‘Are you OK?’ he had asked her.
‘No,’ she had said and then not spoken all the way home. But during the days that followed, things had improved. Marina began to get on with her life again, rediscover her joy at being Josephina’s mother, Phil’s partner.
Like the wounds on Phil’s face, healing had begun.
The sun was still high in the sky. Phil took another mouthful of beer, looked at Marina. The sun was shining round her profile, giving her a halo. He smiled. She looked so beautiful.
He took another sip of beer.
She drank her gin and tonic.
Josephina closed her eyes, went to sleep in Marina’s arms.
‘Marry me,’ he said.
She didn’t look at him, just kept her eyes straight ahead, looking at the water, her head haloed in the sun. She sat there silently for a few seconds.
‘Yes,’ she said.
A tear fell from her eye down her cheek.
Phil leaned across, wiped it away.
The sun, hot and bright in the sky.
Tania Carver
