Page 14 of Someone in the Water

Frankie

As my eyes open, I feel a rush of panic. Where am I?

I draw in a breath, and hold it, as memories from last night flash up. My conversation with Salvo. Dom appearing from nowhere. Wanting his physical reassurance. Kissing him. Saying yes when he invited me back to his room.

I turn my head, slowly, silently, against the pillow.

Dom is fast asleep next to me. As quietly as possible, I peel back the sheet and slip out of bed.

I inwardly cringe at my nakedness, but it’s not a shock.

It might have been the alcohol that made sex with Dom seem like a good idea, but I was sober enough to know what I was doing.

I pull my crumpled dress off the floor and over my head, then pick up my underwear and sandals, and tiptoe to the door.

The lock makes a clunking sound as I turn it, and I freeze, my heart hammering.

Of course it’s ridiculous. Dom and I work together, spend up to ten hours a day on a boat that’s less than three metres wide.

I will have to face him at some point. But I need a shower and a fresh pair of knickers first.

I yank the door open, close it quickly behind me, and scamper down the corridor. Izzy starts squealing as soon as I walk into our room.

‘Oh my God, Frankie! You minx. It was Dom, right? That’s where you’ve been? Why the hell did you sleep with that loser?!’

I groan and drop onto my bed.

‘I thought you found him annoying. Isn’t he always playing stupid jokes on you?’

The mix of disapproval and confusion on Izzy’s face makes my cheeks burn.

‘It was kind of an impulsive thing,’ I mumble, sliding my underwear under my pillow before she notices.

I don’t want to mention the role Salvo played in my decision to launch myself at Dom.

Not because I don’t trust Izzy, but sleeping with Dom because Salvo scared me isn’t a great look.

‘So it was just a one-off?’ Izzy asks. ‘A drunken mistake never to be repeated?’

‘Yeah, of course,’ I say, smoothing down my dress. I don’t know why I feel uncomfortable about saying that. Dom is annoying, but he was a gentleman last night. Respectful, generous. I feel a bit weird about just brushing him off.

‘Well, we’ve all made those in our time. Don’t worry about it.’ Izzy gives me a sympathetic smile, then leans over and kisses the top of my head. ‘But you do need to make it clear to him that you’re not interested. Men can be a bit slow when it comes to opinions they don’t want to hear.’

I sigh, as silently as I can manage. I don’t want to have to deal with the fallout at all, let alone address the issue head on. ‘We need to work together though,’ I say. ‘So I can’t be too harsh.’

‘But you don’t want to lead him on either,’ Izzy presses. ‘What’s that English saying? You must be cruel to be kind?’ She’s wearing her usual wide smile, but there’s a hardness in her eyes. It highlights our age difference, I think, how Izzy has eight years more life experience than me.

‘I guess I should get ready for work,’ I say, not wanting to think about Dom, or Salvo, or what I do or don’t regret anymore. ‘And I need a shower first.’

Izzy looks at her watch – a navy-and-white Swatch Scuba that I desperately wanted for my birthday but knew there was no point in asking for because it was too expensive. ‘Well, you’ve got five minutes, so you better hurry up.’

Amazingly, I’m only a few minutes late for work, and there are no guests hanging around the waterfront when I arrive – clearly it wasn’t just me who enjoyed the summer solstice party.

I’m leaning on the desk, checking the water-skiing sign-up sheet, when someone taps me on the shoulder. I twist around.

‘I got you this,’ Dom says, holding out a hunk of French bread with a thin line of apricot jam oozing out from its middle. My favourite flavour. ‘In case you didn’t have time for breakfast.’

I doubt accepting a gift from Dom is the best thing to do after Izzy’s advice, but he guessed right about breakfast and I’m starving.

‘Um, thanks.’ I take it from him and have a big bite.

Keeping my mouth closed is tricky, but I don’t care about looking stupid in front of Dom – I suppose it might even help.

‘Listen, about last night.’ Dom looks embarrassed, thank the Lord.

I feel a swell of relief as I wait for him to row back, ask if we can forget it ever happened.

‘I guess I wanted to say thank you,’ he goes on.

‘I know I do a shit job of showing when I like someone, so thank you for seeing through my idiot impersonation and taking the initiative.’

Shit. I need to say something. Explain. But I can’t swallow the bread.

‘Anyway,’ Dom continues, filling the silence. ‘You’re awesome. So I’m going stop throwing you in the sea from now on. Unless there’s an opportunity that’s just too hard to resist.’

My face produces an involuntary smile and the bread dislodges. ‘You’re a dick, you know that?’

‘What was that? I have a huge dick?’

I roll my eyes and shove Dom in the chest. His eyes light up with the challenge and he grabs my shoulders, twists me round.

He pretends to put me in a headlock – his arm way too loose around my neck for me to feel trapped – and I jab backwards with my elbow, connecting with his torso. He folds at the waist.

‘Argh,’ he cries out with more than a hint of melodrama.

As he drops to the sand, I can’t help laughing.

But then I notice Archie watching us, a bemused look on his face, and I force myself to look serious.

I’m supposed to be acting cool around Dom, cold even.

And here I am, actively encouraging him.

I turn to see if Izzy has noticed our playfighting, then breathe a sigh of relief when I realise she hasn’t.

In fact, Izzy seems oblivious to everything around her – even the thunderous look on Harriet’s face as she drags a sailing boat down to the water’s edge by herself, a guest ambling along next to her.

Izzy is deep in conversation with Jack, although on closer inspection, it seems more like an argument.

‘How long ’til the first guest?’ Dom asks, brushing sand off his shorts.

‘Nine o’clock, so ten minutes.’

‘I guess we should prep the boat, then. You coming?’

I look back towards Izzy. ‘Sure. Just give me a minute.’

Dom nods and walks towards the hut while I wander over to Izzy and Jack.

‘Everything okay?’ I ask.

‘Yeah, we’re good,’ Jack says, raising a smile. ‘Isn’t that right, Izzy?’

Izzy clicks her tongue but doesn’t speak. I pull at my bottom lip, not sure how to handle the obvious tension between them.

‘Anyway, I should probably get to work,’ Jack continues. ‘And if Harriet’s face is anything to go by, I reckon you should too, Izzy.’ Then his smile fades. ‘And remember, no one likes being threatened.’

Izzy stares for a moment, then shifts her gaze away from him. ‘I told you. I was drunk last night. Shooting my mouth off.’

‘Is that an apology?’ Then Jack sighs and his voice softens. ‘Listen, I just want us to be friends, or at least not enemies. Is that too much to ask?’

Izzy’s face tightens. ‘I guess not,’ she murmurs.

‘There you go, that wasn’t too hard. See you later, ladies.’

Izzy gives Jack a dark stare as he ambles away, then grabs my arm and pulls me up the beach.

She looks angry, but her hand is trembling against my skin. I’ve been so caught up in my own drama from last night that I hadn’t thought to ask where she ended up. ‘What was that about?’ I ask. ‘What happened last night?’

‘That guy is so arrogant,’ Izzy murmurs. ‘Thinks his movie-star looks will always get him out of trouble.’

I look over at Jack who’s now helping Archie carry windsurf boards down to the water’s edge. ‘What kind of trouble?’

‘Take your pick. I just wish I didn’t have to work with him. Pauvre con ,’ she adds, and it doesn’t sound like a compliment.

I pause, trying – and failing – to reconcile the Jack that Izzy is describing with the one I’ve got to know over the last few weeks.

He’s quiet and does seem quite secretive.

But he works hard and both Archie and the guests seem to love having him around.

‘But he’s good at his job,’ I say carefully.

‘And Archie was telling me about the charity that he did his instructor-training through, on a reservoir in north London. I get the impression that Jack didn’t have the easiest start in life. Maybe we should cut him some slack.’

‘You have no idea,’ Izzy murmurs, shaking her head.

‘So tell me then.’

Izzy closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them and tilts her face towards me. She smiles. ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. Maybe I’m grumpy because I didn’t have passionate sex with a water-ski instructor last night.’

‘Oh God, Izzy!’ Heat explodes in my cheeks, and I cover them with my palms. ‘What have I done?’

Izzy giggles, the tension evaporating. ‘You’ve given us all something to gossip about. Now come on, before Harriet spontaneously combusts.’