We were at the edge of the path and I stopped walking. ‘Did you want to sit on the beach?’

He peered over the wooden railing at the beach and the sea beyond.

‘Shall we just go back to the tent? It looks like it’s going to rain anyway.’

I glanced up at the sky, which was laden with dark clouds.

‘Fine.’

We took the path away from the sea and found ourselves following the family back through the shortcut of mobile homes.

‘So what’s different about me then?’

‘You seem more confident.’

‘More confident? Thanks,’ I said, taking it as a compliment, but the look on his face made me wonder if that’s how he meant it. ‘So, what did you think of everyone?’

‘They seemed nice.’

‘They are, and so much fun. Soph’s just this big ball of energy.

And Joel, well, he’s Joel.’

‘Hmm, he certainly is,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘What’s that supposed to mean? Did you not like him?’

‘I think you like him plenty enough for the both of us.’

I didn’t understand where the attitude was coming from.

‘I know you didn’t get much of a chance to get to know them, but maybe we could hang out with them after dinner so you can spend more time with them. They’ll probably go to a party on the beach.’

‘Can’t we hang out just the two of us? It’s you I’ve come to see. Plus there’s no point, is there? Next month you’ll be starting uni and you’ll have a whole new set of friends that I’ll have to get to know.’

He took hold of the belt loops of my shorts and bent down and kissed me on the top of my head. My shoulders were so tense that they were almost at my earlobes. I couldn’t imagine he was right. I couldn’t bear the thought of not being close to Soph or laughing at Douglas’s exploits or seeing Joel again.

‘Let’s spend tonight just the two of us.’

‘Just the two of us,’ I repeated.

Scott smiled down at me and I looked into his eyes properly for the first time since he’d arrived. They were eyes that I’d looked into thousands of times before, imagining the future we were going to have, the adventures, the houses we’d live in, our wedding, kids. The dreams we’d once had. Only the more I looked into his eyes the more I could see them slipping away. I kissed him, trying to cling onto them, not wanting to admit to myself that I’d changed or that I wanted different things in life, or that the thought of not seeing Joel anymore bothered me more than it should.

Chapter 18