She shivered, recalling those final words.
If we ever see or hear from you again . . .
Her family still hated her, that much was clear from the brief conversation she had just had with her mother. And Julian’s death would do nothing to help repair that.
She sank down on the sand, feeling the cold graininess through her shorts, and rested her head softly on her knees. The evening air was a heady cocktail of sea salt, hibiscus, and green curry wafting from the nearby restaurants. But she was oblivious to it all.
A few moments later she heard scuffed footsteps on the path behind her.
‘You okay?’ asked a familiar voice.
Rachel stumbled to her feet. She glanced at Liam, then shook her head. ‘I have to go,’ she said, trying to push past.
‘Hey,’ he said gently, his large hand on her shoulder. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘That was my mother,’ she said finally. ‘Julian, my brother-in-law? He committed suicide yesterday.’
She tried to say it as matter-of-factly as she could, but it came out wrong: breezy, light-hearted, as if she didn’t care. Which is probably what everyone thinks.
‘Oh Rach, I’m sorry,’ said Liam, giving her arm an awkward squeeze.
‘I’m fine. Really. Just leave me.’
A few spots of rain started to fall. Thunderstorms came quickly here, but Liam didn’t move, and reluctantly she met his gaze. She saw the concern in her friend’s eyes and it made her breath stutter.
‘Come on, Rachel, you know you can talk to me.’
It was true: Liam was the one person in Thailand who knew everything. He knew about why she had come here, knew why she didn’t want to go back. And he knew that Diana and Julian were not the whole reason she had come to Thailand, but they were the reason it had been so easy to do so.
The rain spots were getting bigger, harder now. The sky was dark but she could make out black storm clouds overhead. Her T-shirt began to stick to her body as Liam pulled her under one of the palm trees that fringed the beach.
‘Listen to me,’ he said. ‘You should go home.’
‘Liam, they hate me. I’m the last person they’re going to want to see at the funeral.’
‘Maybe, but maybe now is the time to say sorry.’
Rachel shook her head. ‘He’s dead, Liam. It’s a little bit late for that.’
‘It’s never too late to pay your respects.’
‘Well they’re going to think it’s a bit rich coming from me.’
There was a long pause.
‘Do you want me to come with you?’
She looked up into his blue eyes. For a moment they connected absolutely with hers, and the unspoken frisson that had existed between them from the night that they had met, a frisson that mostly lay dormant, showed itself once more.
She shivered, and told herself it was the cool wind that had blown in suddenly off the sea.
‘You’d do that?’
‘I think it’s important you go, but I know it won’t be easy for you. If it were me, I’d want a bit of moral support.’
‘But we’d have to close the school, and we’re so busy. We can’t do it,’ she said.
‘Look, if there was ever a time to close the school and go back home, it’s now.’