Page 70 of An Island in the Sun

Tabitha jumped as her mobile started ringing and Cordelia’s name popped up on the screen.

‘It’s your mum.’ Tabitha waved Raff away as she answered. ‘Cordelia, hi,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I’m so sorry I missed your call before. I didn’t have my phone on me.’

‘I’ve been trying our landline too,’ Cordelia said curtly, ‘multiple times this weekend. There’s been no answer.’

‘Oh I was next door at Julie’s with the dogs…’

‘You were?’ Her voice was clipped. ‘Since Saturday?’

‘Oh, I, er…’ Tabitha was at a loss. How to explain where she’d been without mentioning Raff?

‘We’ve had an utter nightmare,’ Cordelia ploughed on. ‘We were on a guided walking safari when Rufus managed to slip down a steep bank and badly twist his ankle. Smashed his phone too. My phone ran out of battery, hence me only being able to try calling you on our home phone until last night as we were in a hospital in Dar es Salaam.’

‘Oh my goodness, that sounds horrendous.’

‘It is. And it’s cut our holiday of a lifetime short.’

‘Is Rufus okay?’

Raff was really frowning at her now. Tabitha mouthed, ‘I’ll tell you in a bit.’

‘He’s dosed up on pain relief and cross with himself for falling over in the first place, not to mention embarrassed. But other than his pride being dented and being in an awful lot of pain, he’s fine.’ She sighed. ‘What’s done is done. We’ve decided not to go to Zanzibar and come home early instead, which is what I’ve been trying to contact you about.’

‘Oh, okay. When?’ Thoughts swirled and a tightness built in her chest.

‘We’ve been travelling for hours already and are in Amsterdam waiting for our flight to Lisbon. If all goes to plan, we should be back on Madeira this evening.’

‘This evening?’ Tabitha said, her voice suddenly high-pitched.

‘Yes, between eight and nine tonight, I think. I know this is disrupting your plans too, which was why I was trying to give you fair warning. Obviously, you can stay for as long as you need, until you sort out where you’re going next, but it really hasn’t felt as if we have any other option.’ Tension coiled round her voice. ‘We just want to be home.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ Panic ripped through Tabitha.

‘The dogs and Misty…’

‘Are absolutely fine; you don’t need to worry about them. They’ll be pleased to see you.’

‘We’ll see you later then.’ Cordelia hung up before Tabitha had a chance to say anything else.

‘Shit.’ She held the phone to her chest.

‘What do you mean they’ll be pleased to see them?’ A frown creased Raff’s handsome face. ‘What’s going on, Tabitha?’

‘Your dad’s had an accident – he’s fine, though,’ she stressed as Raff’s eyebrows furrowed even more. ‘He hurt his ankle and is in a lot of pain so they’re on their way home. They’ll be back this evening.’

‘Ah, shit.’ Raff rubbed his hand across his forehead.

Tabitha felt as stressed as he looked. Of all the times to not have had her mobile on her. Of all the times to not have been here. She could only imagine what had been going through Cordelia’s head as she’d desperately tried to get hold of her.

‘Perhaps this is a good thing,’ Tabitha said, attempting to make herself feel more upbeat about the situation.

‘How is my parents returning early good?’ Raff muttered. He ran his fingers up her arms. ‘I thought we’d have longer together.’

That had been Tabitha’s initial reaction too, not that her time on Madeira was about to be cut short, but her time with Raff would be. For one weekend, everything had been perfect, and now…

‘With them coming back early and you being here, it might be an opportunity to finally talk to them,’ she said gently. ‘Tell them how you feel about everything.’

Raff dropped his hands from her arms and shook his head. ‘That’s so not a good idea, particularly with Dad being injured. He’s not going to be in a good mood.’

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