Page 48 of A Taste of Paradise

They left the market half an hour later, each laden with a souvenir or trinket to commemorate the visit.

Erin had her bracelet and two pairs of shell earrings, while Molly showed off a pair of finely crafted mahogany candle holders she’d bought for her apartment back in New York.

Trevor and Mack were busy talking about the sights they’d seen and interesting people they’d met. They too had their haul. Trevor devoured a segment of the ‘five fingers’ carambola fruit as it was called by the locals, while Mack shared a sample.

Though he still seemed more preoccupied with the contents of his camera than with food.

The bus then visited several other city sites throughout the day, including the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Castries, located in Walcott Square. Then on to the Governor’s Mansion for a bird’s eye view of the property from the hill behind.

A beautifully ornate building where the current governor of the island resided, tourists weren’t allowed to go in, but the view from above was spectacular, and beyond the mansion was the port where several cruise ships were berthed.

As the tour wound its way back toward the coast, they sampled more local fruits fresh from a nearby farm. The vendor, the farmer himself, had hand-picked bananas and ackees, mango, and papaya that very morning.

In the nearby town of Anse La Raye, a quaint fishing village, they sampled the tangy sweetness of tamarind juice in Johnny Cakes, a local cornmeal flatbread and cheese. Like Castries, the buildings there were all brightly coloured and ornate in structure. Everywhere in St Lucia seemed to have some semblance of its bygone days.

Their final stop of the day was Toraille Waterfalls, where several of the guests donned bathing suits and enjoyed the green, algae-coloured pool.

Large elephant plants, palms, ferns, and other shrubs lined the rocky walls and path, and once again Mack had his camera in hand and, several times, Erin suspected that he’d taken more pictures of her. Still, she didn’t protest, and when he eventually asked Trevor and Molly to join in for a photo, she willingly complied.

Posing, she wrapped her arm around Molly’s shoulder, as Trevor positioned himself at her back, with his arm wound around her waist.

Mack then asked someone else to take the camera so he could join them. He positioned himself behind Erin, and she felt her heart automatically quicken in response as his arm wound around her waist, the flat of his palm against her stomach.

She held her breath at the contact and looked over her shoulder at him, and their eyes met.

The intensity she found there wasn’t alarming, it was dizzying and she barely managed a smile before the camera clicked, capturing two couples whose fates had somehow intersected on this magnificent island.

Yet given the circumstances, what could their futures realistically hold?

Chapter 33

While most of the island was winding down for the weekend, Lily felt like she was gearing up.

While she was away from the office with Shay, another client with an upcoming wedding in the hotel had come down with a serious case of cold feet that Dee seemed helpless to do anything about. Her friend was resolutely the money person, not the people person, she reminded Lily.

It took a couple of hours filled with tears, insecurities, and a three-way call with her clients before Lily was confident that things were settled enough to hang up and there was no fear of another cancelled Palms wedding.

Now, back at their apartment, Dee was out for after-work drinks, and Lily was looking forward to washing all her work cares away in the shower when her phone rang again.

‘You have got to be kidding me,’ she muttered in protest, as she stepped out of the water and wrapped her robe around herself.

What with inexplicably cancelled entertainment, catering mix-ups and problematic weddings, she was beginning to agree that there was indeed something to Eugenie Cooke’s claims about a hotel saboteur at play.

But whoever they were, they hadn’t reckoned on Erin, who was turning out to be quite the force of nature. The new guest relations manager was leaving no stone unturned in trying to figure out who might be behind all the latest resort hiccups. Lily wasn’t yet sure how poor Shay had reacted to having to move room at the resort yet again but no doubt she would soon find out.

Today would have been his and Sarah’s wedding day and, in the hope of taking his mind off it (or at least that’s what she told herself), Lily had offered to take him out on the town later.

She headed to the kitchen where she’d left her phone on charge and snatched it up. The name on the screen, however, immediately caused her bubbling annoyance to cool.

‘Hi, Mum. Everything OK?’ she asked on reflex.

‘Is this a good time?’

‘Of course, it is, Mum. Are you all right?’ Lily couldn’t help it, when it came to her mother, these days she naturally assumed everything was an emergency.

‘I got something just now,’ Barbara told her. ‘A delivery.’

‘You did? What was it?’ Lily asked as she dragged a seat closer to the sideboard to lean on it. She’d done a lot of walking around this week, and her feet were tired.