her. She grabbed her phone from her bag and swiped hurriedly.
‘How far is it from Ubud to the north of the island?’
Johnny shrugged. ‘About two hours on a good day, maybe longer.’
‘So the policeman said he saw us there at what time?’
He looked up at her. ‘He said he saw us there at midday – it’s on the statement.’
‘Right.’ And with that she showed Johnny her phone, and the photo of them both outside Ginger in Ubud, with its name clearly displayed, and a time on the photo: twelve midday.
‘This proves we were in Ubud at twelve o’clock, and if it takes two hours to get to the north of the island – especially on a motorbike, then there is no way we could have been there.’
Johnny sat upright and snatched the phone from her and swiped it. ‘Genius, Maddie!’ He punched the air.
Her heard did a little flip. Yes, she had to admit, it was.
The door of the room was yanked opened and in walked Ed with Adity.
‘Ed, man! Good to see you!’ Johnny stood up and gave Ed a hug.
‘Hey, you guys, what’s going on? Mum? I’ve just talked to the policeman on duty at the front desk. They said you’ve been “detained” for, um—’ he shot Maddie a look ‘—a private activity in a public place where it’s against Sharia law.’ Ed was pink in the face.
‘Mate, it’s a load of baloney – a scam. Your mum has just found a solution.’ And with that, Johnny explained it all to Ed. He looked over at Adity, who’d been listening intently. She touched Ed’s elbow, said something in Indonesian to him and left the room.
‘Adity’s going to have a word,’ Ed said, then sat down with a thump on the chair.
*
By 8 p.m. a group of them were at the bar. As Adity explained to them, some of the police ‘tried to make a bit of extra pocket money’ – apparently corruption was rife – but in this case they knew they couldn’t push it, so dropped the ‘charges’ and Maddie and Johnny were free to go.
‘Cheers, Maddie!’ Johnny said, lifting a cold beer to his lips. ‘You saved the day!’
Maddie relaxed back into the soft lining of the bar seat. ‘I was terrified!’ She laughed.
They’d been there about an hour, when Johnny turned to her. ‘We’re all going surfing day after tomorrow. Going to come? I run the surf school, remember, so don’t worry, I’ll look after you properly this time!’
Surfing? She hadn’t done it for years. She couldn’t.
‘Actually, I think I’ll come.’ It was out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying.
‘Hey, Mrs B. That’s awesome!’ Adity looked up from her phone.
Yes, awesome. She wanted some of that. She took a huge slug of beer, glanced at herself in the mirror behind the bar and almost didn’t recognise the woman with the flushed cheeks and tousled hair grinning back at her.
16
‘Mum!’ Ed waved to her from a small gathering at the beach. He folded his arms as she got near. ‘You sure about this?’
‘Ed, I was body surfing before you were—’
‘Don’t say it – born – I know! Johnny’ll show you the ropes.’ Ed smiled and started to walk away.
‘Oh, and Ed?’
He turned and looked at her.
‘Be careful, remember what the doctors said!’
Ed grinned and nodded, then ran towards the surf with his mates whooping in the background. She watched them going ahead, yelling and splashing each other. It was quite cloudy, with a heavy weight of humidity in the air. The sea looked murky today and the waves were certainly powerful as they crashed noisily onto the shore. It was two days after the police incident. Ed was markedly better after two good nights’ sleep and the doctors had agreed to ‘normal’ activities resuming, but he was to be careful at the beach – no surfing for a week, he could just paddleboard.
‘Ready?’ Johnny stood next to her in board shorts and a bright red rash vest. His shaggy hair was tied up in a ponytail.
‘Not really, but let’s give it a try!’
‘That’s the spirit!’
‘I used to do this, you know?’
They started to make their way to the shore. ‘Yeah? Where?’
‘North Cornwall, when I was at uni, me and, um, my friend – he was a natural – we spent a long time body surfing. Bloody freezing though.’
‘I’ll bet.’ And with that he gave her a wink. Looking at him standing in front of her, holding the surfboard, a moment from her