Illyrian Summer by Iris Danbury Page A

could have happened in two days, surely! She glanced away and became aware that the ribbons of the wide-brimmed straw hat were looped around her wrist. When she looked up at Adam, he was half smiling.
    “ Put the hat on, Sarah, even if the heat of the day has gone. ”
    But she would not obey. She pushed her fair hair away from her forehead, aware of her untidiness and that probably her face needed a wash and fresh makeup.
    “ Give Edmund my good wishes, ” Adam said, “ and good luck for a safe journey back to Dubrovnik. I ’ d like to come up to the car park and see him tonight, but I ’ m afraid I shan ’ t have time. ”
    She nodded. “ I understand. ” After a pause she added, “ I mustn ’ t keep you now. Mirjana will be expecting you. ”
    He gave her a queer glance that made her heart leap with momentary joyousness. Then his eyes were veiled and he turned away with the most casual of goodbyes. “ Bye, Sarah. ”
    She hurried out of the hospital grounds and down the road toward the river. She knew the layout of the town now and this was a shortcut to the car park. As she walked she swung the hat in her hand, and a little smile played around her lips. Oh, she knew perfectly well what Adam meant with his “ Put the hat on, Sarah... ” That she was just as ill-tempered whether she wore the hat or dangled it from her arm!
    Well, perhaps it was better to say a cool goodbye to a man whom she must now forget. Unconsciously she stamped her foot down more firmly on the hard, dusty road; she set her teeth until her rounded jaw became a hard, determined curve. Surely it was not impossible to root out this terrible longing for Adam ’ s presence, the sight of his face, the sound of his voice? Other girls had succeeded, overcome the stupid infatuations they had mistaken for real, enduring love. Sarah would do the same. Even Adam himself had quite obviously succeeded in forgetting Melanie Roche and found Mirjana instead.
    Yet Sarah soon found that her resolution was tested. After supper in the car park Edmund suggested that she might type out all the tape-recorded interviews.
    “ I ’ m nervous that some accident might happen to the recordings, ” he explained. “ With a typescript at least we ’ ll know what everyone said. ”
    Sarah agreed. She worked for some time inside the minibus; it was hot and stuffy after the sun had beat down on it all day, but outside was too noisy with Edmund and the other men arranging space in the truck for the next day ’ s journey, and everywhere else men banging and clattering as they attended to their vehicles.
    As it happened, she was glad of the privacy, in spite of the sultry heat, for when she came to transcribe the tape on which Adam had been recorded, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. She dashed them away angrily furious because the sound of his voice could so affect her, but remembering that this was probably the last time she would hear it. She steeled herself to proceed with the typing, although everything in front of her was blurred.
    Two hands rested lightly on her shoulders and she turned sharply to face Daniel. She had not heard him come into the bus.
    “ Why, darling Sarah, you ’ re crying! What ’ s the matter? ”
    She realized, too late, that the roof lights in the bus had shone full on her face when she turned toward Daniel.
    “ Nothing. I have a cold. It ’ s—it ’ s all the dust! ” she answered, switching on the recording again.
    Daniel switched off. “ A cold! That could be quite serious. ”
    “ Oh, please, Daniel, do let me get o n with the work, ” she said irritably.
    “ What ’ s the matter with Edmund that he keeps you cooped up like this banging away at your typewriter? ” Daniel burst out. “ Anyway, he ought to know better than to let you use up his batteries like that. ”
    “ No, he ’ s, getting the spare ones recharged, he said. ” Sarah was glad to talk of impersonal matters. “ Anyway, he wants these typescripts of the