Chapter 1
ONE
TWO DAYS EARLIER
Maybe this holiday was – as Robert had warned – a truly terrible idea.
Almost at the end of the three-hour flight to Malaga and, so far, they’d barely spoken other than to ascertain which tasteless sandwich to order from the in-flight menu.
Robert was deep in a thriller novel and Ellen was flicking through the magazine she’d picked up at the airport.
It was just reminding her why she didn’t buy these things.
Everyone was young and beautiful and it was a mirror to the fact that she was no longer either of those.
Bored with being made to feel inadequate, she stuffed the magazine into the seat pocket behind the airline brochure and safety leaflet and pulled out a packet of Mint Imperials, offering one to Robert. ‘It’ll be strange to see Lucy again, won’t it?’
Robert kept his thumb in his book as he took a mint. ‘I still don’t really understand why we’re going. We haven’t been in touch with Lucy for over twenty years. Don’t you think it’ll be a little strange to be staying in her house?’
Between him fielding last-minute work calls and her dash to the shops for a suck-it-all-in swimsuit and beach towels she wouldn’t be ashamed of, they’d only briefly spoken about the trip since she’d booked the flights yesterday.
‘I know what you’re saying, but it felt like fate, her daughter being in the same halls as Abigail. ’
Last week, she’d moved their youngest daughter Abigail into her university accommodation and the whole thing had been decidedly surreal.
Neither she nor Robert had been back to Canterbury since they’d graduated in 1998.
It had changed a great deal since then – Abigail’s room was more mid-price hotel chain than student digs, with a hefty rent to match – but she’d still experienced the bittersweet nostalgia of being back on that campus where she and Robert had met and fallen in love.
Robert frowned. ‘Well, Lucy was a student there, the same as us. Maybe she waged a campaign to influence her daughter like you did with Abigail.’
His gruff tone was softened by a raised eyebrow, which made her laugh.
‘Emily was so much like Lucy. We’d only been there about fifteen minutes when she stuck her head around the door and introduced herself.
She asked Abbie about a million questions, which is what led to me telling her that we’d been students there and that’s how I found out she was Lucy’s daughter.
I couldn’t believe it when she told me her mother’s maiden name and we put two and two together. ’
She was sure she’d told him all this already. Did he ever actually listen? Robert opened his book again and scanned the page for his place. ‘And two and two made her tell Lucy about you, which is why we’re now on a plane to stay with her in Malaga.’
‘We did say that we were going to have a few days away once Abigail started university. Lucy’s invitation came at the right time.’
She refrained from adding that she’d dropped enough hints to Robert that she wanted him to be the one to book something this time.
For her, last week had consisted of packing and checking lists and last-minute trips to IKEA for kitchen supplies for Abigail – but he’d done nothing.
He also hadn’t been the one who’d had to drop her off and then drive away with her stomach doing flips-flops at the significance of leaving her.
Yet again, he was away with work. Something that was happening more and more lately.
For someone who said he didn’t enjoy his job in medical sales, he was spending a lot of time doing it.
This time, he folded the corner of his page and closed the book on the tray table. ‘Still, it’s a bit weird, isn’t it? Hello, we haven’t spoken in over over twenty years, but would you like to fly out to Spain tomorrow and stay in my house?’
Glad she had his attention, Ellen shifted in her seat so that they could have a proper conversation.
‘It wasn’t quite like that. I told her that we’d booked the week off work but hadn’t planned anything yet and, anyway, it’s not as if she’s a stranger.
We were all really good friends back then, weren’t we?
And she obviously wanted to reconnect or why would she have asked Emily to get my number from Abbie? ’
Robert frowned at the cover of his thriller, which featured a man with rolled up shirt-sleeves walking off into a bright-orange sunset. ‘It would’ve been nice to have at least discussed it before you immediately booked our flights.’
She turned back to stare at the seat in front of her. ‘I thought it would be a nice surprise.’
A strident voice boomed from the intercom. ‘Cabin Crew, seats for landing.’
In baggage reclaim, it was busy and uncomfortable.
Small clumps of people shuffled around, waiting for the luggage carousel to creak into action, restless for their bags to arrive so that they could begin their holiday.
Young lovers holding hands and sharing headphones, families trying to keep excitable toddlers close, and then couples like them, whose children had flown the nest.
Though she’d expected to feel a little lost without Abigail in the house, Ellen still hadn’t been prepared for the scale of the seismic shift of her last child leaving home.
Canterbury was less than two hours away from them in Sussex, but it might as well have been on the moon.
Once she’d dropped her off in halls, Ellen had come home and stood on the threshold of Abbie’s bedroom, strewn with the clothes she’d decided against taking. Already, she missed her like a limb.
Arms folded, feet wide apart, Robert was waiting to pounce on their luggage as soon as it appeared.
In his crumpled linen jacket and dark-blue jeans, he looked like one of the characters from his novel.
A diplomat, maybe. She leaned towards him and nudged his elbow. ‘Lucy has a pool. You love swimming.’
Sighing, his arms dropped to his sides and he let his head hang in either irritation or apology.
‘You don’t need to keep selling this to me, Ellen.
I know I’ve been a bit grumpy, I’m sorry.
It just feels awkward to me. If you and Lucy were such good friends, why haven’t you been in touch all this time? But I said I’d come. And I’m here.’
He was here physically. But there was such a distance between them lately.
All they talked about was the girls, or work, or which of the bins needed putting at the end of the driveway this week.
One of the reasons she’d picked that magazine up at the airport was the headline on the front: ‘Recapture the Romance’.
That’s what they needed to do. And surely a few days together in a beautiful house in the sunshine was the place to do it?
Finally, the baggage reclaim belt groaned into action and Robert moved closer to search for their cases.
He wasn’t wrong to ask why she and Lucy hadn’t stayed in touch all this time, though.
Despite rolling it around in her mind as she’d tried to get to sleep last night, she didn’t have an answer.
After graduation, they’d promised to keep in touch, but their lives had gone in different directions.
Now they were here, she felt a little nervous about seeing Lucy again.
Twenty-seven years was a long time. What if they had nothing in common?
‘Here’s the first one.’ Robert pulled out the telescopic handle of her suitcase and rolled it towards her before returning to look for its pair.
A series of dings on her phone meant that it had finally connected to a Spanish network.
One was a message from Lucy to say that she was already at the arrivals gate and looking forward to seeing them.
Last night, Ellen had searched through a cluster of ancient boxes in the garage to dig out some old photographs of their three years at university, thinking it would be fun to bring them.
Back then, Lucy had been stunningly beautiful, getting so much attention that the rest of the girls in their group might as well have been invisible.
She’d also tried to stalk her online to find out what she looked like now, but couldn’t find her on Instagram or Facebook and had been too embarrassed to ask her to text a picture. Surely she’d be able to recognise her?
The second suitcase wobbled its way onto the conveyor belt, the grinding gears of which made Ellen wince.
She was still worried about the clothes she’d packed.
According to BBC Weather, the sunshine in Malaga was going to be glorious.
But that meant shorts and t-shirts and – most terrifyingly – swimsuits.
Grace, her elder daughter, had offered to lend her a bikini yesterday and she’d almost choked on her cheese and pickle sandwich at the very notion.
Robert walked the second suitcase towards her. ‘Shall we go?’
All around them, holidaymakers chattered excitedly.
In contrast, Robert was in practical mode, striding towards the exit.
The closer they got to seeing Lucy, the more nervous Ellen felt.
Had it been madness to book those flights yesterday after one telephone conversation?
What if they had nothing in common after all this time?
Memories of university would last them an evening, but they were going to be there for three nights.
However nice the house and pool and weather, if they had nothing to say to one another, it would be a very awkward holiday.
What if Robert was right and this was a truly terrible idea?
She reached for his hand. ‘You will try and enjoy yourself, won’t you? ’
He frowned and, for a brief moment, he looked as if he might be about to say something serious, but then his face cleared and he smiled. ‘I’ll do my very best.’
As they emerged into the sunlit hall, she scanned the barrier. Trying not to get in the way of the people behind them, she slowed her steps and attempted to see past the friends and families throwing their arms around one another, reuniting in rich melodious Spanish, looking for a familiar face.
And there she was. Lucy. Tanned, slim, wearing a cream fitted suit with a black silk blouse, cut low enough to show a glimpse of cleavage. In all her imaginings, Ellen hadn’t expected her to look that glamorous. Why hadn’t she taken Grace’s advice to wear something more stylish for the flight?
Lucy waved and the slim diamond bracelet at her wrist caught the light coming through the large glass windows. ‘Robert! Ellen! Over here!’
Several of the cab drivers draped along the rail holding placards with the names of their clients looked appreciatively in her direction.
Clearly, she was still turning heads. Robert picked up speed and was at the barrier just before Ellen.
Lucy threw her arms around him and said something in his ear which was lost in the voices around them.
Then she turned to Ellen with a perfect smile and pulled her into a brief expensively scented embrace. ‘I’m so pleased you’ve both come.’
Over Lucy’s shoulder, the look on Robert’s face was pretty unreadable. Maybe it was just nerves about this impulsive reunion, but there was something in his eyes that made Ellen feel strangely uncomfortable.