Trusting a Stranger by Kimberley Brown

the photo she had wanted. Ethan, captured forever on the memory card inside her camera. Something for her to look at when she got back home. Hayley was already sure that this whole adventure was going to come to seem like one long, unlikely dream.
    They reached the end of the narrow road that only led to Ethan’s villa and turned onto one of the wider country roads. At night, the trees that had shaded her scooter ride earlier seemed almost black.
    â€˜Weddings are work,’ she said. ‘You have to earn a living doing something. Weddings are one of the few things that people will pay to have photographed these days.’
    â€˜You’d rather do something else?’
    â€˜I’d rather do just about anything else. I don’t even like weddings.’
    Ethan tapped the steering wheel. ‘A photographer that doesn’t like weddings? I bet the brides all love you.’
    â€˜It’s not something I tell very many of them,’ Hayley said. She turned towards her window and took a photo of the scenery speeding by outside. It was beginning to be early morning and there was a beautiful orange glow along the horizon.
    â€˜What’s wrong with weddings?’ Ethan asked. ‘Most married people have had one.’
    â€˜It’s more the marriage than the wedding I’m sceptical about,’ Hayley confessed. ‘I mean, weddings are fine as an excuse for a pretty dress and a big party. But marriage…’
    â€˜Marriage…? What were you about to say?’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know. I just don’t think marriage is a very good idea.’ Hayley slid the camera back into its case. ‘I suspect it’s for people who can’t cope with life on their own.’
    â€˜You said you were only married for a very short while.’
    â€˜It was long enough for me to form an opinion about it,’ Hayley insisted. ‘The reality is that sometimes, we all just have to be lonely.’
    â€˜Maybe it’s not so hard to be on your own if you have someone special waiting for you at home,’ Ethan said.
    Hayley shook her head. ‘Being lonely is sometimes better than being with someone else. I know. I saw it with my own parents.’
    Ethan accelerated further as the road broadened and the vision out the front window brightened. ‘One marriage not working out doesn’t damn the whole institution,’ he said.
    â€˜It’s not just that,’ Hayley said. ‘People go on and on about fate, that sort of thing. I don’t believe in fate.’
    â€˜Neither do I. That’s something we can agree about.’
    â€˜Anyway, you’ve been married. I’m sorry to say this, but you don’t make it sound like being married to Erica was the happiest time of your life.’
    Hayley stopped suddenly, her hand over her mouth. She had said too much. She was always either asking too many questions or offering too many of her own opinions.
    â€˜I know I shouldn’t have said that!’ she wailed.
    Ethan turned to smile very briefly at her. ‘No, you’re right. My marriage wasn’t a great success. But I was happier then than I am now.’
    â€˜That doesn’t mean anything. It’s worrying about Katy that makes you miserable now.’
    â€˜I still believe people can be married and be happy.’
    â€˜I’ll have to see someone do it before I have any belief,’ Hayley said.
    â€˜Your own parents?’ asked Ethan.
    â€˜Divorced when I was very young. My father brought me up on his own.’
    â€˜Your father? That has to be unusual.’
    â€˜It is.’
    Hayley fell into silence. She did not like to talk about her mother. The glow along the horizon brightened and extended as they drove. Hayley had new questions she wanted answered. She wanted to know who Elspeth was. Was she the PA that Ethan said babysat Katy sometimes? What sort of personal role did she have in their lives? How long would it