Chapter 20
TWENTY
‘Morning, guys, how are we?’
Summer comes bounding towards us at the breakfast table the next morning, hardly able to contain the excitement in her voice.
‘Have you come up on the lottery?’ asks Kai, who is enjoying a full English breakfast, clearly a hangover cure.
‘Better than that,’ she says, sliding into a seat next to me. Kai and I look questioningly at her.
‘I have been offered my dream job,’ she practically squeals. ‘On a Disney cruise!’
‘Oh wow, that sounds exciting.’ I smile. ‘What will the job entail?’
‘I will be a princess most of the time, walking around in fabulous dresses and having photos taken with the children. It won’t even feel like work,’ she enthuses.
‘And best of all. It’s a Caribbean cruise.
’ She claps her hands together and gives another little squeal.
I think of Mum and Douglas then, and their upcoming cruise.
‘Sounds amazing. Well done you,’ I tell her. ‘I can’t think of anyone who could do the job better; the kids will be lucky to have you.’
‘Thanks, Erin.’
‘Well, if you hear of any pool vacancies, let me know,’ Kai says, as he butters a slice of toast. ‘A cruise could be my next adventure.’
‘Oh, I will!’ Summer promises. ‘Although you could always look online. That’s where I noticed the vacancy myself.’
‘A Disney cruise though. The lifeguards wouldn’t have to dress up as Donald Duck or anything?’ asks Kai.
She laughs. ‘I shouldn’t think so. Donald Duck does sound appropriate for water though.’
‘So have you told Zeta yet?’ I ask as I make a start on my breakfast of Greek yoghurt, honey and fruit.
‘Erm no.’ She pulls a face.
Kai laughs. ‘Coward.’
‘Well, I won’t be dashing off straight away,’ she tells him. ‘The job doesn’t start until the end of August, so she will have at least a month’s notice.’
‘Even so, I’d say tell her sooner rather than later,’ Kai advises.
‘Maybe. But a month’s notice is standard, isn’t it?’
‘I suppose it depends if she recruits someone local or from abroad. Saying that, I hopped on a plane the day after my interview,’ I tell her.
‘That was pretty spontaneous,’ says Kai.
‘I know. I had been made redundant, so I just went for it. I surprised myself.’
‘Good for you. Sometimes we only realise how brave we are when we have no other choice.’
I think about Mel’s suggestion to take a job other than a swim instructor or lifeguard.
Glancing out of the window at the pool and the sun loungers beneath a brilliant blue sky, I realise how much I would have hated her suggestion of doing something else.
(Apart from maybe running a café, it turns out.) Being near the sea is something I feel I was born to do.
And there is nowhere nicer than Greece and its beautiful, warm sea.