Read Online The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon - Free Book Online Page A

Bridget with a grin, and I purse my lips at him because he knows full well that that’s the wrong description.
    ‘Oh, they’re not our boyfriends.’ Marty brushes him off.
    ‘We met them last week,’ Bridget adds. ‘But they’ve gone back to Chicago now.’
    Jorge seems amused as he flashes me a look. I shift uncomfortably.
    Marty pays for our drinks and hands them over, settling herself on another stool.
    ‘Do you both live here?’ she asks, not fazed in the slightest by the most beautiful man in the world. I envy her nonchalance.
    ‘Nope, just here for the summer,’ Jorge replies. ‘We live in Miami most of the year.’
    ‘Are you a dive instructor, too?’ Bridget asks Leo.
    ‘No,’ he replies resolutely, barely looking at her.
    ‘Leo drives the boat,’ Jorge explains. ‘He’s a dive master, so he helps me out sometimes.’
    Leo takes a swig from his bottle.
    ‘He’s a helpful guy,’ Jorge adds in a singsong voice, giving me a knowing look. I blush furiously. I think he’s guessed I haven’t told my friends about them.
    ‘How long are you here?’ I’m startled as Leo’s voice breaks the silence. I realise his question is directed straight at me.
    ‘We leave on Sunday,’ I reply, and suddenly my mind is flooded with images of Matthew and I can’t help but flinch.
    ‘Well,’ Marty interrupts uncertainly. ‘Maybe Thursday or Friday. We were thinking about going to Miami for a couple of days.’
    ‘You have to do at least one dive as fully qualified divers,’ Jorge says with disappointment.
    ‘So maybe we’ll go on Friday,’ Marty says.
    ‘Or Saturday?’ I add weakly.
    ‘Friday,’ Bridget concurs with Marty. ‘I want to have at least a couple of nights in Miami.’
    I tune out. I feel horrible. What is going on back home? Has Matthew seen her? That slag? I can’t bear the thought of it, can’t bear the thought of returning to him, to pick up the pieces …
    ‘Why don’t you want to go home?’ Leo asks in a low voice, and I’m surprised to find him watching me.
    I shake my head, my nose starting to prickle. Oh hell, don’t cry.
    I hear Marty’s voice falter as she notices this exchange.
    ‘Who does want to go home after a holiday?’ she interjects jollily. She thinks she’s coming to my rescue, but her interruption feels brash and wrong. I force a smile onto my face and glug down my beer, intensely aware of the warmth of the man sitting beside me.
    ‘What on earth was that about?’ Marty asks accusingly as soon as we’re in the car.
    I shake my head and steadfastly ignore her. I knew this was coming.
    ‘What?’ Bridget asks with confusion. She’s back in the driver’s seat, Marty beside her.
    ‘Laura,’ Marty explains to her. ‘And Leo.’ She swivels in her seat again to look at me. ‘You fancy the pants off him, don’t you?’
    ‘I do not!’ I object as my face burns.
    ‘Who wouldn’t?’ Bridget casually says. ‘He’s sex on legs.’
    ‘Yeah, but he’s not Laura’s type,’ Marty tells her flippantly.
    ‘What?’ I snap, my humiliation being swiftly replaced with annoyance. ‘How would you know?’
    ‘Well, he’s nothing like Matthew, and definitely nothing like Will.’ Will was my first and only love before Matthew.
    ‘I think that’s probably the point,’ Bridget interrupts.
    ‘Eh?’ Marty asks her with a furrowed brow.
    ‘She hasn’t exactly had much luck with either of those two, has she?’
    My eyebrows pop up in surprise and, as Bridget eyes me in the rear-view mirror, I silently thank her for understanding.
    We’re on the boat heading out to the reef. It’s Day Two of our course and, after another morning in the swimming pool, we’re about to have our first Open Water dive. Leo is driving the boat and Tegan is up at the front with him. I keep staring to see if I can sense any chemistry between them, but it’s not clear. I take it she’s staying on the boat while we do the dive.
    We arrive at the reef and Jorge tells us to get