here.”
“I’m surprised you know him,” said Sara. “I didn’t think you’d have gone down to the animal hospital.” If there was one thing Ellie didn’t share, it was Sara’s love of animals, especially dogs.
Maybe it was because Ellie had grown up in a household which had strictly banned pets. Her parents had been fastidious about hygiene to the point of obsession and having any animal in the household had been out of the question. They had brought Ellie up with a disgust for things like cat hair and dog drool. Whenever Ellie had come over to her place back in L.A., Sara had always made the effort to do an extra vacuum and give Coco a bath. Not that her cousin had been horrible to Coco—in fact, Sara often wondered if her cousin secretly enjoyed the dog’s company—but she was definitely not an animal lover the way Sara’s friend, Fern, was.
Now Ellie made a face. “No way. I haven’t set foot in that place. No, I met him when he came out to the resort. They’re planning to keep a small menagerie of native Australian animals there—you know, a few wallabies, emus, cockatoos—that sort of thing. And he’s sort of the vet on-call.” She gave Sara a sly look. “So he’s the reason you were so flustered when you got back from the vets yesterday.”
“I wasn’t flustered!” Sara protested, knowing that her cheeks were flaming already. She threw a sofa cushion at her cousin who ducked, laughing.
“Okay, okay… I’m just teasing.” Ellie sobered. “But you do know what you’re doing, Sara? I mean, this is pretty soon after everything that happened with Jeff.”
“This isn’t a rebound thing,” said Sara. “This is different.”
“Different?” Ellie frowned. “But you just met the guy yesterday.”
“It’s… I can’t explain,” said Sara helplessly. “I know I only met him yesterday, but…”
“Ooh, you’ve got it bad,” said Ellie with a grin, which got another cushion thrown at her head.
“Do you want to come too?” asked Sara hesitantly. “I mean, it is Saturday night and I hate the thought of you spending it alone. I feel a bit rude—I’ve only just arrived and I—”
“Don’t be stupid,” said Ellie waving a hand. “Go! Go and don’t feel guilty. I’m perfectly happy here. I’ll get a Thai takeout. Anyway, I’ve got some project notes I want to go over…”
“Ellie!” Sara stared at her cousin in mock horror. “You’re not working on a Saturday night!”
“It’s not really work,” Ellie hedged. “It’s just sort of… you know… advance planning…”
Sara shook her head. Ellie was a total workaholic. It was always like this. Even when they were back in school, Ellie had always been asking for extra homework and assignments. And since they had grown up, Ellie had been so focused on her career, she hardly made time for dating.
“One day,” said Sara, “you’ll meet a guy who will make you totally forget your work and I want to be there to see it!”
Ellie rolled her eyes but didn’t answer. Sara took herself off to her bedroom to change. She examined the contents of her suitcase critically. She hadn’t brought many dresses—well, she hadn’t really expected to be going out anywhere fancy. Mostly, she had packed T-shirts, shorts, and jeans. But she did bring along her favourite beach dress—a cotton voile dress in pale lemon yellow. It was simple but elegant and the colour brought out the warm tones in her skin. Best of all, the flowing lines flattered her fuller figure.
Sara slipped the dress on and then twisted her hair up into a loose bun, which she secured with bobby pins, letting a few tendrils escape to frame her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. A sweep of mascara on her lashes, a dab of concealer and a slick of peach lip gloss on her lips… and she was done.
She rummaged in her case and pulled out a pair of espadrille wedges. She looked down at her toes, then glanced at the clock on the wall. Would she have