Chapter 26
The ride to the art gallery was a quiet one. Naomi’s sisters were once again on bad terms and barely shared a word with anyone else during the minibus journey.
While Naomi was determined to keep her game face on, Sam seemed distracted, and she deduced her friend was missing her son.
At least her parents seemed excited by the prospect of today’s jaunt.
They had been collecting art for some time and it was something they thoroughly enjoyed, so this outing was mostly for them.
Now, seated alongside her, Sam turned to Naomi. ‘Tell me something, honestly. Do you want to marry Greg?’
She baulked a little at her friend’s directness. ‘What sort of question is that? You know I do.’
‘But what gives you the idea that he wants to marry you too?’
‘What are you saying, Sam?’ Naomi retorted, stung. ‘Of course he does.’
‘I know you’re expecting some outlandish proposal on this holiday, but how do you know it’s not just you reading into things?’
Naomi felt defensive. ‘Look, I know that Greg can be … a bit … uptight sometimes,’ she said, guessing that Sam was referring to his outright spitting feathers about having to evacuate the room right before they were leaving, despite arranging to let him use hers instead.
‘I’ll say …’ Sam raised an eyebrow.
‘And I suppose he isn’t easy to understand with his strict adherence to his ten-year plan and all that, but I do know that getting married is on that plan, so why wouldn’t he want to marry me?’
‘Fine. I’m sorry I brought it up. I told myself I wouldn’t, it’s just …’ Sam exhaled deeply.
Naomi looked at her, worried now. ‘Just what?’
She looked out the window. ‘I didn’t want to put a dampener on things, so I didn’t tell you before we left, but … Harry and I have split up.’
She turned to look at her friend, shocked. ‘What? When did this happen?’
Sam shrugged. ‘I ended it the week before we travelled. He’s still taking care of Nate while I’m away obviously, and will always be his dad of course, but …’
‘But what?’
‘I suppose … I’ve felt for a while that he didn’t have my best interests at heart.
Like when I told him about this trip and that it would be hard being away from Nate, I was still excited about coming along to celebrate my best friend’s big birthday and spending some long overdue time together, especially after the last couple of years – not to mention an amazing opportunity to visit such an incredible place …
All Harry could focus on was how my leaving Nate would inconvenience him, rather than be happy for me to take some time out.
Don’t get me wrong, you know how much I love my baby, but, cripes, motherhood is so intense sometimes. ’
‘Wow, I must say I’m surprised. I thought you guys were for ever.’
She’d assumed Sam, her partner and her son to be the perfect little family unit.
And it was brave of her friend to ditch her son’s father to tackle the future on her own.
But that was Sam; she’d always done things on entirely her terms. When something didn’t work for her, she recognised it and changed it.
‘Are you, though?’ her friend asked dubiously. ‘You must have known too that Harry wasn’t the greatest dad material. He’s way too flighty and selfish. Nate and I are much better off on our own.’
‘Maybe, but I can’t imagine it’ll be easy, either. Oh, I wish you would’ve told me you were feeling that way.’
‘We’ll be fine. Far worse to stay in a mostly one-sided relationship,’ she added, and Naomi couldn’t quite tell whether the jibe was intentional.
‘Well, I guess this trip truly is a fresh start for you at least,’ Naomi quipped, and then something struck her.
‘Oh! Does that mean you weren’t joking when you sent that text earlier about getting rid of someone in your room?
You weren’t …’ She looked wide-eyed at Sam, who winked, then burst out laughing.
‘Sorry, you should have seen your face! Of course not, but I’m not saying no to the chance of a holiday romance either.’
Interesting, Naomi thought, idly wondering if she should maybe try to set her friend up with that lovely single dad Will, though perhaps that was wholly inappropriate since he was holidaying with his little daughter, after all.
But he was so nice, very handsome and, thinking about it, would be perfect for Sam, so she made a mental note to try and introduce the two of them at the next available opportunity.
The art gallery they were headed to was located on the opposite coast to the hotel.
Set within the compound of a former sugar mill now converted to a boutique hotel, it not only offered art but fine cuisine too.
Not all the artists were local to St Lucia, but much of their work was very obviously Caribbean-inspired.
Naomi, who’d researched the place beforehand, was looking forward to seeing what her parents would make of it.
‘Which gallery do you want to explore first, Mum?’ she asked as they walked in the grounds.
Janice shrugged. ‘I’ll go wherever everyone else wants to go.’
‘OK.’ Naomi then looked to her sisters. ‘Do either of you have a preference?’
‘Doesn’t matter. I’m here for you,’ Judy stated tightly, and Karen gave her a strange look.
‘Likewise, sis,’ her other sister added.
Naomi tried to keep a lid on her frustration. Everyone was being so difficult lately; first Greg, then Sam with her weird comments on the way here and now her eternally sullen sisters. ‘Then I suppose it’s up to you, Dad.’
‘Fine. Let’s go in that one,’ George stated decisively as he pointed towards the second gallery.
Still, Naomi thought, if her mother and father managed to enjoy some part of this trip, then it was worth it.
The walls of the exhibition room were a kind of coral stone, plastered together in a way that was very much reminiscent of what the original mill walls may have looked like, or at least Naomi presumed that was the effect they were going for.
The moment you entered you were greeted by wall-to-wall works of art.
‘Oh, George, look at that one,’ her mother pointed out as they strolled over to a portrait of two little girls looking out onto a crystal-blue ocean. Naomi walked behind them, leaving Sam and her sisters to entertain themselves.
‘Those colours are wonderful,’ she commented as she studied the varying shades of greens, peaches, browns, and oranges that the artist used to depict some of the beachside flora.
‘They are, aren’t they?’ Janice commented as she reached out, but didn’t touch the painting.
‘It makes me think of when I was a little girl and my parents would take us down to the seaside for holidays. Though the beach wasn’t nearly as pretty and warm as this one.
You can tell by the colours how delightful that day must have been, standing on the shore with a friend. ’
‘I never really cared for the beach,’ her father interjected. ‘We never had time for it. Our parents’ lives were lived trying to get by.’ She watched as her mother took her father’s hand in her own and stroked it comfortingly, her gaze settling on him as he looked at the painting.
He wasn’t a man who trifled. He was always serious.
He hardly ever took holidays, even now in his advancing years he’d rather be in the garden working than sitting around enjoying a show on the television or relaxing with a book.
He was always a hard worker, who never really took time out to enjoy life.
The most he ever did was collect paintings, something he’d gotten into because of her mother.
Naomi was sure it was because, through the art, he got to experience things he never had a chance to when he was younger.
Thinking of it now, he kinda reminded her a little of Greg. He too was so serious and determined and, it seemed, also unable to relax when the opportunity presented.
‘Do you like it, Dad?’
Her father studied the artwork carefully. ‘Very much so.’
‘Do you want to get it?’
‘We can’t go spending money on the first painting we see, Naomi,’ he chided. ‘Let’s look around a bit more first, then we can make a decision.’
‘Well, if you like it, let’s at least take a photo to remember it, in case you decide not to,’ Naomi suggested. ‘Bunch together, you two,’ she urged, and her parents shuffled themselves into place as she took their picture.
Before coming here, she’d decided she was going to treasure these little moments with her parents as much as possible and never take them for granted.
Mostly because she hadn’t had the chance to spend enough time with them over the last couple of years, and had missed them terribly when separated during the lockdown years.
And also because there was simply no telling how many more they would have left. Which made her even more determined to make this trip special for them all.