by Joanna Rees
But she didn’t have time to think more about it, because the door to Bibi’s room was opening.
‘Come in, come in,’ she heard Bibi say.
Leila quickly replaced the pill bottle and ducked behind the bedroom door. Bibi was ushering into her office a man Leila had never seen. He was dressed in a smart suit and held an old-fashioned trilby hat in his hand.
‘Please excuse the mess,’ Bibi continued. ‘Here. Have a seat,’ she said, directing the man to the swivel chair Leila had been in only minutes ago. ‘We can talk in private here,’ Bibi said pointedly.
The man placed his hat on the desk and pulled his briefcase onto his knee. Silently, he handed Bibi a piece of paper, which she read slowly. Leila peered through the gap in the door, watching as Bibi pinched the bridge of her nose as if the pressure in her head could be dammed.
‘It’s really that bad?’ Bibi said, her voice catching.
‘You must have had some idea?’ the man said.
‘Not that he’d spent it all.’
Leila saw Bibi looking up at the ceiling fan and her eyes widened when she saw something she’d never seen. Her mother was crying.
‘I’m sorry,’ Bibi said, placing her hand on her chest and trying to compose herself.
The man stood and handed her a white handkerchief. Bibi briefly leant her head against the man’s shoulder and he patted her back. Who was he that he could be so familiar with her?
‘I know it is a shock, Bibi. That is why I came myself,’ he said gently.
Bibi pulled away, wiping her eyes, then folding his handkerchief carefully. ‘I don’t know what to do. I haven’t paid the staff for months. The whole place is falling apart. And I can’t talk to Chan now his drinking has got so much worse.’
‘What is it that Chan has done with the money?’
Bibi let out a bitter laugh. ‘You name it. Cigarettes, alcohol, the girl he keeps in Cochin, his gambling habit.’ Bibi was pacing now. ‘I always used to overlook his behaviour in the past. I told myself that it didn’t matter as long as he was here with me, helping me to bring up Leila. I told myself I was doing the right thing and I held it together for Leila’s sake. You know Ranjidan would have wanted her to have a father. That’s why I married Chan. But’ – Bibi took a shuddering breath, as if unburdening herself – ‘as soon as Leila went to England, the cracks were too big. We’ve broken apart and I’m too angry and weak to fight it.’
Leila quickly turned away as the man pulled out more papers from his leather briefcase and laid them on the desk. She shrank back in the shadows, worried that Bibi would discover her spying, the magnitude of Bibi’s problems making her own fade for a moment. She could hardly take in everything she’d just heard.
‘This is everything you’ve had to pay. All the cheques,’ the man was saying.
‘What’s that one?’ she heard Bibi ask.
‘That’s the insurance policy, remember?’
‘Oh yes. That too.’
‘You could stop paying for it. Or cash it in?’
‘What are you suggesting? That I burn the whole place to the ground and start again?’
The man laughed sadly. ‘If only it were that simple. Bibi, why don’t you consider shutting up the place? Moving to the mainland?’
‘This is my home. I won’t desert it. Or the people here. Ranjidan loved it here. You know that. I can’t leave.’
‘But something is going to have to happen, Bibi. You know that, don’t you? If this carries on, you will lose everything.’
Leila felt her heart hammering as she turned again and pressed her eye against the crack in the door. Bibi was pacing now, wringing the handkerchief in her fingers.
‘Chan says he has plans. I’m not sure what they are, but he seems to think everything is going to work out.’ Bibi sighed heavily. ‘If only I could believe him.’
‘And what of the will?’ the man said gently. Leila could tell from his voice that he sympathized and was on Bibi’s side. ‘You mentioned it in your telex.’
Bibi stopped now. She covered her face. ‘I told a lie.’
‘What do you mean, a lie?’
‘I shouldn’t have done it, but I told Chan that I changed my will, that the island will be his after I die.’
‘But you haven’t?’
‘No.’
‘So Lace Island will pass to Leila?’
Bibi nodded.
‘Are you sure? She’s so young.’
‘I know, but she’s a good girl. She’s everything to me. Everything,’ Bibi said, gripping the fine gold chain she wore and pressing her fist against her chest. ‘She always has been.’
Leila swallowed down tears, hearing the affection in Bibi’s voice.
The man nodded. ‘My wife rejoices in her sons, but I see in you something she’ll never have. Perhaps there is nothing stronger than the bond between a mother and a daughter.’
Bibi sighed. ‘You’re right. I don’t think there is. We may clash, Leila and I, but she won’t let me down, my girl. She’ll do what’s right for her family. I know that.’
My girl. Leila felt her heart swelling with an emotion she could barely comprehend. The way her mother had said it. With such power and love. With such faith.
She longed to rush into the room and throw herself into Bibi’s arms, but she knew she couldn’t. She would wait until Bibi and the man had gone and then leave the room.
But whatever she did next, she would save Bibi and Lace Island, before it was too late.
CHAPTER FORTY
Ibiza, present day
It was early – not even seven. Jess hadn’t been able to sleep on the yacht. Blaise had woken at six and taken a call, and she hadn’t been able to stop herself trying to decipher the low mumblings from the other side of the door. Who could he be talking to this early? Why was he being so secretive?
She’d lain in bed trying to fathom it out, telling herself that he was only being considerate and wanting her to sleep. But how could she sleep when she had so many unanswered questions? Frustrated, she’d got up and changed into her running shorts and headed out for a run.
This early in the morning, the only people around were the staff servicing the yachts in the harbour: vans delivering freshly baked loaves, crews furiously cleaning the decks before the guests got up. Jess nodded good morning to some of them, although she sensed an unspoken deference from them that made her uncomfortable. That ‘them’ and ‘us’ thing that had bothered her the entire time she’d been here.
She wondered what it would be like later when she went back to work herself and had to return to being in a subservient role. This week in Ibiza living the life of the super-rich had certainly been an eye-opener.
Now, a couple of days after the clubbing incident, she’d had time to clear her head. She hated herself for taking the pill in the first place, but when Blaise had arrived at the club later that night, he’d been sweet about it, telling her that Ivana was famously impossible to resist and that it was no big deal.
He’d taken her for a walk on the beach until she’d felt less high. Then he’d held her hand and taken her back inside the club, where he’d very deliberately snubbed Porscha, laughing off Jess’s suggestion that they’d ever been an item. Since then, he’d hardly left Jess’s side. She’d been so relieved to see him she’d been happy to cling on to him.
The others, seeing her and Blaise together and so clearly in love, had finally accepted Jess as one of their own, and so long as she was with Blaise, she could just about cope with them.
Yesterday, they’d sailed round the coast and dropped anchor in a secluded bay, and she and Blaise had spent hours jet-skiing and swimming in the sea. It had been so much fun. Only Porscha had been in a sulk and had stayed in her cabin.
Jess broke into a sweat as she headed up the cliff path now, her mind trying to process everything that had happened in the last week.
She just couldn’t work out Porscha, or whether there had once been anything between her and Blais
e. He’d laughed at Jess when she’d implied that they’d been together, but now, thinking about it, he hadn’t exactly emphatically denied it either. But if they were exes, why had Porscha come on holiday? And why all the secrecy?
It didn’t make sense.
But then perhaps it was nothing. Jess could have been reading hidden meanings into Porscha’s provocative statements. Or maybe she’d misinterpreted her. Jess hadn’t exactly been sober when they’d met. In fact, maybe she’d invented the whole vibe between Blaise and Porscha because she was being paranoid. Porscha wasn’t really watching her, waiting for her to trip up at all.
She stretched her arms now at the top of the cliff path, catching her breath, before stretching out her biceps. She should do some press-ups, but it was too hot already. She squinted at the view of the harbour below and the twinkling sea beyond the harbour wall, wishing she’d brought her shades.
It was only a few hours now before she had to leave and get her flight back to London. And Blaise was leaving later himself for Miami. But right now, Porscha was alone with him on the yacht, and Jess didn’t trust her. Not one little bit.
Having decided to go through the old town on her route back to the yacht, she ran down the cobbled streets, putting in her earphones and enjoying an old-school blast of her disco playlist.
Jess smiled at the sights, the pigeons scattering ahead of her towards the pale, shuttered houses as she reached the plaça. She was running past the old church when she noticed a woman sitting on the stone steps, her head in her hands, a pair of high wedge sandals by her feet.
Jess approached, turning off the music, her head filling now with the sound of the clanking church bell, the birds chirruping in the trees and the woman’s muffled sobs.
‘Tilly?’ Jess asked.
Tilly’s eyes were bloodshot and swollen from tears as she looked up. Jess had only seen her looking manicured and perfect, but now she looked haggard and wrung out.
‘It is you. What’s the matter? What’s happened?’ Jess asked.
She hadn’t seen Tilly since yesterday, since she’d told everyone she’d gone into town to meet friends. She hadn’t come back at dinner time and Ivana had been triumphant that Tilly finally had a date.
Tilly sniffed loudly and wiped her nose on the back of her hand. ‘I went to see Daryl. You know, the DJ?’
Jess nodded and sat down next to Tilly on the steps. ‘What happened?’
‘Everything was going fine. He slept with me, but then he told me to leave. Just like that. He said that he didn’t date women like me. That I was too’ – she took a great gulp of air, her voice shaking. Jess put her arm round Tilly’s shoulders – ‘too needy.’
Jess held her while she sobbed, then coaxed her back to her feet and walked with her through the old town and down to the yacht, listening to the whole story and Tilly’s diatribe about her failed marriages and her lack of children. Jess was touched that Tilly had confided in her.
‘You’re so lucky,’ Tilly said, when she could finally speak normally. ‘You have Blaise and you’re just so natural and sweet. You know, I used to be like you. Before all of this.’ Tilly flung her arm out in the direction of the yachts. ‘Money fucks everything up,’ she said, staring at Jess. ‘Believe me. People do very odd things for it.’
Was she talking about Ivana and Serge perhaps? Or even Blaise? Jess couldn’t tell, but listening to Tilly had put a different perspective on things. Perhaps she didn’t need to turn into a glamorous brand expert after all.
‘You won’t tell them?’ Tilly said suddenly. ‘About me. About all of this?’
‘No, of course not.’
They were on the path leading down to the harbour now
and Tilly had started to cheer up. ‘You know, when we get back to London, can we meet up?’ she asked. ‘Just you and me?’
‘Sure.’
‘I’d like us to be friends.’
‘I’d like that too,’ Jess said, meaning it.
Back on the yacht, Porscha was on the cushions on deck, her long brown legs stretched out in front of her. She was wearing a skimpy bikini beneath her open sarong. Jess wondered how long Blaise had been staring at her honed body.
There was an amused smile playing on her lips, which quickly faded when she saw Jess.
‘There you are,’ Blaise said, smiling and putting his arm round her.
‘Hey,’ Jess said to Porscha. ‘Are you feeling better?’
‘A bit, thank you. I’m as well as can be expected under the circumstances,’ Porscha said, glancing at Blaise with a meaningful stare.
Under the circumstances. What did that mean? Jess wondered.
‘I’m going to have a shower,’ Jess said, folding up her earphones. She glanced at Blaise, with a ‘what was all that about?’ look and he took the hint.
Back in their cabin, Jess stripped out of her running gear.
‘What is it with her?’ Jess asked.
‘Porscha?’
‘What did she mean, “under the circumstances”?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said, distracted and looking at his phone, but Jess had the feeling he knew perfectly well. She opened the door of the en-suite bathroom and stepped into the shower. Perhaps now that she and Tilly were friends, Tilly would be able to tell her the truth about Porscha. She suddenly felt powerful, knowing she had a new ally.
She’d started lathering up her hair when Blaise stepped into the shower behind her. She turned and gasped, shampoo suds getting in her eyes, but not before she saw how aroused he was.
‘Come here,’ he said, pressing up against her so that she fell back against the steamy glass. He kissed her deeply and she pressed against him. ‘I missed you. You were gone for ages.’
The rest of the morning passed in a blur and Jess didn’t have time to think about Porscha and Blaise, as they had to race to catch her flight. On the way to the airport in Blaise’s hired jeep, Jess got a text.
‘Oh my God,’ she said. ‘I just heard. My request has been accepted.’
‘What do you mean?’ he asked, signalling to turn into the airport lane.
‘I’m on the flight to Cochin. Isn’t that great?’
Blaise looked confused. ‘Cochin, India? You’re flying to India?’
‘It looks like it.’ She turned to Blaise in the car. ‘Why are you looking like that? I’ve wanted to go there for ages. I thought you’d be excited for me. Besides, you’re going to Miami and we’ll still see each other at the weekend, right?’
Blaise didn’t say anything. Why was he suddenly so annoyed that she was going to India? she wondered.
She was expecting him to drop her off, but he parked the jeep and came inside the terminal, all the way to passport control, insisting on wheeling her bag.
‘I wish you weren’t going,’ he said, when they’d finally
stopped. He took her hand, watching his fingers twist round hers.
‘But I’ve got to go,’ she said, squeezing his fingers, before quickly glancing up at the departures board. They’d already cut it to the wire and she had to get the flight back to London or she’d miss her next shift. As it was, she’d have no time to go home and change. Thank God she had a spare uniform in her locker. ‘It’s my job.’
‘Well, I wish you didn’t have to work.’
‘But I do and I can’t just not turn up,’ she said, surprised. ‘I’d get sacked.’ A second time, she thought, but didn’t say.
Besides, she wanted this. She wanted to travel the world. This had always been her dream. She wished that Blaise could be more excited for her. In a few hours, she’d be on a flight to India. India! Didn’t that make his heart race like hers did?
But at the same time, her heart was racing for a different reason too. Because she knew how badly she was going to miss him. If only he was coming with her.
‘Why don’t you just quit altogether?’ he said.
‘Quit? And do what?’
‘I don’t know. Hang out with me.’
&nb
sp; His suggestion was serious, and as she stared into his eyes, she realized for the first time that he really meant it. She felt her mouth go dry. Her mind raced over the implications, but she couldn’t fathom it out. What exactly would she do? Hang around while he made phone call after phone call?
But it was more than that. She’d worked so hard to get where she was. She couldn’t give it all up now. Could she?
‘I don’t mean hang out,’ he said, stepping closer and brushing the hair over her ear. ‘I mean more than that.’
Jess felt her heart racing. She needed to look at the clock again, aware of the precious seconds ticking by, knowing that already she’d have to sprint to the gate. But she couldn’t look away, not when Blaise seemed so intense. Why couldn’t they have had this conversation this morning? Why were they having it now? What did he mean by ‘more than that’?
She got jolted towards him as a large family bustled past her, the father shouting at the kids to get the wheelie bags in a line.
Blaise grabbed the tops of her arms. ‘Marry me,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘Oh my God! Jess, is that you? I thought it was.’ Jess heard a voice blaring out behind her. It was Gina. The air hostess with whom Jess had worked during her first job, all that time ago. Jess closed her eyes in a long blink, astonished this was happening all at once.
‘Hi,’ she said, staring desperately at Blaise and then at Gina.
‘You guys been on holiday?’ Gina asked.
‘Yes. This is Blaise,’ Jess said. Gina shook hands with him and then gave Jess an impressed look. ‘We’re just saying goodbye. I’m on the flight to London.’
‘Me too,’ Gina said. ‘We can fly together.’
‘OK. Just . . . give me a minute. I’ll see you at the gate,’ Jess said, desperate to get rid of her. Gina waved flirtatiously to Blaise.
As soon as she’d gone, Jess turned back to Blaise, stepping with him out of the flow of people.
‘Did you just say what I think you said? Here?’
He laughed and covered his eyes with his hands. ‘I know. It’s terrible timing. It was supposed to be romantic. I’ve been planning to say it all this week, but we haven’t had a minute alone and—’
