Holiday with the Best Man

‘Some of mine are.’ He shrugged. ‘But you already know that my best friends own an indie recording label and Hugh’s an amazing producer. And your sister gave him his music back. It’s great to see him with his heart and soul back in place.’

‘I think Hugh and Bella are good for each other,’ she said. ‘Which reminds me—today’s Bellagram.’

Roland burst out laughing when he saw the photograph of Hugh by the railings on Fisherman’s Wharf, posing like a sea lion clapping its front feet together, with a crowd of sea lions behind him. ‘That’s priceless.’ He looked at Grace. ‘Are you sending her Bellagrams back?’

Grace shook her head. ‘If I did, she’d start asking questions—and our deal is just between us.’

‘True.’ He paused. ‘OK. That’s music done. What next? I know you can cook, and you know I don’t bother. We both like good food.’

‘And, even though you might not cook something yourself, you make great choices. This cheese is amazing,’ she said, helping herself to another slice of the Cheddar with an oatcake.

‘Food, music. Next topic.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘Travel?’

‘I haven’t travelled that much,’ she admitted.

* * *

Because she was scared of flying? Or had she just never had the chance to travel?

If it was the latter, Roland thought, this was a definite sweeping-off-feet opportunity. The perfect way to end their time together, even. He knew exactly where he was going to take her. He’d book it later tonight.

‘Do you have a passport?’ he checked.

She nodded.

Good, he thought. That was the biggest barrier out of the way. Then he remembered that she’d called off her wedding very recently and grimaced. ‘Sorry. Did I just put my foot in it? Had you booked an amazing honeymoon in Hawaii or something?’

She shook her head. ‘Howard wasn’t really one for long-haul flights—or even short-haul, really. We were going to drive down to the south of France. Cynthia had asked a couple of her friends to lend us their flat.’

Who on earth organised their son’s honeymoon, unless it was a special surprise and something that the happy couple couldn’t afford to do for themselves? Roland wondered. And although a borrowed flat in the South of France would be very nice for a short break, he didn’t understand why a qualified accountant who worked for the family firm—and therefore had to be on a pretty decent salary—couldn’t afford to book something a little more special for his honeymoon. So either Howard and his family were very mean with money, or his mother was a control freak who refused to let her son make his own decisions. Either way, it sounded as if Grace had had a lucky escape.

‘The South of France is nice,’ he said carefully.

‘But not where you’d choose for a honeymoon?’ she asked, picking up on his hesitation.

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘And definitely not a borrowed flat if I could afford to pay for somewhere myself.’

‘Where did you and Lynette go?’ she asked. Then she bit her lip. ‘Sorry. That was nosey. I didn’t mean to bring up memories.’

‘They’re good memories,’ he said. And, surprisingly, it didn’t hurt to talk about Lynette to Grace. It was actually nice to remember the times when they’d been happy. Before the baby-making project had put so much pressure on them both and their marriage had started to crack under the strain. ‘We went to the rainforest in Brazil and stayed in a treetop hotel.’

‘That sounds amazing,’ she said wistfully.

‘It was a kind of private oasis,’ he said. ‘We could sit out on the balcony and watch the monkeys and hear the macaws. There were wooden catwalks through the canopy of trees, so walking between our suite and the dining room was amazing. There was even a treetop swimming pool.’

‘That’s really exotic,’ she said.

‘I’ve never been anywhere like it—swimming with all these tropical birds flying just over your heads. And the food was great; every night we had fresh grilled fish, beans and rice and amazing bread, and exotic fruit. The day I remember most was when we took a boat trip on the Amazon and swam with the pink freshwater dolphins.’

‘That sounds perfect,’ Grace said wistfully.

‘It was the trip of a lifetime,’ he said. ‘We’d both always wanted to see the rainforest, and it more than lived up to our expectations. I’m not sure whether I liked the sunrise or the sunset most, or just looking up into the sky and seeing a different set of stars, so bright against the darkness of the sky and so very different from London.’ He paused. ‘So what about you? What’s your dream trip?’ The one that her ex-fiancé hadn’t made come true.