but on the various species it supports. Without constant expert care Claudia and Tim’s fledgling crop of cocoa palms will be decimated.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult your work.’
‘Oh, don’t worry about offending me,’ Zach laughed, relieving the tension that had been building in the tiny wooden room. Dimples appeared around his lips like cute brackets and Millie could see the return of the habitual sarcastic gleam in his mahogany eyes. ‘After all, I’m British. I’ll just tuck your comments away in a crevice of my brain to fester for a while before dissecting their meaning repeatedly until my self-esteem plunges to the bottom of the barrel.’
And there he is, she thought, back to the old Zach, tossing grenades along the conversational path.
It was her turn to remain silent as Zach weighed up whether to share a little more of his personal story with her. He leaned forward and placed his bottle of water carefully onto a beer mat before sitting back into the folds of the sofa. Unlike her, he had no qualms about seeking out her eyes.
‘Everyone has heartaches to deal with at some point in their lives, either their own or from standing on the side-lines of loved ones when they are hurting. Whenever I think of my parents’ divorce I still get a jab of surprise that they’re no longer together. But they’re both doing fine. In fact, I would even hazard a guess that Mum is happier now than she was with Dad over the last few years. She left London and went back to Berryford where she grew up and is surrounded by the same close-knit community of her childhood and a coterie of renewed and new acquaintances. Yes, she has definitely moved on.
‘But in order to do that successfully we all need to take a close look at the man, or woman, in the mirror. Why did I take the job at the plantation? Well, I took it for several reasons; the main one being to escape from the pressure my ex-girlfriend was applying to our relationship for the purchase of an engagement ring. Clio and I had only been dating for six months and wewerechugging along nicely. But marriage? I knew that wasn’t on the cards and it was only fair to have the “It’s not you, it’s me” conversation straight away.
‘Clio was devastated, and things got emotional for a few weeks. I promised she could have as long as she needed to find a new place to live. So, when Tim told me he was looking for someone to cover for Jake over here in St Lucia, I jumped at the chance to ditch the reproachful stares and uncomfortable silences and escape. Mind you, it didn’t take Clio long to move on. She’s just splashed photographs of an over-the-top diamond solitaire all over her Facebook page, accompanied by a ream of Selfies of herself and a guy called Mario at the top of the Eiffel Tower where he’s apparently just proposed. I couldn’t be happier for her.’
Millie scrutinized his tanned face for a wrinkle of regret, but there wasn’t one.
In that moment, she wished she could swap places with him as it seemed his story was a mirror image of her own. She knew exactly how Clio must have felt, although she and Luke had been together for a lot longer and if she believed Zach’s version of events, no one else had been involved in their break-up. But she took huge encouragement from the fact that his ex-girlfriend had found love again and had the ring to prove it.
Her spirits ratcheted up another notch. She was amazed at the steps forward she had taken since arriving in the Caribbean. All she had to do now was dip her toe in the water of the dating game and she could label herself as cured of the melancholy and hurt that had descended on the day Luke had made his surprise announcement. However, despite the emotional progress she had made, she still wasn’t ready to share the details with anyone, even Zach who had just bared his heart to her.
‘Come on. The rain’s stopped now.’
‘Thank goodness!’
‘Fancy a drink at the Purple Parrot on the way back? Or are you chomping at the bit to see what Fitz and his men have been doing today?’
‘Well, yes, I am, but I also feel guilty about leaving Ella to do all the recipe testing today while I indulge in an undeserved day off trekking through a tropical paradise.’
‘I told you, Ella was more than happy to spend the day whipping up a plethora of Caribbean culinary masterpieces. In fact, it was her idea that we rounded off our day sightseeing with a customary drink at her favourite bar.’
‘Okay, since you put it like that, a drink would be great, thanks.’
She pushed herself to her feet too quickly. Her straw bag toppled from her shoulder, spilling its contents onto the floor at her feet.
‘I wish you could blame your constant clumsiness on the potent Caribbean rum, but we haven’t had any!’
When Millie had collected her belongings, they made their way back to where Zach had left the Roadster, the rain-soaked vegetation slashing at their knees and shins and sprinkling a shower of raindrops onto their shoulders.
The air was still rich with humidity and the fragrance of damp soil hit the back of her throat. A silken veil of vapour lingered between the ferns on either side of the pathway as the birds resumed their afternoon sonata in the canopy overhead. To Millie, it was as close to her idea of the Garden of Eden as it was possible to get, and she was glad she had shared the experience with Zach.
‘I’ve really enjoyed our excursion. Thanks for bringing me here.’
‘Next time it’s the Sulphur Springs and mud baths. You can be as messy and clumsy as you like there, in fact it’s obligatory. Just don’t forget to bring your costume!’
Chapter Thirteen
Twenty minutes later they pulled into a parking space outside the Purple Parrot. It was four-thirty and only a smattering of the customers were still loitering over their rum cocktail or Red Stripe before returning to the beach for their final dose of sunshine. Zach grabbed his usual table at the corner of the veranda and whilst they waited for Lottie to take their order, they watched Dylan and Ryan drag their boat into the shallows and help two giggling girls to step down from the deck.
‘Hi, Lottie. Two Red Stripes, please.’
‘Oh, could I have a lemonade instead?’ asked Millie, keen to keep a clear head knowing she would need to inspect the workmen’s progress when she got back.
‘Coming right up.’
Only a few moments passed before Lottie set down their drinks on the scarred wooden table and joined them, dejection scrawled across her pretty features, her eyes lowered as she picked the label from her beer bottle. Then, when it was completely torn away, she fiddled with the brightly coloured string bracelets around her wrists, her shoulders slumped into her chest. Not the go-to demeanour Millie expected of a young girl who had chosen to stay on after her gap year in an idyllic paradise.
