Page 9 of Best Laid Plans

Stomping into Praiano an hour and a half later, with aching legs and a decidedly damp T-shirt sticking to his back, Julien still hadn’t shaken the feeling that he should have done more to convince Indigo to take the food he’d offered her.

His failure to persuade her to let him help had reminded him a little too keenly of the struggles he’d had with Celine at the end of their marriage.

Not that the two things could really be compared.

He’d not seen Indigo again on the route; he’d given her a twenty-minute head start after she’d stormed away, which he guessed must mean she’d made it to Praiano without collapsing. At least that was something.

It took him a couple of minutes to locate his hotel, which was in the centre of the small town, and he was about to stride into the glass-fronted lobby when his gaze caught on a familiar figure limping towards him along the pavement to his left.

Indigo didn’t appear to notice him standing there and she stopped a few paces away, wrestling her bag off her back and dumping it wearily onto the floor by her feet to pull out her water bottle.

As his gaze followed the movement, he noticed that the trainers she’d chosen to walk for miles and miles in each day were beginning to fall apart, the rubber cracked and peeling away from the material at the sides of the shoe.

Surely they couldn’t be supporting her feet and ankles properly and the soles had to be getting thinner and thinner from the rough ground.

Did the woman have no sense? Not only was she putting herself in danger of collapse from not eating enough, she was going to end up damaging her feet, or risk skidding off a cliff, walking in such unsuitable footwear.

White-hot anger flashed through him at her stupidity and he stalked towards her, not sure what he was going to say but knowing he needed to say something this time.

‘Indigo, what are you doing, walking in those running shoes over that kind of terrain?’ he ground out, frowning hard and jabbing his finger down at her feet.

She took a small step backwards, the alarm on her face at his sudden appearance quickly changing to annoyance.

‘What’s it to you?’ she asked archly, shooting up an eyebrow. ‘For someone determined to spend his holiday alone you’ve got an awful lot to say about the way I spend mine.’

Julien found himself lost for words. She had a point – what was it to him? He wasn’t responsible for her and she’d made it perfectly clear she didn’t want or need his help.

But someone needed to point out her recklessness to her. Apparently, she had no idea how to look after herself.

‘Trekking so far in those flimsy shoes is going to damage your feet.’

She took a tiny step towards him. ‘I really don’t need you to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do, thanks very much.’

He matched her step with one of his own. ‘You know, I think you’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. It seems to me you need someone to point out the obvious or you’re going to give yourself a serious injury.’

She let out a large huff of breath, her cheeks flaring with colour. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but it wouldn’t normally be my choice to go trekking in trainers. If you must know, the airline lost my bag which had my walking boots in it!’

He stared at her, perplexed. ‘Why don’t you buy yourself some more boots? Surely your insurance will cover it?’

There was a dangerous flash in her eyes.

‘Just go and buy some more boots! With what? I know it’s probably hard for someone like you to understand, but some people don’t have extra money just lying around in their back pocket.

I have nothing in my bank account at the moment and my emergency credit card and half my holiday money also happens to be in my lost bag! ’

He could tell from the look in her eyes that she’d reached the end of her tether. Pain and hunger would do that to you.

It suddenly dawned on him what all her previous strange behaviour had been about: the change in hotel after only one night, the stolen lunch, the determination to eat pizza instead of à la carte cuisine.

Money trouble.

‘Why haven’t you asked your family for help?’ he asked, gentling his voice now. ‘Surely one of your brothers will lend you some money to tide you over?’

Sighing, she folded her arms and looked down at her feet, kicking at the ground and wincing. ‘Because I don’t want to.’

‘Why not?’

She looked him directly in the eye again. ‘I don’t like to rely on other people. I need to know I can survive on my own without any help.’

He gave her a puzzled frown. ‘That’s impressive. But being able to accept help from others is a skill too.’

She opened her mouth as if to speak, then shut it again, shrugged, then flapped her hand around in an airy manner. ‘It’s an old habit. It was always do or die in the house where I grew up. Showing any kind of neediness to my brothers was deemed as a sign of weakness.’

This insight into her life disturbed him. ‘What about your parents then?’

She paused before she spoke. ‘My mum died from breast cancer when I was twelve and my dad passed away a couple of years ago – although, to be honest, he pretty much died when she did, at least his spirit did.’

Her whole posture seemed to shrink in on itself as she folded her arms across her chest. Clearly it was a difficult subject for her to talk about.

‘He didn’t cope well after she’d gone,’ she continued, staring down at the floor, ‘so I took over running the household. My brothers certainly didn’t have a clue how to do it.

Luckily, my mum taught me how to cook before she died, and I found I was good at it.

’ She kicked gently at the ground. ‘My dad suffered with bad depression so I ended up staying at home whilst I did my college courses, and then for a few years afterwards.’ She shrugged.

‘Tough times. But it taught me how to look after myself.’

There was a shadow of sadness in her eyes when she finally looked up at him.

Instinctively, he reached out, giving her arm a sympathetic squeeze. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Ah, don’t be. I’m okay.’

‘That must have been really hard for you.’

She shrugged. ‘I survived.’

‘No wonder you’re so driven.’

Taking a step back, she leant against the wall of the hotel.

‘Yeah, well, I wanted to do something good with my life. I wanted to feel like my mum would be proud of me, had she survived. She only made it to forty-four before the cancer killed her. How can that be right? She was a good person. A kind and loving person.’

Her sadness hung thickly in the air between them.

‘Some days, life seems anything but fair.’

‘Ain’t that the truth?’

The haunted look in her eyes broke him.

‘Okay, come with me,’ he ordered, scooping up her rucksack from the ground and slinging it over his shoulder, then setting off back down the street in the direction she’d come from.

It took a moment for her to come running after him.

‘Where are you going with my bag?’ she demanded, her breath coming out in short pants after her sprint.

‘You’ll see.’

‘Julien, give it back to me!’

‘I will, when we get there.’

‘Where?’

‘You’ll see.’

She growled, low in her throat. ‘Now who’s being stubborn?’

Luckily, the shop specialising in trekking gear that he’d walked past earlier was only another minute’s walk away, down the next street, which was a good thing as Indigo was limping hard in her wrecked trainers now.

He ignored her exasperated sigh as he ushered her through the door and into the wonderfully cool air-conditioned interior.

She stopped dead just inside the shop and turned to give him a withering look. ‘Julien, I told you, I can’t afford to buy new boots right now.’

‘I heard you. But you’re not buying them. I am.’

Before she could even open her mouth to protest, he held up a hand. ‘Do not argue with me. I cannot let you walk any further in those monstrosities. It’s offending my sensibilities.’

She shook her head. ‘Julien, I can’t?—’

‘Quiet, stubborn woman,’ he growled in frustration.

Thankfully, she didn’t take his tone as an insult, although he was a little perturbed when she burst into laughter instead.

In fact, he started to become seriously worried about her when the laughter seemed to overtake her, bending her double and shaking her whole body as she struggled to get her breathing under control.

When she finally managed to pull herself together, she looked up at him with tears of laughter still in her eyes.

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m laughing.

I think I’m a bit hysterical. Today has just been a bit much, you know?

In fact, this whole holiday hasn’t exactly turned out the way I expected it to. ’

‘Yes, this wasn’t what I had in mind when I pictured a break, either. I was hoping for a little more peace and quiet and a lot less bickering with pig-headed women,’ he said grumpily.

This only made her start laughing again, in great gulping gasps.

All he could do was stand there and wait for her to get a handle on it again.

‘I have no idea why the state of my feet troubles you,’ she said eventually, taking deep breaths to calm herself down, ‘but if it means so much to you then I’ll let you buy me some boots.

’ She swiped the tears from her cheeks and held up a finger.

‘But you have to give me your address so I can reimburse you after I get home.’

He shook his head. ‘There is no need to pay me back.’

This seemed to sober her up pretty quickly. ‘Yes, there is, Julien.’

He could tell from the look on her face that the only way she’d let him help her out was if she felt she could even things out later. Which was fine by him. The cost of the boots meant nothing to him, but he knew this wasn’t really about the money. It was about pride.

‘Okay. Agreed,’ he said, giving her a resigned smile. Catching the sales assistant’s eye, he waved for her to come over.

‘Now, let’s get you sorted out.’