For a moment Abby forgot her bad mood. It was glorious. A gentle breeze stroked their skin and filled their mouths and lungs with a holiday saltiness. The sea glistened, the odd lively wave slapping against the boat and splashing their arms and legs. The sun would dry off the water almost instantly. It was as if nature itself wanted to play with them. Abby continued to row, the water from the blades dripping and catching in the light with each stroke.
‘Can we swim?’ asked Ellie, entranced.
‘Course. I’ll stay here, though, with the boat.’ Abby waited while her sister took off her shorts and top, revealing the same yellow bikini she’d had on the day before.
‘Geronimo!’ shouted Ellie as she leaped into the sea. Abby held on to the oars as the boat settled and smiled as her sister’s head popped up from under the water, her hair slicked back.
‘It’s actually warm!’ exclaimed Ellie, and she started to swim out in long leisurely breast strokes.
‘Are you going in, Mum?’ asked Abby.
‘Oh no, not for me.’ Susanna settled herself onto the bench.
Abby suddenly felt the presence of her mother, just inches from herself, disproportionately irritating. Ever since Susanna had arrived in Elba, she was always there, everywhere Abby turned, and she was finding it suffocating.
Susanna caught the expression on Abby’s face. ‘Sorry if I barged in on something.’
‘You didn’t,’ lied Abby.
Her mother smiled gently. ‘Really? Only it doesn’t look that way. You should have said; I’d have stayed on the shore. Sat on the rocks and watched you both.’
Abby felt her ire rising. ‘That’s not what you wanted at all so don’t try and pretend it was. You were determined to come on this boat trip.’
‘Is that why you planned it early? So I’d miss it?’
Abby’s stomach twisted in shame. She couldn’t bring herself to deny it so she gazed out at Ellie, who had turned back and was swimming towards them again.
‘You don’t want me alone with Ellie. What do you think I’m going to do, Mum?’ Abby had a dangerous, goading note to her voice.
‘I’m just not sure I can trust you, that’s all.’
‘Trust? You want to talk about trust?’
‘You can be very hurtful sometimes, Abby,’ said Susanna.
For God’s sake! Abby felt a flash of anger. She didn’t dare say anything; instead she grabbed hold of the oars and started to row vehemently towards Ellie. She only slowed her pace as she came alongside her sister. Then she held the boat steady as Ellie hauled herself back on board.
‘Everything all right?’ asked Ellie, as she looked between her mother and sister.
‘Everything’s wonderful,’ smiled Susanna. ‘Abby and I were just chatting about breakfast.’
Back at the house, Ellie decided to take a wander into the village. Abby was fixing some food for everyone, and Susanna was tired from the early start and had returned to bed for a lie-in after all, so Ellie sneaked out on her own.
It was only a short stroll down to the village and when Ellie arrived she was delighted to see it was market day. She wandered amongst the stalls piled high with the best of the season’s produce: fat melons; soft fuzzy peaches; ripe, bulbous plum tomatoes. Another stall was filled with a mind-boggling range of cheeses: everything from milky-white mozzarella to creamy blue-veined gorgonzola. The smell of breads filled the air and Ellie bought a rosemary-studded focaccia to take back to the house. As she walked along the lanes, the sun now high in the sky, she wondered how she’d find her sister and mother. There had definitely been an atmosphere on the boat when she’d come back from her swim. It was the second time since she’d arrived that she’d interrupted them only to sense they were hiding something from her.
Ellie came into the house and took the bread to the kitchen.
‘That looks nice,’ said Abby, taking it from her. ‘You have fun?’
‘It was great. I could have bought loads more.’
‘Oh Ellie, focaccia! My favourite,’ said Susanna as she entered the kitchen.
‘Right, I think we’ve missed breakfast,’ said Abby. ‘This is lunch. Hungry?’
Ellie nodded and was about to take plates of hams and cheeses outside when Abby suddenly spoke.
‘Oh, by the way, you haven’t seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, have you? Only it’s not on the shelf.’
Ellie froze. Oh God, she’d done that thing last night. Put it in her suitcase in a fit of pique.
She turned to Abby, smiled. ‘Yes, I borrowed it last night when I couldn’t sleep. I’ll go and get it.’
Ellie made her way quickly upstairs. She’d dive into her room, retrieve the book and hand it back to Abby. As she went into her bedroom she quietly pushed the door to behind her. Then she scurried over to the bed, pulled out her suitcase and undid the zip on the front pocket.
‘What are you doing?’ asked a voice from behind her.
Ellie spun around to see Abby in the doorway, a look of disquiet on her face.
‘Just getting the book,’ said Ellie, awkwardly holding it up.
‘It was in your suitcase.’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
Ellie struggled to think but could see no way out. ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Abby, will you stop talking to me like I’m a recalcitrant schoolgirl. I was annoyed, OK? I was pretending it was mine for a bit. I was going to put it back.’
Abby was quiet for a moment and Ellie took the opportunity to stand up, brush herself down. ‘There,’ she said, holding out the book.
Abby didn’t take it. ‘Were you?’ she asked. ‘Or if I hadn’t noticed it wasn’t on the bookshelf, would you have kept it?’
‘No! Course not.’
Her denial hung in the air, mocking both of them.
Abby nodded. ‘You should have it.’
‘What? No! It’s yours. Take it back.’
‘You keep it.’
‘I don’t want it,’ insisted Ellie, brandishing the book, but Abby was already halfway out the door.
‘I just came up to see if you wanted coffee or tea,’ she said.
‘Coffee. Please,’ said Ellie.
Abby nodded, then left. Ellie looked at the book in her hand, her precious childhood book that was now hers, and suddenly felt as if she’d never quite love it in the same way again.
The day had an awkwardness to it after that, even as Matteo joined them, and the three women decided to postpone their trip to the beach. The sun made them lazy, they said, which wasn’t altogether untrue, and they spent the afternoon alternately on the terrace and the swim platform. After a simple supper, both Ellie and Susanna claimed an early night.
ELEVEN
Ellie lay in bed the next morning, dozing as she heard her sister get up. When she finally surfaced, as she shut her bedroom door, her mother came out of her own room just behind her. Something about the timing made Ellie think that Susanna had been waiting for her to leave her room.
Everyone was on best behaviour over breakfast: polite requests were made to pass the butter, attention paid as to who needed their coffee topping up. It was decided they’d make the trip to the beach. Matteo was unable to join them as he’d promised a friend he’d help him fix his boat.