Chapter 17
Heading up onto the busy sun deck at one o’clock on Friday, Jamie made his way over to the table for two occupied by Kayla’s friend and said, ‘Hi there, is this seat free?’
She looked up from the book she’d been reading. ‘It is. And you don’t have to worry, it’s safe. Kayla’s gone to meet her chap.’
‘I saw her leaving the ship an hour ago. She doesn’t seem to have been around much.’
‘I know. She’s completely crazy about her gondolier. Which lets you off the hook.’ As he pulled out the spare chair, she added, ‘And I promise not to talk to you about rugby.’
He laughed; this was why he’d chosen to join her. ‘It’s been a bit non-stop this morning. You’re Hattie, yes?’
‘That’s right.’
‘And the guy over there,’ he pointed discreetly, ‘is your ex?’ It hadn’t taken long for word to get around that Hattie’s former husband and his current younger partner were also on the ship.
She nodded. ‘For my sins.’
‘What’s the girlfriend like? Friendly?’
‘Suzanne?’ Hattie’s tone was wry. ‘She thinks I’m the frumpy older ex-wife. Not worth bothering with.’
‘What? You’re not frumpy.’
‘Maybe not compared with other older ex-wives. But compared to her, I’m geriatric, overweight and out of shape. As she’s pointed out to me more than once.’
Jamie shook his head, because this wasn’t remotely true either. ‘But I’ve seen you and your ex chatting together. It’s good that you get on well.’
Hattie looked as if she was about to say something, then checked herself and nodded instead.
The next moment, eyes sparkling, she blurted out, ‘We do, actually. Better than his girlfriend realises. And I shouldn’t have said that, but I couldn’t help myself.
I trust you, though, so please don’t tell anyone. Even Kayla doesn’t know.’
‘You can absolutely trust me. Now I’m intrigued. So are the two of you having a thing?’
She grinned at his choice of words. ‘You mean are we sleeping together? Absolutely not. But only because I’m saying no. I’m sure Guy would, like a shot.’
‘And you aren’t tempted?’
‘It’s more fun knowing he wants to. I know that probably makes me sound like a bad person,’ said Hattie. ‘But Suzanne keeps putting me down because she thinks I’m the keen one, desperate to be noticed. If she was friendlier, I’d be on her side.’
‘She’s coming over.’ Jamie lowered his voice as Suzanne, in a barely-there olive-green bikini, sashayed towards them.
‘Hello.’ She greeted them both, then turned to Hattie. ‘I don’t know if you’re aware how important it is to protect your skin, but you’ve been out here for over ninety minutes now and you haven’t applied sunscreen.’
‘I did it before I left the cabin.’ Hattie smiled up at her.
‘Exactly. So you really should be reapplying by now. And using factor fifty, with your skin. You don’t want those wrinkles on your neck getting even worse.’
She sauntered off to the staircase, clearly aware that everyone else was admiring her sinuous body.
‘Wow,’ Jamie marvelled. ‘I definitely think you should sleep with him now.’
‘Probably not going to happen.’ Hattie laughed. ‘But I’ll let you know if it does.’ She indicated the watch on his left wrist. ‘That’s very nice. Vintage, too. Seventy years old, am I right?’
Impressed, he nodded. ‘I bought it a couple of years ago. You know your watches, then?’
‘I work in an antiques shop now, but I trained as a jeweller. My speciality was old watches and vintage jewellery. Yours is very special.’ Checking her own, she said, ‘Time for some lunch, then I’m off on the tour of the Fortuny Museum.’
‘And I have another interview lined up in an hour.’ Watching as she gathered up her bag, her book and her bottle of water, Jamie said, ‘Nice to talk to you. See you again. Have fun.’
Hattie grinned. ‘But not the naughty kind. Bye.’
Later that afternoon, back from her trip and going through the photos on her phone in the deliciously cool, almost empty bar, Hattie found herself being approached by Disa, as glamorous as ever in an emerald-green kaftan edged with silver thread.
‘I have a big favour to ask.’ Disa perched on the arm of the chair next to hers. ‘Jamie tells me you’re a jeweller. I wondered if you’d be an angel and take a look at a ring of mine. But if you can’t or don’t want to do it, please say. I’d completely understand.’
‘Of course I can take a look. You wear beautiful jewellery – I was secretly admiring your tennis bracelet last night.’ Hattie scanned the glittering rings on Disa’s fingers. ‘Which one is it?’
But as she reached for her handbag – as a jeweller, she never went anywhere without her loupe – she saw that Disa was taking a dark blue velvet ring box from her own bag.
‘It’s this one. If you could check it over, see what you think, I’d be grateful.’
Hattie opened the box and experienced the all-too-rare thrill of appreciation at the sight of a truly special item of jewellery.
‘Well, well.’ She fitted the loupe into her eye socket and took out the ring to study it under magnification.
‘It’s an old European-cut diamond.’ Carefully examining it from all angles, she said, ‘I’d estimate it at four carats.
Accented by smaller single-cut diamonds.
The colour of the central diamond is F or G, which is good.
The cut is excellent. Clarity . . .’ she studied it more intently, ‘VS1.’
‘That’s interesting.’ Disa nodded slowly. ‘I took it to a guy not long ago who said the clarity wasn’t that good. Nor the colour. He wanted to buy it from me, but I’d already decided I didn’t like him, so I left the shop. Not that I was planning to sell it anyway.’
‘What was his offer?’ said Hattie, and shook her head when Disa told her.
‘Thank goodness you didn’t let it go for that. I can’t give you an official valuation, but that was way too low. At the very least, it’s worth twice as much.’
‘That’s really helpful.’ Disa returned the ring to the velvet box and dropped it back into her bag. ‘Thanks so much for letting me know.’
‘My pleasure. It’s a stunning ring.’ Hattie wagged a finger at her. ‘But for goodness’ sake, don’t have it rattling around in your bag like a lip balm. Make sure you keep it locked away in the safe.’
Disa smiled. ‘Don’t worry. I will.’
‘She’s gone,’ said Guy.
‘What?’ Hattie had been on her way back to the cabin when he’d waylaid her in reception. ‘Who’s gone?’ Oh no! His mother was in her eighties and frail; had she died?
‘Suze.’ He was visibly shell-shocked, clutching his phone. ‘She told me she needed to meditate in peace in our cabin, so I spent an hour up on deck talking to Jamie about the World Cup. When I went back, she’d cleared all her stuff out. Packed everything into her case and left.’
Gone. No one was dead, though, which was good. Hattie rearranged her sad-death-of-an-elderly-relative expression.
‘Without saying anything?’
‘She’s just sent me a video.’ Guy thrust the phone at her and pressed play.
‘Hello, Guy.’ Suzanne’s face filled the screen.
She had recorded the message in their cabin.
‘I’d apologise for doing it this way, but if I’d told you I was leaving, you might have tried to persuade me to stay.
’ Her tone was steady. ‘I’m afraid I can’t do that.
The thing is, I think we both know this relationship of ours isn’t going anywhere.
You’re great company, but as time has gone by it’s become increasingly obvious we aren’t as compatible as I’d hoped we could be.
Your refusal to eat healthily is always going to bother me.
And you’re never going to embrace Pilates, are you?
I thought at first I could cope with your lack of interest in all the things that are important to me.
If I’m honest, I was hoping to convert you to my way of thinking.
’ A smile lifted the corners of her mouth and she shook her head ruefully.
‘But no, I soon came to realise that was never going to happen.
‘And don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you light up when you’re around Hattie, either.
That’s been interesting to observe. I do wonder, though, if she feels the same way about you?
’ She paused, then went on, ‘Anyway, that remains to be seen. But not by me. I’m giving you some space to see if you can work your magic on her, and am catching the next flight home to see my girls.
So, I’ll be off now. No hard feelings, Guy, and thanks for an entertaining few weeks.
’ She waved at the camera, then blew a kiss. ‘Have a happy life. Bye!’
‘Wow,’ said Hattie.
‘I know.’
‘Are you upset?’
‘Well, it was a shock. Obviously I wasn’t expecting something like this to happen out of the blue, but isn’t it really what I wanted? I knew she wasn’t right for me. And after the other evening . . .’ he nodded encouragingly, ‘surely this is the best possible outcome?’
Was he serious?
He did appear to be. There was an unmistakable glint of hope in his eyes.
‘You’re unbelievable,’ Hattie marvelled.
‘Come on. We can have some fun, can’t we?’ The mischievous grin was back. ‘You know you want to. Even Suze thinks we should give it a go.’
‘What you should do,’ Hattie told him, ‘is speak to someone in charge of this ship. See if they can find a carpenter to pop down to your cabin. And get them to install a revolving door.’