Chapter 4
ERIN
Erin did read for a while but her head wasn’t really into the words on the page.
It was too full of the view outside the hotel window and the prospect of what they were about to do.
The promenade below was busy and bustling with people – tourists, most likely.
A huge cruise ship was moored and a lot of passengers were coming and going on foot and also in little golf carts along the harbour walkway.
Nests of clouds clung to the top of the hills, or were they mountains, across the water? Erin really didn’t know.
Martha snored softly from across the room and Erin had a sudden and overwhelming love for her grandmother.
They had always had a good relationship but since Erin’s mum had died, that love had firmed up, cemented, encased them in its much-needed protection.
They were all each other had now. Erin’s father was still alive, of course, but he didn’t want to talk about the death of his ex-wife.
Long since divorced and living with his new family, he never fancied a trip down memory lane.
It was her nana who wanted to talk about Clare, to pore over the photo albums and say things like Your mum would have loved this and Clare could have done this with her eyes closed or Did I ever tell you about the time your mum…
And now they were here in Canada and what they were doing was huge. Martha seemed to be taking it in her stride but Erin was beginning to feel decidedly twitchy. Clare could have done this with her eyes closed. She may well have done, but Erin’s were wide open.
* * *
‘A lime juice and soda, please,’ Erin said.
Okay, so she wasn’t really supposed to be here.
Cally had said not to wander and absolutely not to speak to anyone, but Erin wasn’t out getting maps of Vancouver and finding secret ways out of the city, she was in the hotel bar asking for a soft drink.
She half expected the answer to be no, but the barman served up her lime and soda with a smile.
He clearly hadn’t been briefed on the rules of the TV show but then, why would he have been? Erin was becoming a little paranoid.
She couldn’t just sit in the hotel room when this task was ahead of her.
Despite the softness of her bed and the luxurious decor of the room, Erin had felt her legs start to jiggle and her feet begin to tap.
Martha had told her on the flight to enjoy every luxury when it was presented because it wouldn’t always be comfortable where they were going.
Erin had started to protest that they didn’t actually know where they were going yet, but she had seen old, repeated episodes of the show.
Sometimes the contestants had to camp, sometimes they had to hitch-hike, occasionally they ate unknown things from strange markets in some parts of the world, but Erin felt fairly confident that wouldn’t be the case in Canada.
She gulped at her drink, wishing she had a vodka in it too.
Erin always took strength from her grandmother because she didn’t think she was that strong on her own.
Her boyfriend, Hamish… her ex-boyfriend, Hamish had said he wished she were more adventurous.
That working her little job and then going out to eat and drink at the weekends was not enough, even though that was pretty much what he did too, apart from when he was playing and watching rugby which, to be fair, was a lot of the time.
Going out on a stag do before a rugby match was the most daring thing she had seen him do recently.
And yes, he’d apparently thrown up on the pitch.
That was one of the reasons she’d agreed to accompany her grandmother on this trip – to show Hamish how adventurous she could actually be – but by the time the application had gone through and Erin had told him, Hamish had gone off with Serena.
She was a supply teacher at the school Hamish worked at and as far as Erin could see, the most adventurous thing Serena did was vary the shade of her fake tan.
By that time, Erin couldn’t back out and let Martha down. It was far too late for that.
‘A pint of your local beer, please? I’ll have whatever you recommend.’
‘Stanley Park is just the thing, sir.’
‘Great, that then, please.’
Erin turned her head to see a man with the softest-looking shirt on. It was pale blue and made of a fabric that Erin had a sudden wish to run her hand over. She didn’t, of course, but the man glanced at her with a bemused smile that made her wonder if he knew what she was thinking.
‘Hi,’ he said.
British, Erin thought. She’d hoped he’d be Canadian and she could gather some information without really trying.
‘Hello,’ she said.
‘Are you here on holiday?’ he asked.
She wavered for a moment but then remembered she didn’t really want to get in trouble with Cally, so she decided on a half-lie.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’ve never been to Canada before, have you?’
He had such a lovely face, Erin decided as she waited for him to answer.
There was an angular shape to his jawline but it was softened by his nose and a mop of dark chestnut waves on his head.
He was taller than her but not intimidatingly so.
And he was slim with that hint of muscularity across his chest and upper arms. A mad thought crossed her mind for a moment.
If she had to choose genes for her future children, it would be his.
‘I’ve never been to Canada, no. A bit of America, but…’ He trailed off and she wondered what he saw on her face. Not lust, surely?
Erin took a long sip of her drink while she reorganised her thoughts.
‘Do you play rugby?’
‘No,’ he said, and then narrowed his eyes. ‘Is this a trick question? Are you a huge fan and I’ve failed the test?’
Erin laughed. ‘God, no. It wasn’t a test at all but if it had been, you just passed.’
He smiled and it did something to her insides to see his face so warm and open.
‘Can I buy you a drink?’ he asked and she found herself saying yes, and that this time adding a vodka would be great.
They found seats outside on the terrace with a view of the city and for a few minutes Erin forgot why she was here at all. She was just a woman enjoying the company of a nice man. She was halfway down her vodka, lime and soda when he asked her name.
‘Erin,’ she said, and thought she detected a flicker of something on his face.
‘Nice name. I’m Samuel.’ And the flicker was gone. ‘So, how long are you here for on holiday? Who are you with? Surely not travelling alone?’
Erin thought about continuing the lie but then what was the point. She’d never see this man again and if she did, she’d like to at least start with the truth.
‘I’m actually here with my grandmother. We’re contestants on a TV show called The Trip of a Lifetime. Have you seen it?’
‘A TV show, really? That’s so cool. What’s it about?’
‘Well, we basically race other teams to be the first to reach a destination. We have limited cash, we’re not allowed to fly, and no phones or credit cards.’
‘Sounds challenging. So, where’s your destination?’
‘We won’t know until tomorrow, just before we set off. I’m really nervous, to be honest. My grandmother’s the adventurous one… well, she used to be. But still, I’ll be relying on her 100 per cent.’
‘I bet you’ll be amazing,’ he said, and offered up another of his dazzling smiles.
‘Thank you,’ she replied and wondered if it would be too forward to ask him for his number. They’d be off tomorrow to goodness knows where and the chances of finding him again were slim to non-existent.
‘Is it not too challenging for your grandmother, though?’ he asked.
‘No, Martha is amazing. She did the race before when it was on TV the first time, fifty years back. Then, a couple of months ago, Nana – Martha – got an invitation along with all the original contestants to race again. A half-century revival. Bit mad, really.’
‘That’s remarkable. Lucky they were all alive, then.’
‘Well, not all actually. One poor chap died some years ago and his two brothers are racing on his behalf.’
‘Ah, that’s nice. So, who won originally? Your grandmother?’
‘No,’ Erin scoffed. ‘Fat chance, after she was tricked.’
‘Tricked? How?’
‘Oh, some guy seduced her and then she missed her train.’
Samuel stared at her, his mouth slightly open in surprise.
‘God, one drink and I’m spilling all the tea.’
‘No problem at all. It’s refreshing to meet someone so open.’
‘Do you think I could use your phone for a moment?’ she asked.
‘What for?’ he said, another surprised expression on his face.
‘I’ve had to hand mine over so I don’t look up information before the race starts.’
‘Bit naughty, then. Isn’t that cheating?’
Erin laughed. ‘Must grab the opportunity while I can,’ she said, wondering if she could slip her number in while she looked up bus and train times. Then she realised this was pointless without a destination in mind.
‘Sorry, I can’t help anyway, left my phone in my room.’
‘Probably for the best,’ she said ruefully.
They sat in silence for a moment but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was a sunny afternoon and the slight breeze just stopped it from being warm. Erin pulled her cardigan closer around herself.
She finished her drink and placed the glass on the table, surprised at how fast she’d drunk it.
She felt some of the last few weeks of stress leave her.
Sitting there with Samuel made her almost forget her tears over Hamish.
She’d fretted over telling her boss about needing the time off, too, but when she finally told her, she said the business wasn’t doing well anyway and she was letting Erin go.
Martha had been delighted but Erin would have to find something else or give up her flatshare in Henley.
It wasn’t even really a flatshare as she just rented the spare room from a friend who wasn’t even really a friend.
‘You can come and crash at mine,’ her nana had said, which had made Erin smile.
‘Crash with my nana?’
‘I suppose you’d lose all your street cred.’
But Erin hadn’t smiled at that. Not so much because she didn’t have any to lose, but more because she liked the idea of being cosseted by her grandmother. She knew it was pathetic, really.
Clare was so independent. Clare was fearless. Did you know that Clare left home when she was eighteen and never looked back?
‘Can I get you another drink?’ Samuel asked her.
‘Yes, yes, you can.’
When he came back with two glasses and a bottle of wine he sat down next to her rather than back in his seat opposite. Erin tried to be really cool about it but she could smell his aftershave and his presence was quite intense.
They talked a little about nothing much at all.
He said he worked for an insurance company and hated it, she said she’d lost her job before coming on this trip and almost combusted when he touched her arm in a show of sympathy.
He said the best holiday he’d had was in Japan, she said her best holiday had been in Wales and he’d laughed.
‘You can go to the other side of the world if you want but it’s so easy to forget the beauty we have on our doorstep,’ she said, and he had to agree.
Then he laughed again. ‘You do know we are on the other side of the world right now?’
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I almost forgot.’
And as they talked, they somehow gravitated towards each other. Their knees were touching, she was leaning towards him and he was gazing at her intently.
‘Do you know,’ he said. ‘I am, well, the thing is, I am…’
‘Lovely,’ she murmured. And then she leaned closer and without another thought she kissed him quickly on the lips.
She pulled back but he didn’t move. He looked surprised, though.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘That was, I mean, that was…’
‘Lovely,’ he murmured.
‘It’s the wine,’ she said. ‘Actually, it’s the altitude.’
‘We’re only on floor five,’ he said and they both laughed.
Then from that warm bubble came a moment of awkwardness which Erin tried to fill with inane chatter. He put his hand over hers which was flapping about in her lap like a dying fish.
‘I’m glad you did that,’ he said. ‘Not sure I’d have had the nerve.’
Then he got up and she hoped he wasn’t going to suggest more drinks because if he did, she’d have to decline and quit while it seemed she might be ahead.
‘Will you excuse me for just a moment,’ he said and disappeared back inside the hotel, no doubt to use the loo or maybe to get his phone, actually. Perhaps he didn’t want her to slip through his fingers. He’d want to make sure to have her number.
Erin sat back in a warm glow. She couldn’t believe she’d had the nerve to kiss a stranger.
She’d never done anything like that before but Samuel didn’t seem to mind.
In fact, quite the opposite. She gazed out over the city.
It was hard to get her head around the fact that she was in Canada and about to embark on this epic adventure.
And now she didn’t really want to because she’d much rather find out where Samuel was heading and follow him.
Not follow, actually – that was a bit creepy – but she certainly wanted to swap numbers.
The terrace was busy with people relaxing, drinking and one man, she noticed, was doing a jigsaw puzzle on the table in front of him, which surprised her.
His hands were flying around the pieces as if he were in a desperate hurry to get it finished.
She noticed the timer on the table next to the puzzle and realised that was exactly what he was doing.
She was so transfixed by this jigsaw puzzler that she almost didn’t see Cally on the other side of the terrace.
She had her phone pressed to her ear and was consulting a clipboard.
Erin quickly shifted herself onto the opposite seat, so she would have her back to the producer.
Cally had been quite explicit. They weren’t to talk to anyone and had to stay in the hotel room until she came to get them for the dinner.
Erin was torn. Her instinct was to get up and slink away before Cally saw her but she’d just met lovely Samuel and really wanted to spend more time getting to know him.
She desperately wanted to swap numbers, to find out where in the world he lived and if he’d be up for making a plan to meet again.
But this competition was incredibly important to Martha and Erin couldn’t jeopardise their involvement at this early stage.
With a sigh of resignation, she placed her glass on the table and got up slowly.
Then she moved, crab-like, back towards the bar, only looking over at Cally when she was safely at the door.
Cally hadn’t seen her, thankfully. Erin ducked inside and walked around to the toilets to see if she could catch Samuel, but after waiting for longer than was decent outside the men’s loo, she scuttled back to the lift and up to their room before Cally could catch her.