Page 45 of An Island in the Sun

‘Tabitha, I don’t know what to say.’ He grinned at her. ‘Thank you.’

‘You do realise you’ve already being doing what I’m now saying you can do.’ She laughed, a sense of ease seeping through her now that she’d made up her mind. ‘And come in and have a shower whenever you want.’

She scooped up the empty bowls and stood up.

‘I really appreciate this,’ Raff said, standing up as well.

Tabitha was about to go when a thought about Ollie’s party hit her. She’d envisioned rocking up on her own, not knowing anyone besides Ollie, something that never used to faze her, but things had changed since then. ‘And, um, I’m going to a party on Wednesday evening – I’ve been invited by an old friend. He’s partly the reason why I wanted to come to Madeira, to try to salvage our friendship. If you fancy coming along, it would be good to have the company, but don’t feel you have to.’

‘I’d love that.’ Raff grabbed her free hand, leaned in and kissed her cheek. ‘Thank you for everything.’

‘Night, Raff.’

20

Elspeth phoned Tabitha first thing the next morning. Tabitha groaned as she grabbed her mobile. She’d already been up to feed the dogs and let them out but had crashed straight back into bed. She looked at the time: 9.04 a.m. Early on a Sunday for her, not for her sister with a three- and four-year-old.

‘Hey, E.’

‘Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.’

‘You didn’t.’

‘Liar.’ Elspeth laughed, adding to the background giggles of Olivia and Nancy.

Tabitha stifled a yawn. ‘They sound happy.’

‘That’s because they’re just finishing off blueberry pancakes with lashings of maple syrup, although more has gone on them than on their breakfast. I just couldn’t wait any longer to find out how it went with Raff. I was expecting you to message me, but then figured you might have been a bit busy last night…’ Her words were loaded.

‘Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I wasn’t “busy” in the way you mean. It just ended up being too late to message, that’s all.’

‘Did you take my advice?’

‘Yes.’

‘And…’

‘You were right, he opened up.’ Tabitha shuffled into a sitting position. Sunlight squeezed through the gap in the curtains, casting a narrow block of warm light across the wooden floor. ‘The only trouble with that was the more I found out about him, the harder it became to ask him to leave.’

‘Was that what you actually wanted to do?’

‘Well, no.’ Tabitha rubbed her forehead. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Either way, I said he could stay in the garden office. It seemed the best compromise. I like talking to him. There’s also something appealing about him, even though I know it’s probably a bad idea to get involved – as afriend,because that’s all it is before you say anything.’

‘I wasn’t going to say…’ Her voice trailed off as Olivia’s cut in.

‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.’

Tabitha imagined Olivia’s sticky maple syrup fingers tugging on Elspeth.

‘I’m talking to Auntie Tabitha.’

There was muffled noise and a thump as if the phone had been dropped, then scrabbling.

‘Hold on,’ Elspeth said. ‘Olivia wants to say hello.’

There was more fumbling while the phone was passed over.

‘Hello, Auntie Tabitha.’

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