Page 20 of An Island in the Sun

Raff nearly spat out his lager.

‘So between the ages of four and ten that’s what he called me.’

‘As in referring to you as a pussy, scared about doing stuff?’ He held her gaze, almost as if he was challenging her.

Tabitha laughed and shook her head. ‘No chance. I was a bit of a bruiser as a kid, so that term definitely didn’t fit.’ She gave him a sly grin. ‘The joys of having an older more worldly-wise brother. I should point out he doesn’t call me that any longer. No one does.’

‘If you say so, P—’

‘Don’t even think about it.’ She playfully whacked him, the back of her hand connecting with his muscled arm. She turned her attention to the darkness that had now descended beyond the pool and took a large swig of lager. Of all the things she could have told him, why on earth had she thought sharing that story was a good idea?

‘So, next question,’ Raff said, thankfully steering the conversation away from her embarrassing nickname. ‘How old are you?’

‘Thirty-two. You?’

‘Thirty-one.’ So she hadn’t been far off in her estimation.

‘What makes someone your age spend their life travelling from one place to another?’

‘Someone my age?’ Tabitha narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips.

‘Okay, someone our age.’ Raff nudged her shoulder with his.

‘The short version is I was in a place in my life I wanted to escape from and I thankfully have a career that enabled me to work pretty much anywhere for a while.’

‘And the long version…?’

Tabitha sensed him watching her. She felt a familiar knot in her chest; finding the words to explain her reasons for leaving still felt impossible. It was hard enough thinking back on that time. She’d even struggled to talk to Elspeth about it, let alone someone she’d only just met. Dwelling on events, she felt the panic crawling up her chest. Breaking up with Lewis had been hard but right; getting pregnant by accident, then suffering a miscarriage had left her devastated. Fighting to control her emotions, she kicked her legs out, sending ripples across the water and splashing onto the paving.

‘I don’t really want to go into the long version, but let’s just say I needed to take time out… from everything. I took six months off, didn’t work, just moved from place to place looking after pets while trying to get my shit together.’ She turned and met his gaze, hoping he’d understand there was pain in her past that she wasn’t ready to share. Not that she wanted there to be any awkwardness. He may have instigated them spending time together, but ultimately she was in charge of where they went from here. ‘Travelling’s in my blood, though. Our family moved around loads. By the time I was eighteen, we’d moved seven times, so it feels normal to go from place to place, even if I move a lot more frequently house sitting than I did when I was a kid.’

‘Sounds like a character-building way of growing up. I imagine it takes a fair amount of confidence to travel and slot yourself into a new place all the time.’

‘Yeah, I guess so.’ She took a swig of her drink. ‘With four older siblings, I learnt to stick up for myself and moving around so much I got used to constantly having to make new friends and trying to fit into a new school. Confidence came with that.’

Raff nodded and polished off his lager. ‘But the house sitting came about because you wanted to escape your life back home?’ he asked tentatively. ‘Wherever home is?’

‘Yeah, I was living in Wimbledon. Not that it ever felt like home.’

‘Was it the place you were escaping from or someone?’

‘Are you trying to ask if I’ve had my heart broken?’

‘Have you?’

Tabitha gently kicked her legs back and forth, relishing the now-warm sensation of the water. ‘Not exactly,’ she eventually said. ‘Although I certainly broke his heart.’

‘Your ex?’

Tabitha nodded. ‘Perhaps it’s a similar story for you?’

‘Yeah, I was definitely the one doing the heart breaking.’

Did she really want them to unravel their messy pasts and divulge the relationships that had gone wrong?

She swigged more lager, put the bottle down and turned to him. ‘This is beginning to be a rather serious conversation after a very enjoyable day.’

‘I can be less serious.’

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