‘I hope I didn’t let you down,’ she whispered.
‘You didn’t,’ said Diana, touching her shoulder.
They turned and walked back to the car. At the gate, Diana stopped and fished an envelope out of her handbag.
‘Open this when you get back to Thailand,’ she instructed.
Rachel looked at her and laughed. ‘You expect me to wait that long? You remember what I was like on Christmas Eve.’
Diana held back the envelope playfully. ‘Well I’m not giving it to you unless you can exercise some self-control.’
‘All right, on the plane then?’ she asked hopefully.
‘Nope,’ said Diana, remaining firm. ‘Do it when you’re with Liam.’
‘With Liam?’
‘No peeking. You promise?’
‘Tell me!’
‘No.’
‘All right, then, I promise.’
Diana handed over the envelope and gave her sister a squeeze.
‘I am going to miss you so much,’ she said, clutching her tightly.
‘I can stay.’
Diana shook her head as if she knew it was time for Rachel to move on.
‘I’m going to be busy here. I’ve got things to do.’
‘The café?’
‘That’s one thing. I’m going to get a lot more involved with Denver too, and I want to set up a foundation in Julian’s memory to help disadvantaged kids go to university. He paid for the son of one of his employees to study architecture, and I know he would have wanted to do more of that, so I thought I could roll it out to hundreds of kids who might benefit from our money.’
‘You’re one of the good ones, Di. Don’t ever forget that,’ said Rachel, feeling all warm inside.
‘Stop getting sentimental,’ Diana grinned, tapping her shoulder. ‘This isn’t goodbye. You’ve got us for a whole month in August, and believe me, you’re probably going to be sick of the sight of me by then.’
‘No I won’t,’ replied Rachel. ‘We won’t even have started making up for lost time.’
‘You’re right. We won’t,’ she grinned as they got in the car and headed back to Somerfold.
67
It was funny how things could seem so alien so quickly, thought Rachel, as she arrived outside the Giles-Miller Diving School. Six weeks ago this had felt like home. Now it felt like a postcard. A snapshot of someone’s honeymoon. The palm trees, the beach, the hot, shining sun were things she had forgotten. She hadn’t been joking when she had told Diana that she would stay in England. There were so many things about it she loved and it was not just her family. Liam had been right when he had predicted she would get sucked back into it. Life as a reporter was like that. It was seductive, exciting. It suited her and perhaps that was the secret to happiness – working out what fit.
Taking a deep breath, she bounded up the two steps into the ramshackle building, feeling nervous as she heard the sound of laughter coming from inside. Part of her wanted to turn back but she knew it was too late now. She saw Sheryl first, in shorts and a T-shirt, and tried to shut off the disappointment that Liam seemed to be having fun without her.
‘Rachel, you’re back!’ grinned the Australian girl, bounding over to hug her.
Caught in her grip, Rachel glanced over Sheryl’s shoulder, wondering if Liam had disappeared into the back room. But when someone came out, she was surprised to see that it was Jeff, who she had almost forgotten was now one of her employees.
‘Is Liam here?’ she asked, feeling apprehensive.