Page 21 of Meet Me at Sunset

‘Thank you, by the way,’ Stephanie continued, after a pause. ‘For the picnic food …’

‘Oh, yeah,’ Lucas shrugged. ‘I just wanted you to have something nice. To make up for the terrible date,’ he finished with a grin.

‘I didn’t say it was terrible,’ Stephanie laughed, throwing a cushion at him, which Lucas expertly caught.

‘But the food was the best thing about it, right?’ Lucas pressed cheekily.

‘It was amazing! I’m a terrible cook.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘It’s true! I can barely boil an egg.’

‘Then I’ll teach you. How to boil an egg, and a bit more.’

‘More?’ Stephanie asked, raising an eyebrow as she shifted in her seat. Her skirt slid up her legs, and Lucas had to avert his eyes from the acres of shapely, tanned thigh just inches from him.

‘I’ll teach you everything I know,’ he said, his eyes twinkling.

‘Everything? Now there’s an offer that’s hard to refuse.’

The air between them was crackling with electricity. Lucas found himself staring at her soft, pale pink lips, wondering what it would be like to kiss her, and suddenly he felt a sharp memory pierce his thoughts.

His father revving the engine, in the seat of the car as it sped through the mountains, his lips shaping words …

‘If he wants to play that game …’

What did it mean? He closed his eyes tightly to try and capture more, but then suddenly the memory was gone, slipping away, leaving him grappling for it in his mind, frustrated and confused by what it all meant.

‘Are you OK?’ Stephanie put her hand on his arm; he found her steady warmth reassuring.

‘I just had another memory … a sudden flash of something.’

‘Yes, I remember you saying something the other night in the restaurant?’ Stephanie began. ‘Before Paulo came in. You started mentioning the flashbacks, from the accident.’

‘Yeah.’ Lucas swallowed, his mind pulled from the delights of Stephanie’s lips back to that terrible night four years ago. He thought again of the flashbacks he had been getting, out of the blue, which seemed to rise up unbidden. The sensations hit him again: the darkness, the ear-splitting screech of metal, the screaming. Then the silence. ‘I could never remember anything about it, but recently … There are moments. My father’s voice … he’s telling me to slow down,’ Lucas said, closing his eyes and wincing as he recalled the memory. ‘I can feel my fingers, gripping onto something, trying to hold on … The sensation of being out of control …’

He felt someone touch him and flinched. Opening his eyes, Lucas saw Stephanie staring at him in concern. She was sitting forwards, her hands gripping his.

‘Are you OK?’ she asked again, worriedly, her calm eyes searching his face.

Embarrassed, he pulled his hands away, sitting back. ‘I’m fine. I probably just need to … I had therapy after the accident, but I haven’t been for a couple of years now. Maybe I should start again.’

‘You’re brave to have worked hard to move on,’ Stephanie insisted, as Lucas shook his head.

‘I’m really not. But what can I do? It’s life. You have to carry on.’

Stephanie nodded, taking in his words.

‘You seem like you understand,’ Lucas said. A gentle breeze blew in from the sea, ruffling his floppy dark hair, carrying with it the tang of saltwater. ‘As though something had happened to you …’

‘Perhaps I do understand. The circumstances aren’t the same, but …’ Stephanie swallowed. ‘I know what it’s like to feel the past weighing on you.’

Lucas could sense her hesitance.

‘You had a bad thing happen to you too?’

‘Oh, no, not like that … but I … I didn’t have the easiest time when I was a kid. I know what it’s like to have to do things yourself.’