What Happens in Paradise (The Love Hotel #2)

Chapter 19

19

ALEJANDRO

I was proud of myself. After speaking to Lola last night, today I was thinking more sensibly.

It was wrong of me to pursue Jasmine. We were both here to work, not fuck.

Did I think about her when I returned to my room and went in the shower? Sí .

Did I dream about her? A little.

And did I think she looked beautiful this morning? Definitely.

But Rome was not built in a day. I could not just turn off my feelings completely within a few hours. The important thing was that I would no longer act on them.

‘So your grandad does not know we are coming?’ I said, breaking the silence.

Rather than staring at Jasmine, to make things easier, I looked out of the window.

The sky wasn’t bright blue like it normally was. It was grey and cloudy. Hopefully, it would clear soon and the sun would shine through.

‘No,’ she replied with a little surprise in her voice. Perhaps she was expecting me to flirt or say something suggestive, but like I had said to her earlier, I was just here today as a colleague. ‘He doesn’t have a mobile, only a house phone, and he rarely answers that.’

‘And it is a small town that we will go to, sí ?’

‘Yes, it’s in the countryside.’

‘That is good. If he is not at home, then it will be easier to find him. It is unlikely that he will go far.’

‘I hope so. It’d be a shame to travel all that way for it to be a wasted journey.’

‘Whatever happens, it will not be a waste. You will know that you tried to rebuild that connection. And it will be an adventure. You will get to see another part of this beautiful country.’

‘I like your way of looking at it.’

When I turned to look at Jasmine, she was smiling and my chest instantly expanded. If I was going to keep my thoughts professional, I needed to keep my eyes on the views outside.

As Bob continued driving and introduced us to some songs by a Jamaican reggae artist called Protoje, Jasmine told me more about her memories of her grandad.

‘I loved that he used to always call me half pint.’

‘Like the milk?’

‘Yes! Because I was short. Obviously because I was only a little girl. But even when I grew taller, that was still his nickname for me.’

‘Do you mind me asking why your family lost contact with him?’ If I was going to meet him, it would be helpful to know the reason.

She took a deep breath.

‘If it is too personal, you do not have to tell me.’

‘No, it’s okay. It’s just… my mum was close to my grandma, so she was really upset when my grandad got married again, not long after my grandma passed away. She felt like it was a betrayal.’

A concrete lump formed in my throat and my heart thumped.

Jasmine could not know this, but what she had just said hit a nerve because those were feelings that I had wrestled with.

For so long after Freya passed, I never thought that I could ever think about dating another woman. It seemed like it would be a betrayal of our relationship. Like I was being unfaithful to her and her memory. But with time and lots of conversations with Lola, who was Freya’s best friend, I was slowly starting to feel like I had to move on. That Freya would want me to be happy again.

‘How soon did he remarry?’

‘A year later.’

‘I see. And was he happy?’

‘He seemed like he was in a photo I saw. We didn’t go to the wedding. He was adamant that it wasn’t planned, that they just fell in love, but Mum was devastated and said that we had to cut all ties with him. I was heartbroken.’

‘How long ago was this?’

‘About five years ago. He always sends me a card and photo on my birthday, which is sweet. But it’s not the same. I miss Granny, but she’s gone, so there’s nothing I can do. Grandad is still here and I want him to be happy. I miss him.’

‘I understand,’ I said. I was glad Jasmine had agreed to make this trip and really hoped that she would get the chance to see him.

Jasmine turned to look out of the window. I sensed that she needed some time to gather her thoughts, so I decided not to speak.

The further Bob drove, the greyer the sky became. Then it started to rain.

It was to be expected. When I looked online, it said that October was one of the months with the highest rainfall. I was glad that at least we’d missed the peak months for hurricanes in August and September.

‘The rain’s coming down quite hard,’ Jasmine called out to Bob. ‘Are we still okay to drive out to the countryside?’

‘No problem, mon!’ Bob said.

But as we continued driving, I understood Jasmine’s concern.

The windscreen wipers were on the highest setting, but they could not clear the rain away fast enough and the longer we drove, the less stable the roads looked.

We were no longer driving on motorways or modern, tarmacked roads. We were climbing a steep mountain, deep in the countryside where the roads were just muddy tracks.

‘We’re really high up!’ Jasmine looked out of the window and winced. ‘Is this the only route?’

‘Mi waan tuh tek anedda road, buh di rain washed eh weh laas week!’

‘I’m sorry…’ Jasmine paused. ‘Did you just say you wanted to take another road, but that the rain washed it away last week?’

‘Ya mon. Dat a wah mi seh!’ Bob confirmed.

I looked at Jasmine and saw the panic all over her face.

‘So when there’s a lot of rain, for example, like how heavy it’s raining now, roads just… wash away ?’

‘Ya mon,’ Bob said casually.

‘Oh my God!’ Jasmine gripped the edge of the seat.

Her eyes bulged and her body tensed. I thought that she was scared when we were climbing Dunn’s River Falls, but now she looked terrified.

My first instinct was to reach out and hold her hand, like I did before, but then I remembered: boundaries .

I could not touch her any more. It was agreed. I had made a promise to myself. And I had told her I was only here as a colleague. I could not go back on my word.

‘We will be fine,’ I said softly, hoping that would reassure her.

There may have been a chance that could have helped. But when we spotted a minibus coming towards us, trying to squeeze down the same narrow stretch of road and I saw Jasmine throw her hands over her eyes, I knew it would take more than a few words to calm her.

‘There’s no way we can both stay on this road. It’s too tight! We’re going to go off the edge!’ Her voice was full of panic. ‘Look at the drop! Oh my God! We’re going to die!’

When I leant over to look out of her side of the window, I instantly understood her concerns. She was right. Bob’s car was already dangerously close to the edge. There were no barriers. And even with the rain lashing against the window, I could see that the drop was steep. If we went over the edge, there was no way we would survive.

Mierda .

The road was muddy and slippery. I could not see how either Bob or the minibus would be able to reverse safely.

‘Rhaatid!’ Bob shouted as the minibus got closer. His tone of voice was unusually downbeat and shocked, so I knew he was saying something like damn . This was not a good sign.

But it was when Jasmine jumped over to my side of the car and gripped my arm that I was certain we were in big trouble…