Page 28 of You Lied First
Margot watches as Sara takes a deep, slow breath.
Sara turns to Flynn. ‘Well, maybe wait till your dad’s reminded you how to use it. We don’t want any accidents.’
‘We’re in the middle of nowhere,’ Flynn says. ‘Like, what’s gonna happen?’
‘I don’t know. Roll-overs?’ Sara says. ‘Anyway, being in the middle of nowhere isn’t actually the best thing if somethingdoeshappen.’
Sara’s anxiety surprises Margot. Apart from the thing about the seat belts on the first day, she’s come across as quite easy-going so far.
‘Don’t worry,’ Margot says. ‘Flynn’s been driving these since he was yay high.’ She waves her hand towards her knees thoughobviously that’s an exaggeration. In fact, she thinks he’s only done it once, and that was on a trip supervised by professionals. But Flynn’s not an idiot and he’s got good spatial skills.
‘I wouldn’t ever forgive myself if anything happened,’ Sara says. ‘But, more importantly, neither would my ex.’
‘I get that,’ Margot says. ‘But we have to let them live a bit. Right? This is my Danish roots speaking.’
Guy’s voice booms across the campsite. ‘Who wants a drink? I’m parched!’
He strides towards the cool box, flurries of sand thrown up with each huge stride, and Margot has to admit, he does look magnificent. He’s in his element: the endless sweep of sand, the battle to survive in an inhospitable landscape, Guy Forrest imposing his will on nature. With a stab of bitterness, Margot hopes that he misses all this as much as she misses their life in Muscat.
‘G&Ts?’ he calls. ‘Wine? Kids, you want a beer or a Coke?’
‘Should we wait till after everyone’s driven that thing?’ Sara says, nodding towards the quad bike. ‘Just in case? I’m sorry, I can’t help it. It’s my job to be sensible.’
Guy laughs and pats her arm. ‘There’s no police in the desert. It’ll be fine.’
‘That’s not the point,’ Sara turns away.
Celine rummages in her bag and stands up brandishing a huge bottle of champagne like a trophy. ‘I brought this as my contribution. Shall we open it?’
‘A magnum? You absolute treasure,’ Guy says. ‘Why not?’
And so the bottle’s opened, sending a spurt into the air that lands with a hard splat on the sand. Celine splashes champagne into everyone’s glasses, but Margot puts her hand over hers.
‘Not for me. Thanks.’ She adores champagne and would have loved a glass if anyone else had brought it, but ‘absolute treasure’? She picks up the Thermos of double, maybe triple, gin and tonics she mixed at home and wonders if she can just stick a straw in it.
‘Suit yourself,’ Celine says. ‘Bottoms up!’
The others chink glasses and Liv and Flynn raise bottles of beer.
‘Cheers to a fantastic holiday,’ Guy says.
‘Cheers!’ everyone echoes.
24
SARA
Having drunk his first glass of champagne in pretty much one gulp, Guy climbs up onto the trailer and releases the quad bike.
‘Well, we haven’t dragged this thing here to look pretty so we may as well have a go. Who’s first?’ He sits astride the machine and pretends to rev it. ‘Maybe I should take her for a spin to check everything’s okay.’
‘Dad!’ Flynn snaps.
Liv’s jiggling her leg in a way that shows me that she’s also desperate to get on. My heart twists. You want to give your kids everything; you want to do anything you can to make them happy, but you also want to do all you can to protect them; to keep them safe. It’s in a mother’s DNA.
‘Okay, go on then,’ Guy says.
Half a second later Flynn’s seated on it, revving it up and then zooming across the sand like he’s trying to break the land speed record. Just before the bigger dunes start to swell, he spins the bike around in a full circle, spraying a doughnut of sand in the air then he heads back, not breaking his speed until he’s practically on top of us.
