Chapter 24
The after-effects of the evening at the spa had made Nina feel very chilled. However, she also felt overwhelmingly tired despite having the lovely feeling of being on holiday. This feeling seemed to overlay her in waves as she pottered around the room, getting ready for the pool. Attributing the weariness and heavy feeling in her bones to travelling and being cooped up in the back of an aeroplane for twelve hours, she hoped it would be gone by the next day.
With a book in hand and her beach bag over her shoulder, she ambled around the cute blue pool at the back of the hotel on her way to a sun lounger on the far side. She sighed as she looked around; everything around her looked as if it had been saturated in a deep, lush green and bright tropical colours. Despite being in the centre of the craziness of Bangkok and its traffic, the pool area was a little oasis and just what she needed.
In a white bandeau swimming costume, matching shirt cover-up, and huge floppy sun hat, she walked over the exquisitely cobbled floor beside the pool and passed a line of teak sunbeds with deep green cushions and matching parasols. Deciding on a sunlounger in the shade, a member of staff was quickly at her side, appearing from nowhere, unfurling one of the tightly wound, jewel-coloured towels onto the sunlounger and displaying the lovely Thai smile.
Next, she was provided with another towel as a pillow and a bottle of chilled water, and she settled in for a morning of doing not much at all. She wouldn’t mind becoming accustomed to the lifestyle. She’d intended to read her book and get lost in it for a bit, but instead, found herself just gazing around at the tropical plants and the ripples of water going across the deep blue pool in front of her. Everything about the hotel, from the beautiful traditional roof to the jacuzzi area backed by a tiled wall and orchids, had been thoughtfully designed. She didn’t even need to get lost in her book. She could just sit and stare around at the plants and pool all day long.
Feeling herself sink back onto the sunlounger, she allowed herself to relax, do nothing and recharge. As she watched a woman on the other side of the pool being served a gigantic cocktail adorned with flowers on the side of the glass, she had an internal debate with herself about whether she should indulge in a cocktail, too. Deciding that it was way too early in the day, she simply sat with her sunglasses on in the shade and took in the sights and smells around her, allowing the lush vegetation and sunshine to work their wonders.
A couple of hours or so later, after dipping into her book and ordering a cold drink, she was in exactly the same position: reclined on her sunbed, chilling for England. She tuned into the conversation of a couple of women beside her.
‘I said to her, you know, darling, you just have to let it be. She does have to accept it at the end of the day.’
‘Mmm.’
‘What do you think?’
‘Not sure. Pretty hard to say from my point of view.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Look, I”m not being funny, Lynette, but I have four children. I know they drive me bonkers, and I’ve now been divorced twice and am on my way to my third divorce, but I don’t know what it’s like not to have a baby, you know? I think you’re being quite harsh. Really harsh, actually. I’m calling it as I think, seeing as you asked.’
The other women contemplated for a second. ‘Oh, right, okay. I know what you’re saying. I suppose it is easy for me to say having had three of my own. I just think this IVF thing has been so stressful, and it’s been years now. I really do think it’s gone on long enough.’
‘Yep, when you put it like that. Well, you know what, Lynette, who are we to judge?’
The woman, whose name was clearly Lynette, sighed loudly. Nina tried to side-eye behind her sunglasses without turning her head so that she could see what Lynette looked like and have a bit of a sticky beak. Lynette lowered her voice. ‘Thing is, don’t tell Brian, but I’ve paid for the last few attempts. Well, we have. He just doesn’t know that we have. When I say few, I mean, actually, lots. None of which have…’
‘Ouch. Crikey! Are you completely bonkers? He’ll hit the roof if he finds out.’
‘I know. As if I actually care, though. You know what he’s like about money.’ Lynette flailed her hands around at the pool and the hotel. ‘He makes out we don’t have a pot to, well, you know. He’s been penny-pinching all our married life. That’s over forty years of putting money away. Honestly, he spends his life scheming ways to save money. This from a man who earns a fortune, too. You see, I blame it on his mother. She took penny-pinching to the extreme. Tight as. Let me tell you, he’s got money stashed all over the show. The laugh is that he thinks I don’t know! Pah! I’ve been on it since day one. The other chuckle is he doesn’t know I’ve done the same and have stashed money away. Marriage, eh?’
‘Yeah, you’ve said. I don’t know why he continues to do this pleading poverty thing. He was spouting on about it the other day. I’m surprised he let you stay here.’
‘Let me? Oh, trust me, he wouldn’t dare! I do whatever the heck I like. We all know that,’ Lynette stated.
‘You do. You see, that’s where I’ve gone wrong three times now.’
‘I did try to tell you that, didn’t I? When you married this third one, did I or did I not say to you that you needed to follow my lead? I did. And did you?’
‘I did not.’
‘Which is why you’re getting divorced for the third time.’
‘Yeah. This one is going to make me fairly rich, though. Like house-in-the-Cotswolds-rich.’
‘There is that. At least you chose well this time.’ Lynette cackled.
‘Anyway, back to Ellie. Is that the last IVF go for a while?’
There was another gigantic sigh from Lynette. ‘I don’t know. You see these girls today, they want everything right now. Like right now. She’s not missed the boat, I don’t think. It’s just that she can’t stand not to have it exactly when she thought it would happen in her life. Always the same. She wanted to snap her fingers and be pregnant.’
‘It’ll happen when it happens, as they say.’
‘I did try to say that to her. It didn’t go down well. You see, money can’t buy everything…’
‘I know. You see, in our day, it wasn’t like that.’
‘I blame it on social media, personally. That TikTok thing or whatever it’s called, Tiktak is it, something like that? I mean really? Grown women of our age doing those absurd dances in their kitchens. Sometimes in their pyjamas. I can’t even.’
‘So cringe. Worse when they do it with their husbands.’
‘Anyway. Another cocktail?’
‘Oh, go on then.’
‘Margarita?’
‘Make it a big one.’
Nina chuckled to herself as she watched Lynette, who was wearing a floor-length, sparkly kaftan, bright orange flip-flops, and a sun hat, heave herself up from her lounger and shuffle over in the direction of the pool bar. She reflected on the conversation she’d just heard and her own journey with wanting a baby. It certainly hadn’t happened to her yet, despite quite a few trips to the moon. Maybe Lynette had a point and it may well take a while. She nodded to herself. She might take a leaf out of Lynette’s book and, for a bit, let what would be, be.