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“Why can’t I come?” Annabel protested.
“Because It’s a school night darling. I won’t be too late. I have to take you to school tomorrow. Now be a good girl and go to bed when your grandmother tells you to,” Teresa turned to Henrietta. “Thanks again. I understand. I’ve just got back.”
“It’s a good idea,” said Henrietta. “To clear the air between you and Bob.”
“And his wife.”
“Yes. They might still offer you a job.”
“Well, I’m applying for a job as a teaching assistant at Annabel’s school. I might do my PGCE and teach again.”
“That’s nice. Well, don’t you worry about Annabel. You have a good time, and I’ll see you later.”
“Yes, I won’t be too late.”
*
“Are they here yet?” Teresa asked José as they met in the hotel reception.
“Not yet; relax. What did Bob say when you spoke to him?”
“He seemed keen on the idea. Is everything ready?”
“Yes, everything’s ready. Don’t worry.”
“Where’s Benedito?
“He’s coming. Calm down. He’s not happy wasting a bottle of single malt, but he knows it’ll be worth it.”
“I’m sorry José.”
“Don’t be sorry. We want to get them as much as you do. Look, here’s Bene.”
“Hi Teresa,” said Benedito, descending the last stairs to the reception. “Everything’s ready to go.”
“Good man,” said José. “Teresa, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“And why should she be worried?” came a voice from behind.
Teresa spun around and saw Bob stood next to his wife.
“Oh, hi Bob, good to see you,” Teresa’s voice wavered. “I’m on these hormone replacement tablets, and they make me anxious.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. You’ve nothing to be anxious about, have you?”
“Shall we find our table?” Teresa turned to the restaurant.
“Reassure him. He’s suspicious.” José whispered into Teresa’s ear as they walked to the table.
“Thanks for coming,” Teresa said to Bob. “I worried that when I left, you might have got the impression that I didn’t appreciate everything that you did for me, and I wanted to set that straight.”
Bob’s wife looked at him and raised her eyebrows.
“You didn’t need to worry,” said Bob. “I never got that impression at all.”
“Do you like whiskey?” asked Benedito.
“Shh, too early,” José whispered.
“Have you met Benedito?” asked Teresa.
“Yes, we introduced ourselves earlier while you were rushing for the table,” said Bob’s wife. “Bob tells me you and José got married.”
“That’s right.”
“And Benedito is José’s...”
“Friend,” said Benedito.
“Good Friend,” said Teresa.
“Very good friend,” said José.
“Benedito is obsessed with single malt whiskey,” said Teresa.
“That’s interesting,” said Bob’s wife. “So is Bob.”
“Have you ever tried Meadowbank?” asked Benedito.
“Yes, I have,” said Bob. “It’s good.”
“Was that the ten or twelve years?”
“Twelve.”
“What would you say?” said Benedito, leaning forward. “If I told you I have a bottle of eighteen-year-old Meadowbank?”
“I’d say you were a lucky man. How much did that set you back?”
“One hundred and twenty-five.”
Bob whistled.
“I’d bring it down to give you a taste, but the restaurant won’t allow consumption of anything in the restaurant that they haven’t sold you.”
“That’s understandable.”
The waiter arrived and distributed menus.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” she asked.
“We need a bit of time to decide,” suggested José.
“I don’t,” said Bob’s wife. “A large gin and tonic.”
“We have a range of gins in the drinks menu,” said the waiter.
“Do you have Tanqueray?”
“Yes.”
“Then bring me that.”
“Anyone else?” The waiter surveyed the table.
“A couple more minutes?” asked Bob
The waiter left.
“They’ve got a sixteen-year-old from Islay,” said Benedito. “We could do a lot worse.”
“You can do a lot worse than a sixteen-year-old from Islay,” Bob laughed. “Are you trying to get me drunk?”
Teresa tried to keep her cool.
“Not at all,” said Benedito. “Just an apéritif. Are you having a whiskey, José?”
“No, I think I’ll go straight into the wine. If I get a bottle of Rioja, is anyone else going to have some?”
“I will,” said Bob’s wife.
Benedito also nodded
“How about you Teresa? What are you having?”
“Just a tonic zero, please.”
“Are you sure?” asked José.
Everyone looked at Teresa as if to find out whether she was alright.
“Yes, just a tonic zero, please. If they have one.”
When the waiter returned with the gin and tonic for Bob’s wife, Benedito gave her the rest of the drinks order and asked for more time for them to choose their main course.
“Would anyone like a starter?” asked José.
“I’d like the duck liver pate,” said Bob’s wife. Teresa hated her more and more by the minute.
“The cheddar cheese single, please,” said Bob. Teresa noticed he at least had more manners than his wife.
“Teresa?”
“I’ll just go straight into the main.”
“Are you okay?”
Teresa smiled and nodded.
“Bene?”
“What are you having?”
“The prawns.”
“You don’t want to share the fish plate?”
“Okay, yes, I can do that. What about mains?”
“Pork for me,” said Bob’s wife.
“Steak, please,” said Bob.
“Fillet?” asked José.
“Yes, please.”
“Teresa?”
“The cod, scallop and prawn salad, please.”
“Cod fillet please José,” said Benedito.
The waiter brought the drinks and José gave her the order for the starters and the mains.
“That’s a nice single malt, don’t you think, Bob?” said Benedito, sampling the whiskey.
“It is,” said Bob. “You are treating us. It’s quite a big thank you for just taking Teresa to the airport.”
“It’s more than that,” said Teresa. “You offered me a job and offered to pay for my operation.”
Bob’s wife turned to look at him. Teresa wondered whether she knew he had offered to pay for the operation.
“Now that I’m back in Beverley, I need some friends, and I was worried that you might have felt I was ungrateful.”
José gave Teresa a supportive smile.
“Are you staying in Beverley?” Bob’s wife asked José.
“No, I’m afraid my business will keep me in London.”
“Interesting,” Bob’s wife looked like she was planning some scheme. “What do you do, Benedito?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Which branch of the law?”
“Immigration.”
“Handy.”
“Would you like another gin? Or would you like to switch to the Rioja?”
“Rioja.”
José poured Bob’s wife a large glass, then waved the waiter over and asked for another bottle.
“No-one has to get up early tomorrow, do they?”
“I have to take Annabel to school,” said Teresa.
“Well, that’s fine,” said José. “You’re not drinking.”
The starters avoided a potential lull in the conversation. Teresa began salivating, seeing all the food, but she was determined not to regain the weight she had lost after her operation. She also had a faint sense of nausea, which she attributed to the anxiety.
“So, do you still want to work for us?” Bob’s wife asked Teresa.
“Do you still have a job available?”
“I’m sure we can find a role for you,” Bob smiled.
“Bob told me you were having nightmares,”
Teresa felt that the eyes of Bob’s wife were burning into her.
“They’ve stopped now,” Teresa lied, although she was now certain that the nightmares were not dreams at all but were memories of actual events.
“Bob said that I was in your nightmares,” Bob’s wife seemed to be interrogating Teresa.
“Haha, yes,” Teresa laughed. “Silly, isn’t it?”
She took a large gulp of tonic, hoping that she sounded genuine.
“Do you believe that dreams have meanings, Teresa?”
“No, they’re just the product of an overstimulated imagination.”
“Or cheese,” said Benedito, chewing a beer battered fish goujon.
“I have strange dreams,” said José, trying to sound nonchalant. “Would you like some Rioja, Bob?”
“Or another whiskey?” suggested Benedito.
“I’ll move onto wine,” said Bob.
“Are you sure? Look at this 15-year-old,” Benedito offered the drinks menu to Bob.
“Oh, okay then.”
Bob’s wife rolled her eyes.
“I thought you would have Rioja,” José complained. “I got a second bottle.”
“I’m sure you and Bob’s wife can manage that between you,” Benedito laughed.
“So, what do you have in mind for Teresa?” José turned to address Bob’s wife. “It’s kind of you to consider her after all this time. Could you not find anyone to fill the role?”
“Our needs are specific,” said Bob’s wife. “It’s difficult to find someone who meets all our requirements.”
“Teresa fits the bill?”
“She’s showed aptitudes that we both appreciate.”
“Aptitudes?”
“She’s very flexible, for example.”
“I see. More wine?” José filled the glass of Bob’s wife once more.
The waiter came to clear away the plates from the starters, and Benedito ordered two more whiskies.
“How did you like your starters?” asked José.
“Very nice, thank you,” said Bob.
“Have you been here before?”
“No, it’s nice, isn’t it?”
The main dishes arrived, and everyone at the table ate in silence for a few moments.
“I didn’t ask you how your operation went,” said Bob.
“The doctors are pleased,” said Teresa. “It’s just the HRT tablets that are driving me mad.”
“How so?”
“Well, they make me anxious.”
“Yes, you said. Is there anything you can do?”
“I’ve been trying to do mindfulness meditations; they’re meant to help.”
“I don’t like mindfulness,” said Bob’s wife, who sounded like the Rioja was taking effect. “It is a substitute for, and the opposite of, Christian beliefs about biblical meditation and prayer.”
“Really?” said José.
“Most people are ignorant about what mindfulness is,” Bob’s wife continued. “It’s a way for Buddhists to spread their religion without people realising it. People don’t realise how dangerous it is. People have tried to kill themselves after doing mindfulness.”
José and Benedito raise their eyebrows at each other.
“It’s true; people hallucinate or have psychotic experiences. It should be called unmindfulness.”
Bob’s wife put another forkful of pork in her mouth.
“I thought it was relaxing,” said Benedito.
“The problem is that they are force feeding mindfulness to the children in our schools,” said Bob’s wife with her mouth still full of pork. She took a swig of Rioja to wash it down.
José refilled her glass.
“It’s no substitute for prayer,” she continued, becoming more excited. “And it’s been bundled up with that other trojan horse, yoga.”
“What? Prayer?”
“No, mindfulness. They’re even doing it in churches. Christian leaders have forgotten that Buddhism is a dark pagan religion. Tell them, Bob.”
“You tell it much better than me, darling.”
“This whole energy manipulation business. It’s tapping into witchcraft and the occult. These pastors who allow this to go on are in league with Satan. Even the devil himself appeared as an angel of light.”
Teresa looked at Bob and thought how true this was.
“So be careful, Teresa. Mindfulness could lead you down a dark path.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
When the waiter arrived to clean the plates away, José asked for the dessert menu, and a third bottle of Rioja and Benedito ordered two glasses of a nice 10-year-old single malt.
“Hmm, sticky toffee pudding,” said José, looking at the menu.
“I’ll have the Apple tarte tatin,” said Bob’s wife.
“Teresa?”
“Lemon and raspberry posset please.”
“Chocolate brownie, please,” said Bob.
“Cheese plate for me,” said Benedito. “Anyone join me in a port or a cognac?”
Everyone except Bob shook their heads.
“I’ll join you in a cognac.”
“I was going to have a port.”
“Port it is then.”
Teresa wondered how José and Benedito planned to get Bob and his wife up to their room after all these drinks.
When they had drunk the port, eaten the desserts, and finished the wine, Benedito clapped his hands together.
“Right then, if no one is rushing off, how about coming up and trying that bottle I’ve got upstairs?”
“I’ve already had a few,” said Bob.
Teresa’s heart sank.
“Come on. One for the road,” said Benedito.
“What do you think?” Bob asked his wife. “One for the road?”
“It’s up to you,” she said.
Bob thought about it.
“Okay, why not? What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Great, I’ll get the bill,” said José.
“Don’t worry, they’ll just put it on our room tab,” said Benedito. “Come on; let’s go.”
Teresa followed the other four up the stairs to the room, anxious about what might happen next.
“Here you go,” said Benedito, handing Bob the glass of amber single malt.
Teresa watched Bob as he observed the liquid in the glass, swirled it around, sniffed it, and then took a sip.
“Mmm, that is good,” he said.
Teresa realised her palms were sweating.
“What would you like?” José asked Bob’s wife
“Nothing for me,” she said, slumping into the sofa, already the worse for wear with Rioja.
José and Benedito exchanged nervous glances.
“Not even a gin and tonic?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“How about water?”
“Okay, I’ll have water if it’ll make you happy.”
José smiled and rushed to the minibar to get water and was back in a minute, having placed it in the hands of Bob’s wife.
“There’s more if you want it,” Benedito assured Bob.
“This is fine, thanks,” he said, taking another sip. “I think I’ll sit down as well.”
“Are you not going to drink your water?” Teresa could not contain herself any longer.
“Why?” Bob’s wife was suspicious. She looked over at Bob, who was already slumped on the sofa, his eyes closed. The glass fell out of his hand onto the floor, but did not break.
“What the...” Bob’s wife was already getting to her feet, but Teresa leapt on her, pushing her head back onto the sofa. Teresa took the open bottle of water and began pouring it into her mouth.
Bob’s wife grabbed Teresa’s hair with one hand and the arm holding the bottle with the other, but Teresa was too strong and, pulling her head right back, began pouring the water into her nose.
“You’ll drown her,” José shouted.
Teresa did not heed the warning but continued to pour the water into Bob’s wife’s nostrils. Bob’s wife let go of Teresa’s hair and tried to cover her nose. Teresa pulled her hand away and head-butted her. Blood flowed out of her nose.
“Teresa!” Benedito tried to pull Teresa off the woman but could not shift her until Teresa had thrown the empty water bottle away and punched Bob’s wife in the face for good measure.
“Jesus! Let’s try to get her cleaned up,” said José, going to get some paper from the bathroom.
“They can’t look as if we coerced them,” said Benedito, securing Bob’s wife, who was now very groggy. “I’d better get the others and get started before she develops any swelling.”
“You’d better go,” José told Teresa as he cleaned the unconscious face of Bob’s wife.
“Stick some ice on her nose,” said Benedito. “I’m going to get the others. Come on, Teresa.”
Benedito led Teresa down the stairs to the reception.
“Go home and get some sleep, Teresa,” he said. “We’ll come and see you tomorrow.”
Teresa thanked Benedito and left. She walked home full of excitement and trepidation.