Page 85 of Old Girls on Deck

‘I hadn’t even considered that,’ I said.

‘I looked it up, about twenty people do fall off a ship every year. But it’s usually due to suicide, foul play, or alcohol.’

I shook my head. ‘My sister likes a drink, but not to the extent she would tip over the safety rail. She would have to stand on a step or a table. And she wouldn’t do that.’

‘Then I am sure she is perfectly safe – ah! Here she is. Now you can find out.’

Diana came in after her usual tussle with the key card and stood looking very pleased with herself.

‘What have you been doing?’ I asked.

‘Nothing,’ she said, but she looked rather vague.

‘You’ve been away for hours. You must have been doing something. I can’t believe it took that long to take a decent picture of you.’

‘Oh, it didn’t,’ she said airily, ‘we’ve just been talking.’

‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Evelyn said tactfully.

We both watched as the door closed behind her.

‘And?’ I prompted.

Diana sighed. ‘He took some pictures, we went for a drink, I had a cheese toastie and a glass of white wine if you want the details, and we just sat and talked.’

I felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. At least he hadn’t tipped her over the rail into the dark sea, and she didn’t seem under the influence of too much alcohol.

‘And?’ I persisted.

‘And I like him, and he likes me. And I’ve invited him to come and visit me when he next gets some shore leave. In fact, I think I might invite him to the wedding in December, as long as it’s okay with Sam and Fizz. They said I could have a plus one, but then perhaps they didn’t seriously think I would have one. Well now, I think I do. Stop looking at me like that. I haven’t been up to anything. We had a bit of a snog behind a lifeboat, I’ll admit to that, but that’s all. I like kissing him, he seems to like kissing me.’

‘Did you take your clothes off for the photographs?’

‘No, I didn’t! But that doesn’t mean I won’t in future,’ Diana said, blushing.

‘Wow. I don’t know what to say.’

‘That makes a change,’ she said rather sarcastically.

She wandered about picking things up and putting them down again. She even hummed a little tune and then laughed at something. This was most unlike her. I was suddenly wild with curiosity.

‘So, you’re telling me nothing happened? I’ll confess I’m slightly disappointed.’

Diana took off her cardigan and folded it up thoughtfully.

‘Actually, yes something happened. Not what you’re thinking before you start. I realised that I’m okay. That I’m a nice person, and I’m entitled to have a life of my own. Which let’s be honest, I haven’t really had for a long time – not one that I’ve enjoyed anyway. And I’m not going to forget that. I like being treated as an equal, not just as an appendage or another crew member like Casper did for all those years. I used to think that was disloyal of me to criticise him, but maybe I can see a bit more clearly now. I can’t go on letting the past define my future. I have time to make new memories and stop living in the old ones. After all, I did that talk and nothing went wrong. People are still coming up to me and telling me how much they enjoyed it, and it was my work after all. I think the simple fact is, I like me.’

I went over and hugged her.

I wasn’t someone who believed a lot of motivational sayings, but it must be a painful thing, to lose oneself in the process of loving someone, and forgetting to love yourself too.

‘So do I,’ I said, feeling rather emotional.

23

At last, we reached the beautiful island of Santorini, where the ship berthed out in the sunlit caldera, presenting us with a wonderful morning view of the craggy cliffs and white houses perched on the top.

Like all the other cruise liners, Avanti was a sizeable ship and it was too big to dock which meant we would have to be ferried to the quay in tenders. Evelyn predicted there would be a bit of a logjam and scramble to get off the ship, and so we had a leisurely breakfast in our cabin while Diana fretted about what to wear. She was looking very bright-eyed that morning, occasionally admiring her new hairstyle in the mirror and even taking the time to properly apply some make-up, not just the usual dab of moisturiser and some mascara.

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