Chapter Thirty-Three #3
I head to my room, searching for my hand luggage from the flight home.
It’s the same bag I carried around Barcelona.
I cleared most of it out weeks ago when I let my sisters sparrow through the trinkets and random bits and bobs I found in different cities.
I dig my hand in and take out the cheap burner phone Gus handed me.
I think part of me has purposefully forgotten it was there.
I try to turn it on, but the battery is dead.
I storm out to the kitchen yank Millie’s phone out of the charger and switch it for his.
“Hey!” she says, snatching hers up and holding it to her chest. “Careful with that.”
I use the moment to fill the jug of water and offer it round the table when I realise I haven’t dug into this conversation even nearly enough.
“Which cadet did you suck off at the fundraiser?” I ask Millie. “And please tell me he was one of the adult ones.”
She sticks her tongue out. “Obviously! Dad only trains the adults now. He was like a year older than me.”
“He was hot to be fair,” Gemma defends.
“Doesn’t excuse the Portaloo situation.”
Millie nods. “Trust me, I know where you’re coming from but… It does. He had a very nice…”
“Hose?” I offer.
We all burst out laughing. Abby dribbles red wine down her chin and has to grab some kitchen roll to clean up.
“And you!” I say to Abby. “When did you become a hooker?”
“I’m not a hooker. It was because I wore Millie’s dress.”
“Hey! That’s never happened to me.”
Gemma sniffs. “That’s because they think you’ll do it for free.”
“So gross. I can feel the feminism leaking from our bodies.” I shake my limbs as if to prove it. Then I glance at Gemma. “Did you pay for your window cleaning or…”
“No. He’s taking me out on a date next week.” Not even an ounce of shame. In fact, she looks pretty pleased with herself. I wish I had that much confidence when it came to letting my hair down.
“You realise your old man thing is very strange,” I tell her.
She nods, gulping back more wine. “I’m very aware. I don’t know what it is. There’s just something about them…”
“You’re such a bunch of skanks,” I joke, throwing an arm around Abby and kissing her hair. “I’m so embarrassed we’re related. But I love you.”
At that moment, the burner phone lights up, turning itself back on.
I practically launch at it. It takes five minutes to fully wake up and load to the home screen.
We’re all poised in anticipation. I feel a bit weird looking at somebody else’s phone until a message pops up that clearly reads: Hi Sara.
Ok… So, I’m pretty sure I can open it without feeling guilty or like I’m evading his privacy. And besides, he gave me the phone. I’m probably overthinking this. Definitely overthinking.
Even so, I turn my back on my sisters to read it without their prying eyes.
I open the message, but it takes a second to load because there are large attachments.
Thirty photos to be precise.
The message reads:
Hi Sara, I don’t know where you are now or what you’re doing but I hope you receive this message. Amongst all the sights we saw together, the history, the architecture, it was you I noticed. You became my muse.
I wanted to share these with you. I want you to know how incredibly beautiful you are. I want you to see you how I saw you. The two weeks we spent together mean more than you’ll ever know. I still think about you all the time.
Whatever happens. I’m so glad you came. I’m so glad to have met you.
Gus x
I try to hide the message but it’s too late, my sisters are all over me. Millie is literally on the kitchen island on her hands and knees so she can read the message.
“Call him!” Millie shouts. We all jump. She clears her throat, tucks her hair behind her ears and tries again. “Call him!” she echoes again, slightly quieter this time.
I’m still scrolling through the photos. I didn’t realise I’d laughed so much.
Or smiled like that. He’s got me up close and off in the distance, totally unaware he was even taking pictures of me.
There’s some of us together on the fishing boat, him staring at me, then me staring at him, then us both locked in each other’s eyes.
It was before we’d even kissed. I snigger when I remember the way Roko came between us.
Gemma would’ve loved him.
“You look so good together,” she mutters. Why does she always sound so resentful?
“You do,” Abby says. “Oh my God. I think he fell for you.”
“No. He’s also a photographer. He enjoys this stuff. And he’s really good at it,” I explain. It’s not that. Can’t be that. Won’t be that.
All three of them give me an exasperated look then in unison shout, “CALL HIM!”
“No!” I say, getting out of my seat and escaping their clutches. They don’t follow but their gazes don’t leave me either. “It doesn’t… He doesn’t… It can’t be… It’s too soon… I just.” I rub my forehead.
“Have you run out of excuses yet?” Millie asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Ugh! Fine. You’re the most annoying people on the planet.”
I clutch my chest. My heart is beating way too hard. This is absurd. But maybe this is how it is meant to feel. Maybe it’s meant to be a little scary. Maybe that’s how you know.
I dial the number and hold the phone to my ear.