way to fill your life and avoid a relationship. You don’t have to hide from men or procrastinate about accepting a date. There are some nice guys in the world, it’s just that our mother never brought that type home … or married one. And just because both of your boyfriends weren’t the one, so you told me, doesn’t mean the one isn’t out there somewhere.’
Flick listened to the sisterly lecture, knowing there were more than a few half-truths. Her two boyfriends had been nice, perhaps too nice, she’d realised not long into each relationship. She had chosen both men because they’d been nothing like the type her mother would date. They’d been sensible, and stable with nice office jobs, hadn’t drunk more than light ale, and that had only been on weekends, they’d been averse to gambling and had seemed to share her dream of marriage and children.
They’d both ticked all the boxes but it hadn’t taken long to discover that being the opposite of her mother’s type didn’t guarantee love or anything close to it. There had been no spark, no chemistry, no fireworks. Something had been missing and Flick had known it wouldn’t be fair to string either one along. So they’d parted as friends since there had been no passion to incite a deeper reaction, and she’d found out that both had since married. They had offered a picket-fence ending, but Flick needed more. She wanted to raise her children in a happy family but she knew she needed to fall completely and hopelessly in love with the father of her children. She wanted to be swept off her feet by desire and spend her life with the man of her dreams. But she soon realised it was just that. A dream.
‘Let’s face it, we both had a pretty crappy childhood,’ Megan interrupted Flick’s thoughts. ‘I can’t remember one Christmas without our mother disappearing after a takeaway lunch to meet another potential boyfriend. And let’s not forget the presents she never bothered to wrap because she spent every spare minute updating her online dating profile. And then we were blamed each time a man left her. It was as if having children was a burden, preventing her from finding true love.’
‘True love isn’t often found in the front bar of the local hotel …’
‘No, but apparently both of our fathers were.’
They shook their heads in unison, neither knowing the other had done the same. There were no fond memories of their childhood, neither had met their father but at least they had each other.
‘I know you brought me up and as my big sister you don’t usually take my advice, plus I’m like a million years younger than you …’
‘Not quite a million,’ Flick cut in, laughing at her half-sister’s teasing as she stepped from the watery pool her feet had made and continued on her walk. ‘Try four!’
‘Anyway, take my little, but ever so much more worldly, sister advice and just let your stunning blonde hair down. Have just one night of fun and don’t over think it. You have been so ridiculously responsible your entire life and you need to walk a little on the wild side, even if it’s just for one night. And don’t spare our mother a second thought. Believe me, she’s not thinking about us right now.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘Apart from the obvious, Flick, which is the fact she never has thought about us so nothing has essentially changed and never will in our lifetimes.’ She paused to draw breath after her rant. ‘She took off for Bali yesterday so if the boyfriend is spending money then we won’t hear a peep from her. So follow my amazingly insightful advice and please make tomorrow all about you!’
‘Maybe I will. Thanks, Megan.’
‘You’re welcome, big sis. Make me proud. Live a little, take a risk or two … but just don’t post anything on any social media. Whatever happens tomorrow is like they say about Vegas, it stays there … so it needs to be your secret.’
Encouraged further by Megan’s advice, Flick decided she had started the right way to make it her day. To take life with both hands for once and actually have fun. The warm breeze was blowing in from the ocean and she felt good about everything. The fact she had not finished the housework and slept in showed she could step out of her comfort zone, if only for one day. She playfully kicked some of the salty water up with her foot. Then she made a mental note. If she was going to live on the wild side for a day then she needed to paint her toenails bright red to match her mood. She smiled as she thought about the nail polish that Megan had given to her for her last birthday and which lay unused in the bathroom cabinet. She would vamp it up, just tonight.
There were joggers and people being walked by their dogs; others reading books or magazines under the shelter of oversized beach umbrellas; small children building sandcastles and squealing as they ran into the shallow waves to collect water for the moats; and a few very tanned older men in swimsuits so brief and inappropriate that it made Flick shudder a little and look away quickly. Gold Lycra, really?
She grimaced at the thought her mother had more than likely dated one of them. Then she mentally reprimanded herself for thinking about her mother again. The woman had singlehandedly deterred Flick from dating for fun after watching her many poor choices come and leave their home on a dating conveyer belt. Flick had weighed up men as potential husbands from the get-go. She was looking for the family she had never had and it coloured her choices. Megan was right. She needed to leave the drama behind. The ball was going to be about having fun and not thinking about anything too serious. And that was what she intended to do.
In general everyone on the beach appeared to be doing the same. They were relaxed and a few gave a casual greeting or comment about the weather as she walked past. Her pace had picked up during the stroll and was now brisk. Nothing really distracted her until she had almost reached home again. That’s when a striking figure on the beach demanded her attention. Suddenly she was mesmerised and couldn’t look away.
A very masculine, very toned body stripped bare to the waist was jogging towards her. Flick was tempted to shield her eyes with her hand to get a better view, but she refrained. She controlled her curiosity and continued at her brisk pace along the shallows, pulling her gaze down to the crystal blue water. The midday sun was directly above her in the sky but her body was feeling hotter from something other than that. Her heart picked up speed at the sight from the corner of her eye that she could see approaching. Even averted and with the sun’s glare, she could make out a very tanned, very taut … and suddenly very familiar man.
He was almost upon her when she looked up and realised it was the elusive and ridiculously handsome Dr Tristan Hamilton, a neonatal cardiothoracic surgeon at the Victoria Hospital. She averted her eyes again quickly. He was appealing enough in his scrubs but now, in little more than low-slung board shorts, he was mind-numbingly gorgeous. Her cheeks, she felt certain, would be pink with thoughts he was stirring. She was just grateful he had no idea who she was and he would just jog by her, completely unaware of how his body was arousing her imagination. Immediately she knew Megan was right—she needed to get out more. Her reaction was embarrassing even her.
‘Felicia?’
She froze. Her cheek colour gained momentum. He had not only recognised her, he knew her name. Flick had had no idea he’d even realised they worked at the same hospital let alone knew her by name. She had only been there on clinical placement for a few weeks.
‘Dr Hamilton,’ she said, attempting to sound casually surprised.
He drew to a halt beside her, his sun-kissed skin aglow with the perspiration from his morning run. ‘Please, call me Tristan. There’s not a patient in sight so we can throw hospital formalities out the window. I suspect you’re younger than me by a few years, but the whole doctor thing makes me feel about a hundred. So, please, stick with Tristan.’ His deep voice was raspy and breathless from the run.
Flick tried to laugh but all the while her mind was spinning and her body reacting in a way she had never experienced before. ‘Sure,’ she finally responded a little nervously, still not entirely sure about anything. ‘Tristan,’ she said, emphasising his name. ‘So you like jogging.’
She had no idea why she’d asked such a silly question. It was ridiculous and stupid in equal