Free As Weekends Go (Choc Lit) by Jan Brigden

slightly taller man joined him, blondish, equally tanned and fit. The kids swarmed around him. He dropped to his haunches to talk to them and shake their hands. One of them waved a pen at him, held out a football for him to sign.
    Hold on a minute.
Abi sat bolt upright. He was bloody well autographing it.
    Mouth hanging open she watched him exchange banter with the kids before heading off with her admirer towards the golf course.
    She cursed as her phone rang. Miffed at the timing, she snatched it up to hear: ‘
Buenos dias, senorita.
’
    Nick, calling from Spain.
    ‘You could at least try
and sound Spanish,’ she said, giggling down the phone at him. ‘How’s it going, Manuel? Sober, are we?’
    ‘Of course, my beloved. Ask Deano.’
    ‘Hello, beautiful,’ Deano yelled down the line just then. ‘How’s York treating you?’
    ‘Great, thanks.’ Abi liked Dean Collins. He was one of Nick’s more salubrious friends. ‘What about you lot? Anyone been arrested yet?’
    ‘No, babe, not yet,’ said Deano, laughing. ‘But don’t worry, if your fiancé gets carted off in handcuffs I’ll bail him out.’ Abi heard Nick trying to reclaim the phone.
    ‘Oi, cheeky, what do you mean, my fiancé?’ she said. ‘Is there something I should know?’
    ‘Oh, just ignore him.’ Nick was back on the line. ‘He’s got sunstroke.’
    Abi roared. ‘Look, this must be costing you a fortune. Just have a good time, and don’t do anything daft. I’m fine. So is Bex, although you’ll never guess what she did yesterday, Nick?’
    ‘Shagged
a porter?’
    ‘Don’t be crude.’
    ‘Well, I don’t know, do I?’
    ‘Honestly, you’re terrible,’ said Abi, thinking there was more chance of Nick going teetotal. ‘Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. It’s too long-winded.’
    ‘No, go on. Tell me.’
    ‘Oh, all right then,’ said Abi, feeling a touch disloyal. ‘She nearly fell down the stairs, dropped her phone, lost her shoe and everything.’
    ‘What, in the hotel?’
    ‘Yes. Hurt her shoulder too. She was so embarrassed about it, poor thing.’
    ‘How can someone that delicate be so clumsy?’
    Abi was tempted to tell Nick the juicy footballer bit, but decided against it, before winding up their conversation.
    Ninety-nine per cent certain the two men she’d seen were Alex Heath and that Kenny, Danny the barman had mentioned, she took out her iPod, her tummy tingling with excitement.
    With only a small white towel to protect her modesty, Rebecca lay face down, breathing in the sweet scent of almond oil, barely able to keep her eyes open as Leanne’s thumbs worked their heavenly magic on her lower spine.
    ‘So, how did you hurt yourself?’ the bubbly masseuse asked, fluttering her fingers up over the curve of the tender shoulder blade.
    The question Rebecca had been dreading.
    ‘Grabbing the banister to stop myself tumbling down the stairs,’ she said, lifting her head to answer.
    ‘What,
here
?’ Leanne sounded shocked.
    ‘’Fraid so,’ said Rebecca, feeling the onset of yet another blush.
    ‘Hang on …’ Leanne stopped rubbing ‘… you’re not the one whose phone bounced across the reception floor yesterday, are you?’
    Rebecca nodded.
    ‘Oh, look, I wasn’t pryingor anything. With Alex Heath being there everyone was talking about it.’ Rebecca remembered Danny’s pun in the bar. ‘We were right
jealous, actually.’
    Before Rebecca could respond, one of Leanne’s colleagues tapped on the door, looking for spare hand towels.
    Glad of the interruption, Rebecca thought about Greg gearing up for his presentation. No doubt he’d enthral them all as usual. She hoped he’d remembered to call his mother, in Jersey. Pearl would be so disappointed if he didn’t ring her on her birthday. Rebecca had arranged for some flowers to be delivered to her hotel and would be ringing her mother-in-law herself, later.
    She realised that Leanne was back and had said something that warranted a response.