The Perils of Skinny-Dipping (24 page)

That Friday, Abbey flew down to Gaborone. She was meeting Mr Gunnell at the hotel at three o’clock in the main bar. She arrived at the hotel at lunchtime and quickly showered before making her way downstairs to the bar. She took a table by the window overlooking the pool. At three o’clock exactly, Abbey looked up to see Anna Halley walk through the door. Anna stopped momentarily as she surveyed Abbey, the expression on her face unable to disguise the disappointment of Darren’s absence.

Abbey stood and invited Anna over to the table, before calling the waiter over.

‘
I was expecting Darren,’ said Anna as she took her seat, without offering any greeting.

Abbey smiled. ‘He’s otherwise engaged, Anna. I take it Mr Gunnell is also busy?’

Anna ignored the question and sipped her water. Abbey, feeling in total control of the situation, took the samples out of her bag and placed them on the table.

‘
I think you have a cheque for me, Anna?’

Anna picked up the samples and put them into her own bag. ‘It won’t last, you know,’ she said, her eyes not quite managing the same solid stare as on their last meeting. ‘This marriage of yours.’

Abbey laughed at her remark. ‘Well Anna, what can I say? I’ve lasted more than one night. But then, isn’t that what you’re used to? Darren told me about his drunken fumble with you in the dark a few years ago. Unfortunately, he can’t actually remember much about it apart from waking up the next morning with a headache.’

Anna stayed silent so Abbey continued, gaining confidence at every turn. ‘You’re a very attractive woman, Anna. Are you in a relationship at the moment?’

‘
I don’t think that’s any of your business,’ she replied coldly, now looking down at her knees, not sure how to deal with the backhanded compliment.

‘
No, you’re right, I’m sorry it isn’t any of my business. My business is my relationship with my husband. And let me make this perfectly clear to you Anna…’ Abbey lowered her voice and spoke slowly, ‘Darren is
my
husband. He lives in the same house as me and we sleep in the same bed. Now, is there anything else I can help you with today?’

Without looking at Abbey, Anna stood up and threw down a twenty-pula note to pay for her drink. As she turned to go, Abbey touched her wrist.

‘
Anna, I think you have a cheque for me?’

Anna took a small brown envelope out of her bag and dropped it onto the table. Abbey watched Anna as she left the bar. Amidst the immense feeling of satisfaction at the way she had handled the situation, she also felt sad for Anna. Sad in that, for all her beauty and money, she was a lonely, insecure woman who couldn’t hold down a long-term relationship.

Abbey left the bar, giving the porter the twenty-pula note, and made her way into town to the Main Mall to deposit the cheque in Barclay’s Bank.

After her trip, Abbey felt more settled than ever and her normal daily routine soon resumed. One Wednesday afternoon, just after she had returned to the office after her weekly trip to the Crossroads with Alfred, Boitachello ran out of the office waving a piece of paper.

‘
Miss Abbey,’ she shouted, ‘Miss Abbey, you have an important phone message. It came whilst you were out and I could not get you on your mobile.’

Abbey took the message and read it. ‘What on earth!’ she gasped after she had read it for the third time. ‘Oh my god, some notice they’re giving me.’

The AVP head office had rang to say that they had eventually recruited an extra pair of hands, and the new person would be arriving at Kasane Airport on the afternoon flight. Abbey looked at her watch. It was already two-thirty and the Gaborone flight was due to land in one hour.

‘
Quick, come with me,’ she shouted over to Boitachello, as she sprinted over to the bakkie.

‘
Where are we going, Mma?’ asked Boitachello, who was quite unnerved by the panicked reaction of her boss.

‘
Look, they’ll need somewhere to stay and Phil’s house has been empty for months. God knows what’s moved in there. We’ll need to give it a quick clean. All the stuff we need should be still in the kitchen, or at least that’s where I left it!’

Abbey was pleasantly surprised when she went into the house and only found a small army of ants and half a dozen dead cockroaches to clean up. She sprayed the floors with ‘Doom’ an insecticide spray, which doomed anything it connected with - human, animal or insect. She opened some windows to let in some fresh air and to get rid of the stale smell she had noticed on first entering the house.

Boitachello walked the short distance back to the office and Abbey set off for the airfield. It occurred to her, as she waited in the small airport lounge, that she must look a mess, given she had been moving trees around and sweating profusely in the heat. She attempted to flatten down her hair and wipe away the dark smudges under her eyes, as the small plane landed. She also had no idea who she was meeting. She went over to the administration desk and asked if she could have a piece of A4 paper. She wrote her name and ‘AVP’ in large black letters and held it up against her chest.

The passengers lined up for the security check before filing into the lounge. Abbey’s mouth fell open as the familiar sight of Phil came through the door.

‘
What the…?’ she gasped.

‘
Hi hun. I take it you weren’t expecting me?’ he laughed, pointing to the homemade sign across her chest.

She hugged him tightly, smiling at the thought of having her best friend back.

‘
How did you wangle this one then?’ she asked, as they drove back towards the town.

‘
Well, I decided that given all the adventures you were having, that I was missing out on far too much fun. So, I rang AVP and told them my mother was better and I was free to come out and finish my contract! You are pleased to see me, aren’t you?’

‘
Phil, my darling, do I really have to answer that one?’ said Abbey, a smile still beaming across her face. ‘What about your prescriptions though? Won’t they cost you a fortune?’

‘
I think,’ replied Phil, ‘that’s a small sacrifice to pay, don’t you?’

‘
What about Lucy? Isn’t that a sacrifice too?’

‘
I tried to talk to Debra, to tell her I was HIV, but I just couldn’t do it. She won’t let me near Lucy now, and if she knew about my condition, I know she would use it as an extra weapon to keep me at arm’s length.’

‘
That’s a shame. I’m sorry, Phil. I really am.’

Phil shook his head.

‘
She’s still hurting, I guess. I don’t blame her at all. I left her literally holding the baby. I know her parents have been great and all that, supporting her in all the ways I should have done, but I don’t suppose that’s been any consolation. No, I’m just going to have to get over it and hope that eventually she’ll find it in her heart to forgive me, and let me have some contact with my daughter some day.’

‘
Don’t ever give up on that thought, Phil. Promise me?’

Phil smiled. ‘I won’t,’ he replied. ‘I promise.’

Abbey drove Phil straight to her bungalow and sprinted up the steps, shouting to Darren that they had company for dinner. Darren smiled at Phil when he walked into the lounge and shook his hand.

‘
Welcome back,’ he said. ‘Now I can share the worry of keeping this live wire in check!’ he pointed at Abbey, as she bounced into the kitchen, returning with three bottles of beer.

Abbey smiled and looked at the two men in her life, standing side by side in the same room and raised her glass.

As Abbey prepared dinner, Darren took the opportunity to speak to Phil on the veranda.

‘
You know, Abbey hasn’t once mentioned her parents since she got back from Manchester, and I have to admit I find that kind of strange.’

Phil nodded. ‘I met both her parents when she was over. It was really surreal. There are no arguments or anything, and they do speak, but it’s always trivial talk, like the weather or what they’re going to have for tea. It’s weird because you can see the emotion bubbling in Abbey’s eyes as if she wants to scream at them, but she doesn’t. Instead, she just carries on playing the game and I don’t think it’ll ever change.’

Darren didn’t respond, but looked across the darkness that had fallen over the land, as if someone had suddenly switched off a light.

Phil continued the conversation. ‘She was in a dreadful state about you, mate, I can tell you. She thought you’d gone off with that Anna woman.’

‘
She never had anything to worry about on that score,’ said Darren quietly.

‘
Well, I never thought for one minute the Abbey I knew could collapse into a totally useless heap like that. I’m so glad you guys have sorted everything out. I was really worried about her.’

Darren nodded his head in appreciation of Phil’s openness and honesty, but didn’t reply.

They ate dinner inside the house and Abbey insisted that Phil stayed with them on his first night back.

‘
Look Abbey, I’m not a baby,’ he said, ‘I’m quite capable of looking after myself.’

‘
I know you are,’ she said, slurring her words slightly after three beers, ‘but your bed isn’t made up and there is no food in your house.’

Phil looked over the table at Darren, who smiled.

‘
I’d do as I was told if I were you mate,’ he said, ‘just for today anyway. Oh yes, and thanks to you, we’ve got a pet tokalosh as well as a bloody cat now. He’s called Richard and he lives on our front porch! Feel free to move him into your place, anytime!’

‘
Oh and Phil,’ called Abbey as she stumbled her way to bed, ‘Prisca will call in at your house every day for an hour.’

‘
And who might Prisca be?’ whispered Phil, so Abbey couldn’t hear.

After a light breakfast, Abbey and Phil walked down to the AVP office. Boitachello and Alfred were already waiting outside the gate. Phil was introduced to both of them and within ten minutes he was sitting behind his old desk, making conversation with Boitachello as she brewed the first cup of tea of the day. Alfred was a little more reserved and drank his tea outside before starting work, occasionally staring into the office to listen in to what was being said.

‘
Hey, does this mean I get to do the Crossroads trip again?’ asked Phil.

Abbey thought for a moment. ‘I don’t see why not. It’ll take even less time with the three of us and more time to eat breakfast and chat to Isaac, who by the way will be thrilled to see you back,’ she said, throwing his pen top back at him.

‘
On a serious note,’ said Phil, in a quiet voice so the other two couldn’t hear, ‘is that tin still in the shed?’

‘
Oh my god, yes! I’d forgotten all about that. What are we going to do with it?’

‘
Follow me,’ said Phil, and he made his way up the plantation and into the shed. Once inside, he unearthed the tin, took the lid off, and placed it on the ground.

‘
There is only one way to clear any curse that might be on this,’ he said taking a lighter out of his pocket.

‘
Phil, do you really believe in all this stuff?’ said Abbey amazed.

‘
I’m not sure, but put it this way, hun, I aint about to take any chances.’

He put some paper and some lighter fuel in the tin and set it alight. The tin blazed for a couple of minutes and, when the flames died away, there was nothing left but a blackened tin. Phil stamped on it with his foot until it was flat and then buried it again in the ground.

‘
Any chance I can move into my house today, or are you going to keep me under house arrest at yours?’ asked Phil, as they walked back towards the office.

‘
Of course you can. Come on, I’ll come with you,’ replied Abbey.

As they drove the short distance to the bungalow, Abbey asked the question that she had been burning to ask since he got back.

‘
Phil?’

‘
Umm.’

‘
When I got to the hospital, the ward sister told me my brother had rung. What did you say to Anna Halley, just as a matter of interest?’

Phil smiled. ‘Do you really want to know? Is it that important?’

Abbey nodded her head vigorously.

‘
I told her she was an interfering bitch, and that I was on my way over to sort her out. I said, “Abbey may not be in a fit state to deal with you, but I am, and I’m not going to let your evil little games fuck up my best friend’s life.” Then I told her to get her ass out of the hospital and back to Cape Town before I arrived.’

Abbey looked at Phil wide-eyed, not knowing whether to believe him or not. Whatever he had said had obviously worked and, as far as Abbey was concerned, the name Anna Halley was fast becoming a distant memory.

‘
Wow, the gate doesn’t squeak anymore,’ laughed Phil, as he pushed it open. ‘What’ve you done to it?’

Abbey smiled as she watched him walk up the path and through the front door. It felt good knowing he wasn’t too far away, for both their sakes.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Phil threw his bags on the coffee table and looked around his house. It felt good to be back and somehow a relief, in that his new lifestyle would no longer reflect the one he had before he left. The house was also very clean and tidy and Phil knew that this Prisca woman would report to Abbey daily, so he would have to make an effort to tidy up after himself. Cold beer, however, was still very much on the agenda and, unbeknown to Abbey (who had left several bottles of vitamin tablets by the kettle), Darren had been in that morning and stocked up his fridge. He snapped the ring pull off the top of the can and put his feet up on the table.