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‘Make that a lot of beers.’ Caroline flopped down onto the sofa. ‘We need a lot of beers.’
Looking at the state of the intrepid hikers, Holly was more than a little grateful that she had escaped the day’s trek, especially given how much better her ankle was now feeling. Every one of them, bar Fin and Jamie, were dripping with sweat and sporting red faces, which could have been either sunburn or from exertion.
‘You look like you had fun.’ Holly’s heart was racing as if she was sixteen years old again and had been caught snogging in the living room when she was meant to be working on a homework project. As subtly as she could, she slid off her stool and crossed the room to Caroline.
‘Let me get you those drinks.’ Evan said, instinctively moving in the opposite direction. ‘Why don’t you guys jump straight in the pool? I can bring them out to you.’
‘God, I don’t think I’ve ever needed a swimming pool so much in my entire life,’ Zahida commented as she dragged her feet through the French doors and out onto the patio. ‘Ten miles. We walkedten miles.’
‘Ten miles, in this heat. Impressive.’ Holly’s pulse had dropped, but it was hard not to keep looking at Evan, just to see if he was looking at her too, though he had turned away so that his back was facing her.
‘I can’t believe how much you lot complained.’ Jamie’s first stop was the sink, where she filled up a pint glass with water. ‘It wasn’t like we did it all in one go. We stopped at least twenty times for Eddie to take photos. Not to mention every time Spencer whinged about another insect bite.’
‘It’s not whingeing if it’s a genuine concern.’ Spencer pouted. ‘Those bugs were actively attacking me.’
As Holly cast another quick glance over to the kitchen, she caught Evan’s eye and offered a quick, involuntary smile.
‘Has everything been okay while we were away?’ Caroline asked. ‘Anything exciting happen?’
‘Yes. I mean no. Yes, everything was completely fine. No, nothing exciting happened.’ Holly spoke a fraction too fast, only to realise she had forgotten one important factor. ‘Oh, wait, something exciting did happen. I got my luggage back.’
‘That is exciting. Is that the only thing?’ Caroline pressed.
Thankfully, Jamie appeared behind them before Holly had to suffer Caroline’s unfeasibly scrutinising gaze for too long.
‘Did I just hear you’ve got your luggage back?’ She placed a hand on Holly’s shoulder. ‘That’s good. It means you’ll have something to wear on the yacht tomorrow.’
Holly still wasn’t sure anything she owned was yacht worthy, but she didn’t say that.
‘What about the ankle? How’s it feeling?’
‘Loads better.’ She lifted it into the air so they could see how much the swelling had gone down.
‘That looks great.’
‘Yeah, I can walk on it easier, too. I think all the time in the pool really helped. Talking of which, I think I might go in for another dip now.’
In the afternoon light, the pool was an even deeper shade of blue, matched perfectly by the azure of the sea. Grabbing her book from the sofa, Holly headed outside to one of the sun loungers, but had been sitting down for less than a minute when Caroline swept up beside her.
‘So, what’s going on with you and Evan?’
‘What do you mean?’ Holly adjusted the towel and avoided looking at her friend. ‘Nothing’s going on. Why would anything be going on? Nothing’s going on. Not with me.’
‘Well, I wasn’t 100 per cent sure before.’ Caroline smirked, ‘But now I know for certain something happened.’
Holly wasn’t sure if she was madder at Caroline or herself. She gritted her teeth and checked there was no one within eavesdropping distance before she lowered her voice and spoke.
‘Fine, something almost happened, maybe. I don’t know. But he’s asked if we can go on a date when we get back to the UK.’
‘This is amazing. You like him, right? Of course you like him. He’s perfect. Why wouldn’t you like him?’
‘And I spoke to his mum on the phone.’
This was too much for Caroline. She had barely covered her mouth before she erupted in a shriek.
‘Oh my God, that’s so exciting.’
‘Calm down. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. It’s nothing. It’s really nothing.’
