by Adele Parks
58. Rich and Tash Share a Bloody Mary
Jayne left the bar and turned right. There wasn’t much to the right of the bar, a couple of souvenir shops and a pharmacist; it was the pharmacist that she was hunting. Her head pounded. The pain was excruciating.
Tash approached the bar from the left, missing Jayne by a matter of seconds. Rich was often luckier than he deserved to be. Tash spotted Rich sitting at the bar staring aimlessly out the window; she waved cheerfully. It was all he could do to wiggle his fingers in response. His arms felt like lead weights superglued to the bar top. Not here. Oh God, no, not a public showdown here in the bar, in front of the bartender who made good Bloody Marys. He’d watched Jayne turn right. What if she spotted them as she passed again? She was bound to look in at him. That was her style – a final, lingering look. And then she’d see him with Tash, and his life would be effectively over. Rich thought he might explode with tension.
‘Babe, I’ve been searching high and low for you,’ Tash beamed from the doorway. She rushed towards him, tugging off the scarf which she had wrapped around her neck, chin and mouth to reveal a 100-watt smile of which Cameron Diaz wouldn’t be ashamed. Rich felt his world grind to a halt. That smile, her smile, how would he manage without it? He’d become used to it. No, more than that, he’d become dependent on it. He needed it to get up in the morning – and he didn’t just mean to get it up in the morning.
‘Is that a Virgin or a Bloody Mary?’ Tash asked, sniffing his glass. ‘A Bloody. Fantastic, I need one, too.’
The irony wasn’t lost on Rich, and it was positively enjoyed by the bartender, who carefully poured Tash a Bloody Mary and at the same time caught Rich’s eye. Having jumped to a conclusion – the right one, as it happened – the bartender was clearly amused. Well, great, that someone was having a laugh.
‘It’s on the house,’ he smiled. He figured that he was going to get a certain amount of entertainment in return for the drink.
‘Oh, thanks,’ beamed Tash. ‘Why are you scowling, Rich?’ she whispered, noticing that Rich was glaring at the barman.
‘Nothing. Er, I was just worrying about Ted and Kate,’ he lied.
Tash’s beam disappeared. ‘It’s awful, isn’t it? I feel terrible for them. I went to see Kate –’
‘Did you?’ That was so typical of Tash, rushing around trying to help. The only mention of Ted’s misfortune that Jayne had made was in passing, on how the situation could be used to her advantage. Her own brother.
‘Yes, Kate’s amazing, Rich. You were right about her. She is a wonderful person. That’s why I was keen to find you. I wanted to say I am so sorry if I wasn’t as warm with your friends as you’d have liked. These things take time, don’t they? But I should have thrown myself into it with more zeal.’ Tash looked at Rich with a face as open and honest as a child’s. ‘I think I was a bit narky because your friends sort of hijacked the wedding trip, but I see now, it’s like you always said, their company makes it a better wedding. More, I think I was a bit jealous because your friends were actually here and mine weren’t. After all, whatever I think, or thought, about any of them, they all love you enough to want to celebrate with you. None of this is your fault, so it doesn’t make sense that I took it out on you, but, then, emotions don’t always make sense, do they?’ She gushed on, ‘Kate is an astounding person. I felt humbled in the face of her calm and loyalty today. And the other thing I wanted to say was I am so sorry about… Rich, are you listening?’
‘Duck.’
‘What?’
‘Duck, it’s Jayne.’ Rich pulled Tash off her stool and crouched on the floor. Tash complied, but started to giggle.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked, understandably confused.
‘I don’t want her to see us.’ That much, at least, was true.
‘Why?’
Rich looked into Tash’s large, blue, searching eyes. Eyes that trusted him, eyes that radiated love, amusement and, at this particular point in time, just a little bit of bewilderment. He could tell her now. Here, this moment. Why not? So they were crouched underneath a bar with the smell of pine disinfectant drifting up from the floorboards, just masking the smell of beer and wine; it was as fitting a place as anywhere else.
Rich put his hands on either side of Tash’s head. He automatically rotated his thumbs to massage her temples. She naturally surrendered to his stroke, leaning her forehead into his so that they were touching.
‘I love that,’ Tash said.
‘What?’
‘The way you massage my head.’
‘I wasn’t aware that I was massaging your head.’
‘No, I know. You just touch me in the way I want to be touched. You just seem to know.’ She paused, and then they both spoke at once.
‘Rich, I wanted to say–’
‘Tash, there’s something I need to talk to you about.’
‘You first,’ they chorused.
Tash took the initiative. ‘I just wanted to say I am so sorry for giving you such a hard time about Mia. I got it all muddled. For a while there, I thought… Oh, well, it hardly matters what I thought, but I was wrong not to trust you and to trust your judgement.’
Saying sorry was easy for Tash. She didn’t really understand why people did make such hard work of it. Saying ‘I love you’ was easy, as was asking for a pay rise, explaining to a shop assistant exactly why you were returning faulty goods and talking her way out of a parking fine. Tash could always find the right words. Communication was her forte.
‘You were right about Kate’s qualities, and that suggests that you probably know what you are talking about with Mia, too.’
Oh, God, she hoped so. It would be perfect if they could all just get along. If they could love Rich, like each other, have a laugh. Life would be cool.
‘I’m going to be different from now on in. I’m going to try to see things more from her point of view.’ Tash just wanted everything to be OK again, like it was when they were back home, curled up under the duvet or riding their bikes through Richmond Park or watching movies. They did so many nice things together. And it could be all OK again, she knew it could be. ‘And the other thing I wanted to say is that I am so sorry we rowed last night.’ Oh, God, she was, she was.
And he was, so, so sorry. Because look where the row had led. Rich also wanted everything to be OK again, but, with the benefit of an intimate acquaintance with all the facts about their situation, he wasn’t as hopeful. How could it all be OK again?
‘This awful business with Ted and Kate puts things back in proportion. I love you. You love me. That’s all that matters. Agreed?’
‘Agreed,’ smiled Rich. ‘I do love you, Tash.’ Rich leant in and kissed her.
He held her tightly and kissed her hard. All ideas of confessing or explaining dripped away. She was right. All that mattered was that they loved one another. They could go back to being chilled and thrilled with one another the moment they were out of here, as soon as everything was back to normal. Jayne was not important. Only Jayne thought she was. They sat hunched under the bar and kissed until their jeans felt uncomfortably tight at the back of their knees, until the bartender coughed and until Jayne was well out of sight.
‘What were you going to say?’ asked Tash, standing up and flexing her legs. ‘Before I made my big speech.’
‘Nothing, er, well, the same as you. I was going to say that I love you and you love me, and that’s all that matters.’
Rich paid the bill, but avoided the bartender’s gaze. He no more wanted to face the bartender’s knowing smirks than his own conscience.
59. Jase and Mia Have Dinner
‘You all alone, Checkers? Where is everyone?’ Mia asked Lloyd.
It was 8.30 p.m. Mia and Jason had spent the best day in the snow yet. They had skied until 5 p.m. when the lifts closed and then they had, through a silent tactical agreement, headed straight to a bar for a little après-ski action. It didn’t occur to either of them to go and get changed in
to dry clothes or to invite anyone else along. They were having such a marvellous time that they just wanted it to go on and on. Mia ordered a G & T.
‘What about your detox?’ Scaley Jase asked.
‘What?’ Mia had momentarily forgotten the excuse she’d made up to explain her abstinence. ‘Oh, yes,’ she said, suddenly remembering. ‘I’m giving up on that.’
And she was. Sod it. The fresh air had cleared her head. She could see her plan for what it was – improbable at best, farcical at worst.
It was very unlikely that Mia would ever get Scaley into bed. In fact it was inconceivable, thought Mia, laughing at her own pun. In the queue of ‘women-likely-to-get-into-bed-with-Jason-Clarke’, she stood behind every other woman in the resort. Every other woman seemed to be able to attract and secure Scaley’s attention with ease. He simply didn’t see Mia in that way. She’d done her best to be witty, attractive and available for the entire week, and yet Scaley insisted on sleeping with girls who were not as witty and not as attractive (although she admitted Kiki probably had her beaten on the available stakes). Last night had been soul-destroying. She’d played all her best cards. While they had had a fabulous day together, joking, playing, chatting and skiing, it was clear that he saw her as a cross between his primary school teacher and his big sister. It was undignified. Mia had had enough.
Besides, even if she were to get him into bed, she’d calculated that her chances of conceiving were pretty slim. She was kidding herself that one attempt would be enough. She was thirty-four, for God’s sake. She knew the scary statistics about fertility nosediving with every candle she blew out. Mother Nature was a tyrant. It seemed to Mia that she’d spent all her twenties avoiding getting pregnant – and in those days it had seemed a genuine possibility at every turn – and now the opposite was true.
But, then, maybe it wasn’t Mother Nature who had flawed planning.
Anyway, Mia reasoned, even if the first miracle did occur and Scaley somehow suddenly saw her as a bedmate, instead of a big mate, for approximately twenty minutes (that would do, wouldn’t it?), and if, by some fluke, the second miracle occurred and somehow she got lucky after just one attempt, she figured she’d have a pretty determined fetus on her hands. Not the type of fetus to be in the least bit concerned about a couple of glasses of G & T.
‘Make mine a double, Scaley.’
They’d had a great day. They had swooped and swerved down mountains and through trees. They had glided and fallen with good humour and no style. They had chatted about, well, something, although neither could remember exactly what now. Both recalled that there hadn’t been a single uncomfortable silence. They had felt a little naughty, absconding from the group and breaking away on their own, but they had both enjoyed breaking the rules – just a little bit.
They’d spent the day unthinkingly re-creating the intimacy and exclusivity that had always been so abundant in the past. They’d had fun. And neither of them had wanted the fun to stop. It was only the fact that they both felt duty-bound to join the gang for dinner that brought them back to the hotel. They comforted themselves with the thought that the food was excellent. When they arrived back at des Dromonts, Lloyd was sitting alone in the bar, nursing a whisky.
‘So, what’s with the ghost town?’ asked Jason.
‘Dunno where Jayne is,’ Lloyd slurred, betraying that this wasn’t his first whisky of the evening. ‘I haven’t seen her all day. Tash and Rich went boarding together. Decided to go to Switzerland and had this madcap idea to stay in another hotel tonight. No idea why. This one is fantastic, and they’ll still have to pay for it.’ Mia and Jason exchanged looks.
‘Maybe they just wanted some time alone,’ said Jason.
‘More likely that Rich is avoiding a certain someone,’ said Mia sotto voce. Jason nudged her, indicating it was wisest that she kept her thoughts to herself. He turned his attention back to Lloyd.
‘I feel lousy, mate, really sorry. You should have come out with us, rather than stay here on your own all day,’ said Jase as he threw himself on to the comfy, cushioned seat next to Lloyd. He said this with the full knowledge that his generous invitation was impossible to exploit after the event.
‘No matter, old man, gave me time to think.’ Lloyd forcefully prodded his skull with his forefinger.
‘Oh, yeah, about what?’
Lloyd put his finger to his lips. ‘It’s a secret, at the moment. But I’ll let you in on it as soon as I can.’
‘Goodo,’ smiled Jase with total indifference. ‘Want another drink?’
He never had any curiosity to hear anything someone didn’t want to tell him. Mia was the opposite and considered pushing Lloyd for more info. On the other hand, she really wanted to change out of her snow gear and put on something suitable for dinner. She excused herself and left Scaley and Lloyd to their drinks.
Mia bounced up the stairs to her room, well, metaphorically at least. Other than on the slopes, it was very difficult to move with real animation in ski boots. She dashed into her room and checked her reflection.
Yes! She’d thought so. She looked amazing. Obviously the fresh air agreed with her. It was only yesterday that she’d read in one of Tash’s magazines that the air in the mountains was excellent for the skin, something to do with oxygen levels. She didn’t like admitting that she’d read one of those terrible mags, let alone that she’d found an interesting article. It was just that she’d been hanging around the foyer waiting for the others and she’d seen it poking out from behind a cushion, carelessly abandoned she imagined, and, well, she’d just picked it up through idle curiosity. But then she’d found she couldn’t put it down. She had to confess that the next half an hour had flown by and the articles weren’t as imbecilic as she’d imagined. Two or three had actually been quite interesting and fairly well written. For example, the article about natural ways to make your skin glow had recommended a number of expensive creams, mountain air or falling in love as the best boosters. She hadn’t had the opportunity to buy the creams yet, so it had to be the mountain air.
Mia quickly jumped in the shower and, although she was in a hurry, she hunted for her DKNY body wash. It smelt fantastic, and she always used it on special occasions. Not that having dinner with the gang was particularly unique, but today did feel like a distinctive and exciting occurrence. She dressed at great speed, not sure, or at least not prepared to recognize, what or whom she was hurrying for.
Scaley Jase.
His name popped into her head as she lathered her body with silky bubbles. Then again as she pulled up her cotton briefs, and again as she snapped on her bra. They’d had a fantastic day. Such fun from start to –
Mia didn’t want it to finish.
That had to be the G & T, didn’t it? They’d gone straight to her head. She’d been off alcohol for a couple of weeks and suddenly she was Lady Lightweight. Well, Jase would be pleased, she was a cheap date. Not that she was his date. It was just a saying. If they did spend the evening together, as friends, he’d be pleased to see her so relaxed on a couple of G & Ts. Maybe she shouldn’t have had doubles, but she did feel deliciously light-headed.
Wasn’t it just the way? Her whole purpose for being on this trip was to conceive a child with Scaley, but from the moment they’d met in Heathrow her plan had seemed doomed. Typical, then, that now she had accepted that it wasn’t going to happen, all the problems that had stood in the way had suddenly disintegrated.
When Mia had been actively trying to seduce Scaley, she had struggled to secure time together alone. If they ever did have any time together alone, she was always struggling for conversation that was even remotely interesting, let alone sultry or flirty. But now she had acknowledged that the idea was more of a pipe dream than plan, she had suddenly become funny, dirty, happy and suggestive by turn. All week she had constantly analysed Scaley’s every move against criteria that she had drawn up to assess the suitability of his sperm and genes. Invariably he’d failed to meet her exacting standards. She
hadn’t liked the fact that he drank so much (that would damage his fertility and virility). She hadn’t liked his legs, as she suddenly noticed that they were a little short in comparison to the rest of his body (would the baby inherit that?). She hadn’t liked the company he kept – the girls were silly and cheap (she wasn’t sure why she objected to the company, but she did).
However, now that Mia had established that Scaley’s service as unwitting sperm donor was no longer required, she suddenly saw things in a new light. Scaley wasn’t really drinking that much at all. He’d only had one beer today, and his legs weren’t especially short. In fact, he had a great swagger which some women might even find attractive. She still objected to the company he kept, although he hadn’t been quite so obvious when leering at other women today. She’d only caught him checking out T & A on two occasions.
Mia rushed around her room. She didn’t bother to consider which top would make her look most appealing, it no longer mattered, and her main concern was to return to Scaley as quickly as possible. Mia was slightly afraid that the magic spell which had made the day so relaxed and right might be broken if she stayed away too long. That could happen. In the past, Mia had been on dates which were going swimmingly when suddenly a dynamic was changed and the whole thing fell apart. It could even be a small dynamic such as moving venue or even table. Something intangible but important, and Mia didn’t want that to happen tonight.
