Mara had liked Adrian's laugh better before Theo became so good at producing it.
She stood at the side of the boat looking into the bright water and tried to find an objection to the afternoon. There wasn't one. Lunch had been excellent. The people she'd brought were happy. The man she'd invited was being welcomed by exactly the person whose discomfort she'd worried about last night.
It was very inconvenient.
Freya came to stand beside her, carrying a cup and a biscuit she'd found somewhere. She looked toward the two men.
“Unexpected,” she said.
“What?”
“That.”
“They're talking about chairs.”
“I'm not judging the subject.”
Mara looked again. Adrian was demonstrating something with his hands, and Theo had leaned forward to ask a question. Both were smiling. She'd wanted Adrian to be the person who didn't already know Theo's small useful habits, someone whose day had been elsewhere until she arrived. Now they were making each other a better afternoon.
“I thought he'd be polite,” she said.
“He is.”
“This is much worse.”
Freya bit the biscuit and turned her face away before laughing. Mara laughed too, annoyed at how much relief it gave her.
“You could join them,” Freya said.
“I'd have to hear about furniture.”
“Apparently you've already kissed the furniture man.”
Mara looked at her.
“You were grinning at your fish plate when I called for you yesterday. I’m not an idiot.”
“I didn't say you were.”
“You can tell me.”
Mara rested her forearms on the rail. “It was good.”
“Excellent.”
“A very good afternoon.”
Freya nodded. She didn't immediately turn the information into a plan. Mara loved her for that, then had to stop herself adding more because she wanted the pleasure approved in greater detail.
From the other side of the deck Daniel called Leah over. He had found a place to sit near the front, in the shade, and kept one chair empty beside him with his arm stretched over its back. Leah had been talking to Mara's colleague for several minutes. She looked up, lifted one finger to say she'd be there in a moment, then continued the story she was hearing.
Daniel took his arm away from the chair.
Mara watched it happen. Freya watched her watching.
“He wants her to come Friday,” Mara said.
“With the car?”
“Yes. I thought we might all go somewhere.”
“There won't be enough seats.”
“Not necessarily in the car.”
“Mara.”
She looked toward Freya, who had eaten the whole biscuit without offering any of it.
“What?”
“They'll be nice to see afterward too.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
Mara took the empty cup from Freya's hand and said she was going to find something cold.
Adrian looked up as she crossed toward them. He moved a bag from the chair beside him. She sat, aware of Theo watching her approach and then giving his attention back to the view.
“Enjoying yourselves?” she asked.
“Very much,” Adrian said.
“We've identified several chairs I should avoid,” Theo added.
“Your main ambition in furnishing a home.”
“I've been very successful.”
She smiled. Theo had sunlight along one cheek and a pale mark of sun cream near the corner of his nose. His hair was dry at the top, still damp where it curled above his collar. She wanted to touch him, which was ridiculous with Adrian's knee close to hers beneath the table and the memory of his mouth still pleasantly available.
“You've got something here,” she told Theo, pointing toward her face.
He rubbed the wrong place, then looked annoyed when she shook her head.
“You do it.”
She reached across and wiped the mark away with her thumb. His face was warm. She had done it before he finished speaking. Adrian looked at her hand as she withdrew it.
“Sun cream,” she said, unnecessarily.
Adrian nodded. “Had some myself.”
Theo looked down at his cup. Mara wished she had left them talking about chairs.
The boat began moving again. People gathered their things and changed places, looking for wind or shade or the person they'd lost to a conversation. Leah finally joined Daniel. He moved his bag without pointing out how long he'd been holding the chair, and she leaned against his shoulder, her feet tucked beneath her.
Mara took a photograph on her phone because she liked the sight. Leah saw her and made a face. Daniel put an arm around his wife and made a much worse one.
“Disappointing subjects,” Mara said.
“You keep photographing us,” Leah called back.
She put the phone away.
Later Kit persuaded people to guess the cost of various things on the boat. Not actual prices, but what he'd charge if they all became unexpectedly desperate to possess them. Nina offered very little for his book. Patrick offered a sum for Aunt Janette's hat. Janette declined to sell it and offered him her nephew instead.
Kit asked whether she wanted to include the hat. She held its brim and shook her head.
Theo made a bid for the enormous fruit bowl, so Adrian had to defend his prior claim. Mara watched them argue pleasantly, and then began inventing a history of the bowl which made both offers seem wildly inadequate. It had belonged to a very rich woman who used it to store the keys of men she disliked. Theo said this explained the width.
“And the depth,” Mara added.
“A complicated estate.”
“Several garages.”
Everyone was laughing now. Adrian sat back, amused but no longer supplying the next line. Mara had found Theo's rhythm without asking for it. He looked at her while she invented a furious chauffeur and she could almost see the phrase he was going to add before he said it.
“Authorized parking only.”
She laughed so hard she lost her place. Freya held the imaginary auction together until Mara could breathe again. Kit sold the bowl to nobody, and the crew member passing their table said they would quite like to keep it, if that was all right.
The answer made everybody laugh more. The bowl stayed exactly where it had begun.
By the time they returned, Mara's face hurt from sunlight and laughter. She sat beside Theo on the transfer, because Adrian had got in first and there were bags between the seats. Her knee rested near Theo's. Once the vehicle was moving she leaned her head back and shut her eyes.
“You tired?” he asked.
“Exhausted by good judgement.”
“You should try less.”
She opened one eye. “I brought the wrong shoes again.”
“Very consistent.”
“And no book.”
“Kit would lend you his. He’s been trying to get someone to read it.”
She smiled. Her hand lay on the seat between them. Theo's was on his leg. She knew how easy it would be to move one finger against his, then leave it there for the rest of the journey. She stayed still, liking the near thing almost enough.
At Casa Brisa, everyone broke apart in the way people did after a shared outing, suddenly urgent about showers and forgotten messages. Leah took Daniel's hand and went up the path without waiting for Mara. Freya went with Kit to retrieve something from his room, saying it had become a group possession if he refused to use it properly. Aunt Janette wanted tea. Sue wanted to explain the tea arrangements before anyone else could.
Adrian gave Mara her small bag.
“Thank you,” he said. “I enjoyed that.”
“You seemed to.”
“Your people are good company.”
She liked him saying it, though part of her had been hoping he'd want to keep the previous day a little more exclusively theirs.
“You got on well with Theo.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He gave her a small amused look. “Was I not meant to?”
“You were. I've been trying to arrange a day of universal happiness.”
“That sounds hard.”
“I'm very gifted.”
He laughed, then touched her forearm. “I'll see you later, if you want.”
She nodded. He let his hand fall and went toward his room. He had dinner plans with Jess and Malcolm; he'd mentioned them on the boat. She hadn't expected him to cancel them. She hadn't asked.
Theo was waiting a few paces away with the larger bag. He had taken it from her when they boarded and never returned it, although she hadn't noticed until now. His hat hung from the same hand.
“Coming?” he asked.
She went with him toward the villa. The path was warm and the flowers smelled stronger than they had that morning. His shoulder brushed hers once when they moved aside for two people carrying towels.
Inside, the air was cool. He put down the bag and immediately took off the hat.
“That has had a splendid day,” Mara said.
“I may retire it undefeated.”
She took it from him and put it on her own head. It slipped down over one eyebrow. He looked at her, then began to laugh.
“Better?” she asked.
“Much.”
“I knew there was hope.”
She pulled the brim back. He reached to help, his fingers catching the edge close to hers. They stayed near each other for a moment, looking at the stupid hat as if it required several people to make a decision.
Then she took it off and handed it back.
“Shower,” she said.
“Yes.”
“Me first.”
“You usually win that one.”
She smiled and went into the bedroom to find clean clothes. Her swimsuit had left salt along her ribs. She could still feel his thumb near her hand, and his cheek beneath hers, and the warm narrow space in the transfer where nothing had happened except that she had wanted it to.
She picked a dress, put it down and chose another one. This time she knew who she wanted to look at her.