Page 58 of Never Gonna Happen

‘There’s no reason,’ she said. ‘I can absolutely do that.’ She looked at Jamie, who squeezed her hand and smiled, like he knew that something important had just happened.

‘That’s very good to hear,’ said Mr Hunter, passing her another cocktail.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jamie drove Emily to the Lapis Lagoon Hotel on Saturday morning, in an ancient Suzuki Jimny that Mr Hunter kept at the beach house. The hotel was on the east side of the island, so Emily had another opportunity to see a bit of the landscape inland. She hadn’t expected it to be so lush and green; somehow tropical islands manifested in her head as nothing but sand and palm trees. There were signposts to interesting-looking things at every turn – an old sugar plantation, a nature trail that Jamie told her led to the island’s only volcano, a beautiful colonial mansion that was now a museum. She wished they had more time to do some hiking and sightseeing, and tried not to get lost in fantasies about a time in the future when she and Jamie might come back.

The hotel was exactly as Mr Hunter had described it – simple and not at all fancy, but spotlessly clean and beautifully designed. The other guests were a lot like them – twenty- and thirty-something couples or groups of friends, mostly French or British, no designer handbags or high heels in sight. It felt fun and relaxed and effortlessly cool, and Emily instantly loved it.

They joined a tour of the hotel before lunch, led by a member of staff in khaki shorts and a pale blue polo shirt. She showed them the pool, set in a garden of citrus trees and fragrant flowering shrubs, and the winding path to the pretty beach. Then she led them to the palm-roofed terrace where meals would be served three times a day, with large communal tables laid out like a school cafeteria. They took a brochure of activities and the key to their room, then headed off to settle in. It was simple and clean, with a tiny bathroom and a small balcony overlooking the gardens and the sea.

‘What would you like to do while we’re here?’ asked Jamie, flumping on the bed and handing Emily the brochure.

She flicked through the pages of options – hiking tours, waterfall swimming, quad biking, sunset fishing trips, diving with sharks.

‘I’d really like to go snorkelling,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen pictures but I’ve never done it.’

‘No problem,’ he said, looking at the list of timings. ‘There’s a boat trip out to a nice bit of the reef after lunch, we can do that today.’

‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘What’s top of your list?’

‘I’d really like to take you horse riding on the beach.’

‘Oh, wow,’ said Emily, wishing she’d picked something a bit more romantic than snorkelling. ‘What will the horses be like?’ She felt completely safe with Rupert, but the idea of riding a new and unknown horse felt a bit unsettling.

‘The riding centre they use here is good, I’ve been there before. We can let them know you’re a beginner – it will be fine.’

Emily paused, a thought nagging at the edge of her brain. She tried to put a lid on it, but Jamie noticed anyway.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing’s wrong,’ she said breezily. ‘I was just wondering if you’d ever brought other women here.’

He said nothing for a second, then smiled awkwardly. ‘Naomi came here once. She’d been filming in South Africa and I met her here for a few days at the end of her shoot.’

‘OK,’ said Emily with a forced laugh. ‘Did you take her riding on the beach too?’

‘No,’ he said, a little defensively. ‘She was knackered and just wanted to lie by Dad’s pool all day. I went riding on my own.’

Emily said nothing, wishing she was generally better at saying nothing.

Jamie shrugged. ‘Naomi was great, and we were good for a while. But we weren’t right for each other.’ He rolled over so his face was close to hers. ‘Emily, I don’t know how many ways I can say it. I like you. I like spending time with you. I’m really glad you’re here. Will that do for now?’ He took her hand and kissed it.

Emily smiled, wishing for the hundredth time she was less insecure. ‘Yeah, it definitely will.’

‘So, snorkelling and riding. We can do both of those today. Anything else?’

‘I’d like to see the island for real. Like, where the locals go. Maybe a market or something.’

‘Oh, that’s a great idea. I’ll take you to the Sunday market in Flacq tomorrow, then we’ll go to the beach on the way back, spend the day hanging out with the locals.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Emily, bouncing off the bed and into action. ‘Can I have some lunch now?’

Jamie smiled. ‘Can I take you to bed first?’

She gave him a fake stern look. ‘We’re in Mauritius. I’m not sure doing something we can do in the UK is a good use of our time.’

‘Well, I’m only asking for ten minutes.’