With eyes blurred with tears, Tabitha dragged her suitcase across the driveway to where Julie was waiting, ready to take her to Funchal. To Ollie. Or perhaps onwards somewhere completely different, where she could start over. Or she could return to the comfort and love of her family, to Elspeth and her beautiful nieces. Decisions bubbled like molten lava, her insides a jumbled mess of emotions, uncertainty twisting through her.
Tabitha loaded her suitcase, rucksack and guitar into the boot and slid on to the passenger seat.
‘Are you ready?’ Julie asked gently.
‘No, not really, but let’s go anyway.’
35
Although Tabitha had seen pictures of Ollie’s Funchal villa, she’d never been there before. It was the place he’d bought when he’d found fame and fortune after winningThe Star. He’d upgraded his London pad too. Long gone were the days of roughing it in a damp shared flat.
He greeted her with warmth and his stubble tickled as he brushed her cheek with a kiss. His arm remained around her waist as he led her inside. If Rufus and Cordelia’s place had reminded her of a show home, Ollie’s pad was positively palatial.
He gave her a tour of the four-bedroomed villa, with its gleaming walnut wood floors and expensive art decorating the white walls. The whole of the living area had floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the infinity pool. There were views to the ocean and the green terraced hillside punctuated by red roofs and white villa walls, occasional blue pools and swathes of palm trees. He had his own gym, an enclosed garden and various outdoor terraces for entertaining, including the most impressive one with the pool where you could see for miles.
The villa was empty of other people. Tabitha hadn’t expected it to be. She thought his PA, who’d been at his birthday party, would at least be there, but she wasn’t. As they wandered around, she realised how different it felt in his company to seven years ago; there was a strange expectation and uncertainty. More expectation on his part; her uncertainty came from wondering what he actually wanted from her. Worries scrambled her thoughts about how they would work together, her own commitments to the record label she freelanced for and what going on tour with Ollie would actually entail. Yes, she wanted to embrace life and all its opportunities, but was this the right decision? Her head flashed with a possible future. Ollie’s fame was epic and he was offering her a chance to work with him and be back in his life.
As Ollie grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and led her out on to the largest terrace, Raff’s comment about Ollie danced around her head. Had she been naïve to think a platonic relationship was all Ollie had ever wanted? The distance of years had given her a new perspective. And it wasn’t a case ofwhoshe wanted; it waswhatshe wanted. As Raff had said, she needed to do whatever would make her happy.
She tuned back in to what Ollie was saying as they reached oversized beanbag loungers by the pool.
‘It’s a bloody lush place for parties; stick around and we can have one before the tour kicks off.’ He opened the wine, poured it into two glasses and handed her one. ‘I’m going back to London after the tour finishes. Need time in the studio to work on the next album.’
He swigged the wine, set it down on the table between the beanbags and peeled off his T-shirt.
Tabitha sat down on the closest beanbag and took a large gulp of the chilled wine, feeling the need for it as her eyes trailed Ollie. His confidence hadn’t changed, but she had. She felt differently about him; it wasn’t that she was uncomfortable around him, it was just the comfortable familiarity had been lost.
He dived into the pool, his muscled shoulders and arms slicing through the water. He was showing off, like he’d always done, but she had a strong sense that he was doing it on purpose, enticing her with his home, with the opportunities he could offer, with himself…
He swam over and rested his arms on the tiled side, close enough to reach out and touch her. The sun sparkled on the turquoise pool, making Ollie’s tanned muscled shoulders gleam, the ink decorating them streaked with water. Was it a mistake to have come here?
During the drive to Funchal with Julie, she’d felt so muddled as they’d talked about Raff turning up and what that meant. Julie had been filled with worry for him, while the surprise and delight Tabitha had felt at Raff’s return had been overshadowed by sorrow at leaving. Their conversation had moved on and it was a fond and tearful farewell when they’d reached Funchal. Thinking clearly about it now, perhaps it would have been wise if she’d asked Julie to drop her off at the airport instead. That would have been sensible. A clean break, from the island, from Ollie, from Raff…
‘Have you got a bikini with you?’ Ollie’s eyes traced her face, lingering as they dropped downwards. ‘Come and join me.’
She knew then, without a doubt, that everything had changed. If Ollie had suggested something like that eight or nine years ago, it wouldn’t have been as loaded as it was now.
What was she doing? Flirting with the idea that this could be her second chance at a big break? She was doing absolutely fine. She’d found her own success; she was making her living doing what she loved. What more did she want?
It was then it hit her; everything she’d been running away from and trying to figure out slotted into place, the puzzle pieces of her life finally coming together. She needed to move forward and find her own place in the world; there was no point in attempting to recapture something from the past that would be messy and a mistake, or settle for something she wasn’t 100 per cent sure about, like she’d almost done with Lewis.
Ollie heaved himself out of the pool and swaggered over, bare-chested and grinning, his swim shorts clinging to him, leaving little to the imagination.
Tabitha scrambled out of the beanbag lounger. ‘I think I’m going to go.’
Ollie frowned and ran his hand through his wet hair. ‘Why? You’ve only just got here.’
His smooth, toned chest ran with rivulets of water. How jealous would those girls who’d drooled over him in the rooftop bar be at the idea of her alone with their idol. Their newly single idol.
But none of this was what Tabitha wanted.
‘I’ve got a flight booked for later today,’ she said.
‘Then cancel it.’
Tabitha shook her head. ‘I think I need to head back to the UK, see my family for a bit.’
He scooped up a towel and dabbed his chest dry. ‘Okay, so see your family, then join me on tour in a couple of weeks. The best of both, that way.’