Tapas and Tangelos

by C. K. Martin

  Until the other night, a traitorous voice reminded her.

  She shut it down and pushed the last crate of beer into its place. She wiped her brow, unsurprised to find the sweat beaded there. The rest of the day would be easier now the most backbreaking work was done.

  Back behind the bar, she sent Marco home. Disgraced from the biggest local hotel, hers was the only place he could work. She didn’t care that he’d had a fling with one of the customers. She didn’t even care that the woman had been on her honeymoon when it happened. Or that they had accidentally been witnessed mid-action by an elderly couple. There was no proof that the old man’s heart attack was directly related. Besides, he’d recovered and returned the following season. Other people’s relationships were other people’s problems and he was an excellent barman. It didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eye for half the patronage that came in either, which was what got him into trouble in the first place.

  But it was still low season and the afternoon would be slow. She could manage the handful of customers who found their way in until he came back for his main shift at six.

  As she waved goodbye to him, he bumped into someone coming through the main doors in the opposite direction. She watched as he did a double take of appreciation before she realised who it was.

  Of all the gin joints, she thought wryly to herself.

  Kate apologised to Marco in hesitant Spanish before walking the rest of the way into the bar. Hayley took advantage of the few seconds she had before Kate’s eyes adjusted to the light. Part of her had hoped that without the aid of beer goggles, Kate was average and unattractive. It would be less flattering to her ego, but easier to live with in the long term. Instead, she was exactly as Hayley remembered.

  Her memory ran wild uncontrollably for a second with all the ways she did remember her and Hayley felt the colour flood her cheeks before there was anything she could do to stop it. What the hell was she still doing here?

  Apparently, Kate was thinking the same thing. Hayley saw the silent ‘oh!’ of surprise when she was finally spotted in her hiding place behind the wooden counter that was acting as a shield. She was gripping it tightly. There was no way out now unless Kate turned round on her heels and walked out of the bar.

  Instead, she stepped forwards. Of course she did. Why did Hayley think she would be lucky enough to have an easy life? Some things never changed.

  ‘Hey there,’ said Kate, walking up to the bar, a huge grin on her face. Hayley found herself smiling in response, despite her best intentions to remain purely professional. She was here to provide the girl with a refreshing drink, nothing else.

  ‘Hi.’ Smooth.

  ‘This looks like a sweet gig. How did you land this one?’

  ‘A sweet gig?’ Hayley repeated slowly. What did that mean?

  ‘Working behind the bar. I’d read they only really employ locals around here.’

  ‘They do.’

  ‘You must be as charming to everyone else as you were to me then.’ Kate leaned her elbows on the bar and Hayley could feel herself begin to soften.

  ‘I didn’t really have to be.’ The only person she’d had to convince to give her this sweet gig was herself. ‘I didn’t think you’d still be around.’

  ‘You sound disappointed to see me.’

  ‘No.’ Quickly. Too quickly. Hayley’s grip on the bar tightened again. ‘I just meant don’t backpackers, you know, travel? Backpack? Isn’t that the point? To keep moving?’

  ‘I’m not exactly a backpacker.’

  ‘You’re not?’ now Hayley was genuinely confused. Why would you stay at Pablo’s place if you weren’t a backpacker in need of a cheap place to stay? There were plenty of hotels in the area that could guarantee hot water and clean towels. She wasn’t sure he had either properly sorted yet.

  ‘No, I do. I mean, I travel. A lot. I started as a backpacker, I guess. It’s hard to explain.’

  ‘Try me.’ Despite her promises to herself, she wanted to know more about the woman who knew the constellations and how to trace them with her fingers.

  ‘I write about where I travel. Blogs, articles, review sites, that kind of thing. I make enough money to keep going. I could never stay in one place for long.’ It was a throwaway line, but one that caused a swift, temporary ache in Hayley’s chest. Any fleeting hopes of a beautiful romance, hopes that she knew she shouldn’t allow herself to have in the first place, died. Kate couldn’t settle, she wouldn’t travel. It was hardly a perfect match. It sounded like an interesting life.

  For someone else to live.

  ‘That sounds like a lot of fun.’ Hayley tried not to choke on the disappointment.

  ‘It is. I can’t imagine living my life any other way now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not always easy. I’ve been down to my last few dollars more than once. But I’m not proud. If it means working in a bar sometimes like this then I’ll do it. What? What did I say?’ Kate was surprised by the smirk Hayley couldn’t help but show. She obviously thought that she was slumming it by being here. ‘I’m not saying I’m looking for something right now. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try to take your job away.’

  ‘Glad to hear it.’

  ‘And I’m not going to ask you to have a word with the boss for me either. I’m good for now.’

  ‘Oh, I’m not sure you’d like her anyway.’ Hayley shook her head in mock seriousness.

  ‘Really? Why, what’s she like?’

  ‘Real slave driver. About so high,’ Hayley raised her hand level with the top of her own head. It was just too much fun not to tease Kate a little. ‘Hair this sort of colour,’ she wiggled the ends of her own between the tips of her fingers. ‘She does offer drinks on the house sometimes, if you’re in a bar and looking for that kind of thing.’

  Hayley popped the top off a bottle and placed it on the wooden counter in front of Kate. It was hard not to laugh as her expressions changed with her thought process, moving quickly from interested to confused to understanding. ‘Wait, are you saying what I think you’re saying?’

  ‘Well that depends on what you think I’m saying.’

  ‘You don’t just work here? You manage the place?’ Kate looked over her shoulder and around the bar, as if waiting for someone to jump out and shout surprise!

  ‘Not quite. I own the place. This is my bar.’

  ‘Then...’ Kate was clearly having difficulty processing a turn of events. ‘The other night,’ she blurted.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ She was. For more than just this, but there was no point telling Kate that either.

  ‘Why didn’t you say something?’

  ‘It didn’t come up. I’m sorry. I didn’t lie. I just thought there was no need to mention it.’ Now she said the words aloud, it sounded like a weak excuse.

  ‘So you’re not staying there?’

  ‘At Pablo’s? No way. I mean,’ she recovered hastily, ‘it’s going to be an amazing place and it has a lovely view, but it would be too far for me to travel each day.’

  ‘You’re right about going to be. Right now, it’s no palace.’

  ‘It’s his first time trying something like this. And his heart is in the right place. Pablo is a lovely guy.’

  ‘He is very sweet.’

  ‘He’s one of my best friends. That was why I was there when you arrived. I’d been helping him on my day off to finish up the place. Then we got talking and, well, one thing led to another. I didn’t think I’d see you again.’

  ‘Is that why you left without saying goodbye?’ Ouch.

  ‘I had to get back here. I figured you probably wouldn’t want to see me again anyway.’

  ‘I don’t know if that’s some kind of an insult.’

  ‘I don’t mean for it to be, I promise. I just thought there was no point dragging out an embarrassing morning after. Not if you would be off again straight away. I was trying to make it easier for both of us.’

  ‘You still should have said goodbye.’

  ‘I know. You can h
ave another drink on the house if it helps?’

  ‘It’s a start. But you’re wrong.’

  ‘About?’

  ‘Me. Two things. I’m not into one night stands and I’m not going anywhere. Not for a couple of weeks at least. I have some work to do here. So I’ll be staying awhile.’

  ‘Oh.’ Hayley didn’t know how to handle the sudden war of emotions. The thought that she could see Kate again rushed up inside her first, followed by the fear that she would have to. That whatever she had been feeling since the moment she first saw her was not going to go away any time soon. Then regret followed, swift on the heels of the others, chasing them away. What Kate was telling her changed nothing. She still couldn’t - shouldn’t - go there.

  ‘Which means I’d like to see you again.’ Kate gave her a huge smile. As if it was as simple as saying it out loud.

  ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ Hayley forced the words out but they sounded unconvincing to her own ears.

  ‘You don’t?’ Kate frowned. ‘I thought we were good together.’

  ‘We were. I’m sorry. I’m really not looking for a relationship right now. Or even a casual fling. I don’t really do them, despite the terrible first impression you have of me.’

  ‘Didn’t you hear me earlier? I don’t do them either. I know you think we’re all doing that kind of thing, travelling the world, partying, sleeping around, but I’m not.’

  ‘Then that’s the one thing we agree on. Everything else, we’re on different pages. Trust me. It’s not going to happen.’

  ‘Surely the fact we both did something so unlike our normal selves to be together means something? Don’t I get a say in this?’

  ‘No. I’m sorry. God, I feel like I’m apologising a lot. I wish things were different, but they’re not.’ Hayley knew she was doing a bad job of explaining things. But how could she, really, without telling Kate everything?

  The door opened and an elderly couple walked in, over-brown wrinkled skin glistening in the sunlight that filtered in from outside. Regulars. Hayley breathed a sigh of relief. It would end the conversation before she could put her foot in it any more than she already had. ‘I need to serve these people.’

  ‘That’s okay, I’ll go. See you around Hayley.’ She put the half-finished bottle back down on the bar.

  ‘Bye.’

  Hayley waited until Kate had left before gently banging her head against the surface of the bar. That couldn’t have gone any worse if she’d tried. ‘Your coffees will be right up,’ she called out to the couple who were getting comfortable at their usual table. Three months every year they were here and they hadn’t had anything different yet.

  That was her life. Her routine. She wasn’t like Kate, full of youth and adventure. She was finally settled.

  She intended to stay that way.

  So why did she feel like she had just missed the first chance for happiness she’d had since she’d arrived here all those years ago?

  Chapter Four

  This, Kate knew, was the downside of staying in hostels, as she turned the volume up one more time. Even the noise-cancelling headphones couldn’t drown out the sound of Pablo’s jackhammer. Building work was most definitely ongoing.

  He was still being sweet about it. He’d spoken to her the previous evening and apologised profusely, almost with comedic sincerity, that the following two days he would be doing some more building works on the hostel. There would be noise, but he would not start until 9am. That, apparently, was a compromise on his part.

  Not that the early start mattered to her as she had no intention of repeating her first night of drinking and socialising, with its corresponding next day hangover. Not unless Hayley made another surprise appearance at least. No, it was the inconvenience of it all. She had a video she needed to edit and upload. Her website desperately needed some new material. Without it, money would quickly stop coming in. Going anywhere other than Pablo’s would mean forking out more cash right now.

  She had been internally debating this catch-22, when Pablo had offered her next week’s accommodation at a fifty per cent reduction from the advertised rate. That had sealed the deal in her mind. She simply couldn’t justify paying at least five times that just to stay at one of the nearby hotels. Kate might be still be struggling to convert Euros, but she could still spot a good deal when she saw one.

  Despite Pablo’s bargain rates, this morning she was beginning to regret the decision. She re-read the first outline of her blog post and decided she would have to trash everything apart from the last paragraph. These were not the productive surroundings she had grown used to.

  She put the laptop down on the bed next to her. At least she was warm again after the warm water had stopped mid-shower that morning. From the moment she’d tentatively put her body underneath, she had been waiting for it. Like some self-fulfilling prophecy, it waited until the most inconvenient moment to hit her with an icy blast before turning to a dribble. The pipes continued to rumble, but nothing more came out. She was going to have to come up with a Plan B. Or C at this point. Anything that wasn’t another eight hours at Casa Pablo.

  A thought struck her and she pushed it away for only a second before letting it back in. She felt the excitement bubble in her stomach. Building work was a good reason to do something she wanted to do anyway. She jumped up and left the room, easily finding Pablo by following the noise until it changed from excruciating to unbearable.

  ‘Hey there Pablo.’

  ‘Hola. The noise? It is too much?’

  ‘Si,’ she shrugged. There was no point lying. ‘Can I ask a question?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Hayley’s bar. In town.’

  ‘Si, I know the bar. Hayley does sangria the best in the world. You should try.’

  ‘Thanks for the tip. Do you know if she has wifi?’

  ‘Wifi?’

  ‘I need it. To work.’

  ‘There is wifi here.’

  ‘I know.’ Today the wifi was about the only thing still functioning. ‘But I need wifi and some quiet. To write.’ She mimicked typing on the keypad.

  ‘Ah. I see,’ he gave her a grin. ‘The bar has wifi. And today, it also has Hayley.’

  ‘I just need the wifi.’

  ‘Of course.’ He nodded and she could tell that regardless of the language barrier, he could read her like a book. Kate wasn’t prone to caring about what people thought of her, but underneath her tan, she could feel herself begin to blush.

  ‘Thanks.’ She turned around and made a hasty exit before she could say anything else to incriminate herself, but she still heard Pablo’s soft chuckle before she was out of earshot.

  She really did need the wifi. But if there were some added benefits, then she wasn’t going to complain.

  #

  The tables outside the bar were full of tourists taking in the view and basking their bodies in the sunlight. Most of them were already an unhealthy shade of pink and Kate shook her head, a lifetime of being warned about the long-term damage of too much sunlight now seared into her brain.

  Not that she would be able to work outside. She needed somewhere cool and dark and that meant inside.

  With a good view of the bar, she grinned. Decision made, there was no point feeling guilty about it. Just walking down from the hostel, she could feel her mood getting lighter and the small thrill of seeing Hayley again frothing in her stomach. Despite the denials, she knew the connection between them was different. Special somehow. Before the excitement could take hold and turn the grin from friendly to maniacal, she pushed through the door and into the bar.

  It was busier in here too, with those taking shelter from the sun. A surprising number were already drinking beer, but she was strictly a coffee before 5pm kind of girl. As she looked up and saw Hayley looking back at her, she knew she would be staying sober right to the end, no matter what time. Her mouth couldn’t be trusted not to say the thoughts that were running through her mind if alcohol was thrown i
nto the mix.

  She forced her feet forwards. Standing there like an idiot wasn’t going to win over someone who was clearly reluctant to pick up where they left off. Kate had a distinct impression the age gap bothered Hayley in the cold light of day. Standing there blushing like a teenager would do nothing to disabuse her of that notion. She decided to hit her with the full on Aussie charm.

  ‘G’day.’

  ‘Hola.’ A small smile played on Hayley’s lips and Kate knew her plan had worked.

  ‘I thought I’d pay you a visit. Pablo’s place is a building site today.’

  ‘Stopping you from sleeping in huh?’

  ‘Sleeping in isn’t my thing. Having a decent shower and a quiet place to work is.’

  ‘I can’t guarantee quiet here.’

  ‘Trust me, compared to up there, this place is like a temple. He told me you have wifi?’

  ‘I do. You need a password.’

  ‘And what do I need to do to get that password?’

  ‘You have to ask a member of staff and buy something from the bar.’

  ‘In that case, please can I get a flat white and the wifi password?’

  ‘A flat white? Seriously?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You don’t come to Spain and order a flat white. A cafe latte or even a cappuccino, but not a flat white.’

  ‘Oh.’ Kate eyes flicked around for a menu.

  ‘I can make you a flat white. But don’t tell anyone. I’m a barwoman, not a barista catering to coffee-based beverages from all around the globe. Take a seat and I’ll bring it over to you.’

  ‘And the wifi password?’

  ‘I’ll bring that too.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Kate looked around the room at table options and selected one near the far wall. It wasn’t what most people would consider a prime location, but she knew it was perfect. No one behind her, so she didn’t have to feel self-conscious about what she was working on. More importantly, it gave her an unobstructed view of the bar.

  She had been on the lookout for inspiration. Right now, Hayley was it.