With the application submitted, Freya had put it to the back of her mind. At work she was swept up in the busyness of the London Book Fair and she didn’t have time to think about much else, until an email inviting her to an interview for the love island bookshop arrived, changing the course of her life. She spent the next couple of weeks preparing for it, researching the island and getting more and more excited about the prospect of actually being able to work there. It was a large island in the Northern Atoll. Its lush tree-covered interior was ringed by white sand beaches, and over-water villas stretched out across the lagoon that encircled it. It looked idyllic and it was unquestionably exclusive. She’d read up on the owner Zander Cohen too – Aisha’s teenage crush – a multi-millionaire with a colourful past from his days in his late teens and early twenties in a boy band that Freya had never been a fan of. By all accounts he’d lived the good life with a bevy of beautiful women, mostly models. Freya was rather relieved when she found out the interview would be with the head of HR and his PA Meena over Zoom. When she was successful in that first interview and was called back for another, she allowed herself to entertain the idea that the job was a possibility. The second video call interview was with Zander himself, although Meena was sitting in taking notes. He’d been brisk and businesslike, talking about his vision for the bookshop before asking just a handful of questions that ended up feeling more like a relaxed chat about books. It felt like he was trying to get the sense of who she was and whether she’d fit into his bookshop vision. She found it difficult to read him and had no sense of how well she’d done. Two days later she received a call from Meena offering her the job.
The Maldives felt far removed from anywhere or anything. The idea of being in the middle of the Indian Ocean miles from civilisation and the fast-pace of city living was not lost on Freya. Evaluating her life and what she wanted to do next while living on a remote tropical island and running a bookshop, well, what could be better? Yet, as she stared out of the plane window with nerves in her stomach and doubt in her head, she cursed herself for having such little faith in her ability. After all, she’d got the job out of twenty thousand applicants – that had to mean something. She had good credentials, she knew, but what had made her so special out of everyone? Maybe she’d never know; she just needed to be thankful that she was chosen. By far it was the most exciting and nerve-wracking thing she’d ever done.
Breakfast had been served a while ago, the rubbish collected, and trays and bags stowed away. They were beginning to descend but there still seemed to be nothing but endless blue until she spied an almost perfect circular island. And then another and another, spread out across the dark blue ocean, the islands themselves ringed by the impossibly turquoise water of the house reefs that she’d read so much about. As the plane dipped, Freya could see where the lighter aquamarine water merged with the dark blue of the deep ocean. She wondered what was hidden beneath its depths. She spied another cluster of islands and then just ocean for a while. The plane dipped further until it almost felt like they were skimming the water. The wheels bumped on to the solid ground of the runway.
It was strange to think that this island and neighbouring Malé were the only real built-up ones in the Maldives. Most of the other islands were holiday resorts for tourists or inhabited islands without the infrastructure of the capital. It was a true tropical paradise despite the catastrophe the island chain and its people were facing from global warming. The idea of curating a selection of books that would appeal to guests and link in with their location left Freya buzzing with ideas.
She’d had regular communication leading up to leaving the UK, plus all the required jabs and her work permit. She’d booked the train to Heathrow and had even packed her suitcase when an email from Meena arrived updating her on a last-minute change to her journey. Instead of going straight to Loabi Fushi when she landed in Malé, she was to be met by a man called Ibrahim and taken to a different island for an overnight stay to meet Zander who wouldn’t be on Loabi Fushi for the first few days. Freya wasn’t bothered about the extra travelling, after all it meant that she’d get to see another island, but she was nervous about meeting the multi-millionaire owner so soon and the idea that she really would be the one in charge when she got to Loabi Fushi.
~
As Freya waited in the airport cafe for the next part of her journey, the enormity of what she was doing hit her. Perched on a stool by the window, she had a perfect view of Malé, the tall buildings at odds with her impression of the Maldives. A tropical storm was blowing across the horizon. Lead-grey clouds shut out the sun and rain thundered down over the island city. Had she really made the right choice to give up her job and flat for this?
There was no going back now, she’d committed to this to the point of handing in her notice, although Esther had assured her they’d happily welcome her back. The next few months was her adventure of a lifetime and an opportunity to take a completely new direction. But sitting on
