Page 57 of Hook, Line and Single

‘I just watch what Sam’s been through,’ I tell him.

‘Yes, but even you have to admit that Robin’s probably a better calibre than the other guys you’ve told me about. Maybe this time…’

‘Maybe,’ I say, humouring him. ‘It would be nice. I will admit that I struggle to picture her married to a vicar though. Even one as nice as Robin.’

* * *

If boarding the plane with no luggage was odd, disembarking is even stranger. While everyone else files off towards the baggage carousels, Cameron and I make straight for the exit and taxi rank. As we speed towards Cannes, I pull out my phone and disable flight mode, only to receive a message almost immediately from Sam.

Hi, got your note via the captain. You must know some people in high places! Anyway, hope you’ve made it to Cannes OK. Just to let you know that they’re not letting us go on shore yet because we’re anchored outside the harbour and the sea is too rough for the tenders. They’re going to try various different positions though, so hopefully it’ll be sorted by the time you arrive. Looking forward to seeing you and hearing all about it. Sx

I’ve barely made it through that one when a second message pings in.

Me again. Bad news I’m afraid. They can’t find a way to position the ship so the tenders can get alongside. Captain has been on to say that they’re going to weigh anchor as soon as they can get a pilot onboard and set off towards Livorno. Robin thinks you might be able to scrounge a lift with the pilot? Sx

My mood is plummeting as I show the messages to Cameron.

‘Let’s get to the harbour and see what’s what before we lose hope,’ he tells me, but I notice his smile has also disappeared and been replaced by a look of grim determination.

However, when we reach the harbour, we don’t even need to speak to anyone to see that we’re too late. TheSpirit of Malmöis already a long way out to sea.

20

‘For fucking fuck’s sake!’ I howl, unable to stop tears of frustration pouring down my cheeks as my lovely cabin, with its comfortable bed and hot shower, along with all my clothes and toiletries, heads for the horizon without me for the second day in a row.

‘Hey, we’ve got this,’ Cameron soothes as he wraps me in a hug. Although we’ve kissed, held hands and shared a bed, this is the first time he’s hugged me and I press my face against his chest, breathing him in. Like me, he smells a little bit jaded and sweaty, but it’s comforting nonetheless. I allow him to hold me until the tears subside.

‘I think we know the drill by now, don’t we,’ he tells me when I eventually disengage from his embrace. ‘Book hotel rooms, book transport, hope we catch the bloody ship tomorrow.’

‘I’m also going to need a change of clothes,’ I tell him. ‘I think these ones could practically stand up by themselves.’

‘Agreed. One thing at a time though.’ He pulls out his phone and launches a hotel booking website. He takes his time scrolling through the options and fiddling with the filters before looking up at me with a frown.

‘Bloody hell, Cannes is expensive,’ he remarks. ‘Most of the hotels are fully booked for tonight, and from the meagre pickings that are left, I can’t find anything for less than two hundred euros, and that’s room only. On top of that, there’s only one hotel that has two rooms available and they’re two-fifty each.’

He hands me the phone so I can look for myself, but he’s right. I know we got lucky by staying with Alejandro and Gabriela for free last night, but this is starting to look like a very expensive diversion, given that we still need to eat, get clothes and toiletries, and find our way to meet the ship tomorrow. I hand the phone back.

‘What do you want to do?’ I ask. ‘I’m not sure I want to sleep on the beach.’

‘We’d probably get moved on anyway. I’m sure a place like Cannes has strict rules on stuff like that. I do have one suggestion, but you might not like it.’

‘Go on.’

‘We could share a room again. Not ideal, I know, but it halves the cost.’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I’m not sure I fancy another early-morning wake-up call from little Cameron.’

‘Please stop calling it that. To be fair, I think hotel beds are generally larger than the one we were in last night, so we shouldn’t be, umm, pressed together in quite the same way.’

‘Let me have another look.’ I take the phone from him again and look through the rooms listed. All of them are doubles, but one has a super-king-sized bed. It’s well over two hundred euros, but it does include breakfast, which is a plus.

‘What about this one?’ I ask him. ‘Plenty of room for you to build a pillow wall to keep little Cameron in check.’

‘You’re enjoying winding me up, aren’t you?’

‘It passes the time.’

He sighs expressively. ‘Right. I’m going to book this, OK?’

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