The Love Island Bookshop by Kate Frost (ebook reader with internet browser .TXT) 📕

and her colleagues. Meena reminded Freya a little of Aisha – slender with a quiet attractiveness, career-minded and successful. She wondered if Meena had family or children she didn’t get to see? Even as Freya edged closer to thirty, marriage and kids weren’t at the forefront of her mind. She needed a partner for that and Owen, who she imagined she’d settle down with, had been her ex for more than a year now. Work and where she wanted to be for the next ten years or so was her most pressing concern, not who she’d be with, if anyone. A stab of fear shot through her. Apart from Meena and her brief and confusing encounter with Zander, she didn’t know anyone. There was a volleyball net on the beach and two young men were playing, but she hadn’t plucked up the courage to walk over and say hello. She breathed deeply and watched a shoal of small pale-coloured fish moving in unison. Coral and rocks, anemones and weeds beneath the surface enticed her to explore. And she would – at least she hoped she’d have the chance to, like she’d done on Makumathi. But for now, her focus had to be on getting to grips with her new life and running the bookshop.

~

‘Hi, I’m Drew. You must be Freya?’

Freya looked up from her book into the smiling face of a young, tanned woman with dark brown hair tied in a messy bun, standing in the open doorway. She wore a navy tunic with the Loabi Fushi logo, and slim-fitting cropped trousers.

Freya closed her book and stood up. ‘Hey, it’s nice to meet you.’

Drew came into the room and hugged her. ‘It’s lush to have another Brit round here. I mean, everyone’s really friendly and I’ve made good friends here, but it’s nice, you know, to have someone to talk about home with.’

‘Where is home for you?’

‘Oh, out in the sticks in Devon – rather different than an exclusive island in the Maldives though. How about you?’

‘London, so ditto on how different this place is.’

Drew nodded enthusiastically. ‘Have you eaten? Fancy grabbing dinner with me?’

‘I’d love to.’

Drew was a bundle of energy, which Freya liked. She was glad to have someone who was easy to chat to, and Drew spoke enough for both of them as they made their way downstairs and out into the courtyard.

‘The curry’s always really good,’ Drew said as they queued for food in the staff restaurant.

Apart from the heat and the mix of international faces with most people still wearing their island uniform, it reminded Freya a little of holidays when she was a child, at the family-friendly hotel they used to go to in north Devon where the buffet dinner – where she got to choose whatever she wanted – would be her favourite part of the day. Back then she’d have chips with everything, but now she followed Drew’s lead and went for the fish curry and rice.

They sat at an empty table outside. It was early evening and a steady stream of staff were beginning to arrive back. The trees surrounding the staff village were silhouetted against the silvery sky of twilight. The sun set on the other side of the island, and Freya wondered if a couple were on Sunset Beach, dining beneath the stars, enjoying a romantic evening watching the sun disappear below the ocean.

‘People come and go all day and night,’ Drew said. Freya watched a small group of staff in their butler uniform enter the courtyard. ‘Bar staff work late. The butlers work shifts and can be on call all night. I get it easy in the spa with daytime shifts only. I imagine you’ll be lucky with the bookshop too.’

‘How did you end up here?’ Freya asked, finishing a mouthful of lightly-spiced curry.

‘I was living with my parents and three younger sisters, working in a supermarket trying to save enough money to rent a place to set up my own beauty and massage business.’

‘Weren’t you able to get a job somewhere doing that?’

‘I did have one but where I worked closed down. That was the problem. I was totally living in the wrong place. Then I thought maybe I could set up a mobile massage business and drive to clients’ houses but I didn’t even have a car and I had no clients... You know when everything just seems a dead end. I was pretty down about things but I had a friend who’s like epically good at singing. She’d been doing admin in an office, then got a job on a cruise ship as, like, one of their entertainers. That kinda got me thinking and I started looking for spa jobs abroad.’

‘And you found this one?’

‘Actually, no. I got one at a hotel in Bodrum, which was great. It got me used to the job and what it was like to live and work abroad. I met loads of people, some who spent their whole time travelling from place to place. It kinda gave me itchy feet. I mean, I liked Turkey but I wanted to go somewhere more exotic, I guess. Somewhere completely different. When I found this place and got the job. Boom.’ She made an explosion motion with her hands. ‘No looking back.’

Freya smiled and dug her fork into the rice. ‘Is it somewhere you want to stay or have you still got itchy feet?’

‘I’ve been here thirteen months and love it. I’m only twenty-three, I’m sure I’ll want to move on at some point, but for now...’ She smiled and her face lit up. ‘Life’s pretty sweet.’

‘What about home and your family?’

‘Yeah, that’s the only thing that sucks. I mean, I’m glad to not be living at home any longer, we were all getting under each other’s feet, so that side of things is cool. I’d also broken up with my boyfriend, so I was glad to escape, but I miss my mum and dad and my sisters despite them annoying the