by Kaylie Kay
‘Pier One tonight, girls?’ Julie Margot stood between them and the sea. She wore a white swimsuit, cut out at the sides, and a sun hat with a huge brim, immaculate as always. ‘It’s karaoke!’ she exclaimed excitedly.
Olivia looked at the others, all woken from their daydreams and reading and looking at Julie as if she had just landed from Mars.
‘Umm,’ managed Nicola.
Claire looked at Olivia, horrified, and said nothing.
‘Ooh, yes, I love karaoke.’ And that was it, Ali had just committed them all to a night of The Julie Show. Olivia hated karaoke at the best of times, but karaoke with Julie Margot was seriously something else. She remembered Tokyo a few years back when Julie had pretty much hogged the mic all night thinking she was Whitney Houston, but she couldn’t hold a note. She really hoped she had got better since then. Bloody Ali and her big mouth, she had obviously had too much champagne!
‘Oh Ali, you have no idea what you’ve just signed us up to,’ groaned Claire once Julie was out of hearing distance. She, too, knew of Julie’s karaoke reputation.
‘What?’ Ali really did have no idea.
‘You’ll see tonight,’ smirked Olivia. They were going now so had best just make the most of it.
Pier One was a restaurant situated, as its name suggested, on a pier down in Montego Bay. A grand square bar was positioned in the middle with tables all around the edges near to the water. Fairy lights twinkled along either side, reflecting in the sea below them, and the mandatory Bob Marley music played softly over the speakers. The crew all sat around a long table on the right-hand side looking out over the small boats that bobbed about in the marina in the inky darkness.
Frozen margaritas were flowing and everyone chatted animatedly amongst themselves. It was a strange thing to people who weren’t crew how people who had never met before, or barely knew each other, could talk about every minute detail of their lives. Olivia always thought of it as crew counselling, they were all as good at listening as talking, and somebody would always have had a similar situation, or a worse problem before, and be able to give advice.
She found herself sat between Claire and Luke, who had been working on the upper deck of the aircraft on the way out. Only twenty-one, he hadn’t been flying for long, and as they ate their dinner he confided in her about his very complicated love life. She winced at the thought of being young and single again, having to navigate the online dating scene and weed out all the weirdos that she heard were on it. Even harder it seemed for the gay men and boys like Luke who seemed to lead even more complicated lives than the girls, caught up between the noncommittal apps that promoted promiscuity and the desire to have the comforts of a relationship.
‘Just like a prayer, I want to take you there…’
There it was. Her conversation with Luke stopped in its tracks as the raspy voice wailed over the speakers.
Ali, who was facing the stage at the end of the pier nearest to the entrance, spluttered as she tried not to choke on her drink, and her eyes almost popped out of her head as she registered where the awful noise was coming from. Olivia and Claire were so grateful at that moment to have their backs to the stage, as they collapsed in fits of giggles, more at Ali’s facial expressions than at Julie’s singing. Luke, being new, didn’t have the courage to laugh in case he caused offence and just sat mute and expressionless next to them, glancing sideways occasionally to judge the reactions around him. As they turned around slowly after composing themselves they could see the glamorous and so well-spoken flight manager was writhing around on the stage doing a full Madonna routine. Olivia couldn’t bear it, she had to turn back around immediately if she was not to offend Julie with her hysterical laughing. Everyone else sat frozen, mouths open, watching the performance unfold. It seemed the only person who was not dumbfounded was the captain, who was transfixed, smiling in appreciation and leaning forward eagerly anticipating her next move. Olivia cringed, perhaps something had happened between them last night. It wouldn’t be unheard of, even though he clearly wore a wedding band.
When her performance was over Julie walked back to the table with a huge smile on her face, obviously expecting the compliments to be overwhelming. For all their laughing no one was mean and so they applauded her and told her how amazing she was.
Olivia felt a warmth towards her seeing how pleased she was with herself, it was quite sweet really and not done in an arrogant way that would have been overbearing. She was grateful, however, that the next few songs had been selected by other guests, albeit none of them were anywhere near as entertaining as Julie had been.
By the end of the evening it was safe to say everyone was a little merry and at the point that the captain suggested he and Julie do a duet Ali hastily suggested that it was probably time to go, and the others all agreed. The minibus had been waiting to take them back to the hotel and as the time difference suddenly seemed to have an effect they were all glad to be getting back to their rooms for some sleep.
The crickets were singing happily in the bushes as they walked to their rooms laughing between themselves about the night. As she looked behind her Olivia saw the captain and Julie both walking in the direction of his room and sighed. Why did so many people have to cheat on their partners? Why was it so hard to be monogamous? She knew she would never do anything again that would jeopardise her and Tom’s relationship; it had been her wake up call to appreciate everything she had, and these people around her just made her want the commitment even more. Maybe it was time to speak to him about moving forward. She hadn’t pushed it before but now she felt she needed the security even more. As she drifted to sleep that night she thought of how she could broach the subject with him, and in her dreams they were married and had beautiful children. Maybe it could all be hers sooner rather than later.
Chapter 15
The sound of her phone ringing woke Olivia up. It was daylight already and sunlight was streaming through the plantation shutters on her windows. She glanced at her phone, Tom on video call. Now whilst she was not vain, and whilst she knew he saw her in the mornings all the time, she couldn’t bring herself to answer until she had made herself look a little more aesthetically pleasing.
Call you back in 5, she typed and took herself to the bathroom to find her hairbrush and makeup bag. She smiled as she recalled her happy dream, but decided that a transatlantic video call was probably not the best time to bring up marriage and babies, it could wait. She looked at her watch, 7am, but midday at home so she would forgive him for waking her up.
She waited for him to pick up, changing the position of the phone to give her the most flattering angle. Finally, after what seemed like an age, the connecting sign came up and Tom’s face was grinning back at her.
‘You’re never going to guess what, babe.’ She didn’t think she had ever seen him so excited, he looked like he had just won the lottery.
‘What?’ She felt excited too but didn’t know quite what for yet.
‘We won the contract!!’
She thought hard. Yes, she recalled he had mentioned contracts before but had to admit she rarely payed much attention when he was talking about work, generally just nodding and making the right responses. She would have to get better at that if she was going to be a good wife!
‘Which one?!’ She took a gamble that he was trying for more than one, to seem like she had been listening.
‘The big one with the council!’
Ah yes, she did have a recollection of him talking about this. It was something to do with all of the schools in the area, their maintenance and improvements, she seemed to recall. She knew it was a big deal and would have a huge impact on his business in a good way.
‘You have no idea what this means, babe! We will need to double in size to honour it, we’ve started recruiting already. It’s big, really big, we’re made now!’
She loved that he said ‘we’re’ – it was all for them, for their future. She wished she was at home to dance around and celebrate
with him.
‘Oh my god, that’s brilliant, I’m so happy for you!! When did this all happen?’
He had obviously propped his phone up on his desk as she could see him walking to the other side of his office and looking for something in the filing cabinet.
‘Just this morning!’ His voice was still elevated with excitement. ‘We had a meeting with the chiefs at the council to tender for it, and walked away with it in the bag! I wish you’d been there, babes, we were on fire!’
Knock, knock.
Tom turned to look at the door which was out of view.
‘Come in.’
‘I brought champagne.’
She couldn’t see her. but Olivia would have recognised that Australian accent anywhere. Her stomach was about to flip but she quickly reminded herself of her resolve yesterday to trust Tom implicitly.
Sarah walked into the picture holding a bottle of champagne and two glasses, putting them down on the desk next to Tom’s phone.
Tom turned back around from the filing cabinet, still grinning from ear to ear. He looked just like a little boy right now.
‘Brilliant, just the ticket!’
‘It’s not the best but it’s all they had in the corner shop fridge.’ She was leaning over, trying to open the bottle clumsily, and Olivia could see that her silk blouse was open at least two buttons lower than it needed to be.
‘Hi Sarah!’ Olivia put on her happiest friendliest voice. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, that old saying that her mum had often used sprung to her mind, not that Sarah was her enemy, or a threat, was she?
Sarah’s face scrunched up in confusion and she looked around the room for the source of the voice. Olivia was so relieved that she had taken the time to tidy herself up a little, but still felt frumpy in her pyjamas now that she was face to face with Sarah in her tight red pencil skirt and blouse. It was a far cry from the beach babe cute look she had been sporting at the barbecue, but she must have dressed up for the meeting, she told herself. I’m sure she won’t be this provocative tomorrow, she thought, not quite convinced though.
‘It’s Olivia, she’s on the phone,’ explained Tom, gesturing towards the desk.
Sarah took a couple of steps back and leant down to the screen, her face filling it at Olivia’s end.
‘Oh, hi Olivia!’ She waved and smiled broadly. ‘I’m just helping your boyfriend celebrate while you’re away, hope you don’t mind?’
‘Of course not, wish I could join you!’
‘We had such a result this morning, those old men in the council were so easy! What a fabulous first day for me!’
Had Sarah had a part to play in winning the contract? She didn’t want to look out of the loop by asking, so was grateful when Tom offered the rest of the story.
‘Yeah, I hadn’t got to that bit yet, babe. Sarah offered to come with me, she used to help with the tendering for her dad’s firm so I said she could. Anyway, she had all the old farts at the council eating out of her hand and sold us ten times better than I could ever have done. She made us sound like a corporation! I couldn’t have done it without her.’
Sarah had just handed him a glass of bubbly and they clinked glasses.
‘Ah, it was nothing,’ Sarah shrugged. ‘Same deal, different continent. Dad used to take me to all his meetings like that, said it always helped to have an intelligent girl there. These men underestimate our worth, hey Olivia?!’
‘Yeah.’ She kept smiling but couldn’t help feeling left out. She wished she was there, then she would feel differently, she was sure.
‘Right. I’m off, Keira is showing me the invoicing system.’ She drank the last of the champagne in her glass. ‘Bye Olivia.’ She waved as she walked out of the room.
‘Bye Sarah, thanks for helping Tom.’
‘No problem, anytime.’
She left the room and Tom turned the phone back around as he dropped into his chair, putting the champagne down in front of him.
‘I didn’t have the heart to tell her I hate champagne.’ They laughed together and Olivia felt ok again. She didn’t need to ask him any more about Sarah’s input, she knew enough and it was fine. It had been her that had suggested the job after all, so she had to deal with her own jealousy or whatever it was.
They spoke about her trip and the antics of the night before and Tom watered the obligatory office plant with the champagne to make it look like he had at least had another glass; this tickled Olivia. As their conversation was coming to a natural end a message popped up on her phone.
Tennis then breakfast? It was Claire. Olivia couldn’t hit the ball if she tried but would humour her friend’s enthusiasm for the sport!
I’m in, she texted back.
Chapter 16
Flying back to Gatwick two days later the girls giggled in the galley about the trip. It was a safe assumption that Julie and the captain had got together. Nothing had been seen of either of them the day after the karaoke; Julie had blamed a hangover which was believable but Claire was sure she had seen them getting into a taxi outside reception the next evening, probably off for a romantic meal away from prying eyes. When they had come to the lobby for checkout though, they were acting like nothing had happened and communicated in a very business-like manner. The captain would go back to his wife now, and tell her about his dull trip, and Julie back to her home in the south of France, alone. Maybe they would engineer another flight together for a reunion, maybe they had done this before, only they knew.
Nicola was nursing a serious case of sunburn, her nose glowing like a beacon and cheeks flushed red to match the galley curtains. Being a redhead, she really wasn’t made for the sun. She and Ali were highly amused as they regaled their tale of how they had been coerced by the barman into smoking a joint with him on the beach after his shift had finished, but it was Jamaica after all. Claire was relaxed and in really positive spirits, Olivia just hoped this trip would keep her friend going for a little while and that reality wouldn’t bring her down too soon.
Olivia hadn’t managed to talk to Tom since the video call, but he was understandably busy with the new contract to organise. She had got messages though so that was ok, and she was home for nearly a week now so would make sure they got some quality time together.
As they all said goodbye in the car park the next morning Olivia looked up at the queue of planes, visible by their landing lights, in the sky waiting to land. One after another roared over their heads, and she breathed in the smell of jet fuel that always seemed oddly comforting. Ali and Nicola were the first to leave and as Ali drove past in her Range Rover; barely able to see over the steering wheel, she stopped and lowered her window.
‘Let’s request another trip soon, girls!’
‘Definitely,’ Claire and Olivia agreed at once.
‘Hong Kong!’
‘Awesome idea,’ agreed Claire, neither of them noticing the unsure look on Olivia’s face.
With that, Ali drove off. Hopefully they would forget about it, Olivia thought, although she had a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn’t. Oh well, it was highly unlikely that she would bump into Jez out there again, she was certain he didn’t frequent the kind of places they were most likely to be, and even if she did that would be ok, she told herself.
She hugged Claire and watched her get in to her car, promising to see her very soon, before looking around trying to remember where on earth she had parked her own. As she was looking up and down the first officer from her flight walked towards her, heading for the bus stop looking very annoyed with himself.
‘Are you ok, Jon?’ she asked.
‘I forgot I took the bloody train to work,’ he said resignedly, trying to smile and see the funny side of his mistake. They had been away so long she guessed it was an easy enough mistake to make, presuming he had brought his car as he probably usually did, but she couldn’t help laughing sympathetically at him.
‘Oh dear,’ she said, and waved him goodbye as he went to get the bus bac
k to the terminal. She felt better now about not being able to find her car, which she eventually did in the very last aisle that she looked.
As she drove home she phoned Tom; she wasn’t expecting him to answer, as usual, so was surprised when it picked up. Only it wasn’t Tom who answered, it was Sarah, and her Australian accent cut straight through Olivia. What was she doing answering Tom’s phone?
‘TJ Construction, how can I help?’
‘Hi Sarah, it’s Olivia.’ She tried to hide the annoyance in her voice.
‘Oh hiii Olivia.’ Far too bloody cheerful.
‘Sorry, I meant to phone Tom, I must’ve called the office by mistake.’ She knew she hadn’t but didn’t want to come right out and ask what was going on.
‘Oh no, you didn’t make a mistake. I got Tom to divert his calls to here during office hours as he was missing calls from some of the clients that still use his mobile number. I can message him that you’ve called if you like?’
Ok, so maybe that made sense, although she wished Sarah hadn’t been the one to suggest it. The last thing she wanted was for her to become indispensable to Tom, then she’d have to live with this horrible insecurity forever!
‘Oh no, that’s fine, I hadn’t expected him to pick up anyway, you know what he’s like already obviously. Good idea diverting his calls, Sarah. I’ll just send him a message myself.’
‘Ok, how was your flight?’
‘Good thanks, always nice to be home though.’ Where she was in control.
Chapter 17
Tom was still at work when she arrived home just after one o’clock that afternoon. His coffee cups from the last few days were piled up in the kitchen sink, and the remains of a takeaway were scattered across the side. She quickly tidied up and climbed the stairs wearily, thinking, as she often did on landing day, that she really must get around to employing a cleaner soon. They would have to be significantly unattractive though, she couldn’t cope with leaving Tom with two beautiful women whilst she was away!
