Let's Call the Whole Thing Off (16 page)

‘Oh! A camera, are you sure?’ I brushed down the red fluff of the carpet from my dress. My casually elegant look had been replaced with a hedge-backwards look. ‘That wasn’t an ambush, then?’

‘An ambush?’ I knew, though, from the look on his face I’d lost him forever. We were speaking different languages. He was distracted by whatever it was that had just happened out there and was looking at me as though it was time for me to get back to that secure unit.

He scowled and steered me into a side corridor just off the main reception and I looked up at him, realising I had twice as many questions that needed answering. Only I probably wouldn’t get the opportunity to find out the answers now. Our respective ships were about to dock in faraway ports from each other.

‘Right, well, thanks so much, Dave, and good luck to you with … with everything.’

‘Yes, I’ll see you,’ he said distractedly, leaning in to leave a graze of a kiss on my cheek. ‘You take care.’

He gave me a curt nod of the head as he walked away.

I slumped against the wall, all energy deserting me, thinking that little episode had come a very close second to the being shot naked by the gorgeous Ben saga. Embarrassment crept up my skin making my face as red as the carpet I’d just crawled over.

Luckily, thankfully, I’d never have to see Dave again.

Chapter Eleven

I was woken at the crack of dawn by an insistent banging on my door. I rolled over in bed, thinking for a blissful sweet moment that I was at home in my flat, that I was about to get up for work and that I’d be getting married to the man I loved in a couple of days. Before reality was drummed into by head by the God-awful racket coming from outside. I sighed and reached across for the alarm clock. Ughh. It wasn’t the crack of dawn. It was 10.40 a.m. How could I have slept so late!

The banging wasn’t going to stop. Clearly.

‘Room service!’ a strangulated voice called from the other side of the door.

Which was a lovely thought, although slightly weird too, because I felt certain I hadn’t ordered anything unless I’d done so in my sleepily disappointed state last night. I pulled on the complimentary fluffy bath robe and padded over to the door.

‘Oh, thank goodness! I thought something dreadful had happened to you. Can I come in?’ Neil, my friendly waiter, complete with trolley overflowing with all manner of breakfast things, didn’t wait for my answer, he just wheeled his way right in.

‘Oh, crikey!’ He dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘He’s not here, is he? In your bed? Aargh. Awkward. I’ll just go, shall I?’

‘What? Who? No, there’s no one here. Come right in.’

Neil pulled out a bowl from the lower tray of the trolley, opened up a small box of cereal and tipped the contents in the bowl, before dousing with milk.

‘There you go,’ he said, thrusting it at me. Then he placed a cappuccino on the bedside table and proceeded to load another plate with a pain au chocolate, a Danish pastry and a farmhouse luxurious lemon-curd yoghurt. He delivered them alongside the coffee on to the table with a flourish.

‘Breakfast is served, madam!’

Relieved of his waiter-ly obligations, Neil plonked himself down on the bed and crossed his arms, looking at me expectantly.

‘Mmm, lovely! But, um, I don’t think I actually ordered this.’ I tentatively stuck my spoon into the cereal bowl, toying with the idea of eating it. The temptation was far too great. I tucked in greedily.

‘I was worried about you! When you didn’t come down for breakfast I thought you must have got lucky with Mr Mystery Man and then I had this dreadful thought that something terrible may have happened to you. You could have been murdered or trafficked into the porn trade or something. If I hadn’t come and checked on you and something had happened I’d never have been able to forgive myself. I just needed to see the whites of your eyes to check you were okay.’

I smiled. It made me feel a whole lot better to think I wasn’t the only person in the world who was prone to ridiculous flights of fancy. Although I thought it wasn’t worth mentioning that I’d nearly got shot, but it was all a silly misunderstanding. I still wasn’t sure I understood it myself.

‘Aw, well, thank you very much for your concern, Neil, but as you can see I didn’t succumb to any of those terrible fates. I am still here and very much alive and kicking. Just a bit tired, that’s all. I can’t believe I slept in so late.’

I plumped up the pillows onto the headboard and settled back on the bed, pulling the duvet round me. I had a feeling we could be here some time.

‘So how did it go? The big date? You need to tell me all about it. And don’t spare me any of the details. Did you end up having wild passionate sex on the beach?’

‘Well, you know, we thought about it, but it was far too nippy for that! I think we’d have got hypothermia!’

‘You’ve got no sense of adventure, do you know that!’

‘Actually,’ I said, ‘Dave was the perfect gentleman.’

Neil curled his lip in disdain.

‘That must have been disappointing.’

‘No, it wasn’t! He was absolutely lovely. We had an amazing meal at this wonderful little Italian restaurant and then we came back into town and drank cocktails at a bar and then we ended up on the pier. We sat on a bench there just chatting for ages.’

‘Sounds lovely.’ Neil couldn’t have sounded more insincere if he tried. ‘Then what?’

‘What do you mean, “then what”? That was it. He brought me back to the hotel and he went back to his. Well, I suppose that’s what he did. It was all a bit odd at the end of the evening.’

I tried to make it sound as though it was exactly what I’d been expecting, but if I was being honest I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that Dave hadn’t wanted to make the night last longer. I was beginning to wonder if overnight I’d been stripped of my ability to attract any member of the opposite sex. Not only had Dave shown no inclination at wanting to make a pass at me but he hadn’t even asked for my telephone number. Which didn’t do a lot for a girl’s ego when she’d just been dumped by her fiancé.

Still, I don’t know why I had expected anything else. All Dave wanted was someone to pass the time with while he was away from home, wasn’t that what he told me that first night we met? And that’s what I’d wanted too, so why had my fleeting relationship with Dave left me feeling so unsettled and disappointed?

‘Odd?’ Neil turned on me as if he’d only just realised what I’d said. ‘In what way was it odd?’

‘Well, it was just a bit weird that was all. We were saying goodbye in the foyer when there was bit of a commotion.’ I decided to spare him the details. ‘I think someone was trying to take photos of us, something silly like that. Dave got really twitchy about it and pushed me inside. It kind of spoilt the end of the evening. I could tell Dave was really annoyed and just wanted to get away.’

‘Ooh, I wonder what that was all about. Perhaps he’s married and his wife has put a tail on him. You never know, you might be branded as the “other woman” in a divorce case.’

I gave Neil a scathing look.

‘He’s already divorced. He told me about it last night. Said his divorce had come through that day, actually.’

‘Right, okay. Maybe he’s a famous celebrity, then, being followed by the paparazzi?’

‘Hmm, well, I think I might have known if he was, don’t you? Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. It’s not as though I’m going to be seeing him again, is it? I’m going home on Friday.’

‘Shame,’ said Neil, sounding as disappointed as I felt. ‘It could have been just what you needed to get over that love-rat ex of yours.’

I didn’t like to point out that Ed wasn’t officially in the ex-category yet.

‘Maybe, although it might just have made me feel ten times worse. I’ve never had a one-night stand and I’m not certain now’s the time to start.’

Neil helped himself to a croissant from the trolley and shuffled alongside me on the bed, mirroring my position. I looked at him, not quite able to believe that there was a waiter in my bed.

‘Shouldn’t you be working?’

‘I’m on my break. I’m been on my feet since five thirty this morning. You don’t mind, do you?’ He wiped crumbs away from his mouth with his thumb.

‘No. It’s nice to have you here,’ I said, meaning it. I felt no embarrassment at having Neil in my room, seeing me in my bleary-eyed make-up-less state. It was like sitting in bed with my long-lost brother. Not that I had one of those, but Neil would be absolutely perfect for the part.

‘Actually, I’ve been thinking,’ I said, not quite sure where the mad idea forming in my mind had sprung from, ‘but you know you mentioned about being my plus one for the Maldives. I think it’s a brilliant idea. I wonder if we could do that. Get the ticket transferred into your name. What do you reckon?’

Was this the defining moment when I’d decided I wasn’t going to marry Ed after all?

‘Oh my God! You want me to come to the Maldives with you! On Saturday? OMG, that is so amazing.’ He pumped his fists above his head excitedly. ‘I would love to go. I can’t believe you’re actually asking me. I would simply love to go, but …’ He sighed exaggeratedly. ‘I can’t.’

‘What do you mean, you can’t?’ I said, feeling miffed that Neil might actually be on the verge of turning me down.

‘Oh darling.’ he turned to me in bed and grabbed both of my hands, looking at me imploringly. If he wasn’t in all his waiting garb and gay to boot, it might just have been romantic. ‘There is nothing more I would like to do than swan off to the Maldives with you at the weekend. It’s the best offer I’ve had in a long while, but honestly, darling, I can’t!’

‘You can’t?’

I had a two-week luxury, all-expenses-paid holiday going begging and it seemed no one in the world wanted to go with me.

‘No, I can’t.’ He slumped back down on the bed, sounding as disappointed as I was feeling. ‘I’ve only been in this job for three weeks. I’ve got to do three months before I get any holiday and I just know they wouldn’t give me any time off before then. Besides, I need the money. The thing is I made a pledge to myself when I landed this job that I wouldn’t mess things up. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve done that in the past. I’ve been through a really rough patch recently. My parents chucked me out of home, I quit college and I came here and ended up living in a squat. This is my chance to make a new start.’

‘Oh no,’ I said, feeling desperately sorry for him. ‘That can’t have been fun.’

‘It wasn’t. It was awful and the last thing I want is to go back there. I got this job through a friend of a friend. I know it’s nothing marvellous, but it’s a job and most importantly it comes with digs. I’ve got my own room in the staff quarters. This is my attempt at being a responsible grown-up. I don’t want to mess it up.’

‘Of course you don’t!’ Now I felt guilty for having invited him in the first place. ‘Don’t worry about it. It was a silly idea anyway. A bit of a long shot. I don’t suppose I’d be able to transfer the ticket anyway.’

‘No.’ Neil sighed. ‘I can’t tell you what a wonderful idea it is, though. I don’t suppose you could postpone it for six months, could you?’

‘Nice try, but no.’ I was beginning to think that even if I advertised this freebie holiday on eBay I still wouldn’t get any takers. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll just have to go on my own.’ Either that or take Ed, and at the moment that idea really didn’t appeal.

Neil grimaced and looked at me doubtfully.

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Why not? It’ll be fun.’ My voice cracked just at the wrong moment.

‘Oh, I’m sure it will. It’s just a shame. If you’re going somewhere amazing like that you really need to share the experience with someone special to get the most out of it.’

‘You sound like Dave.’

‘Your fiancé?’

‘No, the guy I had dinner with last night.’

‘Oh … Oh, I see! Did you ask him to go to the Maldives with you too? Am I your second choice, is that it?’ He folded his arms and looked suitably affronted. ‘How very rude!’ I couldn’t help giggling.

‘No, I just happened to mention that I was going. Although I forgot to mention the fact that it was meant to be my honeymoon. I said I was going with a friend who’d let me down at the last moment.’

‘Well, you don’t know, maybe he would have gone with you if you’d asked him.’

‘He sort of offered, like you did, but I knew he was only joking. Besides, he’s just got divorced, I’ve just been dumped. I’m not sure the two of us together would have been the best combination.’

Neil put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close to his side, just as Dave had done last night, although this was a much different experience. There were no exciting tingling feelings, just a sense of warmth and reassurance. I wondered if Neil might fancy jumping under the covers with me and watching soppy rom-coms for the rest of the day, but then I remembered he was only on his break.

‘It will be okay, you know that. You’ll jet off to the Maldives and have the most wonderful time and then when you come home again you’ll be feeling much more positive about the future.’

‘Oh yeah, yeah,’ I said, as though I actually believed it. ‘And we must keep in touch now. You can always come and visit me in London. I’m not sure where I’ll be living yet but when I do I’ll contact you and you must come and stay. I can show you the sights.’

‘I’d love that,’ Neil said, the air punctuated now by a waft of disappointment.

We both turned to look to the side where my phone was doing a slow-shoe shuffle across the table.

‘Well, aren’t you going to answer that?’

I’d been deliberately avoiding looking at my phone. Last time I’d taken a sneaky peek I’d noticed over a dozen unopened texts looking at me accusingly, demanding my attention.

I snatched up the phone expecting it to be my mum, Ed or Ben. It was none of those people and the number was one I didn’t even recognise. Maybe it was Dave ringing to ask me out on another date, but then I remembered he didn’t have my number.

‘Hello?’ I said, Neil’s presence somehow making it harder to ignore the phone’s insistent vibrations.

‘Anna? Is that you Anna?’

‘Yes.’ A worm of alarm crawled around my stomach. I vaguely recognised the woman’s voice but I couldn’t think where from.