Light Rum, Cognac, Gin, Lime Juice, Cherry Brandy, Sugar Syrup
The following morning I woke up feeling a bit disorientated. India was already in the shower, crashing about and probably using up all the shampoo and conditioner so I would have to make do with what little was left.
I relived the night before all through breakfast. India had been thoughtful over her scrambled eggs, American bacon and pile of buttered toast, while I’d stuck to fresh fruit. Perhaps I was imagining myself rolling around on Gabriel’s bed again and didn’t want to risk the term beached whale coming up.
‘We ought to have our photos taken,’ India said out of the blue. ‘There’s a proper photographer on board. You don’t need an appointment.’
We bickered for a few minutes about whether this was a good idea or not, and then India played the guilt-trip cards of this being ‘her’ holiday and ‘Mum said’.
‘Oh, all right,’ I said at last. Peace at any price.
‘You’d better put some make-up on then,’ India said, ‘and a clean shirt. And hurry, there’s a talk on later about Fabergé eggs.’
I darted back along the corridor and up in the lift to our cabin. The steward had been in, bringing order to the chaos we had left with clean towels and sheets and emptying the bottles out of the bin.
I found a clean shirt and made some attempts to improve my make-up before I made my way back to find India. The long corridors were surprisingly empty as people went off to talks and activities. Today was also Creating Fruit Platters to Delight Your Guests and Napkin Folding to Delight Your Guests.
As the lift doors opened someone grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. I started to yelp, and then realised with a prickle of excitement it was Gabriel.
‘I’ve been thinking about you,’ he whispered.
I felt like a spy or someone mysterious, having an assignation in a dark corner. It was a good job there wasn’t anyone else in there with us.
‘How did you know I was here?’
‘Luck. I saw you leaving the food court. You’re driving me mad,’ he said with a choking laugh.
‘I have that effect on lots of people,’ I gasped back.
I don’t think we meant the same thing.
He kissed all my lipstick off, his hands on my bottom, pulling me hard towards him. He certainly was pleased to see me – I could tell that.
A disembodied voice told us we were arriving at the third floor and the lift doors pinged open. Gabriel took a deep breath and let me go.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To find India. She wants us to have a photo taken.’
He smiled. ‘Then you’d better put some more lipstick on,’ he said. ‘I seem to have smudged it.’
I nodded and gave what I thought was an enigmatic smile. And what was that other thing he’d said? Beguiling.
Then he reached out and touched my hand, his eyes creasing in concern. ‘Are you sure you’re feeling all right?’
So, that’s not how you do enigmatic or beguiling then.
‘Fine!’
I’ll admit it, I was feeling pretty amazing as we walked back through the ship. Occasionally his fingers would brush against mine or he would put one hand into the small of my back as he guided me through a crowd of people queuing up to go into the Napkin Folding talk.
We got to the food court and Gabriel turned, his hand on my arm.
‘Have fun,’ he said.
I watched him hungrily, remembering what he had felt like last night as we had made love –
No, I meant as we had shagged each other.
For the first time since I’d come on board, I could feel the ship moving, rocking from side to side. I suppose it was the rougher seas as we headed out into the open ocean away from the shelter of the land. It made me feel slightly odd.
*
We had our picture taken; it didn’t take long.
Chin up, ladies, and smile. Lovely. Look at me. Look at each other.
I knew what the result would be; India would look photogenic and gorgeous and I would look slightly strange. I never seemed to know what to do with my face. Still, if it made her happy.
Then we fed our coins into the machines in the casino. I lost all mine and India won ten dollars. That figured. Then we went to mooch about, finding new places we had missed up to now. There was an amazing observation room with floor-to-ceiling windows where we watched the ship nosing through the waves. It was wonderful.
All I seemed to have done recently was eat and drink too much. I suppose if I hadn’t been so bone idle I could have gone into the gym and asked one of the terrifying trainers there to sort out my burgeoning flab. I could have gone striding out around the deck with all the other walking nuts in their eye shields and made-to-measure trainers; ten circuits equalled one glass of wine, or so someone had said. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not. If it was I’d need to spend the next thirty-six hours walking non-stop to make up for what I’d already had.
We didn’t do ten circuits of the ship but we had our lunchtime drinks just the same. And a brie and cranberry panini. And a bowl of fries. Never mind fitting into my bridesmaid’s dress, I’d have trouble fitting into my car at this rate.
‘I want to be a writer, just like Marnie,’ India said, her eyes focused on her future fame, riches and book signings in Foyles. ‘I mean how hard can it be? Really? Marnie can do a book a year and the last one sold over half a million copies. If she only got one pound for each book that’s half a million quid. I could do that.’
‘What are you going to write about?’ I said.
India began to look misty-eyed. I bet she was imagining herself in a few years stepping out from Marnie’s shadow as a writing expert and celebrity with designer clothes and sharp little shoes.
‘I’ll think of something. I’m going to write down a plot this afternoon. I’m going to devote every single waking moment to it from now on.’
India usually had trouble finishing writing a shopping list so I thought this might be a stretch too far but I wasn’t going to dampen her enthusiasm.
‘That would be really good,’ I said.
‘I’m not going to let anything or anyone distract me until I’ve got it done.’
India crammed the last two fries into her mouth and mopped up some salty crystals with her finger.
‘But I thought we were going to Fruit Platters to Delight Your Friends at two-thirty?’ I said.
I’d decided to join India at this event as she had complained about being ‘abandoned’ yesterday evening, and we’d missed the Fabergé talk. Plus it was worth trying to mend fences with her. We weren’t going to have any excursions to distract us from our issues for the next few days, so it would be better if we got along.
‘Well, after that obviously,’ India said, linking her arm through mine. ‘I’m not going to turn into a complete bore. And anyway I might want my main character to provide a fruit platter to delight her friends at some point in my book. So it’s research actually.’
‘You’re right, good thinking.’
*
The fruit platter thing was really good I have to admit. The chef was another of the inscrutable-looking ones with a towering white hat and I don’t think he spoke much English apart from saying very good or yes. There were large mounds of fruit of every colour, shape and size, and some small oval dishes for us to use, and we were shown how to arrange all sorts of things in an attractive and enticing way. Afterwards we were encouraged to take our platters back to our cabins but by then India and I had eaten most of it anyway so we didn’t bother. I thought it unlikely we would be doing it again any time soon if I was honest; well, not without a good dollop of ice cream.
‘I think I need a nap,’ I said, feeling distinctly full and a bit tired. But then I’d had a bad night’s sleep what with one thing and another so it wasn’t really surprising.
‘Well, I’m going to the library to write out my plot,’ India said, looking industrious, and I realised I hadn’t seen her this fired up about anything other than the wedding in a long time. It was good for her, and for me.
‘Oh, okay.’
‘Don’t you want to come with me?’ she asked, a bit puzzled. ‘You can be a bestselling writer too.’
‘I’ll have a nap first,’ I said, stifling a yawn, ‘and then I’ll join you.’
I went to get the lift up to the eleventh floor. I reached my cabin and was about to close the door behind me when Gabriel’s door opened.
‘Oh, hello,’ he said.
We stood and looked at each other for a moment, my heart thundering.
‘What have you been doing?’ he asked at last.
‘Fruit Platters to Delight Your Friends,’ I managed to say, just before he reached out and touched my mouth with one finger and I shuddered.
Then he took hold of my hand and I went willingly into his cabin. ‘Come in here and tell me about it.’
He locked the door behind me and started unbuttoning my shirt. I watched his hands, busy on the little buttons, before I reached out, grabbed his belt and pulled him towards me. I could feel the heat from his body.
He leant over me, his eyes hovering over mine for an excruciatingly long second, before he kissed me. ‘You taste of strawberries. Fruit Platters to Delight Your Friends?’
‘I think we could delight each other,’ I said, as the wanton part of me I’d just discovered took over.
I saw his eyes flash, before he lowered his head and softly bit my shoulder. ‘I think we could too.’
Twenty seconds later we were naked on the bed together. No preliminary chitchat or would you like something to drink? Tea or Coffee? Iced water? No messing about with how was your day? We didn’t say another word; we just took off our clothes and got down to it. It was fast and furious and fantastic. I’d never known anything like it; it was even better than last night. And I swear, as I cried out, he groaned my name.
I held his head against my heart and ran my fingers through his hair. A sudden wash of feeling flowed through me. Call it tenderness or care or concern for him. I wasn’t sure. He was kind, clever, passionate, handsome, interesting and successful. How could any woman look for something else when she had this? Suddenly I could sense the sadness within him, the loneliness, the need. A restless searching for something. Perhaps a wish to be valued as a man, for himself. The emotions I had felt in the past were nothing compared with this moment. I was in deep trouble.
‘Wow,’ he said at last.
‘Mmmmm,’ I agreed and closed my eyes.
For two pins I would have fallen asleep, but I couldn’t do that.
I made to get out of his bed, only for him to pull me back, curving his body around mine. I liked the feel of that and gave a little murmur of pleasure.
Then, without meaning to, we fell asleep, and when I woke up there were people outside in the corridor, going back to their cabin, laughing, someone stumbling and exclaiming, Miranda – these bloody shoes!
It was a good job I wasn’t going to see Gabriel again after this week because it would have been terribly embarrassing. Everyone knew the rule of unattached sex was for the sex to happen and then you left. No hard feelings and no expectations. But, well, Gabriel had wanted to hold me. So maybe this was different for him too. Oh, God, stop! This was a fling, a holiday romance based on something I didn’t understand. It wasn’t going to blossom into something else, was it? We would not in forty years’ time be interviewed for a programme called Holiday Romances that Lasted a Lifetime on an obscure television channel. I needed to get a grip!
Never mind; there were many ways to spend an hour in the afternoon and this was undoubtedly the best I’d known. I bet I used up thousands of calories too and it was far more fun than pounding around the promenade deck ten times in an eye shield.
I couldn’t stay there, no matter how much I wanted to, because of the whole this isn’t a relationship, it’s a bit of fun thing. But also because, if I did, there would be dozens of unanswerable and embarrassing questions from India. I couldn’t think which would be worse.
‘I must go,’ I said.
Gabriel turned his head away. ‘Oh. Why?’
I didn’t know what to do for a second. Did he want me to stay? Or go? Had he enjoyed me as much as I had enjoyed him?
I collected my clothes and pulled them on. He pulled the duvet over himself and watched me.
‘Alexa.’
‘Yes?’
‘I want you to know, I –’
‘What?’
‘Marnie …’
I looked at him for a second but he just shook his head.
Of course; we were having a fling. He didn’t want Marnie to know. She was his employer after all. I wasn’t expecting him to propose or anything. I mean it was just sex.
I took a deep breath. ‘You needn’t worry; you don’t need to explain. We’re just having fun, aren’t we? Anyway, I’ll see you.’ I made myself smile at him. ‘That was great.’
Great? What sort of word was that? My whole body was tingling and pulsing with pleasure. I wasn’t sure I could walk straight. Great didn’t nearly cover it.
He looked at me. ‘Yes, it was.’
‘Well then. I’d better –’ I made some vague gesture. ‘Sorry about the … you know?’
The bed looked as though we’d been fighting and his cabin could have been the scene of a burglary.
Gabriel’s clothes were all over the place. We had knocked a shade off one of the bedside lamps and the fruit bowl had fallen on the floor, the fruit scattered under the bed. A vase of silk flowers had tipped over and the decorative glass pebbles inside were falling down the back of the sofa cushions. The steward was going to weep when he saw it.
‘It’s okay,’ he said, a smile playing on his lips.
I checked I had my shirt on the right way round and went back to my cabin. Thank the gods, India wasn’t there. I went into the shower and used all the new selection of toiletries and then sprayed myself with her perfume and sat wrapped in a bathrobe on the balcony, thinking. The thinking process was helped by a very large gin and tonic from the mini bar that I think counted as medicinal.
It was getting chilly and I knew I wouldn’t stay outside for long, but I wanted to be there in the cold air, knowing Gabriel was only a step away in the next cabin. Maybe he was asleep, still with my sweat on his body, or he could be showering. Either way I would have given a lot to be in there with him.
I thought back to what we had been doing and blinked a bit. I’d never been like this in my life. I mean when I was with Ryan we had done a bit of role-play to try and spice things up, but the outfit he had bought me was nylon and very scratchy so I couldn’t wait to get it off. And while we’re on the subject, would anyone else in the Western world find dressing up their girlfriend as a nuclear power station worker sexy? No, I didn’t think so either.
But this? Chucking myself at someone I hardly knew? What on earth had come over me? Apart from an exceptionally attractive and sexy man I mean.