We came to a fallen tree trunk and sat down, facing out to sea.
He turned to me. ‘Sorry.’
My brow knotted.
‘For being an absolute idiot. I should never have spoken to you like that yesterday. You were only trying to help. I guess I’m over-sensitive. This conservation project is so close to my heart.’
My fingers uncurled. ‘All right. It’s your family. Your business. Let’s just forget it,’ I said warily.
Wow. He seemed to mean it.
‘But it’s not all right. I accused you of being selfish – you who have helped me so much. If I’m honest, my brother, the way he likes to take over… well, you emailing him was my worst nightmare. Although you weren’t to know that,’ he added hastily.
‘And if I’m honest, the way you dismissed my plan… it hit a nerve too. Dad used to do that – and my boss at Best Travel.’
We looked at each other. Waves broke on the sand. I mirrored the understanding that flowed into his face.
‘I do hugely admire your passion for Seagrass Island and the wonderful wildlife here.’
He sighed. ‘But perhaps that blinds me. It all seems kind of hopeless sometimes. The iguana died. That put me on edge as well.’
‘Oh Rick – I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that. But look… I’m not the enemy – and nor is this hotel idea. I honestly believe both projects could be run side by side. Things can’t go on as they are. Action needs to be taken now,’ I added softly.
He hesitated before taking my hand. He raised it to his mouth. Reluctantly I took it away.
‘I’ve no bad feelings towards you – quite the opposite. But last night, it did make me think. I’m only here for three weeks. Perhaps it’s better to stop things now. We’re both too old for a holiday romance.’
And I’m too old to get hurt, especially by someone like Rick, someone who I actually really like.
They didn’t feel safe, the feelings I had for him. Already I was falling, falling for those earnest eyes; for the drive; for the man who could make everyone laugh and who has won the complete trust of a vulnerable monkey he loved.
He’d apologised, but what if that was a one-off? Anabelle mumbled something once after a disagreement with Dad.
‘He wasn’t like this before we got married. It’s all about him now. Planet Gary.’
Rick stared into my eyes. His shoulders drooped very slightly. ‘Whatever you want.’
We stood up and his phone rang. I moved away to give him privacy but the sea breeze soon blew an angry tone over.
‘This is totally unacceptable, Lee,’ I heard Rick say eventually. ‘We haven’t even agreed on… no, it doesn’t save me any work. Hey! Don’t cut me off.’
Cue an eerie silence filled only by the cry of seagulls. Rick marched over.
‘A mate of Lee’s has been let down at the last minute. He and five friends had booked a fancy hotel in Jamaica, for five nights, but it suffered a fire last week. So Lee’s offered them the beach huts. Explained to them that they’d be our guinea pig guests and therefore gave them a really cheap rate. He reckons he’s saved me the bother of finding our first customers.’
‘How could he do that – you haven’t set your prices? In fact, you and Margot haven’t even agreed this hotel idea is actually going ahead.’
‘I know. The whole thing is crazy. Gran won’t be pleased that he’s organised this without consulting her. Lee doesn’t even know this guy well anymore. They met at university and he saw about the cancelled booking on his Facebook page and contacted him – Jason, he’s called. Honestly…’ He exhaled. ‘When we were kids, I worshipped him. Lee was my cool older brother. I’d try to wear clothes like his and would sneak a squirt of his aftershave…’
I smiled. Amy had been the same. I went through a phase of defiantly wearing Goth-like thick black eye liner to annoy my dad. Amy drew black felt tip around her eyes. It took a couple of days to wash off properly.
‘… but these days he’s just bossy. Interfering. Superior.’ His neck flushed. ‘Sorry. I probably sound as if I’m still at primary school. You and Amy seem to get on so well.’
‘It’s hard not to want to help her,’ I said, the words sticking in my throat that I was probably a lot like Lee. ‘I care about her. Deeply. Maybe that comes across as interference. I’m sure part of your brother’s motivation is the same – it’s because he loves you. Not because he assumes you’ll fail.’
Rick tilted his head slightly.
‘He looked out for you when you were younger as well?’
‘Yes. The older boy next door punched me once. I was at junior school. He was at high school with Lee. He said I’d looked at him in the wrong way. My brother went mad. I don’t know what he said or did but that boy never bothered me again. And I had a car accident when I was eleven. Almost didn’t make it. Lee visited me every day in hospital after school, missing his favourite clubs and getting into trouble for not doing homework. I remember his red eyes. I was asleep one day and heard him whisper that he loved me. After that he was a like a shadow when I went out – like a bodyguard, looking out for me more than ever.’
‘He probably doesn’t want to see you hurt in any way again – trauma like that can be hard to shake off.’
‘You sound as if you speak from experience.’
‘Our… messy childhood is a long time ago, but when I look at Amy, often I still see that young girl who used to get hurt. Perhaps Lee still thinks about the time he almost lost you and pictures his younger brother in that hospital bed, recalling the sense of helplessness he must have felt.’
I’d never forget seeing Mum in hospital at the end. How I sat, holding her hand. Dad wouldn’t let me stay long. He was more clinical than the doctors. I’d studied her petite, slim fingers. The ruby ring that had belonged to her mum. The immaculate nails – I’d never seen them chipped before. The small wrists. She’d longed to get a bracelet tattoo with meaningful charms attached. A cake because she loved baking. A bird due to her love of wildlife. A book because I loved reading. Amy wanted her to get a cat or a dog to represent her. But Dad had scorned the idea and declared she must have been going through an early midlife crisis. I wasn’t sure what that was, at the time, but reckoned he must have been wrong. I thought the tattoo idea was all about Mum’s love for things and people and sounded ace.
I understood Lee. I’d always done whatever I could do protect Amy. It has become an ingrained habit.
I stared at Rick, each of us in an opposite position – older sibling, younger sibling… either way it was complicated.
‘But inviting people over for almost a week to a hotel that hasn’t even been set up yet?’ Rick grimaced. ‘They’ve managed to get their flights refunded. Lee’s got a friend in the travel industry and she found them last minute cheap ones to Tortola. Lee said I was making a fuss over nothing and needed to pull my head out of the sand; that they’d be the perfect guests to test our hospitality skills on, that it would easier for me and that five nights wasn’t long.’
‘Hospitality skills? What even are they without a firm team in place to change beds, make meals, to take them out on excursions and…?’
‘And guess what?’ Rick ran an arm across his brow. ‘They arrive this Thursday. That gives me just three days to prepare.’
29
‘Sarah, wake up.’
The words sounded muffled. I opened my eyes and sat up, focusing on uniformly coloured turquoise waves. Rick’s pool did look inviting. I lay on a wooden beach bed. A lap top snoozed on the floor next to me. I gazed across to the other bed. Rick was stretched out there, head propped up on one hand, stubble beard thicker than usual, shirt ruffled, eyes half-open.
‘I can’t believe we fell asleep out here,’ he said. ‘Brandon and Nia just woke me up.’
They were a married couple who worked for the Crowley family before the hurricane. She cooked and maintained the gardens. Brandon did the housekeeping duties and tended the pool.
‘They’ve
been brilliant this week, helping you get this place ready for guests.’ With a yawn I adjusted the bed so that I could sit up.
‘We were sorry to see them leave after the storm but they promised they’d come back when the building work was done and have been working in a hotel on Tortola in the meantime. Lucky for us they weren’t happy there and didn’t have to give notice to leave.’
‘Don’t they mind the extra hours this hospitality venture is going to involve?’
Rick and I had been too busy for chit-chat this week. Both of us had barely slept. Troubleshooting. Cleaning. Panicking. Telling ourselves it was all for the greater good. Jackie managing the conservation volunteers, which was where Rick would much rather have been.
‘No. They haven’t got children and they lived here anyway, with Gran. The gardens need tending all year round and she has a lot of guests – mostly family members but they still need food and beds changing. They just see it as one job – whatever is involved doesn’t seem to bother them.’
‘Brandon’s done well, emptying the pool, cleaning and refilling it.’
‘Yes, and I couldn’t have got the kitchen ship-shape without the two of them, him fitting all the appliances and Nia giving the walls a lick of paint. It’s a bit makeshift but will have to do until these guests have left.’
I yawned again. It was Thursday morning. I couldn’t believe Lee’s friends would be arriving in… I gazed at my watch. Eight o’clock. Their plane landed at Beef Island airport in nine hours.
‘Talking of people being brilliant…’ Rick sat up too and reached out his hand. I slipped my fingers into his, ignoring the electric buzz.
I’d seen a programme, once, about falling in love. The high people felt during those initial months of a love affair was because the brain released chemicals similar to morphine. You soon became addicted. It was nature’s way of guaranteeing our species formed relationships. The pain of a broken heart was a real biological thing caused by the withdrawal of those chemicals once a romance ended. It was finally my turn to experience it.
To help cover his absence Jackie had given Amy responsibilities like supervising the animal feeding. My sister couldn’t have been happier. The long-term volunteers were able to look after the new arrivals. Only a couple had trickled in on Monday. A larger number would be arriving next weekend, coinciding with a group leaving so the overall head count wouldn’t change much.
‘You know me,’ I said. ‘I’ll do anything to avoid the dreaded trail clearing and—’
‘Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down. You’ve been magnificent.’
Out of nowhere a sob rose up my throat. For that single moment he couldn’t have been less like Dad whose ego had relished the low self-esteem of anyone around him, family included.
‘Not only have you helped give the beach huts a spring clean and changed all the sheets, you’ve worked into the night on the website. Creating an online platform for this… that’s massive. You’ve researched activities on Tortola and talked to Malik about him taking the group on a shopping trip and boat tour, plus dropping them off for a dolphin-sightseeing trip – don’t think I haven’t noticed.’
I’d also been working on an idea, in private, for the longer term – a way to make Seagrass Island even more appealing. However, I wasn’t sure what Rick would think.
I withdrew my hand and brushed hair out of my face. ‘It’s not just me. Jonas and Benedikt led that team of volunteers to clear up the beach where the boats come in. There’s not a scrap of seaweed on the sand now. And Malik bought those sunbeds at cost price from that friend of his who supplies hotels. I love Nia’s idea to provide a beach waiter service. You tell me she’s great at making rum cocktails?’
‘Second to none.’ Rick stood up. ‘Did you just deflect a compliment?’
‘Might have. But let’s see how good you are at accepting one because I’ve been truly impressed. I know your heart isn’t in this scheme. But you’ve put your opinion to one side – for the moment anyway – and totally invested in getting ready for these guests.’
‘Come on. Brandon’s making us his famous fried chicken and waffles,’ he said gruffly.
‘For breakfast?’ His cheeks had flushed. That was enough to tell me he’d taken on board the compliment.
‘You complaining?’
‘Nope. I might just have to come on holiday here myself.’
‘Don’t wait for me. I’m just going to see Jackie for a moment.’ Deep lines formed in his forehead. ‘To check that—’
‘No. You must eat. Jackie will be fine. She’s the expert on animals and Amy is helping. Even you aren’t indispensable,’ I said, remembering what Amy had said to me when I’d worried about coming away.
In silence we entered the house and I stretched my back before we collapsed onto the sofa. Brandon brought out two plates on trays.
‘At least the cinema room is ready, if we happen to have a bad night’s weather,’ said Rick in between mouthfuls of crunchy chicken and the lightest of waffles. ‘They can download movies and watch in luxury.’
‘There’s the gym for early birds and if the guests have an empty afternoon I wondered if Nia might be prepared to a cocktail-making session. Or a cookery lesson and teach guests how to make an authentic Virgin Island dish? It needn’t be complicated and could be something they could eat in the evening, so it wouldn’t cost you any extra money. If it was a success you could add that activity onto the website. The cooking ties into another idea I’ve had.’
Rick shook his head.
My spirits sank. ‘Of course, you may think that wouldn’t appeal and Nia—’
‘Sarah – you’re a superstar. I love it and will ask Nia as soon as she has a free moment. No, I was shaking my head in amazement. You must drink from a secret fountain of inspiration.’
Reenergised by his positive attitude and the comforting food, I got up and followed him outside again. We sat down on our respective benches.
‘How do you come up with all these things?’
‘At some point in the future—’ right now, in fact, but for Amy’s sake I’d keep that to myself ‘—I aspire to move into the luxury side of the hospitality industry. I’ve spent many hours surfing the websites of high-end hotels across the world.’
‘How is our website coming along? I mean the bones of it – I don’t expect you to have—’
‘I put the finishing touches to it last night. Obviously this is a temporary site that will need refining if this business takes off… do you want to take a look?’ I added, cautiously and picked up the laptop.
Rick shuffled up nearer to me. A dragonfly hovered in front of us. I admired the iridescent body and fragile-looking wings. I flipped open the laptop and pressed the power button. Moments later Rick was studying my design. It reminded me of Mum and my first weeks at High School before she died. She always took enormous interest in my homework, never doing it for me but pointing out areas where ‘I might want to look at that again’. She’d ask questions about my lessons and knew all my teachers’ names – and their nicknames.
At first, I was going to edge the pages of the website with green and turquoise, to give it a fresh, island feel. However, that would have made it more like the Seagrass Conservation website, instead of a look that shouted luxury. Therefore, I’d used a colour in between beige and mustard that provided a sumptuous gold theme. The background was white. Each page was headed with a shot of the front of the house, which had powder puff trees either side. Yesterday I’d taken photos for the gallery including several of Chatty on Rick’s shoulder, plus the animal enclosures, getting beautiful shots of Wink, the snakes and seabirds. Since Monday I’d photographed meals Malik or Nia had made – apart from the fish soup – and, importantly, the beach huts inside and out, plus the pool.
Rick gasped. ‘I have no idea how you put this together in a matter of days – even the reservations page.’
‘That was tricky. The last time I looked at my watch, last night, it was 3 a.m. I
messaged a friend from the web design course I went on. We’ve kept in touch on social media. Fortunately, thanks to the time difference, she was up, back in England, and more than happy to help me out.’ I rubbed my eyes. ‘In fact, she took a quick look at the whole website and on the back of that I improved several elements. The bookings process is basic at the moment but that can be altered in time.’
‘It’s bloody fantastic, that’s what it is.’
‘Once search engines pick up the site you’ll be in business, so to speak. I’ve connected with Margot on LinkedIn. I hope you don’t mind. I messaged her before falling asleep and sent her the link to take a look.’
‘And Lee?’
‘I… thought I’d leave that email to you and your gran.’
‘Don’t feel you can’t contact him. I can’t be an arse over this venture anymore. Like it or not guests are imminent, so it makes sense to keep him in the loop.’
I gave a thumbs-up.
‘Gran will certainly want to be involved at every level.’ He paused. ‘I’m just a little worried about the evenings. We can run trips into Tortola, but it isn’t as if we have bars here or—’
‘Rick – that’s the point. The island’s remoteness, that’s its selling point. That doesn’t mean it’s dull here, more that it’s exclusive, away from the general public.’
‘We’ll still need to occupy visitors after dinner. However, this week I’m going to need that time to catch up with Jackie, paperwork and be at the Games Room. I can’t abandon the volunteers completely, they’ve spent good money to be here. I’ve also got to have an in depth talk with Lee and Gran about exact pricing.’
‘Why don’t we Skype her this afternoon before going to the airport? Then she can discuss our views with your brother. This Jason has paid an all-inclusive price, hasn’t he, for everything that takes place on the island, so we’ll just charge for excursions, and he and his friends will pay for their own entertainment on Tortola. That might be the way to proceed.’
The Summer Island Swap Page 20
