Page 67 of A Taste of Paradise

‘Was it me, or did your mother just set us up?’ he chuckled.

‘You picked up on that, did you?’ she intoned, while she removed her sandals from her feet. It was impossible not to walk barefoot on this silica-soft surface.

Shay seemed to agree with her as he too began to remove his footwear.

They ambled along the cool soft sand for a bit, watching intermittent white wave crests that appeared on a rippling sea of black. The evening was refreshingly cool given the warm day they’d had. Lily had even been a little hot and bothered earlier as they meandered through the caves. The humidity in there had everyone in their little group sporadically wiping their brows.

Now the air around them seemed so cool it was almost seductive, dancing past them and openly playing with her hair.

‘Lily,’ Shay began as they strolled past a couple of empty beach chairs, abandoned and long forgotten by sunseekers of earlier.

‘Yes?’

‘Do you think …’ he faltered a little, ‘I mean, do you believe things happen for a reason?’ He seemed distracted and not nearly as jovial as he had been with her mother back there.

Lily wasn’t certain if this line of conversation was good or bad. ‘Perhaps.’

‘Do you think it’s possible that what at first seems like unexpected, or awful stuff happens to make way for something else? Something better even.’

Her heart began to race in her chest. Was he talking about her – them?

‘My dad used to say that all the time actually,’ she confided. ‘So yes, I do.’

Shay nodded, and she fully expected him to say something else then, but he didn’t. Instead, he shifted his grasp on her hand, this time intertwining their fingers. Her breath caught, but they’d taken only a few steps more when something buzzed from within his trousers pocket.

He took the phone out to check the screen and in the blue light of the device, she could see his face immediately change as he read the message. He then quickly shoved it back into his pocket.

‘Everything OK?’ she asked tentatively.

He nodded, but now his expression was closed. ‘Could we … not talk for a bit?’ he said, distractedly and that moment, whatever it was, had evidently broken. ‘I want to enjoy tonight.’

But he didn’t reach back to take her hand again.

‘Sure.’

Lily had no idea what had changed in those few seconds. It was as if, suddenly, something, or someone, had dropped a veil between them and he even felt distant now. When a moment before it felt as if they were moving as one toward a deeper connection.

What had just happened? Clearly it was the text message. Who was it from? And what did it say that could have altered Shay’s mood so completely?

Chapter 46

When Naomi and Sam had finished eating and her friend decided to go to bed early, she was once again back on the beach alone when she heard voices up ahead.

Arguing voices. Familiar voices.

Naomi turned, her brow furrowed as she sought out the direction they were coming from. Judy and Karen were so consumed in their sniping that they didn’t seem to notice anyone else down by the water in the darkness.

She hurried toward her sisters to get closer so as to better make out what they were saying. And hopefully intervene before things got out of hand. She wasn’t sure she was ready to find out what was truly going on with these two, but it was now or never. While it seemed as though they were enjoying the trip and content with spending their days sunbathing by the pool or at the beach, there was still an undercurrent every time they all met up to eat.

But now it was time for peace between the warring factions and Naomi was going to be their Switzerland.

‘She deserves to know …’ Karen was saying.

‘That doesn’t give you the right to tell her,’ Judy countered. ‘Especially not while we’re here. That would be lousy.’

‘I really don’t think I can keep quiet for much longer. It’s impossible.’

‘Think of the fallout though. Her entire world is tied up in Greg.’