The Longest Holiday Read Online Free PDF Page A

pool?’
    I didn’t even realise she was awake.
    ‘Me!’ Marty replies, jumping up.
    ‘Um, I can’t,’ I say. ‘I need to go and buy a swimming costume first.’
    ‘Borrow one of mine,’ Bridget says, disappearing for a moment.
    ‘Really?’ I ask hopefully as she reappears. We’re pretty much the same size, but her generosity takes me by surprise.
    She throws a fifties-style, navy-blue-and-white polka-dot costume down to me. She shrugs. ‘I brought three.’
    I remember the weight of her suitcase. Of course she did. ‘Thanks,’ I say with a smile.
    ‘Come on, then.’ Marty snaps us to it.
    We barely move from our poolside positions all day. Marty goes off to source pastries from a local bakery for breakfast, we order lunch from the restaurant next door, delivered directly to the pool, and we’re still here, hogging our three sunloungers at happy hour. The Germans have nothing on us. It’s so unlike me to do this; usually I have to be out there sightseeing and filling up my day with activities, but today … Sigh. It’s been all about the sunshine.
    I’m feeling surprisingly okay. This may be because I’m trying not to think about Matthew. I came away to clear my head, and while this might imply that I plan to do some serious thinking, what I really want to do is take that sentence literally: clear my head of everything involving my husband. I don’t want to think about him at all. Or rather, no more than I can help it.
    It’s my turn to get the drinks, so I tie my canary-yellow sarong around my waist – I did remember to bring that, at least – and wander over to the happy hour trolley. I’m just shaking some savoury snacks into a plastic cup, when I see Rick and his two mates approaching.
    ‘Hello again,’ Rick says with a smile as he grabs three beers out of the bucket and hands two to his mates. ‘We must stop meeting like this.’ He cracks his can open and I laugh nervously, trying to pick up the drinks I’ve just prepared. But four cups are a struggle, when you include the snacks. ‘Let me help.’ His hand swoops in and picks up one of the drinks. ‘Where are you sitting?’
    I nod towards Marty and Bridget, who are lying on their backs with their sunglasses on, oblivious to everything.
    ‘Aah, Marty and Bridget,’ he says as he follows me over there. ‘We met them last night.’ Which I know, of course. Marty told me earlier that they had a few drinks by the pool. ‘Your name’s Laura, right?’
    ‘That’s me.’
    ‘Carl and Tom,’ he says, jabbing his thumb at his buddies, and we exchange a hi, even though I already know their names, because Marty told me earlier. She’s been wondering all day where they are – Tom in particular. Now, as we arrive back at the sunloungers, she bolts upright.
    ‘Oh, hi!’ she exclaims. Bridget swiftly follows suit.
    ‘How’s it going?’ Rick asks, passing Marty her drink and settling down on my empty sunlounger. Carl and Tom make themselves comfortable next to my friends, so I have no choice but to sit alongside Rick.
    ‘You girls had a good day?’ Tom asks Marty.
    ‘It’s been suitably unproductive,’ she jokes, indicating her surroundings. ‘What have you been up to?’
    ‘Jet-skiing.’
    ‘All day, every day?’ Marty asks with a grin, as the image of them bronzed, wet and glistening probably pops into her mind.
    ‘Just today. We’re taking tomorrow off to go scuba-diving.’
    ‘I’d love to be able to scuba-dive,’ Bridget enthuses.
    Actually, so would I. I’ve often thought about learning.
    ‘Come with us?’ Carl suggests, turning to look at her.
    ‘Don’t you have to do a PADI course or something?’ Bridget asks.
    ‘Yeah, but you could ask about it. They do snorkelling day trips, too.’
    ‘Snorkelling would be good,’ Marty chips in. ‘You up for that, Laura?’
    ‘Sure.’ I take a sip of my drink. This is okay. They’re just people; we’re only talking; I am perfectly capable of holding an ordinary