I must be mad! I can barely swim!
‘Come on, slowcoach!’ Patti shouted as she raced past Sandra on her jet ski, the wind blowing through her short hair, making it stick up like hedgehog’s prickles.
‘Catch us if you can!’ Mary followed, her head thrown back with laughter, leaving a spray of foam in her wake.
Adrenaline suddenly flooded through Sandra. She’d show them! She increased her speed and shot through the waves, her hands clenched on the handlebars of the jet ski, exhaling the salty air, excited at the sheer wonder of what she was doing.
‘Steady on ladies!’ Rob called.
She was actually enjoying it! The wind in her hair, the sun on her face, laughing as she caught up with Patti and Mary.
‘Isn’t this brilliant?’ Patti called.
‘Yes, yes it is!’ she replied. ‘It’s wonderful!’ She wished Brian could see her now, he would have been pleased for her, she was sure of it.
‘Hey, look!’ Patti shouted and pointed in front of them to a couple of dolphins who were jumping out of the foamy water. It was spectacular.
This is living, Sandra thought. She was so glad that Patti had come back into her life, and asked her to join her on her visit to Spain. She was starting to live again.
34
PATTI
The organisers had taken a few photos of Patti, Sandra and Mary riding the jet skis, some individual ones and some showing the three of them. The friends gathered around, laughing as they looked at them.
‘I’ve got to have this one. It will be a fantastic souvenir,’ Patti said.
Sandra and Mary agreed. It was a photo of them, almost head-to-head, the wind blowing their hair behind them (upwards in Patti’s case as her hair was so short), a look of exhilaration on their faces as they sped across the ocean on their jet skis.
‘I’m going to buy a frame for this and hang it on the wall,’ Patti announced. ‘That was the best experience ever!’
‘Me too. I can’t believe that I finally did it!’ Mary agreed. ‘I’ll take a snap of this photo and send it to Keith to let him know that we’ve survived! I bet he’s pacing the floor.’
‘Good idea. I’ll send a photo to Kit. She’ll love it,’ Patti said.
‘I’ll send it to Becky. She, Honey and Zac will love to see it, and I’ll message Don and tell him that I’ve survived. He’ll be pacing the floor too,’ Sandra said.
They all sat down on a wall in the shade and snapped the jet ski photo, sending it to their respective family members.
‘Shall I put it on our Insta too and let our followers know that we’ve struck another thing off our bucket list?’
Sandra nodded. ‘Go for it.’
Patti uploaded the photo and added some smiley face emojis with the caption:
Another one off the bucket list!
‘Still here, ladies,’ Rob walked over to them, smiling.
‘We’re updating our Insta account.’ Patti turned her screen towards him so he could see.
‘Hey, that’s brilliant!’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘I don’t suppose going for a spin on a speedboat is on your list, is it?’
‘It’s definitely on mine!’ Mary said. ‘Why?’
‘Seeing as you’re influencers, you could take one of our motor boats out for a quick spin. It’s a bit quiet today and we might get more customers if they see you three whizzing around. Especially if you put the photo on Insta and tag us in.’
Patti laughed. ‘You mean they might think “if those old gals can do it, so can we”?’
