SUMMER'S END

1

THE RED LODGE looked much tidier than Robyn had envisioned, not that she had high expectations after three months on the road. The house felt a bit out of place, perched in between resorts along the beach, as if someone had forgotten to tear it down while developing the rest of the coast. She'd been scouring the internet on her phone while in Bangkok, looking for a decent place to stay in Samui. Somewhere cheap enough so that she didn't have to ask her parents for money again, but comfortable enough to meet her -so-modest standards. She blamed her family for surrounding her with too much luxury because the only hotels she liked were well above her fifteen-quid-a-night budget while the ones that fit into it nicely appeared way too shabby-even the pictures on their website-for a girl brought up in Holland Park. She'd asked her parents for extra cash twice. The first time when she had run out of funds one third into her three-month journey. The
second-and last, she had sworn-after she'd bought a series of paintings from an extremely talented Vietnamese artist for quite a bargain, but the shipping costs had set her back half a month in lodging. She could hardly drag three forty-eight by sixty inch canvasses with her on the rest of her trip. Determined to make it on her own for one last week-because wasn't that what this trip was all about?-she'd looked away from her phone and her gaze had landed on a pile of red flyers stacked on the nearby window sill.

The Red Lodge - Beachside B&B - Koh Samui
Only 3 rooms available at any time. Not for party people. 25 USD per night.

Tired of looking for a decent place to stay, Robyn converted the amount in her head and opened the e-mail application on her phone. A few hours later she had written confirmation and a bed-although

she had no idea of the state it would be in-for the last five days of her three-month sabbatical in Asia. The next day she boarded a plane to the island.

"Robyn Fenty?" A woman with the exact same upper-crust accent as her mother appeared in the doorway.

"That's me." It was hard to pin an age on her, but Robyn guessed, based on nothing else but the similarity in tone of voice, that the woman must have been about the same age as her mother.

"Welcome to The Red Lodge. My name is Nicki." She extended her hand, which took Robyn by surprise as she wasn't used to being greeted with a firm handshake anymore. "Please, come inside."
Robyn quite liked the personable approach and figured that, as she was flying back to London soon, she might as well get used to British people again. Not that she hadn't encountered way too many

on her travels, but she'd become rather good at avoiding them. "Is it just you?" Nicki asked.

I'm not hiding a small person in my backpack. Robyn just smiled and nodded. "Yep." Six months ago, when she was still engaged, she and Jasper had considered Thailand a viable honeymoon destination.

Surely they would have visited one of the islands, but they would never have picked a low-key place like this for accommodation. But Jasper wasn't here, and that was exactly how she wanted it. Wasn't it?

"Absolutely nothing wrong with that." Nicki flashed her a smile before proceeding to check her in.

Robyn ran her eyes over the faded Ramones t-shirt-so tight around the shoulders-the woman wore and considered it quite age inappropriate.

"Things are pretty relaxed around here. There's no set breakfast time so feel free to sleep as long as you like." Nicki handed her an old-fashioned key. "The kitchen," she curled her fingers into air quotes, "closes at ten p.m. and silence is appreciated at night." "Thanks." Robyn took the key into possession and made a mental note to store her valuables in the safe-if her room even had one.

"Let me show you to your quarters." Nicki arched her eyebrows up in mock anticipation. "You're on the ground floor, overlooking the garden." Robyn didn't quite know what to make of Nicki. The ultraposh accent didn't seem to fit with her surroundings-nor with the tshirt. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and followed Nicki from the hallway to the back of the house. Of all the places she'd stayed at, this one appeared the most at odds. The decoration

was Asian, but the house felt thoroughly European. As though it had been transported here from Holland Park.

"Here we are." The door to the room was open and when Nicki showed her in, Robyn couldn't believe what she saw. It was bright and the water from the pool outside reflected blue onto the wardrobe mirror through a large French window.

Stumped for words, Robyn turned to her hostess.

"Quite a common reaction." A satisfied grin tugged at the corners of the woman's mouth. "But what can I say, I like my surroundings well-finished and pretty."

"But... twenty-five dollars?"

"I'm not in this business for the money," Nicki said matterof-factly. "Why don't you freshen up and I'll see you later. I'll be outside."

Before Robyn had a chance to reply, Nicki had turned on her heels and closed the door behind her. Robyn couldn't help but wonder if she'd just had an enormous bout of luck or whether there was a catch to this lush room she had just ventured into.