But she’d get through it, all the same. Then get back to London and her normal life as soon as possible.
Starting with finding somewhere to live. Oh, hell, she’d probably have to move back in with her parents, in the house and the village where she grew up, at least until she found her own place. And that was after she’d braved returning to David’s flat to rescue her stuff. Well, it wouldn’t be fun, but it would be necessary—and all steps towards a better future.
She could focus on her job, her future—what she wanted in life—and forget all about men.
After they made it through tonight.
With a firm nod to herself, Zoey set off to search the other rooms of the villa in the hope of finding some towels, blankets, food, and maybe alcohol.
Not necessarily in that order.
* * *
Ash ducked into the interior of the small yacht, the door slamming behind him in the wind. Water dripped from his hair, his clothes, his skin, all pooling around his very wet feet. It was just as well he hadn’t taken the time to dry off while they were at the villa—it would have been a wasted effort. Right now, every inch of him was more water than man, and it was hard to imagine ever being dry again.
First priority: towels. And something waterproof to carry them in back up to the villa. Then maybe clothes.
He found a stash of beach towels in a cupboard under the bed and towelled off his hair as he hunted around for something to hold them while he dashed back to the villa. In the end, the best he could come up with was a bin bag from under the bathroom sink. At least, given the yacht’s current owner, it was a high quality one, and Ash trusted it not to break.
There was no sign of anything to wear beyond a couple of towelling robes that wouldn’t fit in his bin bag, so he made a mental note to come back for them once the rain had passed. As he placed them back in the cupboard, an image of Zoey wearing one, barefoot and fresh from the shower, popped into his head and he quickly shook it away. ‘Not the time for that sort of thought,’ he muttered to himself. Zoey was his best friend. What would she say if she knew he was thinking of her that way—especially the day before she was supposed to get married?
Back on his quest, Ash raided cupboards and lock boxes for food—not much...all packaged and long-life—a torch and matches, a thick blanket, a two pack of toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste, some tiny hotel-sized toiletries, and finally, in the last cupboard he checked, a bottle of single malt Scotch whisky.
Perfect.
It was only as he hoisted the bag onto his shoulder that he realised fully how ill prepared they’d been for running away. Zoey had left her handbag, her passport, everything at the hotel—including her high-heeled shoes. Did she even have her phone with her? He wasn’t sure. Even if she did, reception had been so bad on the islands, he couldn’t imagine there was any at all in a storm like this.
He hadn’t stopped to grab his passport either, or anything that might have been actually useful, like an extra phone charger. All they had was the contents of his pockets, since he was pretty sure Zoey’s dress didn’t even have those, which amounted to his wallet, his phone—probably nearly out of battery, but hopefully still working after the rain—and his hotel room key.
That was it.
Had Zoey even thought about it before she’d tried to squeeze through that cupboard window? Had she considered what she was asking when she said, ‘Get me out of here, Ash’? Probably not.
Grace had always said that for someone who acted on gut instinct so much, it was a shame that Zoey’s intestines were such lousy decision makers.
Ash wondered now if that was right, though. Because Zoey didn’t seem to be acting on the say-so of her gut, but her heart. And the heart, he knew, was a far more complicated organ. At least, when it came to relationships.
He liked to think he knew Zoey pretty well. She was the only person who truly knew how much he’d lost the day Grace died. Even if they’d never openly spoken about it.
Before, he’d always known that if there was ever a cause to choose sides, Zoey would be on Grace’s, whatever the story. But now, now she was his best friend. The person he relied on, the one person he knew would always take his side.