Escape to the French Riviera

Chapter Eighteen

I watch Elias carefully as he paces about.

‘Elias Norman Badington,’ he says.

‘Your name, sir? It’s Elias Norman Badington, yes? You are the owner, am I correct?’

Elias looks at me and nods. What on earth is going on? It’s not stolen if he owns the boat, but why in the world would someone with an impressive yacht deny owning it? Why all the stuff about his boss?

‘I don’t get any of this,’ I say to Elias.

‘I promise I’ll explain later. Let’s just deal with this first.’

My mind conjures up scenarios as to why Elias would pretend just to be the skipper. Is he on the run? What if he killed his wife? Maybe he made up a story about her being ill. He could have even thrown her overboard for all I know. Sometimes, I do wish I didn’t have that over-active author’s imagination. I feel sick as the cold realisation dawns that my family was right all along. I really knew nothing about him.

I hang around waiting for Elias to finish with the police, listening to every word he says as he retells his account of what has just happened. The police don’t cart him away, so maybe him being wanted isn’t anything I need to worry about.

When he is finally done, I look at him, my hands on my hips, and wait for his explanation.

‘Not here. Look, we’re going to need to check into a hotel. The only saving grace is that my wallet’s in my pocket, and I’ve got all my cards with me.’

I think of the laptop that I’ve left onboard, not to mention all my stuff for the holiday. How could I have such a mishap with my laptop twice on the same break? I am beginning to wonder if this book is meant to be written. I’ve now lost everything, including Elias. He is obviously some kind of fraudster that I can’t trust. However, as much as I don’t want to get a hotel room with him, I don’t know anybody here and have no money. I am not sure what choice I have. I decide that I will go with him so that I can shower and dry myself off and then I suppose I’ll have to admit to my friends and family that I was wrong about Elias.

We look scruffy and out of place as we check into a posh hotel, and I notice a customer look me up and down. I have to bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her that she would look like this, too, if she had just been shipwrecked!

Elias tries to talk to me as we head upstairs to our room, but I have nothing to say to him at this point. I want to shower and dry off before I hear why he would lie about who he is. I rush straight into the bathroom and lock the door in fear of who the real person is on the other side.

As I close my eyes to the warm water that soothes my skin and washes away the tightness of the salty seawater, I have a flashback of the boat heading towards us. One thing I know is that, from now on, I am staying well clear of boats.

I dry myself off and prepare to face Elias. He has made me a coffee from the kettle in the room and it is waiting for me by the time I walk out wearing one of the hotel’s luxurious white bathrobes.

‘I’m sorry it’s been such a tough day for you. You’ve had a few nasty surprises.’

‘I’m not sure what’s worse. Crashing the yacht or finding out you’ve been lying to me.’

‘I have very good reason. I promise. I hope you’ll forgive me.’

‘You’d better start talking then.’

Elias sits on the edge of the bed and bites at his cheek.

‘It’s going to sound awful because it’s not you that I did this for. I didn’t know you’d be a lovely, genuine woman…’

‘What are you on about? Tell me what you want to say!’

‘Okay. I’ll tell you everything right from the start.’

‘Please do. I need to know everything if I am to ever speak to you again. Why would you pretend the boat wasn’t yours? This is just so shifty. Are you smuggling fine arts? Some kind of drug dealer? An arms dealer on the run? Just tell me.’

‘I won the lottery.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah, it was a rollover. Just over nine million.’

‘Well, why on earth would you say you’re a skipper and that it isn’t your yacht?’

‘Because money does strange things to people. Do you know how many people you can trust when you win money like that? Not many.’

‘Well, I’ve certainly had my fair share of surprises today. I don’t know what to say to you. I mean… Wow… is that really the truth about why you lied? The whole truth?’

I shake my head in disbelief.

‘Yes, of course it is. I should’ve been straight with you from the start.’

‘So, is that why you had your wife’s art on board? And how you have blue crockery, which seems to be your favourite colour? What about all that business about checking with your boss to see if we could go on the yacht?’

‘Yup. I know. It looks bad, but I’m not a flashy man. I almost feel embarrassed about the win. I know that seems strange to someone who went out and bought a yacht with some of the money, but look, my wife had cancer. I had a heart attack and a huge operation… You probably noticed the scar when we were… well…’

I nod my head.

‘My wife knew I needed to take things easy. I always used to say, “If I win the lottery, I’ll buy us a yacht and sail around the Med.” She dreamt of painting landscapes of the ocean, and we had this dream that one day she’d paint on board, and we’d sail away into the sunset. But life doesn’t always go to plan. As we saw today…’

‘No, I understand that bit, for sure.’

‘So, the thing is, my wife was a very kind woman. She always thought of everyone else, even when she was dying. She was more worried about the boys, how I’d manage and organising her own funeral to save us from doing it.’

‘She sounds very special. What a selfless woman.’

‘She was. And we did the lottery numbers for years. Even when she was dying, she’d remind me to do them so I could dream of retirement. And then they came up. She died a fortnight later, and it felt like the universe was telling us that you can’t have everything.’

‘Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.’

‘It was the most bittersweet moment of my life. Before she left us, she made me promise to buy a yacht and sail around the Med. Of course, the first thing I did was buy Lady Jane . She happened to be advertised in a sailing magazine I subscribe to, and I knew she was the one.’

‘And your wife’s name? Was it Jane, by any chance?’

‘Exactly.’

Elias starts to cry, and I realise it has been an incredibly emotional day for both of us in different ways. Yet, I’m still hurt that he may have considered me a gold digger all this time. Why did he not feel he could tell me the truth earlier?

‘Look, it was all supposed to be a dream. Win the lottery, become the happiest man on earth, and sail around the world. It just didn’t work out like that. My wife died and I was all alone. When cousins I hadn’t seen for years heard rumours about the lottery win, they all came out of the woodwork. The only thing people seemed interested in was what I could give them. Anyone who knew started treating me differently. I wanted to be the old me again. I loved the way you treated me as a normal guy who worked for a living. I didn’t want to spoil that, and so I didn’t want to tell you the truth. I thought once you found out then you might treat me differently. I didn’t want that to end.’

There’s so much I want to say, but it doesn’t feel appropriate to interrupt, so I let him continue.

‘Money doesn’t buy happiness. I worked hard all my life. I come from a family of grafters. I’m not used to a champagne and caviar lifestyle. I’d rather have fish and chips and mushy peas with a pint of lager, to be honest. Although I am coming round to all these French wines.’

I smile at his confession. ‘Hah. You and me both, but swap the lager for a Pinot. Soraya loves all that stuff, but I much prefer the local chippy. I want you to know that I’d never have treated you differently if I’d known the truth.’

‘I know. I could see you and I were cut from the same cloth. But people judge you differently when they think you have money. I don’t mean this to be a sob story, but they take advantage of you, even my boys do. Not that I’m saying you’d ever do that. This makes me sound terrible. I just mean that I wanted to be the old me. Those evenings on deck with no preconceptions, just the two of us relaxed in each other’s arms, will always be a beautiful memory.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘So, that’s why I lied. I’ve been lying the whole time, and I hated having to do that. But I won’t need to any more because my beloved boat is gone, and now you know the truth about me.’

Elias smiles and moves his hand through my hair, which is still wet.

‘What a day.’

‘Well, I’m just glad I know the truth because I really don’t like lies.’

‘I know. I can’t apologise enough. It’s just that once I started, I couldn’t find the right time to tell you the truth. I’m so, so sorry.’

Elias looks drained and tired after the unexpected events we have encountered. I begin to accept his apology as I think of all the nice things he has done for me since we met, although I still have my guard up.

‘The police said they’d call this evening once they’ve got the other boat’s statement together. I’ve given them the name of this place, seeing as I don’t even have my phone with me. All that stuff we had to leave on board. What a nightmare.’

‘I know. Even my laptop is on there. Hey, why don’t I run you a nice bath and you relax for a bit while we wait for the police to call for an update?’

‘That sounds very nice. Thank you.’

‘Don’t mention it. We’re a team, you and I. You’ve helped me out of my scrapes, and now it’s my turn to help you. It’s your turn to be the damsel in distress.’

Elias laughs, and I kiss his cheek, closing the bathroom door behind him as I think about one of the craziest days I have ever had in my life. If only I had my laptop, there would be no shortage of inspiration for the book today.