At last we reach Hayley. I try not to notice her perfectly toasted breasts and hourglass figure tucked into a neat white one-piece swimsuit. To me she looks more like a playboy bunny than a queen of bunny rabbits. The boys run towards her and hug her. She smiles at me, and her brown eyes spill into mine. I pull my eyes away. Men have to be so careful these days.

Maelstrom. Poseidon’s Peril. Aqua Splash. Stormchaser. We do all the slides twice. So fast, with their rotating strobe lights of many colours. I feel dizzy. I feel sick.

‘Come on, Dad, let’s go to the pirate ship now.’

The life-sized plastic pirate ship, Coralina, is guarded by water cannons. Bunnies forgotten now, the boys run around pretending they are pirates, having sword fights. Arguing about where to find treasure. I sense Hayley is staring at me. Wondering whether I am imagining it, I glance across at her. Her eyes meet mine and she blushes. Is she blushing? Or is her skin red because it’s eighty degrees in here?

‘It’s hot in here,’ I say.

‘So take off all your clothes,’ she replies with the same intonation as the cheeky song by Nelly that was in the charts years ago.

‘I thought you’d be too young to remember that song.’

Frightened she might notice the stirring in my crotch, I push my waist against the hull of the ship and watch a group of teenagers swim past. She comes and stands beside me.

‘My mother likes that song.’

Her mother. And I’m old enough to be her father. Even though I felt betrayed when you kissed Aiden, I’m not going to stoop to revenge sex. The last thing I want is to flirt with our nanny and upset you. And you seem upset enough right now. I value my marriage, my relationship, more than anything in the world. I must be careful with Hayley. I must not give her the wrong impression.

50

Caprice

I’m sweltering in Coral Reef’s café, because it opens onto the over-heated swimming area. Sweat pools behind my knees. It drips down my shoulders and clusters in the small of my back, fastening to my face like a second skin. I’m so bored because I’ve finished the crossword. The café has a showcase view of the revellers at Waterworld, and so unfortunately I hear the raucous sound of their laughing and shouting. Is everyone enjoying this place apart from me? The heat and the noise press against me – so intrusive, they could be solid objects.

Across the water I see Hayley and Miles standing together on the pirate ship, Harry and Ben frolicking in front of them. I wave across to them. If I can catch their attention I’ll gesticulate for them to come out of the pool immediately. My flesh is beginning to cook.