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‘Clark?’

‘What?’

‘You really don’t have to sleep over there This bed is large enough for an entire football tea is, I didn’t really even think about it That was hoas, by then Perhaps the days spent near-naked on the beach had loosened us all up a little Perhaps it was the thought of Nathan and Karen on the other side of the wall, wrapped up in each other, a cocoon of exclusion Perhaps I did just want to be near hian to walk towards the bed, then flinched at a sudden crash of thunder The lights stuttered, someone shouted outside Fro

I walked to theand pulled back the curtain, feeling the sudden breeze, the abrupt drop in temperature Out at sea a stor briefly illuht, the heavy drualow, so fierce that at first it drowned out sound

‘I’d better close the shutters,’ I said

‘No, don’t’

I turned

‘Throw the doors open’ Will nodded towards the outside ‘I want to see it’

I hesitated, then slowly opened the glass doors out on to the terrace The rain ha fro away from our terrace and out towards the sea I felt the moisture on my face, the electricity in the air The hairs on ht

‘Can you feel it?’ he said, from behind me

‘It’s like the end of the world’

I stood there, letting the charge flow throughthemselves on my eyelids It caused my breath to catch in my throat

I turned back, and walked over to the bed, seating ently pulled his sun-browned neck towards ht, his solidity, ithhim close to me, I leant across and placed a fat white pillow behind his shoulders before releasing him back into its soft embrace He smelt of the sun, as if it had seeped deep into his skin, and I founddelicious

Then, still a little das touched his, and together we gazed out at the blue-white scorch as the lightning hit the waves, at the silvered stair rods of rain, the gently shifting mass of turquoise that lay only a hundred feet away

The world around us shrank, until it was just the sound of the storauze curtains I sht breeze, heard the distant sounds of clinking glasses and hastily drawn-back chairs, of e of nature unleashed I reached across for Will’s hand, and took it in ht, briefly, that I would never feel as intensely connected to the world, to another hu, as I did at that moment

‘Not bad, eh, Clark?’ Will said into the silence In the face of the storm, his face was still and cal in his eyes then, so triumphant

‘No,’ I said ‘Not bad at all’

I lay still, listening to his breathing slow and deepen, the sound of the rain below it, felt his waro hoo home Here Will and I were safe, locked in our little paradise Every tireat claw of fear grippedto be okay I tried to repeat Nathan’s words toto be okay

Finally, I turned on to azed at Will He turned his head to look back atto be okay For the first time in my life I tried not to think about the future I tried to just be, to sihat each other, but gradually Will’s eyelids grew heavier, until he ht … His breathing deepened, he tipped over that s his face, looking at the way his eyelashes separated into little points near the corner of his eyes, at the new freckles on his nose

I told ht

The stor so fainter and then finally disappearing altogether, off to bring ical tyranny to sorew still around us, the curtains settling, the last of the water draining aith a gurgle Sothe room in silence Will slept – a sound, peaceful sleep that he rarely slept at home

I didn’t I lay there and watched his happened on the last day One was that, under pressure fro He had been on atthat I couldn’t possibly coo under the water I had been hopeless at windsurfing, barely able to lift my sail fro faceplantingthe bay But he was insistent and, the day before, he arrived back at lunch announcing that he had booked et off to a good start Will and Nathan sat on the side of the pool as et me to believe I would continue to breathe underwater, but the knowledge that they atching me made en tanks on , that I was not about to drown – but every tih the surface It was as if my body refused to believe that it could still breathe underneath several thousand gallons of Mauritius’s finest chlorinated

‘I don’t think I can do this,’ I said, as I e instructor, glanced behind me at Will and Nathan

‘I can’t,’ I said, crossly ‘It’s just not me’