Following a sudden and confusing breakup with Michael, her live-in boyfriend, Claire Harper and her friend, Sheila, travel to Costa Rica on a holiday planned for the couple. After meeting expat hotel worker Dominic, Claire enjoys her holiday more than expected, despite the constant feeling she is being watched, and growing concerns over a series of murders in her hometown.

Claire’s hopes of forgetting her heartbreak are dashed when Michael learns she is on their intended vacation and demands she return the costs for his share of the holiday.

As Claire discovers the surprisingly spicy hot pleasures of the Caribbean in a fast-paced weeklong romance, she ignores the subtle tells indicating all is not as she imagines, both at home and abroad.

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Release Date: Dec 10, 2024
Genre: Contemporary Romance

~ A Red Satin Romance ~

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Excerpt

Chapter One

The lump in Claire Harper’s throat expanded until it choked her. The words almost jumped from the still closed envelope. She did not need to read it. Why did these things keep happening to her? When she went to work that morning, everything was okay. What happened in the meantime?

She tried to distance herself from what she knew was coming, but every step over the brown carpet drew her closer to the unavoidable. The envelope on the side table seemed to draw all life from the room. It sat there, taunting her.

The crisp paper tore in her hand as she opened the small letter which was waiting to ruin her day.

Claire took a breath and forced her eyes towards his untidy scrawl. The text was barely readable, not that it mattered, she knew what it was going to say. The four white walls closed in around her. The usually spacious room became small. Her breathing grew shallow. She planted her feet in place against the overwhelming need to flee.

 

I really don’t know how to say this, but I’m sure you will be okay, and I hope you can move on and get something better for yourself. I’m sorry for doing this to you by letter, but I really couldn’t face you. It was too hard.

 

The doorbell rang and Claire absently headed towards the noise. As she reached the door and pulled it open, one tear rolled unnoticed down her left cheek.

Sheila’s look of concern was clear even without words. She didn’t wait to be invited in but pushed past Claire and went straight to the kitchen. “I heard, and I came as soon as I could. How are you?”

Claire gasped. “You heard what?” Even as she said it, she knew the answer.

Sheila threw her coat over the nearest chair. Her plain sweater was at odds with the many chains she wore around her neck. She pulled her hipster jeans a little higher before turning to Claire. “It was all over Facebook this afternoon. How are you handling it? I mean just before work and all. It must have been early.” She glanced at her friend and frowned. “What’s the matter? He’s not worth it. You know that, right?”

Claire handed her the letter and walked over to the kettle.

Sheila read aloud from the sheet of paper. “...You won’t see me again. I might leave the country. I’ve not decided yet, but I think it is for the best. So, this is goodbye. I’m sorry again, I wish you well for the future.”

“You didn’t read it from the beginning.”

“I skimmed it but,” Sheila finally acquiesced and turned the sheet over to the first page. “It was not the argument this morning. This has been coming for a while. I wrestled with this decision. Please believe me. At the end of the day, it comes down to us making each other unhappy and you deserve better. It’s best to have a clean break, so I won’t come home tonight. I hope this will save us both some pain. Please believe that. I only hope I’ve judged correctly.”

Sheila sighed and focused her hazel eyes on her friend. “What did you argue about this time?”

“He wouldn’t tell me where he was last night. God only knows what time he got back. It wasn’t the first time. I don’t like secrets. I warned him. I deal with children all day long, so I don’t need the same in my personal life.”

Sheila sighed again, a clear indication she did not agree. Claire knew her friend well enough to see what she was thinking. Sheila would never voice those thoughts until the time was right, no matter how much she was begged.

Claire changed tactics. “He left before we had a chance to really talk this morning. Apparently, he had to make up for the times he’s been late. I asked why he was late for work. He leaves on time every morning, so where the hell does he go every morning? He wouldn’t answer the question.”

Sheila nodded and flicked her eyebrows upwards, “No matter now. Do you think he will really leave? I mean, surely, he will come back for his stuff?”

Claire realized she hadn’t considered that and swung around to look for his CDs and other items. His favorite cup was gone from its spot and a glance through the door into the lounge showed the CD rack mostly empty. The emptiness in her stomach threatened to become a sickness and she swallowed hard. “He isn’t coming back.” The finality of those words hung in the air.

Sheila took over the coffee making. Her motions were stiff and cautious, as though every movement would disturb her friend. She shifted cups from the plastic drainer and pulled milk from the standalone fridge.

Claire leaned heavily against the central counter and allowed her arms to take the weight of her body as a weakness spread across her. She remembered the darkness of the night before while she lay and listened to Michael coming in well after midnight.

In that moment she hadn’t imagined her insecurities would end their relationship. A pressure welled up behind her eyes and she fought back the inevitable tears. I will not cry, not over him. Four years of my life wasted. She turned and surveyed the house feeling its emptiness. I’m alone now.

Sheila gave a grim smile as she saw the change in her friend’s mood. She handed her the coffee cup and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for Claire to come around on her own. It didn’t take long.

“So,” Claire drew herself to her full height, “the next problem is we booked a holiday.  I guess that will be wasted. Oh well, I didn’t really want to go anyway.”

“Perhaps not. When is it booked for?”

Claire realigned her thoughts. “Beginning of next week. It’ll be too late to cancel now.”

“That’s perfect. I am still due some days off this year. I’ve been saving them so I could have them all together. If you still fancy going, then I’ll go with you. We’ll need to change the name on the booking.”

Claire nodded. “It’s certainly too late to cancel now, and it would be nice to have a change of pace. It’s the last chance I’ll have this year, that’s why I booked it, otherwise we’d have only have Christmas holidays, and that’s a nightmare.”

“Yep, that’s why I could never be a teacher, for any age group, never mind the younger ones.”

“Ay, it’s much better than dealing with whining patients and know it all doctors.”

Sheila shook her head at the old debate. “It’s not as bad as all that, so how about this holidays idea?”

“It might help me settle down to the new reality. I really don’t know how I am going to get used to not having him around.” Claire allowed herself a moment of thought. Her tongue traced her upper teeth. “That’s a good idea. If you are sure you can get the time off, let’s do it. Watch out, Costa Rica, here we come.”

She smiled. It was the first time she had actually looked forward to going since they booked it. Her hands dropped to her sides as if they suddenly weighed too much.

The silence brought with it a previously lacking clarity of thought in Claire since she spotted the letter. The pieces came together in her mind, almost as though they were a jigsaw puzzle. She cast her friend a suspicious glance.

“How did you know what was going on here? You said you saw it on Facebook. He put it on Facebook even before I read the letter?”

Sheila nodded. Her short hair fell to hide her face, making her look guilty. She pushed it away impatiently. “I’ve had Michael as a friend on there for a while. He made some depressed comments, and I noticed he blocked you when you didn’t answer him. I mean usually you comment on his status every time. He didn’t put any actual information on, only that he was feeling depressed ‘cause he was at the end, or something like that. I’ll show you if you like. Anyway, I figured something went on between the two of you, so I wanted to know you were okay.”

“I always dreaded having my whole life put on that thing. It’s bad enough that the children play with it as though it means anything. I mean come on, he was hinting something was wrong before even I knew it. You got clear across town before I even started reading the letter he left. And what is it with blocking people? What rubbish, I mean, like it means everything – I know, I know, so why am I still talking about it? You’re right of course.”

Sheila smiled. “At least I don’t need to tell you off for not telling me what was happening, since I knew before you.”

“Ah, the silver lining.” Claire fell silent as another thought crossed her mind. Did he even go to bed last night? If he was with someone else maybe he waited until I went to sleep and then went off with her again. I was pretty nasty to him. I didn’t even give him a chance to explain properly. But then it was the middle of the night, and he woke me up.

A vague image of him kissing her goodbye as he left for work swept across her mind, but it was so jumbled she was not sure if it was that morning or a memory of one of the other many times, they had done that. Nearly every morning for four years. She pushed the thought away.

“If you don’t want him to get one over you, then you should change your relationship status on Facebook.  Think how hard this would’ve been if you were married,” Sheila interrupted.

Claire pursed her lips but said nothing. The conversation was better left alone. She took a deep breath. “Let’s plan what we are going to do next week about this holiday. How to get to the airport, how much to pack, how much money to take and what we need to buy. Let’s have a glass of wine. I only just got back from work. I earned it and I can’t drink alone.” She headed for the fridge without waiting for an answer from Sheila.

Sheila pulled a scrap of paper from her bag and took a pen off the side. “Sounds like we need a list.” She wrote the words, “Holiday to Costa Rica”, on the top of the page and underlined it repeatedly.

Claire smiled, the ‘queen of lists’ indeed. “Sunscreen, lots and lots.”

They sat for a good hour making all the necessary decisions about their pending travels before the conversation moved on.

Claire thought more and more about the events of the previous night. Something did not sit right with her. No matter which way she looked at it. She and Michael had been through worse than this before and although things had been strained recently, the relationship shouldn’t have come to such an abrupt conclusion.

“You are not thinking about the program at all,” Sheila commented, with a laugh in her voice.

Claire smiled weakly at her friend. “You caught me. I’m sorry. I can’t fathom what happened. It’s annoying. It seems like only yesterday we were planning a future together.”

“That was yesterday. You need to fix your head to move on.” Sheila’s eye drifted toward the ring on her friend’s wedding finger.

Claire followed Sheila’s gaze and shook her head silently. She plucked the ring from her finger and observed the emptiness of her hand. She shrugged and replaced the silver band. “You know, that’s the first time I’ve removed this ring since he gave it to me.” She let out a deep sigh. “It’s too soon. It doesn’t feel right. I need time to get used to this idea. We were together for a long time. I’m used to the ring.”

“I was never clear. Were you two actually engaged? You never made an announcement as such, we all assumed...”

Claire stared at the table, not really sure how to answer. Her stomach clenched at the idea, but she couldn’t tell if it was nerves, or she was excited. “We discussed it, but never really decided. Honestly, I’m not sure what we were. But now it doesn’t matter.” She shook herself and resolved not to think about it for the rest of the night.

Silence lay heavy in the room. Birdsong filtered in through the window which had been left ajar when they went to work that morning. Claire stared at the window and reminded herself to close it before she went to bed. Realizing that it was more than likely the mental note would be awash with wine long before then, she stood and closed it. On her way back to the table she took another bottle from the fridge and vowed it would be their last tonight. She knew that was a lie as well, and at that moment she didn’t care.

“Can you stay over tonight? The company would be nice.”

Without hesitation, Sheila agreed and opened the new bottle. She poured generous measures into both glasses and sat back in the chair.

Claire pulled her mobile phone from her pocket and the screen flashed to life. She sensed rather than saw Sheila judging her. She ignored the silent chastisement and checked Facebook messenger. Sheila was right. Michael blocked her.

“Don’t let it get to you. Perhaps you’ll find a nice man while we are away. Maybe we both will and then it won’t matter what that idiot does,” said Sheila.

“Oh yes, rich and handsome men just hang around holiday resorts looking for vulnerable women on the rebound from the love of their life.” Claire’s stomach churned at the thought of it being over for good, the idea of being alone for the rest of her life and never having the strength to start another relationship for fear of being hurt.

“Stranger things have happened, but don’t think about that now. Let’s get drunk, have a cry and see what happens. Tomorrow is another day, so they say.”

 

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