Mary looked up and saw two people on a jet ski speeding over the water, leaving a foamy trail in its wake. ‘I’d love to go on one too. It looks so exciting. I’m sure we can arrange it.’
Sandra shuddered. ‘Really?’ she asked. ‘Aren’t you scared of falling off?’
‘You wear life jackets, and don’t have to go that far out,’ Mary told her. ‘Me and Keith used to talk about having a go but…’ Her voice tailed off.
‘Keith wanted to go jet skiing?’ Patti repeated in surprise.
Mary nodded. ‘He used to be more adventurous, even just a few years back.’
‘Then we must definitely do it,’ Patti said. ‘What do you say, Sandra?’
Sandra hesitated then nodded. ‘Okay,’ Sandra agreed. ‘Things don’t seem so scary if we do them together.’
‘We’re like the three musketeers,’ Patti said. She held her hands out, crooking the two little fingers. Mary linked her little finger into the right one and Sandra linked her little finger into the left one then they formed a circle. ‘All for one and one for all!’
Mary felt a glow flood through her. It was so good to have these women as friends and to spend this precious time with them. She’d been so lonely the past few months. ‘Thank you so much, both of you. Let’s leave jet-skiing for another day though. Going around the shops and watching the sunset is enough fortoday.’ She fastened her water bottle and put it back in her bag. ‘Are you both ready to hit the shops?’
‘You bet,’ Patti said, and Sandra nodded in agreement.
They had a wonderful afternoon shopping, Mary enjoyed their company so much. They were warm, friendly and fun. Sandra bought some souvenirs for Kali and Rana, and Patti bought a gorgeous top for Kit. They each bought a fun beach hat, and a colourful sarong for around the pool. And a selfie stick. Which they tried out straight away, taking several photos of the three of them for their Insta account. Then Patti noticed a huge inflatable giant unicorn hanging up in one of the shops they passed. ‘Oh, I must get that for the pool!’ she exclaimed. ‘Do you mind, Mary?’
‘Go for it! It will be fun,’ Mary replied with a grin. ‘Why don’t we all get an inflatable pool toy each and we can have a pool day tomorrow?’
Sandra was already checking out a giant pink donut ring. ‘I fancy this!’
Mary went for a white and gold Pegasus. She felt a surge of excitement as they all paid for their purchases, luckily the shop sold deflated ones in sealed packets so they didn’t have to struggle carrying blown up ones. She hadn’t enjoyed herself so much for a long time.
‘I’d better check how Keith is,’ Mary said. She had already messaged him a couple of times and received one brusque ‘I’m fine, enjoy yourselves x’ message back.
This time, there was no reply.
‘I think he’s sulking at being left on his own for so long,’ she said. ‘But I’ll be blowed if I’m staying in when you two are here. That’s rude. Besides, I want to enjoy myself too.’
The shops were open late so they stopped for a bite to eat then had another wander around until about eight o’clock thenwent back to the car and put their shopping in the boot. They changed into trousers and long-sleeved tops in the toilets, then took the cool box with the bottle of fizz in it out of the boot, wrapped their throws around their shoulders and set off for the beach to watch the sunset.
Mary poured them all some fizz, only half filling her glass, and they took several selfies as they sat there sipping the sparkling drink watching the sun set over the ocean, the sky melting into shades of red, orange and yellow, reflecting on the still ocean and transforming it purple and pink mixed with the blue. They all took a photo of the spectacular scene. Then watched as the golden orb of the sun descended slowly, as if it was in no rush to go, finally disappearing over the horizon.
Sandra put the photo on their Insta account with the caption:
Another thing ticked off the bucket list.
They’d put several photos up while they were away, and they’d attracted lots of comments. She also sent the photo to Kit.
Mary sent her photo to Keith. A few minutes later a message pinged into her phone. She opened it up to see a picture of the sunset from the terrace.
Keith
Snap
Was his reply.
‘I think he’s telling me that I don’t have to go to the ocean to see the sunset, but I’m glad I did,’ she said.
Kit replied.
Kit
Oh, Gran, that’s totally gorgeous. Lucky you! xx
