by Confetti
Her passage sent tree lizards and manicou scuttling from her path, and her hair flew high into the air from beneath the confines of her safety helmet. She even swung her legs to encourage extra speed until once again she landed in an unseemly heap on a mound of shredded bark that marked the end of their adventure.
‘That was awesome!’ she screamed as Zach landed next to her, his face alight with pleasure.
‘Didn’t I tell you that you’d have fun? And it’s great to see the real Millie poking through that comfort blanket you’re so determined to wrap yourself up in. You have to be prepared to squeeze the most out of every day, push your boundaries and grasp the world by the scruff of its neck. Otherwise we become stuck in a rut and who wants to live that kind of existence?’
Millie couldn’t help herself. She was so overwhelmed by what she had achieved that morning that she slung her arms around Zach’s neck and gave him a kiss – despite her determination to play it cool. She knew what he had said was right. She had been hiding beneath a cloak of misery after Luke had left her, and it was time to make some changes and move on.
‘Thank you, Zach. That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done. At this precise moment, I feel like I could do just about anything! Overcome any challenge that life throws in my direction. It was exactly what I needed.’
‘You’re welcome. However, this morning’s excursion into new experiences is not over yet! Come on, I’ll race you back to the car!’
Chapter Nine
As they wound their way down the hill back to civilisation, Millie slipped into a daydream. Whilst Zach’s hands were clenched firmly on the steering wheel as he negotiated the sharp bends and avoided the huge potholes, she was still agonisingly aware of his proximity. Her throat was dry and her fingertips buzzed with anticipation whenever he glanced across and smiled. The way he looked at her made her feel special, that she was important to him and that he didn’t want to be anywhere else other than by her side.
She had never expected to feel such a strong physical attraction to anyone so quickly after splitting with Luke and she struggled to understand how to react. The more time she spent with Zach, the harder it was to deny that she had developed a closeness with him that her relationship with Luke had lacked.
Nevertheless, the fact remained that her stay in St Lucia was temporary and despite her internal struggle to resist grabbing him and indulging in a kissing marathon right there and then, the last thing she wanted was to embark on a holiday romance because that way the progress she had made since arriving on the island, in all areas of her life – professional and personal – would be wound back to the beginning and she couldn’t risk that.
Or could she? If she was aware from the outset that it was only going to be a fling, something short and deliciously sweet, then what harm would that do? In fact, it might just help her to paper over all the remaining cracks in her self-esteem that Luke’s cheating had caused and producing a stronger, more resilient outlook over the romantic landscape.
She wondered what was going on in Zach’s mind. There was no way he couldn’t have noticed the chemistry between them; she had seen the scorching looks he gave her when he thought she wasn’t looking. But what did that mean? He too had recently emerged from a relationship, although he and Chloe hadn’t lived together and the reason they had separated was because she had demanded a commitment Zach hadn’t been able to offer.
They reached the outskirts of Castries, the island’s capital, and she knew immediately where Zach was headed. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Of course, he probably didn’t know that she had been there before, but in any event, it was one of her favourite places on St Lucia so an unexpected repeat visit was going to be a real treat.
Even at that early hour the place bustled with a menagerie of people, some laden with bulging shopping bags, others pulling overburdened trollies, and others still lugging huge plastic crates piled with fish to their vehicles to feed hungry lunchtime tourists.
‘Brace yourself for an assault on the senses!’ declared Zach, swerving the car into the tiniest of parking spaces and leaping from his seat.
Millie didn’t want to spoil Zach’s fun so she kept quiet about her familiarity with Castries’s famous outdoor market. Her spirits soared as she walked up the steps to be confronted by a kaleidoscope of colours. She paused on the threshold and took a moment to inhale the sweet smell of paradise floating on the air from the stall to her right: nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, star anise, ginger, a spice-filled medley of happiness in one sniff. She knew she would never be able to bake a batch of mince pies without thinking of this glorious market within whose walls were some of the freshest herbs and spices she had ever encountered.
They meandered down the rows of stalls, stopping so Millie could snatch up a woven jute bag embroidered with a map of the island from a smiling vendor who assured her that she had hand-sewn and decorated it herself. Armed with her basket, Millie succumbed to the insistent call of her shopping gene. She would have loved to be accompanied by her mother and sister with whom she liked to spend time mooching around the markets in Provence, but Zach turned out to be a fabulous substitute. He was knowledgeable and enthusiastic for the locally grown produce, and a great help with the inevitable bartering, not to mention carrying the three bottles of local rum she’d bought, one of which even had Poppy’s name scrawled on the label!
‘Planning a party or are these for personal use only? I feel obliged to warn you that that stuff’s lethal in large doses.’
Millie laughed, feeling as though she was on a first date when everything around her seemed so much more intoxicating: the colours so vibrant, the aromas so evocative, the music swirling through the alleyways causing her hips to sway to the St Lucian rhythm.
‘Christmas gifts for my sister and my friend, Poppy. I know Jen will probably use hers in one of her recipes, but Poppy will create the most delicious rum cocktails and it’ll be finished before Boxing Day!’
‘It’s a great choice. I know my brother would prefer a bottle of Caribbean hooch rather than the sweater Mum knitted for him last year with a huge red reindeer’s nose stuck on the front. You should have seen Martin and I on Christmas morning looking like a festive Tweedledee and Tweedledum – but if our sartorial road crash made her happy while she roasted the turkey, then it was no real hardship.’
Zach smiled but Millie noticed a shadow stalk across his eyes. She wondered what had caused it: the mention of his mother or his brother? She knew family dynamics could be battlegrounds but as they were having such a wonderful time she wasn’t sure whether she should ask Zach to enlarge on anything so personal.
They had paused next to a stall selling home-made jewellery fashioned from polished pebbles and leather thongs. Millie thought immediately of Lottie, no doubt at that very moment rushing around the veranda of the Purple Parrot serving fragrant omelettes and rich dark coffee to its discerning patrons, and selected a necklace made from linked sea shells to give her as a goodbye present. When she handed over her money, her heart gave an uncomfortable lurch as she remembered she only had four days left on the island after which she would probably not see Lottie, Dylan or even Ella again.
‘Fancy a coffee before we head off home?’
Millie checked her watch. ‘I’d love one as long as we’re not too long – I really need to get back to the villa before Imogen and her party arrive. That’s if Imogen does decide to come today. They’ve got so much going on, I wouldn’t be surprised if they cancelled so they can concentrate on the wedding arrangements. I wonder why the wedding planner’s suddenly gone missing?’
‘No idea. Come on, I need an injection of caffeine before tackling the drive to Soufrière.’
Zach indicated the patio outside a ramshackle café where a plump, jolly-faced woman, her dark hair streaked with silver, was busy brandishing a threadbare broom in a futile attempt to shoo away the dust and market debris from the pavement. As they approached, she ceased her melodious humming to offe
r them a wide welcoming grin, displaying a set of incongruously white teeth.
The sun was now well above the horizon, playing a game of hide-and-seek with a few gauzy clouds, and the temperature was climbing steadily. They sat down at one of the tables and sipped the thick dark coffee the owner insisted they sample. Unsurprisingly, it was delicious and injected a welcome shot of energy into Millie’s veins.
She felt so relaxed in Zach’s presence. Even if she ignored the electric current that was zapping through the air between them, sitting there with her face turned towards the sun, she felt as though she had known him for years and not less than three weeks. In that short space of time, she had been able to share with him the most excruciatingly embarrassing episode of her life – the night Luke had ditched her at their engagement party for her best friend’s mother. Until then, shame and mortification about what had happened had clung to her like a rash, so much so that whenever someone had looked at her for any length of time, she thought they could see it.
Of course, Poppy had had a hand in helping her to start coming to terms with the uninvited changes that had befallen her life, but she had been steadfast in her refusal to contemplate dating again. How could she trust someone with her heart after what had happened? But, strangely, unburdening her demons to Zach had ushered her much further down the path of acceptance, and the burning humiliation that had been persistently present before she’d hopped on the aeroplane had melted to an almost inconsequential item of ancient history.
Was it Zach or was it the island paradise she had been so fortunate to spend time in?
Whichever it was, Zach’s presence had been an integral part of her emotional recovery and everything that had happened between them that morning at the zip wire ride was suddenly magnified sending her attraction to him into overdrive. There was no denying their relationship had moved on to a new level, and that because they had both had the courage to bare their souls on subjects they had previously hugged close to their chests, their honesty had drawn them together and eradicated any awkwardness. She met his eyes, her pulse racing, ready to express how she felt and to ask him how he felt about her, but before she even opened her mouth, Zach had checked his watch and jumped up from his chair.
‘Come on, Marvellous Millie, we need to cart all this paraphernalia you’ve acquired back to the car. How many students did you say were on the Chocolate and Confetti course? I think you’ve bought enough to feed the whole of Soufrière!’
Millie smiled, bending down to collect the carrier bags filled with a mixture of treasures. She only hoped it would all fit in her suitcase! As Zach paid the bill, she resolved to have the conversation she planned on their journey back to the villa.
‘So, what’s on the itinerary of the Paradise Cookery School today? Macaroons? Petit fours? French horns?’
‘French horns?’ she giggled. ‘You can’t eat…’
‘Just joking! Oh, hang on, hang on… I’d better take this.’
Zach grabbed his phone from the back pocket of his shorts and glanced at the screen. In the split second before he turned his back to take the call, Millie saw the shock written boldly across his handsome features.
‘Hi. Chloe? Why are you…’
There was a pause.
‘Here? You mean in St Lucia?’
Another pause.
‘But…’
Millie was frozen to the spot. Surely the person on the other end of the phone couldn’t be Zach’s ex-girlfriend Chloe? The same Chloe who had terminated their relationship because Zach hadn’t produced an engagement ring when she had suggested they moved on to the next level. Hadn’t Zach told her that she had met someone else almost straight away who had proposed to her at the top of the Eiffel Tower? What was going on?
‘Well, I don’t see why you can’t grab a taxi…’
Zach had now turned around to face Millie, his eyes holding her gaze with a mixture of alarm and dismay. She noticed that his cheeks had coloured and he was rubbing his palm across the stubble on his chin in consternation.
‘Okay, okay. I’ll be there in an hour.’
Zach cut the call and opened his mouth to speak but no words of explanation came forth.
‘Was that Chloe, as in Chloe your ex-girlfriend?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘She’s just landed at the airport and wants me to collect her.’
‘But I thought…’
However, Zach wasn’t listening. He spun on his heels and started to make his way down the street to towards where they’d left Tim’s car, leaving Millie to scramble in his wake with her myriad shopping bags.
The bubble of their early morning adventure had burst and the drive back to the villa was the most excruciating Millie had ever experienced. Awkwardness shimmered in the air between them and she only just managed to hang onto her urge to blurt out a litany of questions she wasn’t even sure she wanted to hear the answers to. In the silence, her thoughts once again began to meander through the labyrinths of self-doubt that had been hewn by Luke’s infidelity and she chastised herself for thinking things had changed.
Chapter Ten
‘Hi, Millie! Oh, my God. What happened to your hair?’ laughed Carla, taking in Millie’s halo of honey-blonde curls that had ballooned to double its normal volume.
‘The question you should be asking, Carla,’ chuckled Imogen, kicking off her stilettos so she could pad into the villa’s kitchen in her bare feet, ‘is, who did that to Millie’s hair. Millie, I saw you emerge from a very cute red roadster a few minutes before we arrived in the courtyard.’
Millie met Ella’s gaze with what she hoped was a silent plea for protection from the interrogation Imogen was poised to pursue. Every nerve in her body sparkled with panic at the thought of either confessing what had happened that morning or having to conjure up something mundane enough not to attract further questioning. She went with the latter.
‘Oh, I had to buy a few things at the market this morning so I got a lift back up the hill from a friend.’
Millie saw the scepticism in Imogen’s eyes, clear evidence that she wasn’t buying her explanation, but her expression swiftly changed to one of acceptance when she saw the faint shake of Ella’s head. Unfortunately, Harriet didn’t occupy the same empathy spectrum.
‘I know, I know!’ she squealed. ‘She’s been on a date with that hunky estate manager, Zach Barker. Yes, bingo! That’s definitely a blush of guilt!’
‘Oh, come on. Spill the details, Millie. I’ve been starved of gossip since I got here,’ moaned Carla, smoothing her palm over her head and tucking the sides of her hair round her ears in that familiar gesture. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be there to bake, and decorate the wedding cake pops, her beloved Pentax was strung round her neck like an over-sized necklace. ‘Unless you count what happened when Julia eventually managed to track down Fleur Markham’s offices yesterday.’
‘Why? What happened?’ asked Ella, her ears pricking up at the mention of Imogen and Alex’s elusive wedding planner, but she was equally keen to grasp onto a subject that would divert attention from Millie.
‘Well, Mum’s even more upset about her disappearance than I am. As you know, she and Brad took a taxi over to Castries yesterday to look for her offices, but when they got there the doors were locked and there was no sign of life. The girl in the flower shop downstairs, Martha I think her name was, said she hadn’t seen Fleur since Sunday – that’s the day we had our first meeting with her at the hotel, too.’
‘What did you think of Fleur when you met her? Did you think she would be reliable?’
‘That’s the weird thing. Alex and I really liked her. She seemed to have everything under control. She showed us photographs of our bouquets and the flower arrangements she’d ordered for the tables, and she assured us that there was no problem with arranging the release of butterflies Mum wanted so much. Fleur said she’d been asked for a lot worse! She had the string quartet organised for the ceremony an
d the live band booked for the evening disco. Everything else is being sorted out by the hotel. So after she had met with us she had an appointment to talk through the arrangements with the hotel’s temporary manager, Jerome. She seemed efficient and organised and very professional. We were due to see her on Wednesday to finalise the rehearsal on Saturday.’
‘Yes, but remember what Julia said,’ interrupted Carla, her green eyes wide with excitement. ‘Didn’t she hear Fleur arguing with Jerome in the gazebo?’
‘Did she hear what they were arguing about?’ asked Ella, her dark eyebrows raised with interest.
‘I don’t think so. And if it was anything to do with the wedding arrangements, I know Mum would have lurked in the bushes to listen in. She just sensed that the two of them had some personal history.’
‘Maybe he’s murdered her and hidden the body in a laundry basket?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Carla,’ snapped Imogen, the stress of the last two days bubbling to the surface. ‘That kind of talk is really unhelpful.’
‘So what if she doesn’t turn up? What’s left to sort out for the wedding on Sunday?’
‘Thankfully, now that the cakes and the wedding favours are done, there’s only the flowers to chase up and Mum’s already one step ahead. When she got back to the hotel yesterday afternoon she found the details of the supplier and confirmed that everything was on course for delivery on Saturday evening. Despite Karen’s initial reservations, Brad has turned out to be a complete angel. He’s not only running Mum up and down the hill in his hire car but also keeping her from having a total meltdown.’
Imogen poured herself a glass of home-made lime spritzer, added a scoop of ice and swallowed it down in one gulp.