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‘Is that right?’
‘It is. Now go find Jamie before she throws me off this boat, will you?’
39
They stayed on the water until sunset, long after the cheese and snacks she and Evan had bought had been demolished. How it had only been that morning that they’d gone to the supermarket, Holly couldn’t understand. It felt as if she had gone through an entire year’s worth of emotions since then. It didn’t help that after the rescue incident, Evan had barely looked her in the eye.
She had thought things were fine when he was teaching the others to fish, but then he had sat across on the other side of the deck while they ate and drank and he’d spoken almost solely to Sandra. Holly had thought perhaps she was imagining it until they reached the marina and he was off the boat before she could talk to him. During the minibus ride back, he sat in the front and kept his eyes forwards the entire time.
‘I feel like I’ve done something wrong.’
She and Caroline had taken seats in the back as the minibus rumbled towards the villa.
‘You mean other than make him look like an idiot when he and Giles jumped in after you?’
‘I didn’t ask them to do that!’
‘I know, but maybe if you’d just pretended you were struggling. You know how fragile male pride can be.’
Holy shrank back into the seat. Was Evan really one of those men whose pride was so easily wounded? He didn’t come across like that, but then again, she didn’t know much about him. Other than she really liked his mum, and he had lots of sisters and lots of money.
Finally, when they reached the villa and climbed out of the minibus, he seemed ready to acknowledge her again. He was standing at the minibus door, waiting.
‘Can we talk?’ he said.
Never had Holly been asked the same question by two men in one day, and never had it made her stomach plummet quite so greatly.
‘You’re fine,’ Caroline whispered, quickly squeezing Holly’s hand. ‘You’re completely fine.’
A moment later, Caroline disappeared into the villa with everyone else, leaving Holly and Evan alone.
‘Today was amazing. Thank you.’ Holly was speaking before she had even started thinking. ‘The boat was phenomenal. And the scenery—’
‘I don’t want to talk about the boat or the scenery.’ He gestured to a bench which overlooked the pool. The lights shone out from beneath the water, casting the trees and bushes in an ethereal glow. ‘Can we talk for a minute?’
‘Of course.’
Holly took a seat on the bench, and when Evan followed, it was hard not to notice the gap he left between them. It was a long way from how it had been the night before, with them next to each other on the sofa, her head accidentally dropping onto his shoulder like that was where it was supposed to be.
‘I’m sorry about today,’ Holly said, before the silence could take over.
‘Sorry, about what?’
‘You know. The shoes, and diving in…’ She knew she needed to say the other bit, but it was hard. ‘And Giles.’
Evan’s smile widened knowingly.
‘You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I was the one who arranged the trip.’
‘It was an amazing trip.’
‘It just had your ex-boyfriend on it.’
‘He’s not—’ Holly cut herself short. She didn’t even know how to explain what she and Giles were to herself, let alone someone else. ‘Evan, these last couple of days, they’ve been more than I could have dreamed of. You’ve been more than I could have dreamed of.’
‘But…’ he anticipated.
‘I don’t know. I don’t even think there is a but. It’s just romance has never come easy to me, and my past relationships – my relationship with Giles – there’s a lot that’s difficult to understand. For me, let alone anyone else.’
