Chapter 11
Cam flops down on the trailer’s hard-looking corner sofa. He looks shattered. The youthful exuberance of our morning adventures together has disappeared.
I hope he doesn’t think I’m some weirdo who climbs into every man’s bed she comes across. ‘I swear I wasn’t in your bed. Just hiding beside it. I panicked, that’s all. I’d never get into a strange man’s bed.’
He screws his eyes at me.
‘Not that you’re strange.’
Someone, pass me a spade.
‘Obviously, I meant I don’t bed-hop. I wouldn’t ordinarily be found in a male companion’s bedchamber—’
‘You really heard voices?’ Cam interrupts before my nonsense gets too out of hand.
‘Yes. They said something about a blind spot.’
Cam’s jaw drops. ‘Blind spot? Graeme is a senior technician. He’s solid. If there’s a serious problem, then there’s a serious problem.’ He looks at the pile of papers awaiting his attention. ‘Those schedules will have to wait until I track down Graeme and find out what’s going on.’
‘Let me help,’ I say. ‘I’m a teacher. I can basically solve every problem known to humankind.’
‘What about top-secret work schedules?’
‘My speciality.’
At least this raises a smile from him. I reach out to touch his arm.
‘It’s been a really fun day. I owe you one,’ I say, pleased that he looks more relaxed. ‘Now, what can I do?’
Cam considers me for a moment. ‘I know geography isn’t your strong point but are you any good at organising people?’
‘Are you kidding me? I’m a professional people organiser. It’s my superpower.’
‘I thought you said doing a hundred jobs at once was your superpower?’
‘That is the very definition of being organised, Cameron.’
Me using his full name is causing some amusement. ‘And can I trust you here on your own while I go look for Graeme?’
‘Yes, but only if you stop calling him Gram and start pronouncing his name correctly. It’s GRAY-UM.’
Cam doesn’t rise to the bait. ‘And you haven’t just violated my trust by snooping at confidential papers or prying around in my bedroom?’
‘No, absolutely not. What a ridiculous thing to assume.’
We look again at the CONFIDENTIAL papers scattered beside me, the upended bedroom that looks like the aftermath of an orgy and the pile of condoms in the shape of glittery gold hearts spilling over the desk, and start smirking.
‘You had better tell me everything you overheard then,’ he says, shaking his head in disbelief.
I’m just about to tell him when there’s more banging on the door. Cam throws his hands in the air, frustrated. Without saying a word, I dash into his bedroom, quietly close the door, and press my ear to it.
‘Hi, Porscha. What’s up?’
‘Sorry to bother you, Cameron,’ says Porscha, her voice like honey, ‘but I forgot to mention something earlier.’
Sure you did.
‘Okay. What is it?’
‘Did I just hear voices?’
Oh dear.
‘I was on the phone sorting an issue,’ Cam lies smoothly.
‘I’ll need to come in. It’s, it’s rather… delicate.’
My hairy backside it is.
Cam sighs loudly. ‘Can’t it wait? Like I just said, I’m really busy.’
‘No, it can’t.’ She sounds a bit frosty now.
The trailer shakes slightly as she, presumably, forces her way in.
‘I’d kill for a coffee,’ she says.
‘If we could get right to the point. I’m just on my way out to find Graeme.’
‘I’ve just seen him heading to the catering tent. He’ll be there for hours. I’ll do two coffees. Want one?’
‘Uh, no thanks. Here, let me do it.’
I hear a whirring and fizzing followed by Porscha oohing and ahhing. ‘Thank you so much. Is there nothing you’re not good at?’ She laughs as though she’s told a funny joke, while I bristle at the horrendous use of a double negative.
‘Seriously, though, Porscha. I really need to speak to Graeme urgently.’
‘It can wait. Sit,’ she instructs as though he is her pet dog. ‘I need your advice.’
‘Sure. What is it?’
‘It’s about…’
I can almost hear her mind whirring while she makes up a fib.
She’s totally stalling. She’s making it all up so that she can flirt with him.
I know because I have done it myself so many times since my arrival.
It’s not his fault he emits a sort of sexy hunk pheromone.
Like a drop of blood in the ocean to sharks, he attracts women from miles around.
‘It’s about these trailers.’
Pathetic.
‘What about these trailers?’ Cam sounds frustrated.
‘I’m thinking of changing mine. It’s too small. I wondered if I could have a look around yours. Do you mind?’
Genius.
‘Go ahead.’ He lets out a huge, bored sigh until he yells, ‘No! Not in there!’
There’s barely time to react so I do the only thing I can and dive onto the bed, covering myself with the duvet.
Porscha laughs. ‘Why? Are you hiding a woman in there?’
‘No. Well, yes, actually.’
Does he struggle with low-level lying too? We really do have a lot in common.
Porscha stops walking. ‘Excuse me? You’ve brought a woman back to your trailer? You’ve brought a woman to this secret location? Well, I hope she’s worth it because it’ll cost you your job if the boss finds out.’
‘I can explain.’
‘No. Hang on. I am the boss!’ Porscha spits.
‘It’s not what you think.’
There’s a thumping sound vibrating through the trailer. I imagine Porscha tapping her foot, waiting for an explanation. Then more thumps and a hand on the bedroom door handle. Lord knows what he’ll come up with.
‘CHAP 3 – Hortense – was in there. She’s been sick. The hotel couldn’t check her in before two o’clock, so I offered for her to use the trailer. I haven’t yet disinfected the place. So don’t go in. You might catch what she’s got. Even I haven’t been in.’
Very impressive. But only if he’s lying. I do not want to be in this bed if that awful woman has been in here.
‘Thank God you stopped me in time.’ Porscha sounds as though he’s just saved her from accidentally walking off a clifftop. ‘How disgusting. I’ll get cleaning over here immediately.’
The whole experience has clearly put her off evaluating its suitability as potential accommodation. I hear the trailer door open and feel Porscha’s weight on the steps.
‘Maybe I’ll come back another time. When you have fresh sheets.’ She laughs. ‘Ciao.’
The trailer door clicks shut and, a few moments later, there’s a gentle knock on the bedroom door.
‘The coast is clear.’ Cam opens the door and spots me still hidden under his duvet.
It smells of lemon-scented woody aftershave.
Fresh and clean. Just like his lavender-scented shirts.
The CHAP 3 story was a complete lie. I’m impressed.
‘That woman is stress on legs, isn’t she?’ I say, sitting up in his bed. ‘I’m surprised you’re not on permanent tenterhooks. It’s almost sexual harassment in the workplace the way she’s throwing herself at you.’
Says the woman making herself comfy in his actual bed.
Cam’s cheeks flame.
‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just assumed…’
I just assumed you aren’t attracted to forceful man-eaters with extra-long legs.
‘No. It’s not that. It’s just the whole unrequited situation. I’m not ready for… anything just yet. And definitely not while I’m working.’
Oof. A double blow.
‘That’s completely understandable,’ I say, vowing to back off completely.
‘It must be hard to have beautiful women constantly throwing themselves at you every minute of every single day. If only you’d gone into nature documentaries.
Although, knowing your luck you’d be carried off into a South African rainforest by a randy silverback. ’
Cam shakes his head, trying not to laugh. ‘Wrong terrain. Wrong continent.’
‘I’m going to have a word with the British government as soon as I return to England. Our education system is clearly lacking.’
Cam throws his head back and laughs, causing an unexpected feeling of joy to spread through me. I throw off the duvet and follow him back to the lounge area.
‘What’s that?’ I say, pointing to the L-shaped sofa.
Cam groans. ‘Oh, man. She left her walkie-talkie behind.’
‘Meaning she’ll be back as soon as she thinks you have clean sheets.’ I giggle. ‘She’s admirably persistent, I’ll give her that.’
Cam smiles.
‘What?’
‘Thanks,’ he says simply. ‘I appreciate it.’
‘Appreciate what?’
‘What you’re doing. It’s very kind. Making me laugh to take my mind off the stress.’
I gulp, heat rising from my neck. I’d hate to embarrass him with another unrequited crush situation. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Well, let’s just say I’m not like this around everyone.’
My cheeks are on fire. ‘You best return this to Porscha before she has time to come back in her stripper basque and peephole bra.’
If he thinks Porscha leaving objects in his trailer might be obvious and tacky, it’s nothing compared to me flying six thousand miles across the planet just to see if there’s a spark of interest in those glorious eyes of his. The shame.
‘I’ll drop it with her assistant. Then I need to swing by the main villa to drop some kit off and check in with the technicians. You’ll be stuck with me for another few hours. Is that okay?’
I’d like nothing more.
* * *
While Cam has gone into the Love on the Island villa, I have remained hidden in the car behind a section of trees.
I’ve tried peeking, but the villa itself is hidden behind a massive purpose-built wall and ironclad gate.
They are obviously leaving nothing to chance, and security is disappointingly rock solid.
He has left me with a plethora of things to schedule.
I need to work out the driving times from each of the ten villas housing the contestants, so that I can co-ordinate the drivers and entry times and match those with camera operators and runners.
And according to the notes, I need to cross-reference those with the timings of kitchen and housekeeping crew who need to be in, set up, cook the food, do the final sweep to check all the cameras and microphones are working and then disappear before the Islanders gather by the firepit for the first big welcome to the show.
It’s very exciting. I have goosebumps. I’m much better suited to behind the scenes.
Before I know it, Cam is climbing back into the car.
‘How did you get on?’ he asks, looking at my clipboard.
‘All done,’ I say, turning it round to show him. He makes a big ‘O’ with his mouth. ‘You’re welcome, Cam. Least I could do after such an awesome morning.’
‘I really appreciate it, thank you. And you were right. There’s a blind spot exactly where you said it would be.’
‘What are you going to do?’
Cam shrugs. ‘Not sure yet. Every day we are set back costs roughly four hundred thousand dollars at this point, plus penalties from sponsors if we don’t air on time.
It’s a shitshow, all right. I’m tempted to let Graeme get away with it.
If you were on the show, would you go looking for blind spots, or would you just assume there are cameras everywhere and there would be no point? ’
I want to reassure him. ‘I’d assume the worst, cameras everywhere. Did you know that they have microphones in the toilet and cameras in the shower?’
Cam looks uncomfortable. ‘Just for the record, I never agreed with that. It’s disgusting, but what Porscha wants, Porscha gets.’
‘Hmm. I got that impression. She looks the forceful type, that’s for sure.’
‘How do you know what Porscha looks like?’
‘Erm, well, I kind of saw you two together outside your trailer before she came barging inside. And those two workmen had plenty of things to say about her that weren’t entirely complimentary.’
‘She is kind of a ball-breaker, I’ll give her that. But then you have to be, on a show like this.’
‘How long have you worked on this show?’
‘Just since the last season. It’s a stepping stone to what I’d ideally like to do.’ Cam leans an arm across my seat while he twists around to reverse expertly out of the tight spot we are in.
‘Which is?’
‘You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?’ he says, turning back around and jamming the gear into first. He pulls on the steering wheel to navigate the rough terrain.
‘Like I said. I’m a teacher. Being nosy is a huge part of who I am professionally.’
Cam starts chuckling as he swings onto the road. ‘Okay. Why don’t I show you instead? Do you have one more spontaneous surprise left in you?’
‘Do we have time?’
‘I’ll make time.’
Oh, gosh.
‘Then, I love surprises,’ I lie casually as we speed along the isolated road back to our villa.
Who am I? Who is this woman?