Chapter 25
‘And what time do you call this, young lady?’ Robert asks as I let myself into our room shortly after midnight. He’s sitting up in bed with a book next to him and is trying, and failing, to adopt a stern expression.
‘Umm, last time I looked, I already had a dad,’ I tell him sarcastically.
‘Well, he’s not doing a very good job if you’re coming in at all hours,’ he says with a smile. ‘I thought you said you weren’t going to sleep with Gabriel on the first date.’
‘What makes you think I slept with him?’ I ask.
‘Educated guess. It’s very late, so something more than dinner must have happened. You’ve got a post-sex smile on your face and you are, how can I put this nicely, a little bedraggled.’
He’s right. Sex on a moonlit beach is as impractical as it is romantic.
The first time was lovely, but I think it’s safe to say our subsequent skinny dip, followed by having sex again, has left me with sand in all sorts of places where sand has absolutely no business being.
I run a hand through my hair, which is both tangled and gritty, and grin at him.
‘Well, as you said earlier,’ I say nonchalantly, ‘it seems I have form in this area.’
‘From the expression on your face, it was good. Was it?’
‘Way too personal, Robert.’
‘If I was another woman, you’d be giving me a blow-by-blow account,’ he observes drily. ‘Anyway, I can tell all I need to from your facial expression. It was good.’
He’s not wrong. My skin is tingling all over from Gabriel’s touch although, on reflection, that might also be down to a bit of chafing from the sand.
I don’t regret it at all though. I can safely say that al fresco sex is definitely not something I’d normally contemplate, but it certainly added an extra dimension, particularly the second time when I was still wet from the sea and therefore more acutely aware of the breeze playing across my skin as we moved together.
‘My lips are sealed,’ I tell Robert. ‘How was the disco, by the way?’
‘Good, actually. Amy still has the arse because she knows there’s something funny about Stuart and dancefloors but nobody will tell her what it is. When you’re as big a control freak as she is, that’s got to be the worst form of torture.’
‘And did you get a chance to have a chat with Stuart?’
‘Yes. Dan and I ambushed him when Amy and Lily went to the loo. I don’t think he’s in any doubt about our views.’
‘Will it make any difference, do you think?’
‘I hope so, but who knows? I’m certainly learning a lot about myself this holiday.’
‘How so?’
‘Not only have I learned that I’m not in the running for boyfriend of the year, I’ve also found out that I have shit taste in friends.’
‘One friend. Surely your others are better?’
‘I bloody hope so. Dan’s nice, isn’t he? I didn’t really know him before this. Were you aware that he and Lily are churchgoers?’
‘I think she mentioned it once, but she’s pretty low key about it,’ I tell him as an idea starts to form in my head.
‘I take it Stuart and Amy aren’t? He certainly wasn’t when I knew him before, and I’d like to think a Christian would have some scruples about sleeping with people behind his girlfriend’s back. ’
‘You’re right there.’ He smiles. ‘Stuart hasn’t got a religious bone in his body and I don’t think Amy could sit still for long enough to get through a church service. Either that, or she’d be ordering the pastor around until he got fed up and threw her out.’
‘Right, I’m going to have a shower and get ready for bed,’ I tell him as I head into the bathroom.
As I stand under the hot water, rinsing the sand and salt off myself, I can’t help grinning stupidly. This evening has turned out even better than I could have hoped. I have no idea what the future holds, but I no longer care. I’ll take as much of Gabriel as I can for as long as I can.
‘Tell me, Tori,’ Amy says coolly when Robert and I arrive for breakfast the next day. ‘Are you planning on joining in with any of the group activities, or are you determined to carry on being this stubbornly independent?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘The disco. I distinctly remember saying that everyone was expected to attend but, yet again, there was absolutely no sign of you.’ Next to her, Stuart is also shooting daggers at me, but I don’t think that’s got anything to do with me missing the disco. He’ll have to wait his turn.
‘Let it go, Amy,’ Lily urges her. ‘It doesn’t matter, does it? We all had a lovely time.’
‘It matters,’ Amy says firmly, ‘because it feels like Tori is deliberately tearing up everything I’ve organised and throwing it back in my face. I’ve tried to be flexible, but this is getting beyond a joke.’
‘Amy,’ I begin with a sigh. ‘I do appreciate the work you’ve put in. But, as I’ve told you before, this is my holiday too and, when I’m on holiday, I decide what I’m going to do.’
‘Mm-hmm? And what was so riveting last night that you decided you couldn’t even be bothered to turn up to a simple disco? Was it something to do with your pianist?’
‘As it happens, it was. He took me out to dinner.’
‘What’s the point of staying in an all-inclusive resort if you keep going out? You’re effectively paying for your meals twice.’
‘Well, not really, because Gabriel bought me dinner, but I’m also getting a taste of the real Jamaica, beyond the confines of the resort.’
‘What did you have?’ Lily asks, evidently keen to steer the conversation away from my supposed truancy and failure to understand how all-inclusives work.
‘Jerk chicken, callaloo and rice and peas. The chicken practically took my head off, I can tell you. I had to drink nearly a whole cow in milk to put out the fire. It was amazing though.’
‘Pah,’ Amy says dismissively. ‘I’ve had the jerk chicken here a few times and it’s not that bad. Honestly, Tori, you just need to educate your palate a bit. I love spicy food, don’t I, Stewie?’
‘Umm.’ Stuart’s mind has obviously been elsewhere as I can see the panicked expression on his face as he tries to figure out how to ask what we’re talking about without giving away the fact that he wasn’t listening.
‘When we get a curry, I almost always order a madras. The spicier the better,’ Amy continues boastfully as Stuart sags with relief.
‘She does,’ he agrees.
Fascinating as Amy’s dietary habits are, I’m keen to capitalise on the idea I had while talking to Robert last night.
‘Lily,’ I begin. ‘Were you and Dan planning to go to church anywhere on Sunday?’
‘We have discussed it, but we’re not really sure which type is the closest to what we’re used to. Why?’
‘Gabriel’s invited me to go to his family church with him,’ I tell her. This isn’t strictly true as, although I know he’s going, he hasn’t invited me. I’m sure he won’t mind though. ‘I wondered if you and Dan would like to come too.’
‘Oh, wow. Do you know what sort of church it is?’
‘It’s the Church of God, which is part of the Pentecostal movement. Gabriel’s brothers both sing in the choir and, from what I’ve heard, it’s pretty lively.’
‘Sounds fun. What do you think, Dan?’
‘Yes, absolutely.’
‘OK, let me talk to Gabriel, find out the times and everything and I’ll let you know.’
‘Aren’t you going to invite Stewie and me?’ Amy asks petulantly.
Shit. The whole plan was to have a morning with Lily away from them. ‘You’re more than welcome to come, I’m sure,’ I tell her. ‘I just didn’t think it was your thing.’
‘Stewie and I may not belong to any organised religious groups, but I’ve always believed there was something out there, haven’t I, babe?’
‘Have you?’ Stuart looks nonplussed. This is obviously the first he’s heard of it.
‘Yeah, don’t you remember I was reading that article to you the other month – the one about spirit guides – and I said to you that I reckoned my spirit guide was the soul of Barney, our pet labrador when I was a child.’
‘Umm, Amy. Spirit guides are not the same thing as God,’ Lily says.
‘I know that,’ Amy replies. ‘But the point is it all points to there being something more, don’t you see? Who says that spirit guides aren’t sent from God, hmm?’
I have to stifle a giggle as Robert looks at me and rolls his eyes.
‘I’m not sure church is really my thing,’ Stuart says to Amy carefully.
‘Treat it like a cultural experience,’ Amy tells him before turning back to me. ‘We’d love to come. We can make it a group activity. Robert would like to come as well, wouldn’t you?’
‘Umm, you’re all right, thanks, Amy. I’ll stay here.’
Amy smirks. ‘Now you know how it feels, Tori.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘To have someone not taking part in an activity you’ve organised.’
Feeling she’s evidently scored a point, she turns back to her breakfast, giving me the opportunity to return Robert’s eye roll undetected.
What she evidently hasn’t clocked is that she has managed to wreck my plans, just not in the way she thinks.
As we finish our meal and start to head back to our rooms to get ready for the day, Stuart hangs back and grabs me by the arm.
‘I want a word with you,’ he growls.
‘Let go of my arm,’ I tell him firmly. ‘You have no right to touch me, do you understand?’
He releases me as quickly as he grabbed me, looking at his hand in surprise as if it acted entirely of its own accord.
‘Right,’ I continue. ‘What’s the problem today?’
‘You know what the bloody problem is. You, blabbing our secret to all and sundry.’
‘I didn’t blab anything to anyone. They’d already worked out that something had happened, and do you know how they did that?’
‘How?’
‘Because of you and the way you were behaving. Nothing to do with me.’
‘You should have denied it. That was what we agreed.’
‘If we agreed anything, it was that I wouldn’t say anything to your girlfriend if you kept her out of my face. Despite your total failure to do that, I’ve kept my side. And, since you didn’t ask, the others have also agreed that it’s best that Amy doesn’t find out.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘But nothing, Stuart. If you had an ounce of integrity, you’d be confessing this to Amy and begging her forgiveness.
Actually, scrap that. If you had an ounce of integrity, you’d have told me you were attached and nothing would have happened in the first place.
This is totally not my problem and I’m bored of trying to help you cover your pathetic arse. Now, are we done?’
‘Is everything all right here?’ Robert asks. He’s obviously spotted us hanging back, and realised what’s going on.
‘Everything’s fine,’ Stuart says unconvincingly.
‘I wasn’t asking you,’ Robert tells him firmly.
‘I’m OK, thanks, Robert,’ I assure him. ‘Stuart and I were just clearing the air.’
‘Can I make a suggestion that I think will be good for your overall wellbeing, Stuart?’ Robert asks. ‘Leave Tori alone. You’re on very thin ice and she’s got a powerful blowtorch. Understand?’
Stuart sighs. ‘Loud and clear.’
‘Good,’ Robert tells him. ‘By the way, I think you going to church is an excellent idea. You’ve got rather a lot to confess, haven’t you?’
As Stuart stalks off, Robert turns to me. ‘I hope you didn’t mind me intervening. I know you’re more than capable of fighting your own battles, but I saw the way he was obviously coming for you and it just really pissed me off. I think you can assume our friendship is over.’
‘Thank you,’ I say. ‘I can fight my own battles, but it’s nice to have an ally too.’
‘I’m sorry about the church trip. You don’t mind, do you?’
‘It’s fine,’ I tell him with a smile. ‘I was rather hoping Amy wasn’t going to come either, if I’m honest.’
‘But then how could she control it?’ He laughs. ‘Anyway, plans for the day? I assume you’re seeing Gabriel.’
‘Not until later. He’s got some work calls to attend to this morning, but he said he’d drop by after lunch.’
‘Do you need the room?’
I blush. I like Robert, but I’m not comfortable with him knowing this much about my sex life. ‘I don’t know,’ I say eventually. ‘Do you?’
‘No, but you might need to hang out the “Do not disturb” sign. I think the cleaners do us in the afternoons, and I’m guessing you don’t want to provide an unscripted floor show.’
‘Good point. Thank you.’
Although I’m very keen to have sex with Gabriel again as soon as possible, and the idea of having a soft bed to do it in is very appealing, it doesn’t take me long to decide that Robert’s and my room is not the place to do it.
Quite apart from the cleaners that he’s already mentioned, hanging out a ‘Do not disturb’ sign in the middle of the afternoon is almost as obvious as standing on the balcony and announcing through a megaphone that we’re having sex.
Also, knowing my luck, Amy would be bound to spot it and interrogate me about it later.
No. We’ll have to find somewhere else. Let’s hope Gabriel has some ideas.