Page 87 of The Guest House at Shingle Cove

Alice frowned. How could he think that?

‘I’m talking about you being out walking alone in the dark, looking lost.. Do you remember?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Alice remembered a whole lot more besides. She looked sheepishly at Omar. The trouble was that he didn’t know the whole story. She wasn’t about to put him in the picture now, all these years later. Why should she? And what would he think of her if he knew what had really gone on that night before he and his friends came across a young lady, late at night, walking aimlessly on her own?

‘Did I say something wrong, Alice?’

‘No, not at all.’ They had been staying at the guest house at the time for a nostalgic break two years after their honeymoon, for their second wedding anniversary – except that it had felt as though the honeymoon period was well and truly over. They’d had a massive row and Jeffrey had gone to bed, giving her the silent treatment. Alice had left the guest house, taking a long walk even though it was dark and she had no idea where she was heading.

If it hadn’t been for Omar and his college friends happening along, out on a pub crawl, she might have been wandering aimlessly for hours. It was late and Alice had got lost. They had been looking for a place with vacancies, so she’d suggested the guest house, not letting on that she was already booked in there with her husband. That had been Omar’s fault. She remembered getting into the back of the car with him. She hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him. It hadn’t helped that he was an archaeologist on an exchange to his alma mater, Cambridge University. It was her alma mater too. And she had studied the same subjects, although they had attended at different times, as Omar had already finished his degree when she’d started.

Alice heaved a sigh, remembering all this. Like Omar, she would never forget that night. Fortunately, despite the very late hour, someone had been around – a live-in cleaner, who had booked them all rooms. She hadn’t recognised Alice, who had kept in the background during the check-in process. They were all only staying for one night. The trouble was that at the height of summer, there was a shortage of rooms. They would have to share.

Alice had known that she should creep back to her own room, where her husband was sleeping. But she had not. Not straight away. She had decided she would rather talk to Omar about the subject she loved and his life in Alexandria. It sounded so exciting, so exotic. She’d decided that as soon as he fell asleep, she’d creep back to her room. She knew the group were checking out the next day and would have to leave by ten. She’d feign a headache so she didn’t have to go down to breakfast, and that way she’d avoid them. It had all been very innocent – to begin with. Omar had insisted on sleeping on the floor, on a throw. She’d tossed him a pillow. But the wooden floor was very uncomfortable. She’d invited him into bed. They’d lain there as far apart as possible, feeling awkward …

‘What are you thinking?’

‘About that night.’ Alice kept her voice low.

He took a sip of coffee and wiped his moustache with a handkerchief.

They both sat there, staring at each other, remembering. He said, ‘Where did you go … afterwards? I woke up in the morning and you were gone.’

Alice thought of Jeffrey. She hadn’t mentioned the young man she’d met, Omar, and what had really transpired that night before she snuck back to her own room and gingerly got back into bed beside her sleeping husband, who must have had no idea how long she’d been gone.

‘Is that why you came back? Nostalgia for what might have been?’

Nostalgia had been the last thing on Alice’s mind when she’d returned. What was nostalgic about finding out your husband might have had an affair? And there was the other thing … Alice glanced around, wondering if Joss would also appear at breakfast. She was still worried about what she might have told him last night in an alcoholic haze.

‘If … if you hadn’t disappeared,’ continued Omar, ‘I thought … I know it was just one night, but I felt we had something, a connection.’ He ventured, ‘For me, it was love at first sight.’

Alice breathed a sigh. She glanced at Clarissa, who was eating toast and scrolling through her phone; she appeared to have lost interest in them. Alice buttered some toast and left it on her plate. She looked at Omar. After all these years, he still wanted to know if she’d felt the same way. ‘It was a mistake, Omar.’

He slowly nodded his head and sat back in his seat. ‘I thought as much.’

‘When we met, Omar. The timing.’

‘Oh.’

‘You see …’ Alice took a deep breath. ‘It wasn’t you. It was me. I was … I was already married …’

‘Oh. I … I had no idea.’

‘I know.’

‘But you … we … slept together.’

‘I know that too.’ She dropped her eyes to the table, embarrassed that he now knew the truth. When she raised her eyes, she saw the way Omar was looking at her. ‘You must think I’m a terrible person.’

‘No, I’m just surprised – that’s all. I didn’t think … I couldn’t imagine you would, well …’ He stopped. ‘This is very forward of me to say, but if things weren’t going well in your marriage, why didn’t you tell me? You could have left him – for me.’

Alice bit her lower lip. Of course it had crossed her mind at the time. In that one night, just like Omar, she’d felt she had met her soulmate. After only a short time as a married couple, things hadn’t been going well between her and Jeffrey. It hadn’t been Jeffrey’s fault. But then again, it hadn’t been her fault either. It was the hand they had both been dealt – orshehad been dealt.

‘Alice?’

But there was something else, something Omar had said to her, that had sounded the death knell for any future with him, and it had had nothing to do with already being married – that could be undone; it was what Omar saw in his future that she knew he could never have with her. She had realised they were not meant to be together – not back then, at any rate.

‘Did you get married, Omar? Did you have children?’

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