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

her space again. She watched him casually stroll to the beach. It was a whole other world he lived in – an island home, a millionaire lifestyle, a past as newsworthy as Freya’s had been uneventful. Not that she’d ever craved fame or even fortune. And it wasn’t that her life had been unexciting – she’d had an interesting job which she’d loved – but travelling halfway around the world to live and work on a tropical island felt like the riskiest thing she’d done.

Zander disappeared beyond the trees screening the beach and she got a sudden wave of homesickness. Perhaps it was because she’d been lucky that her colleagues had all been friendly, straightforward and easy to get on with, while Zander had so far come across as complicated and charming, intriguing and controlling. She didn’t know what to make of him and that unnerved her, along with the fear that she would let him down. She felt the pressure of needing to prove herself in a job she knew she could do, and yet the location, the high expectations of Zander and the guests... Her palms started sweating just thinking about it.

She needed normality and a friendly voice. She closed her laptop. The blog could wait; she needed to let ideas simmer. She had to get it right. She picked up her mobile, worked out that it would be late morning in the UK, and phoned Aisha.

‘It’s so good to finally talk to you!’ Aisha’s excitement down the phone was palpable. ‘Your email was just envy inducing, but I’m dying to hear all about it – all the juicy details.’

‘I would have phoned before but there’s been lots to do and I still don’t think I’ve got my head around the time difference yet.’

‘Well, it’s not even been two weeks. So, what’s it really like?’

‘It’s kind of hard to describe just how beautiful it is...’

‘Oh, way to go to make me totally jealous.’

Freya rested her elbows on the worn wood in front of the window and stared out. ‘I’m in the bookshop right now looking out through palm trees to the whitest beach you’ve ever seen.’

‘Oh Freya...’ Aisha sighed. ‘It’s raining here. It’s not even a nice September day. What’s the bookshop like?’

‘There’ll be pictures on the website in the next couple of days so you’ll be able to see for yourself, but it’s beautiful. All driftwood shelves and pale cream walls. There’s sand on the floor and that’s intentional.’

‘But it’s not open yet? I heard through the grapevine that Mia Jacobsen is heading out there as a special guest. One of our authors and you being involved – it’s quite a win for Bloom & Cole.’

‘Yeah, I’m excited but stupidly nervous about the opening of the bookshop. You’ve met Mia, right?’

‘A couple of times.’

‘What’s she like?’

‘As striking and glamorous as she looks in photos. She’s like the perfect combination – fabulously talented and extremely photogenic to boot.’

Freya nodded as she watched a sandpiper hop about on the deck in front of the bookshop. It figured that Zander would invite an author who fitted with the look and glamour of his island.

‘I did a photo shoot a couple of days ago.’

‘You did?’ Aisha’s tone was incredulous. She laughed. ‘I’m only surprised because you’re the only person I know who looks the way you do and shies away from being in the limelight. If I had your looks, I’d be parading about in front of a camera all the time.’

Freya felt her cheeks burn. ‘Don’t be silly; you’re gorgeous.’

‘And so are you. Will I get to see the photos?’

‘They should be on the resort website along with my first blog at the end of the week.’

‘I’m so excited for you, Freya. For your adventure of a lifetime. I’m going to live vicariously through you for the next few months. I’m missing you like crazy though, all our lunchtime chats. It’s not the same without you.’

‘I’m sure the time will go quickly.’

‘For you at least. You know what they say, time flies when you’re having fun... You might not want to leave.’

‘It’s early days yet. Who knows what I’ll feel like in nine months’ time? I’ve got lots going on at the moment getting to grips with everything. I might miss everyone and everything back home so terribly that I’ll be dying to come home at the end of it.’

Aisha grunted in a way that made Freya understand that Aisha thought she was talking rubbish.

‘Have you spoken to your parents?’ Aisha asked.

‘No.’

‘Do they even know you’re in the Maldives?’

‘Yes, of course. I’ve emailed them. I’ve spoken to my brother a couple of times. I’m closer to him than my parents anyway. He’s the one who’s been around.’

‘That’s hard, Freya.’

‘I’m used to it.’

‘Still, doesn’t make it any easier; I don’t know what I’d do if my parents were that far away.’

‘But then your parents are completely the opposite of mine, so family orientated – to the other extreme. How many times have you complained about them interfering in your life? In the nicest possible way of course.’

‘That’s what comes of having Asian parents. I was lucky I got to choose a husband; my cousin had an arranged marriage, although to be fair they seem quite happy.’

‘I’ve still got Amber’s parents; I talk to them regularly and they keep in contact with me more than my own parents do.’

‘I’m sure you’re a comfort to them.’

‘Except now I’m thousands of miles away from them too. It feels like I’ve abandoned them.’

‘You can’t think like that. You can’t put your life on hold for fear of what it will do to them. You’ve not abandoned them; you’re just pursuing your dream. I’m sure they’d want that for you. They sound like they care about you like a daughter.’

Like a daughter. The idea didn’t sit easily with Freya. Amber was their daughter but they’d lost her in such a heart-breaking way. She felt like a fraud and however much she’d been welcomed into their family,