The path that snaked ahead of her was curled like a dropped ribbon, while crickets sang in unison amidst dust that hovered and swirled. The cactus plants here were even larger and more alien-like than their prickly cousins along the coast, the pine trees crooked spider carcases. Wooden benches had been placed at intervals along the route and there were a handful of pop-up stalls offering cold drinks, ice creams and souvenir sprigs of lavender. When the treeline cleared, the view of Hvar Town spread out below Kate was impressive enough to stop her in her tracks, and she stood for a few minutes, gazing down at the red rooftops and the flawless blue sky beyond.
Sweat had begun to bead on her top lip; her hair was now damp beneath her hat. Kate removed it, shaking out her dark-red tendrils as she did so. She smelt of the coconut shampoo she had brought with her from home, the last of which she had squeezed out of the bottle that morning. James used to gather handfuls of ringlets up and bury his face in them. ‘You smell good enough to eat,’ he would say, and she would fill up with love for him.
The young man she remembered from the early days of their relationship was so different to the James who had stood in that dingy pub corridor on the night of her party. They used to be so playful and silly, optimistic and upbeat, their mid-twenties spent on a carousel of parties, pubs and passionate nights where sleep did not so much as occur to them. They had explored and enjoyed one another without shame or agenda – no trace then of a nagging voice that whispered ‘maybe this time. Maybe this time you will make a baby’. If she was honest with herself, it was that carefree era of her relationship that she mourned the most – not the grown-up part that had come later, not those feelings of such inadequacy. Kate was beginning to realise that if she stripped away all the pain of being rejected, and the hankering for a time when everything was easier, long before the love she felt for James had been tarnished by his disappointment in her, then the life which remained, the one she was living right now, was essentially a happy one. She was essentially happy.
Feeling a vibration in her bag, Kate dug out her phone, her suddenly hopeful heart lodged in her throat. But it was only a message from Robyn, confirming that she would be over to visit the following week and asking if Toby would collect her from Split. Kate smiled; this was great news. She could not wait to show her best friend around. Tapping out a quick reply and adding a gif of a sunbathing cat for good measure, Kate continued along the path only to stop again a few seconds later.
There was a figure sitting on a bench up ahead that she recognised.
Just as the deckchair she had nailed to the roof of his boat made it stand out from the rest, so Alex’s untidy thatch of dreadlocks made him impossible to miss – or mistake for anyone else. Turning as Kate crunched over the fallen pine needles towards him, Alex smiled in what looked to be genuine pleasure before standing up to greet her.
‘I can keep on walking past if you still hate me,’ she said, gripping the brim of her hat in both hands.
Alex frowned. ‘Hate you?’
‘I wouldn’t blame you if you did,’ she said, watching as he folded his arms across a vest top that might once have been black. ‘Not after what I did to your boat.’
‘Don’t be silly. You did a nice thing for me there, so no, I don’t hate you. I promise,’ he added, seeing her doubtful expression. ‘Thank you, is what I should be saying, and what I didn’t say before. I am grateful to you. It was a bloody tip and I’d been meaning to repaint the poor old girl for months.’
‘You were?’ Kate let out the breath she’d been holding in. ‘Oh, thank god. I’ve been so worried. I honestly thought I’d annoyed you. It would be just like me to do something like that after all.’
‘You say some right silly things,’ he replied.
‘But I thought, when you didn’t come back, that I’d offended you.’
Alex scratched behind his ear. ‘Well, that’s on me, I guess,’ he said. ‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘Where have you been?’ she asked. ‘I mi— I mean, all of us have missed you. Siva especially. Filippo is having to hand out earplugs to the guests because she cries all night.’
Alex responded with a small laugh. ‘The poor deluded thing. Although, I guess it’s nice to feel wanted.’
‘Wanted and missed,’ Kate clarified.
Now that she believed he wasn’t cross with her, she felt better – happy.
‘I’m going right up to the top,’ she told him, pointing. ‘Do you want to keep me company?’
Alex considered, his hand stroking his beard. ‘All right,’ he said.
He’d not answered her question about where he’d been all week, and Kate repeated it as they rounded the next curve of the pathway.
‘I was helping Joe out with something,’ he said, apparently unwilling to elaborate further. ‘I’m only in Hvar tonight, as it happens, and then I have to go away again.’
‘Oh?’ Kate was surprised by how much this news deflated her. ‘Where to?’
‘Brač,’ he said, again not offering her any further explanation.
‘For how long?’
A shrug. ‘As long as it takes.’
Kate sighed with exasperation. ‘Are you always this . . . evasive?’
‘I prefer the word mysterious.’
‘An international man of mystery?’
‘Well,’ he countered lightly, ‘not quite. A European man of mystery, I’ll give you that much.’
‘So, not James Bond? More Austin Powers?’
Alex glanced down at himself disparagingly. ‘Nah – he has way better chest hair than I do.’
‘Ja— my ex, he couldn’t grow any at all,’ Kate told him. ‘He hasn’t got so much as a single nipple hair. And he’s going bald,’ she added disloyally. ‘He would be so jealous of all your hair.’
Alex pulled self-consciously at a few of his dreadlocks. ‘There is quite a lot of it.’
‘Do you ever think about cutting it all off?’ she asked hopefully.
Alex gave her a sideways look. ‘No.’
‘What about the beard?’
‘No.’
‘Doesn’t it feel hot, though?’ she pressed, fanning her own sweltering face with her hat. ‘You know, having all that hair on your face and head?’
Another shrug. ‘Not really. I’ve lived here long enough now to have acclimatised.’
‘How long is long enough?’
This time, it was Alex’s turn to sigh in exasperation. ‘Are you always so . . . what’s that word again? Oh yeah – nosy.’
Kate laughed. ‘I think the word you meant to use was “interested”.’
They’d continued to walk as they talked and now found themselves at the fortress entrance. A bored-looking woman offered them a lacklustre smile from inside a small kiosk, but as Kate drew closer, Alex hung back.
‘You’re not coming in?’
‘I’ve seen it before,’ he said, ‘and I need to save my pennies now to maintain my boat,’ he went on. ‘Can’t have all those freshly painted stripes wearing thin now, can we?’
‘It’s my treat,’ she said. ‘Least I can do, given the fact that those stripes are down to me and my random redecoration project.’
She did not say as much to Alex, but it felt good to be able to pay for something. Being the higher earner, James had more often than not picked up the tab when the two of them went out for a meal or to see a show. He had far more disposable income, so it made sense – at least that’s what he always told her. And Kate had accepted it, although it had always made her feel a pang of shame on every occasion. When someone else was paying for an experience, you couldn’t really say if you hadn’t enjoyed it, if your chips were cold or your steak overdone.
Kate paid for the two tickets and passed one across to Alex.
‘Please,’ she said. ‘For me.’
She could not be sure, but it looked an awful lot like Alex was rolling his eyes at her.
‘Nosy was the wrong word after all,’ he said, taking the slip of paper with
a grin. ‘I should have gone for bossy.’
Unlike the rest of Hvar, which was quirky, quaint and quietly beautiful, the Fortico was grand, vast and sternly impressive. It made sense, though, Kate noted to Alex, that an island so precious should have a guardian this strong to watch over it.
When they had explored every turret and winding stairway, the two of them made their way up to the battlements at the front and peered over the outer wall.
‘That is quite some view,’ said Kate, her gaze drawn far out to sea.
‘I think I can see Filippo over there,’ said Alex, pointing north-east. ‘Sunbathing nude on the roof terrace.’
‘Where?’ Kate exclaimed in delight, only to scoff as Alex began to laugh.
‘Very funny,’ she deadpanned. ‘Didn’t your mother ever tell you that it’s cruel to mock the dumb?’
Alex merely shook his head, still triumphant to have tricked her so successfully.
‘Gullibility is one of my many talents,’ she informed him. ‘Along with singing out of key, being sacked from jobs and getting dumped. Oh, and collecting wrinkles,’ she added. ‘I swear there are three or four more every morning.’
Alex ran a hand along the smooth shaft of a huge cannon – one of a number that were aimed out over the bay – and scrutinised her face.
‘You look fine to me,’ he said. ‘Nothing wrong with a few lines anyway.’
‘I hate them,’ she moaned, dragging the skin taut across her cheeks. ‘As soon as I have enough money, I’m going to get Botox.’
‘Is that the stuff that freezes you up like an ice pop?’ he checked, and Kate nodded. ‘Don’t go getting that.’
‘But I need it,’ she replied, pushing up her eyebrows and leering at him for comedy effect. ‘I’m on a one-way street to Saggy Town.’
‘What a load of nonsense.’ Alex moved around the cannon and came towards her. ‘Give me your hand a minute,’ he said.
‘Why?’ Kate knotted her fingers into a fist and pressed it against her chest. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Just trust me, OK? I want to show you something.’
Kate unknotted.
‘Right,’ he said, taking her hand and leading her across the battlements. ‘Touch this,’ he instructed, placing Kate’s hand flat against the stone wall of the fortress. ‘Now, tell me how it feels.’
‘Rough,’ she said. ‘And cold – which is a miracle on a day like this.’
‘And do you like it?’ he asked. ‘The roughness?’
‘I do,’ she agreed, as he removed his hand from hers. ‘I like the way it looks, too, all jagged edges and general cragginess. It’s atmospheric.’
‘Exactly,’ he said.
‘Are you saying I resemble an old ruin?’ Kate replied. ‘Because if so, I would agree with you.’
‘No,’ Alex said patiently. ‘What I am trying to say is that wear and tear can be a positive thing. Imagine if this wall here had been plastered over – it wouldn’t be quite so captivating then, would it?’
‘No, but—’
‘It’s the toughness of the stone that is so enthralling,’ he continued. ‘It tells of history and of a life lived. To plaster over the cracks would be to erase the truth, and the beauty.’
‘I guess so.’ Kate rubbed at the wall until dust began to fall. ‘But this is a building, not a human face. It can’t speak and tell us its stories in the same way a person can.’
‘Sure,’ he said easily, ‘but I would argue that a face left to age naturally carries far more intrigue and individualism than one full of chemicals that turn it into a mask. Those plastic-faced people don’t interest me at all, but you—’
‘I what?’ said Kate, glancing up in time to see his cheeks redden beneath his beard.
‘You’re interesting,’ he said. ‘And your face is more than fine exactly the way it is – you don’t need to mess around injecting poison into it.’
‘Can’t afford it anyway,’ mumbled Kate, but she was smiling.
They did another full circuit of the battlements, Alex pointing out each of the Pakleni Islands and telling her the names of the various beaches.
‘How many islands are there in Croatia?’ she asked, her eyes widening in surprise at his answer. ‘Over one thousand two hundred? No wonder everyone owns a boat of some sort. Speaking of which,’ she added, ‘I don’t suppose you’d let me visit yours again so I can take a few photos?’
‘Photos? What for?’
‘For my Unexpected Items Instagram account,’ she explained, digging out her phone so she could show him.
Alex looked nonplussed. ‘Fine by me,’ he said. ‘We can go there now, if you want. Unless . . .’ He paused, his mouth moving as he contemplated what to say next.
‘Unless?’ Kate echoed gently, watching as a shadow of what looked to be uncertainty passed across his face.
‘This job I have in Brač, it’s a hotel clearance. The previous owners sold it as it stood, full of furniture, and the new buyer wants the place emptied. I don’t suppose you’d like to—’
‘Come and help you clear it out? Yes, please!’
‘I’ll do all the heavy lifting,’ he assured her. ‘But you can go through the bits and pieces, take anything you like the look of – well, as much of it as will fit on my boat.’
‘And the buyer is happy to just throw it all out?’ she said. ‘How wasteful.’
He nodded. ‘All the more reason to come, in that case. You’d be doing a good thing by rescuing some of it. You like rescuing things, as I remember it. Mirrors, gnomes, cats . . .’
‘Haha,’ she said. ‘Are you sure you want me?’
‘Well, you know,’ said Alex, ‘if you’re going to make a man’s boat an object of ridicule, then the least you can do is sail along on it with him.’
Chapter 26
Kate was waiting outside the hostel when Alex strolled down the wide shaded street at a little after seven the following morning.
‘Nice day for it,’ she said, in answer to his solitary hand of greeting. He was wearing the same frayed denim shorts he always seemed to be in, but today had pulled a red hooded top over his habitual vest. It was already warm, but the breeze coming in off the water carried enough of a chill to raise the hairs along Kate’s arms. She’d opted for a mustard-yellow pinafore dress over a plain white T-shirt, thinking she would change into her tatty decorating ensemble when they reached Brač.
Alex had tied back his dense swathe of dreadlocks today and tucked as many of them as he could underneath a baseball cap with the word ‘Croatia’ threaded across the front.
‘That it?’ he asked, glancing at the rucksack beside Kate’s feet. It was Toby’s and, given that she had crammed it seam-splittingly full of her belongings, weighed almost as much as he did.
‘I didn’t know what to bring.’
‘So, you brought everything you own, plus a bit extra for luck?’
‘If you think this is bad, you should see my suitcases.’
‘Suitcases plural?’ Alex clenched his teeth. ‘Blimey.’
There it was again, thought Kate – that trace of an accent she could never quite place.
‘You know we’re only away for one or two nights?’ he went on, his bemusement mounting as he tested the weight of the bag.
‘You can never be too prepared,’ Kate said, then, when he went to pick it up. ‘I can manage.’
With a Herculean effort, she lifted the rucksack and managed to get both her arms through the straps. When she bent forwards to retrieve her second, much smaller bag from the floor, however, she almost toppled right over.
‘Here,’ said Alex, squatting down in front of her. Kate was about to lurch away, but he was only doing up her waist strap. As soon as each side was correctly adjusted, the weight on her shoulders eased and she sighed in relief.
‘Toby didn’t bother showing me how to wear this thing,’ she told him, tutting good-naturedly as the two of them set off down the hill. ‘He was probably amused by the idea of me
staggering around like an overburdened camel.’
‘Camels don’t tend to stagger very often,’ said Alex. ‘I would go for a donkey – one of those poor sods that trail up and down rainy British beaches carrying blokes in “Kiss me quick, squeeze me slow” hats.’
‘Gee.’ Kate groaned humourlessly. ‘Thanks.’
Alex had moored his boat not far from the church that Kate had hurried past in tears the day she found out Nika was pregnant, but she forced herself not to think about that. Thanks to having had a decent amount of practice when she was redecorating, Kate was able to clamber over the side of the freshly repainted vessel with far more grace than she had the first time. Alex busied himself with wedging her rucksack through the gap and down into the small cabin area at the front of the boat, while Kate zipped up a life vest and tried her best not to notice the large grubby footprints they’d both left all over the immaculate deck.
‘It shouldn’t take us that long to reach Brač,’ he said. ‘We’ll leave the boat at the port in Supetar then drive out to the hotel from there.’
‘Sounds good,’ said Kate, speaking loudly in order to be heard over the clanking chain of the anchor. ‘Whereabouts is it – the hotel, I mean?’
‘Škrip,’ he said, readjusting the peak of his baseball cap. ‘It’s a small village with a big history. Most of the tourists that visit Brač head to Bol in the south, but we’ll be up in the north.’
‘I’ve heard of Bol,’ she told him. ‘That’s the place with the famous long beach.’
‘Correct,’ he said, firing up the engine. ‘You can go there this afternoon, if you like – there are buses.’
‘No, no. This is a business trip, not a leisure one,’ she said, easing into the seat across from his as they began to move slowly away from the harbour. ‘I’m not work shy,’ she added, pushing her glasses further up her nose. ‘James used to accuse me of not “applying myself” enough, but it was never the hard graft part that put me off.’
She was doing it again – James, James, James.
‘As a wise friend once told me, it’s all about finding the right fit,’ Alex said. ‘And it’s nice that you’re coming with me today – I mean that – but truth be told, I do work better on my own. I prefer to knuckle down and get the job done, snappy like.’
The Getaway: A holiday romance for 2021 - perfect summer escapism! Page 15