I tried to hide my surprise. I’d been coming onto him all week and he chose our last night to reciprocate. Desperate not to spoil the moment, I smiled. ‘I’d say it sounds perfect. Thank you.’
To an outsider looking in, our last day in Corfu was idyllic. Nate rode on Stuart’s shoulders to the beach and splashed about in the shallows for hours, spotting fish and building rudimentary castles in the tiny seams of sand. The sapphire-blue sky was cloudless, yet a gentle breeze from the sea kept the temperature just right. Stuart was as attentive as the day we met, fetching me ice-cold drinks from the taverna on the waterfront and listening as I outlined my plans for FoodWrapped’s new winter menu when normally he’d be bored witless.
After a week with other people, it was liberating to be on our own. Bill and Melanie might have been our oldest friends and Niamh our live-in au pair, but we still put on a show around them, playing the best versions of ourselves. But with Stuart and Nate, I could kick back and be me.
And it would have been as perfect as it appeared, apart from the secret I was keeping. No matter how attentive Stuart was, no matter how adorable Nate was being, Niamh was always at the forefront of my thoughts. I’d been worried she wouldn’t want us to spend the afternoon at the beach, but when I told her we were heading out, she’d seemed relieved to have the villa to herself.
Was I doing the right thing by not reporting the rape to the police? I wish I knew. But for the first time in my life, I didn’t have the answers.
I realised Stuart had stopped talking and was frowning at me. ‘Cleo, are you even listening?’
‘Sorry, I was miles away.’ I smiled. ‘What did I miss?’
‘I was apologising.’
‘Why, what’ve you done?’ I joked.
He stared skywards, scratching his neck. Apprehension tiptoed across my heart as I waited for him to elaborate. He began piling pebbles on top of each other, making a teetering tower. A diversion tactic if ever I saw one.
‘Stu?’ I said. ‘What have you got to apologise for? You’re an amazing dad, and a lovely man and a pretty hot dude, although don’t let that go to your head.’
‘I’ve been… absent this week,’ he said. ‘And I’m sorry for that.’
‘What d’you mean, absent?’
‘I don’t know, like I haven’t been fully here,’ he thumped his heart with his fist, ‘with you both. And I know you’ve been trying to make an effort and I’ve pushed you away.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ I said lightly. ‘I know I’m not the easiest person to live with.’
‘But it’s not your fault. I knew what I signed up for when we met, and it was enough, it really was. And that’s why I’m sorry. It’s because I needed to remember that.’
‘And have you?’
He leaned forwards, cupped my face in his hands and kissed me, long and lingeringly. Spotting us, Nate came stumbling over the pebbles towards us, his arms wide, shouting ‘Group hug!’
Stuart laughed and scooped us both into an embrace. His eyes met mine. ‘In answer to your question, I have,’ he said.
‘Bill’s so sorry he’s not here to say goodbye,’ Melanie said, as Stuart loaded our suitcases into the hire car the next morning.
‘No worries,’ I said. ‘We’ll see him soon enough. When’s your flight?’
‘Monday afternoon,’ she said. She and Bill were staying on for a couple of extra days to oversee the refitting of one of the villa’s en suites. Bill had left before breakfast to pick up some fittings from a DIY store on the outskirts of Corfu Town.
‘Bill’s back at work on Tuesday?’ I checked.
‘Hey, don’t start thinking about work yet. I want your undivided attention until at least eight o’clock on Monday morning, Mrs Cooper,’ Stuart said playfully, pulling me into an embrace.
Melanie frowned. ‘You’d better make a move, or you’ll miss your flight.’
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘Say goodbye to Auntie Mel, Nate.’ He hugged her legs and scrambled into the car next to Niamh. She’d found me the previous evening while I was reading Nate his bedtime stories and had perched on the end of the bed and listened as I read his current favourite, Room on the Broom. Normally I whizzed through stories so I could go back downstairs, log onto my laptop and check my emails, but I’d already showered and packed most of our luggage, and Stuart was cooking dinner. So for once I’d taken it seriously, using different voices for the dog and the bird and the frog, and lowering my voice to a guttural snarl for the dragon’s lines, which had Nate in stitches.
Once the witch and her entourage were riding into the distance on their magnificent new broom, I closed the book and stroked Nate’s cheek. ‘Time for bed, sweetheart.’ His eyelids fluttered as I kissed him goodnight.
‘Want a kiss from Niamh, too,’ he said, and she wriggled off the bed and kissed his forehead.
‘Night night, Nathan,’ she whispered. In that soft Irish brogue, her words sounded like a caress, and he was already drifting off as we tiptoed out of the room.
‘Have you got a minute?’ Niamh asked.
‘Of course.’ Curious, I followed her into her room. Her suitcase was by the door, already packed, and a pair of three-quarter-length jeans and a T-shirt were folded neatly on the dressing table, ready for the morning. I wasn’t surprised she was keen to head home, given the circumstances.
‘I wanted to thank you,’ she began, and I raised my eyebrows. ‘For doing as I asked and not calling the police,’ she explained. ‘I did a lot of thinking last night, and I made a decision. I’m going to put what happened behind me and move on. I don’t want it
