‘We can store our bags under the beds, I think,’ Izzy said, lifting one of the mattresses and slipping her index finger into a slot to life the wood beneath. ‘Oh look, lifejackets. At least we won’t drown.’
‘Not funny,’ Jess said, smiling. She lay back down on the mattress and turning on her side rested her head on her palm. ‘This isn’t too bad, quite comfortable actually.’
Izzy opened her mouth to speak when she heard a familiar voice.
‘This master cabin will suit us just fine.’
‘No bloody way.’ Jess slammed her hand down on the mattress and sat up. She slipped on her deck shoes and wrenched open the door, peering out into the galley.
Izzy cringed and grabbed hold of the back of Jess’s T-shirt. ‘Hold on a sec.’
Jess pulled away. ‘Hello, Catherine,’ she said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. ‘How lovely to see you here.’
‘Jessica, hello,’ Catherine’s plummy tones echoed through the yacht. ‘Have you met my husband, Philip Simpson? He’s a hedge fund manager from London.’
There was a moment’s hesitation and Izzy manoeuvred past her friend just as Jess replied. ‘No, I haven’t. Have you met my business partner, Isabelle Le Lievre? She’s a bankrupt company director from Jersey. Some cow booked her entire stock for the busiest three weeks of the year, didn’t sign the contract with a cancellation fee designed to protect the business, and then let her down without warning.’
‘Hi, Catherine,’ Izzy said, rather proud of her furious friend, but cringing all the same.
She saw Philip giving his new bride a puzzled look. ‘I say, steady on,’ he said.
‘No,’ Jess said, ‘I will not steady bloody on. Thanks to your wife, Izzy and I have probably lost the company we’ve been working so hard to build up.’
‘You could have said no to the booking,’ Catherine said, recovered from her shock at Jess’s outburst.
‘I wish I bloody had. I trusted you to sign that contract.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘I won’t make that mistake again.’
Izzy put her arm around Jess’s shoulders. ‘We’re still a little upset, as you can see,’ she said, as Catherine was comforted by her husband who glared at Jess as if she was some sort of maniac. ‘Jess, let’s not ruin our trip by pointless arguments. We can’t do much about it here anyway.’
‘You OK?’ Ed asked coming down to the galley, closely followed by Roman. They carried several bags of food. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Where did that lot come from?’ Izzy asked trying to divert everyone’s attention away from Jess’s outburst. ‘I didn’t see any food shopping before.’
‘Stefan bought it all earlier,’ Ed said looking from Izzy to Philip. ‘Everything all right down here?’
Izzy opened her mouth to speak but Catherine, who had been standing behind Philip, noticed Ed and gave him the benefit of her gleaming smile.
‘Ed, darling,’ she cried, pushing past her new husband to reach Ed.
He put the bags on the small galley table. ‘Why aren’t you two on a proper honeymoon somewhere private? This can’t have been your first choice, surely? I know I wouldn’t want to be crammed on a small yacht with eight other people.’
‘My thoughts entirely,’ Philip agreed. ‘But Catherine was determined.’
‘Shut up, Philip,’ she said, resting two fingers over his lips to stop him from speaking. She turned to address the others. ‘Our wedding was last minute and days before we were supposed to get married we cancelled the one we’d booked. We wanted to do something more spontaneous than we’d originally planned.’
‘And this was it?’ Izzy couldn’t help saying. Jess winked at her.
‘Yes, well,’ Catherine continued. ‘We’ve known each other a long time, I think we’ve probably had enough holidays together not to worry about one more.’
‘Not as long as you’ve known Ed though?’ Jess asked, trying to look innocent. ‘I thought you and Ed were childhood sweethearts?’
‘What? Since when?’ Philip looked astonished at this news. He took hold of Catherine’s arm and pulled her towards him. ‘Catherine, were you and,’ he glared at Ed, ‘him more than friends? You swore to me that there was never anything between you two.’
‘I’m not discussing this with you here.’ She glared at Jess and Izzy. ‘Not in front of these two. Take me to my cabin.’
Jess had to admit, even if only to herself, that Catherine’s denial of anything ever going on between her and Ed was a relief. However, the atmosphere already on the yacht was more than a little tense and she was going to have to watch Jess to be sure she didn’t lose it with Catherine. Maybe it hadn’t been the best idea for her and Jess to agree to come along.
Chapter Eight
They took the boat out for a trial sail for a few hours on the first day. Izzy and Jess stood near the front, squealing with excitement as the yacht exited the port. ‘I’m so glad we decided to come on this trip, aren’t you?’ Izzy asked, holding on tightly to the metal railing around the deck, relieved Stefan had insisted everyone put on a lifejacket.
Jess nodded. ‘Too right. This is much better than sulking in Gran’s cottage back home.’
The salty wind brushed through their hair and Izzy closed her eyes, relishing the cool dampness as it hit her face. This really was bliss. It helped having Ed around in the close quarters of the yacht. She knew it was early days, but she couldn’t help noticing him giving her surreptitious looks. Her stomach contracted at the memory of his firm lips on hers that first day out riding.
Jess nudged her with her elbow. ‘I can tell you’re thinking about someone,’ she teased. ‘It wouldn’t be Edouard, would it?’
Izzy opened her eyes and put a finger to her lips. ‘Shush, I don’t want to talk about him here. We don’t know who’s listening, so no cheeky comments from you when anyone’s around, OK?’
‘Misery.’ Jess said, giving her a meaningful wink.
‘Shut up, Jess,’ she warned unable to keep the smile from her face. ‘I’m warning you.’
‘Ooh, I’m scared.’
Izzy was about to retort, when the boat dipped alarmingly and before she could do anything a huge wave rose over the bow of the yacht, slamming into them and soaking them from head to foot. The girls screamed.
‘Bloody hell!’ Izzy spluttered. ‘I didn’t see that coming.’
Jess wrung out her hair and wiped the excess water from her face. ‘Me neither.’ She looked Izzy up and down and laughed. ‘We’re soaked.’
Izzy smiled at her drenched friend, her hair hanging limply and water dripping from her chin. ‘So much for looking cool and glamorous.’
‘I don’t think it’s going to be that sort of holiday, do you?’
‘Nope, I don’t.’
They heard hysterical laughter coming from behind them. ‘I hate that woman,’ Jess hissed, glaring at Catherine.
Izzy was beginning to feel much the same way, but wasn’t going to give Catherine the satisfaction of knowing she thought about her at all. ‘Stop glaring at her, she’s enjoying our discomfort. Smile. Let’s not give her anything to gloat about.’
Jess snorted her disapproval. ‘Ooh, she’s such a smug cow.’
Izzy held her arms open and turned to the others, some of whom were laughing, but not in a malicious way, others trying hard not to. ‘You lot should come over here,’ she said waving over to them. ‘The water’s lovely and refreshing.’ It was. Just not in such a huge amount when you weren’t expecting it to hit you.
She turned back to face the sea, giving Jess a smile. ‘We’re going to have fun. This is probably the last summer holiday we’ll have, especially if we do find a way to salvage Lapins de Lune this summer. We might as well enjoy it.’
‘You girls OK?’ Ed asked, coming to stand next to them. ‘You got a bit of a drenching then.’
‘A bit?’ Izzy asked. ‘What exactly would you term as a lot then?’
He smiled. ‘It hasn’t dampened your sense of humour, I’m p
leased to say.’
Izzy shrugged. They might as well laugh at themselves; it must have looked pretty funny after all. ‘The two English girls get a dunking,’ she said.
‘You might want to change into something dry,’ he suggested. ‘The further out from the port we get, the cooler it’ll become.’
Izzy spotted Jess sneaking a peek over her right shoulder at Catherine. Before her friend had time to insist she was fine as she was, Izzy quickly said, ‘You’re right. Come on, Jess, let’s go and change.’
‘But …’ Jess argued, fury on her face.
‘She’s right, you’ll be glad you did,’ Ed said putting an arm around both their shoulders. ‘You’re both shivering already.’ He manoeuvred them gently towards the entrance of the galley. ‘Go on, I won’t take any arguments from you.’
Izzy wasn’t sure what he could be talking about, but let him guide them towards the door and, ignoring a snide comment from Catherine, pushed Jess gently down the stairs towards their berth. Once inside, Izzy shut the door behind them. They silently unclipped their lifejackets and dropped them at their feet. She could see Jess’s lips pressed together, trying not to vent about her nemesis.
Making sure the small porthole was closed, Izzy stripped off her clothes in the confined space and, grabbing a towel, dried her body and then her hair before pulling on a bikini, shorts, and T-shirt. ‘She’s not worth the effort,’ she murmured. ‘Catherine has issues, obviously, and we need to be the bigger person.’
‘Persons.’
‘OK, persons, and not let her nastiness affect us.’
Jess dried herself off and pulled on her dry clothes. ‘That’s easier said than done.’
Izzy couldn’t agree more, but this yacht wasn’t the place to build resentment and certainly not the place to pick fights with people. She tried to explain her thoughts to Jess without winding her up further.
‘I know you’re right,’ Jess said, ‘but she really gets under my skin for some reason, and it’s not just because of her letting us down over the wedding. There’s something else I don’t like about her.’
Izzy raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
‘And it’s not because she’s beautiful, or glamorous, it’s because she’s a first-class cow.’
Izzy laughed. ‘Well, I feel the same way, so stop trying to persuade me how awful she is, OK?’
Jess nodded. ‘Fine.’
‘Now, let’s go and make the most of being on holiday.’
They returned on deck and Roman explained in his broken English how Stefan had decided that the first stop on their journey would be Le Ciotat, which wasn’t too far along the coast and would allow them to step back onto dry land and buy more food ready for the next section of their journey at sea.
‘He doesn’t look very well, just like he said.’ They couldn’t miss how every so often Stefan had to lean over the side, leaving Ed to take over briefly and man the wheel on deck.
Izzy was feeling a little seasick herself and couldn’t imagine putting herself through a bad bout every time she went away. ‘I wonder why he doesn’t get used to the motion of the boat?’
Roman shrugged. ‘It is a mystery, but he loves sailing the boats, so to him it is worth this sickness.’
Nicolle called to them all. ‘We will all make pairs,’ she said. ‘Each pair will take it in their turn to make the dinner every night we are at sea, yes?’ They all nodded. ‘So, who will be the pairs?’ she smiled.
‘I will be a team with Roman,’ Loulou announced.
Roman pulled an apologetic face at her and grabbed hold of Jess’s hand, holding it up. Jess widened her eyes and glanced at Izzy. ‘Non, pardon, Loulou,’ he said. ‘Mais, Jessica will be cooking with me.’ He looked at Jess. ‘This is right, non?’
‘What? Oh, yes.’ She raised her eyebrows and smiled at Loulou. ‘Sorry, we decided this earlier.’
Izzy could see she wasn’t convinced, but was pleased Jess would have something to take her attention away from Catherine’s nastiness. She suspected Loulou was only trying to pair up with Roman to make Xavier jealous anyway. She’d also noticed him having quiet chats with Nicolle earlier that morning.
She wondered who she’d be paired up with. She didn’t know anyone but Jess well enough to make any suggestions and didn’t really mind who she ended up cooking with. Whoever it was, she was bound to get to know them better and that could only be a good thing.
‘Would you mind pairing up with me?’ Ed asked quietly from behind her.
Izzy turned to face him. ‘Of course not, it’ll be fun,’ she said, happy that he’d suggested it.
‘Great.’ He stepped forward. ‘Izzy and I will make one of the pairs.’
Izzy ignored Jess’s sniggering.
‘Obviously Philip and I’ll be sticking together. We’re still on our honeymoon,’ Catherine said, reminding the girls of her elopement. Izzy braced herself for Jess’s reaction she knew would be coming.
‘I can’t imagine wanting to spend my honeymoon with a bunch of other people,’ Jess said sweetly, looking up at Roman. ‘Can you?’
He shook his head. ‘Non, pas du tout. I would want my bride all to myself for a long time.’
Jess giggled as Catherine murmured something and dragged her husband to the other end of the boat.
Izzy was going to have to find a way for this point scoring between her friend and Catherine to stop. She hated to think of everyone’s trip being tainted by something connected with their business, which was supposed to celebrate happy occasions.
‘Stefan and I will make a pair,’ Nicolle said. ‘which leaves Xavier and Loulou.’ She looked across the space at Ed. ‘You will cook the first meal tonight?’
‘Sure, why not?’
Izzy would have rather been able to give her night a bit of thought, or even be the one to shop for the meal she and Ed would be producing. ‘Better have a look in the galley cupboards and see what we’ve got to work with, I suppose,’ she said.
‘Go on then.’ They went to the galley. Bending down to open the cupboards and have a look inside, Izzy was relieved to spot a few bags of fusilli pasta, some rice, and tins of sweetcorn and tuna. ‘We could make something really quick out of this lot,’ she said.
‘That’s a relief,’ laughed Ed. ‘My culinary skills only go as far as basic pasta dishes and fry-ups.’
‘Mine too,’ Izzy admitted. ‘I don’t think they’ll be expecting anything too clever from us, thankfully.’
He opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of red wine, studying the label. ‘I’ve never heard of this, but I’m sure a few glasses will dull their taste buds enough to persuade them that what we make is up to standard.’
Izzy hoped so. Then again, as much as she didn’t relish being the first to cook a meal for the others on the boat, she suspected that the creations could become a little competitive as the trip went on, especially between Jess and Catherine, or maybe Nicolle and Jess. She couldn’t help smiling. She was definitely going to have to look out for her friend on this trip.
‘Have I missed something funny?’ Ed asked, grinning.
Izzy shook her head. ‘I was just thinking about Jess. I have a feeling she’s somehow managed to get on the wrong side of Nicolle.’
‘Catherine isn’t her biggest fan either, is she?’
Izzy shook her head. ‘No. Not that Jess cares about what they think.’
They stood facing each other in silence. Izzy tried to think of something to say, but when she looked up and caught him staring down at her, her words vanished. As at home as he’d been at the château, she still found it hard to connect him to the place. If she hadn’t known he was a count, she never would have guessed it. He looked so, well ordinary, in a handsome, rugged, kind of way.
‘Izzy?’ he said eventually, breaking their silence.
‘Yes?’ How could such a physically prepossessing man look so unsure of himself? They stared at each other for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak then heard groans c
oming from the largest berth in the bow of the yacht. ‘Catherine and Philip,’ Izzy said, awkwardly.
‘I should imagine so.’ Ed held up the bottle of wine and grimaced when Catherine cried out. ‘I think that’s our cue to leave. We should pour everyone a glass of this. We’ve got a few bottles.’
She nodded, trying to ignore the heated panting coming from the closed room. ‘It’s only going to take twenty minutes to cook our meal,’ he added. ‘Let’s go and enjoy a bit of our first evening on board.’
Disappointed that they’d been interrupted, but relieved to get away from the obvious sounds of Catherine and her new husband having sex, she nodded. She’d been sure he was about to say something, but what? He stepped back to let her leave the galley first.
‘I’ll take this,’ she said grabbing hold of the corkscrew. ‘Oh, and these.’ She picked up four glasses.
Ed placed a bottle under each arm and picked up four more. ‘Good thinking. We don’t want to go unprepared, do we?’
No, she thought, leading the way back to join the others.
They handed out the glasses and Ed dutifully poured everyone on deck a drink. Izzy sat down and took a sip: it was delicious. She leaned back, resting her free hand on the wooden deck, and gazed up at the sail. It was hard to take in just how huge it was. She admired Stefan’s determination to keep doing the job he loved, especially when it made him so ill. She looked over at him. He seemed to have more colour in his face and she hoped his bout of sickness was behind him now.
Stefan drank a little wine and then began explaining boat health and safety. Izzy ducked along with everyone else when he demonstrated how quickly the boom swung across where they were sitting if he needed to change course at any time. They went over and over his instructions and eventually she thought that some of them had sunk in.
Eventually, Catherine and Philip came up the stairs to join the rest of them, both pink-faced and looking very pleased with themselves. Catherine gave Ed a pointed look, Izzy noticed with irritation.
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 72