Chapter 23
23
For the first couple of days, Belle’s fears about them being back on Ibiza together were unfounded. She kept what she’d discovered about Gem and Diego to herself. Belle noticed how tightly wound Gem was, as if constantly keeping her emotions in check. The same way Gem presented only the good side of her life on Instagram, she projected that perfection in the way she looked too. She’d also made it clear she wanted to completely switch off from everything back home, conveniently taking talking about Dan off the table. The only mention of her home life was when she’d disappear for ten minutes each evening to phone her kids.
Perhaps the first day or two together was easy because it felt like a proper holiday. But instead of drunken pool parties and dancing till the early hours, they went up the coast to Cara Nova beach which was nestled in a pine-forest-hugged bay. They spent the day flitting between lazing on the sand and having a cooling drink in one of the beach bars and eating octopus timbal and summer cannelloni on the decked terrace of Aiyanna, shaded by sweeping palms and large colourful parasols. Belle noticed they skirted around emotional or revealing topics and kept the focus on where they were, what they were going to do, see and eat, subjects with little risk of conflict.
Early in the evening on their second day, they found a table on the terrace of Spirit’s bar and ordered a selection of tapas dishes including Padron peppers, leek croquettes and crispy coated calamari.
Gem dipped her bread into the aioli and took a bite. ‘God that’s powerful. No kissing anyone tonight.’
‘But delicious,’ Laurie said, scooping a liberal helping of the aioli onto a chunk of bread.
They were in mid-conversation about whether they should order a jug of sangria as a nod to their first Ibiza holiday or stick to a more sophisticated bottle of Cava when Belle glimpsed Caleb across the other side of the bar slowly making his way towards them.
Annoyance rushed through her because Gem had noticed him too. The slight pursing of her lips and the way her eyes traced him from head to toe showed she found him attractive. As Caleb reached them, Gem sat upright, her ample boobs front and centre. Belle was never sure if she did it on purpose or if it was an involuntary reaction to a good-looking man, because she’d always been a massive flirt. This time, it got Belle’s back up.
Caleb smiled and his eyes rested on Belle.
She cleared her throat. ‘These are my friends Laurie and Gem. This is Caleb, my boss and owner of this incredible place.’
Caleb shook their hands. ‘Finally I get to meet Belle’s friends. It’s good for her to have your company. I know what it’s like to work a long way from home. You’ve got everything you need?’
‘It’s generous of you to have put us in such a beautiful room.’ Gem’s voice was like honey.
‘My pleasure. It’s the least I can do. Belle taking over as events manager so quickly got me out of a real difficulty. I like the connection she has to the island and her desire to come back – Ibiza is my home and a place I fell in love with when I first came here, so I get that you three wanted a reunion holiday.’
‘Ah, you know about our ten-year pact to return.’ Gem ran a finger around the rim of her glass. ‘Or maybe it was more about her connection to Diego Torres that drew her back.’
‘Gem,’ Belle said, sudden panic rushing through her. She didn’t know what to say to take the conversation in a different direction. Laurie tensed next to her.
Caleb frowned. ‘Diego Torres Corchado?’
Gem looked at him quizzically. ‘You know him?’
‘He’s my brother-in-law.’
Belle’s chest tightened.
Gem sat forward, her mouth open as she looked up at Caleb. ‘Are you freaking kidding me? Diego’s your brother-in-law? The Diego? Belle massively had the hots for him. Probably still does.’ Gem snorted and turned to her. ‘Have you ended up in his bed again yet?’
Belle wanted the ground to swallow her up. She shot Gem a warning look. She may be teasing but there was defiance in her stance and her squared jaw, a hardness about her that hadn’t been there when she was younger. She’d been mouthy and confident, but never purposefully mean. Knowing now what she did about Gem having spent the night with Diego, she knew it was coming from an unhealthy place. Not understanding why Gem was trying to provoke her, Belle shook her head and bit her tongue. Caleb had obviously heard enough too, because he muttered something and walked away.
Belle watched his retreating back as dismay mixed with rage tore through her. She whipped back round to Gem. ‘You really don’t know when to shut up.’
‘What?’ Gem’s nostrils flared as she glared at her. ‘We all know Diego’s the real reason you came back.’
‘How can you sit there and say that when you know what really happened?’
Gem momentarily faltered. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
Even with music playing and many conversations happening around them, Belle was conscious of their tone, tense and cutting. She breathed deeply, trying to temper the hot anger bubbling up.
‘There’s a lot we need to talk about,’ she said as calmly as possible.
Gem folded her arms, her whole demeanour defiant and ready for an argument. ‘You want to talk about the past and the ridiculous bloody predictions we made? Then let’s talk about it and share how fucking far off the mark we were!’
‘Yes, I want to talk about stuff. And yes, we made some silly predictions when we were idiotic, self-centred, naive-as-hell twenty-one-year-olds who had no idea about how utterly crap life can be. This holiday wasn’t supposed to be about rehashing ten years ago and the life goals we had; I intended it to be about spending time together, the sort of quality time we used to have. Maybe coming back to Ibiza was a mistake but maybe it also gives us the chance to share what’s going on in our lives and support each other.’
‘You really want me to share what’s going on in my life right now?’ Gem glared at Belle. ‘Because I’m up for talking about the predictions you two made for me and highlighting my failures.’
‘What failures?’ Laurie dropped a half-eaten piece of calamari on her plate and shook her head. ‘You have a beautiful family, two gorgeous kids, a man who?—’
‘Don’t.’ Gem shook her head. ‘Don’t say it. You know nothing. Understand nothing.’
‘Why the hell would she, Gem, when you won’t talk to her?’ Belle choked on her own words because wasn’t that exactly what she’d been doing with Gem? But this was different. ‘How about actually being honest with both of us.’
Gem’s nostrils flared. ‘You really want me to tell the truth?’
‘Yes,’ Belle challenged.
Gem turned to Laurie. ‘Me and Dan have split up.’
‘You’ve what?’ Laurie reached across the table and touched Gem’s arm. ‘Oh my goodness, Gem! When did this happen?’
‘A while ago.’
Laurie frowned. ‘Why did you break up?’
‘Oh, take your pick. I could give you a long list of reasons – because we don’t love each other, because we drive each other crazy and not in a good way, because we’re both fucking miserable and it was only the kids keeping us together, but the main reason is Dan walked out because he’d met someone else.’
‘Oh Gem,’ Laurie said softly. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t be.’ She flashed them both a look of defiance. ‘Us breaking up was inevitable. I don’t really care about him being with someone else and I know it’s not the first time he’s been unfaithful, it’s just the first time it’s meant something. It’s not like I haven’t cheated on him.’
‘No, it’s not.’ Belle let out a long breath. The sophisticated bar with its natural wood, shady palms and white- and stone-coloured cushions was at odds with their conversation and the unsettled and confusing feelings swirling in her stomach. ‘You realise you said Diego’s full name to Caleb before. I didn’t even know his surname.’ She shook her head. ‘Because it wasn’t just anyone you cheated on Dan with when we were here last, was it?’
Gem stared at her across the table, her blue eyes wide. ‘He told you.’
Laurie put her drink down and frowned. ‘Who told her what?’
‘Do you want to tell her or shall I?’
Gem’s jaw clenched. ‘I didn’t think either of us would ever see him again. There was no point in upsetting you for no reason.’
Belle leaned across the table and kept her voice low and steady. ‘You have no idea how long I’ve held on to an impossible dream about Diego, thinking my feelings for him were more than just lust, wondering if I’d made a mistake not being brave enough to tell him how I felt. I held on to this idea that he was the perfect man for me, that we were perfect together, when in reality he was just hellishly good in bed – but of course you know that. I was young, naive and infatuated and have compared him to every single man since, when he wasn’t worth it.’
‘Wait. What?’ Laurie looked between them before focusing on Gem. ‘ You slept with Diego as well?’ Her voice was incredulous. ‘How could you? You know how Belle felt about him. Of all the things you’ve done, that just… I don’t even know what to say.’ She shook her head and shot Gem a look of loathing. ‘How on earth did it even happen?’
Belle drained the rest of her Cava. ‘The last night when you were out-of-it drunk and I was taking care of you, Gem hooked up with him.’
‘I was left on my own.’ Gem visibly bristled. ‘And I’m well aware it was no one’s fault – I’m the last person to berate Laurie for getting so shit-faced she could barely stand or you going off to make sure she was okay – but I ended up in a scary as hell situation with a group of horny drunk guys and Diego was there. He saw what was happening, swooped in and saved me.’
‘So you thanked him by having sex with him.’ Belle shrugged.
‘It wasn’t like that.’ Gem rubbed her fingers against the side of her forehead, her bangles clinking together with the movement. ‘Yes, there were opportunities when I could have come back to the hotel and I chose not to… I honestly can’t explain how euphoric that night was, confusing too and surprising. So many things. You have no idea either how much regret I felt, but also how much I’ve thought about him too, wondered if things had been different, if I’d been brave enough to tell him that I think…’ A shuddery breath cut her words short. Her eyes were damp, her cheeks flushed. She grabbed her phone and stood up. ‘I’m sorry Belle, for everything.’