‘You mean, see what Josh is doing?’

‘I, uh, no, I mean everyone. We usually have dinner together. Shouldn’t we wait to see what the others want to do for dinner?’ She was wearing a frown. It said, ‘Sarah, stop being such a wuss.’ And the frown was right.

She slung the purse over her shoulder. Because of the confined space, I was standing in the bathroom, and she was standing in the cabin, but she was still close enough for me to see her nostrils flare in frustration.

‘Sarah Jane!’ Uh oh. She was using my middle name. Why did I ever tell her that? ‘You mean to tell me, we finally get to a town that looks hip and fun and cool – all the things we haven’t seen yet on this trip – and you recruit me to be your partner in crime to explore this town – and then you go all pussy on me because of some misguided sense of obligation to the others? Is that what is going on here?’

I flinched at the word ‘pussy’ – I hate that word – but she had a point. Just because we’d had dinner together most nights, didn’t mean we needed to spend every moment together. We weren’t the Brady Bunch. I also thought it would be good for me to have a night away from Josh – completely away from him. If I was going to keep him at arm’s length – why shouldn’t my plan start immediately?

‘You’re right,’ I admitted. And then I felt it again, the twinge of guilt.

‘Can we at least invite the girls? Girls’ night out?’ I tried to sell it with my best smile. I liked Gerry and Marie, and maybe if they came along too, they could help me keep Hannah out of trouble.

She sighed heavily. She certainly was one for the dramatics. ‘Fine. I’ll be up on deck.’ With that, she left our cabin. I put the finishing touches on my makeup, prepped my own purse with what I needed for the night, and went to find Gerry and Marie.

*

‘We’re going to need cocktails. Stat,’ said Hannah. The four of us – Marie, Gerry, Hannah and I – were seated at a beautiful little bar right off the main drag of Ermoupoli. If we sat up tall on our stools and stretched our necks, we could see the water, but really, after living on a boat for the better part of a week, I was okay with being on solid ground and having a view of the bougainvillaea growing on the wall across from us.

‘Why ‘stat’?’ asked Marie.

‘Because, we are four beautiful women out on the town, and we have a lot to talk about, and nights like this start out best with a cocktail – or two,’ she replied, as though it was the most logical thing in the world. The three of us shared a look, then burst out laughing.