What I Did On My Holidays

by Chrissie Manby

  ‘I didn’t sleep with Tom. I didn’t sleep with anybody. But in any case,’ I said at last, ‘what business is it of yours? You dumped me. I was technically single. You can’t have it both ways.’

  ‘You’ve embarrassed me,’ said Callum quietly.

  ‘I embarrassed you? How do you think I felt last night when you threw that punch? You were drunk and mean and out of control.’

  Callum’s mouth dropped open. He looked shocked. I’d surprised myself. I’d wanted to say something along those lines for the longest time. Though I had barely admitted it to myself up until then, Callum was at the very least drunk and mean most Saturday nights. I’d put up with it. I’d put up with it because I wanted to be in a relationship and because I could hardly believe my luck that someone as good-looking and popular as Callum could want to be in a relationship with me. I’d willfully ignored his unpleasant traits and the way they made me feel for the sake of not being single. But was this any better? I’d dedicated so much of my energy to make him feel happy and now he was calling me a slut. At last, I had had enough. I told him exactly what I thought about his temper and his selfishness. I told him that I had enjoyed meeting Tom because he was someone with more on his mind than Hugo Boss suits. I hardly drew breath until I’d got it all out there.

  ‘You dumped me right before my birthday,’ was my last complaint.

  ‘And now I’m dumping you again,’ he said.

  ‘Great,’ I responded. ‘You do what you like. I’ll see you back at work.’

  Callum hesitated. He hadn’t expected me to say that. Even after I’d told him what I really thought of him, I think he’d expected me to protest his disappearance. I’d moved away from the script.

  ‘I hope you don’t have to pay too much to change your ticket,’ I added.

  ‘Fuck you.’ He picked up his case and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

  ‘Fine,’ I said. ‘It’s really fine. Bon voyage.’

  I sat down on the bed.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  So I was back at square one. Dumped again.

  Callum had left with such determination in his stride that I knew he wasn’t kidding. But this time, I decided, I wasn’t kidding either. I would not try to change Callum’s mind.

  For the whole of that week in the flat I had been concentrating on how I could get him back. I had got him back, albeit briefly, and it really hadn’t been that much fun. Though he had been superficially sorry for dumping me the week before, he hadn’t really given me any explanation for his behaviour. He hadn’t made a special effort to make up for missing my birthday. He hadn’t really wanted to know how unhappy I’d been and how we could change things going forward. He had been arrogant and foolish when it came to Tom. And rude. Downright vile, in fact.

  The Callum I had seen the previous evening at the Palacio Blanco was not one I particularly cared to spend any more time with. The only reason it hadn’t kicked off that way before was because his mates were usually there to hold him back and because I had spent the duration of our relationship on eggshells, making sure he had no cause to get into a fight for me.

  So, I didn’t try to chase him, though I watched him from the balcony as he dragged his case round the pool to the hotel lobby. He didn’t look back. I didn’t try to call him. I didn’t text him. Neither did I text or email Hannah in an attempt to limit the damage to my reputation the story in the news might have caused. The girls at the office would have their chance to laugh at me later on. For now, the most pressing thing on my mind was saving Clare’s relationship from the grenade that was that article in the Sun.

  Perhaps there was still time. I sent Clare a text, asking her to meet me by the pool as soon as possible. I found two empty sunbeds and sat there, picking at my cuticles for what seemed like an age before Clare stepped out into the sun, stretching like a happy cat. She had a big smile on her face. It made me feel bad as I considered the disaster that was about to unfold. Evan was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘How long have we got?’ I asked her.

  ‘Oh, ages, I should think. He’s sleeping off last night,’ she said. ‘We were up pretty late.’

  ‘I thought you were going straight home to bed after dinner,’ I said.

  Clare smiled. ‘So did I.’

  She settled into her sunbed and waved to attract the attention of a waiter. ‘So what’s the matter with you?’ she asked at last. ‘What’s with the urgency? Where’s the fire?’

  ‘Callum’s gone.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He dumped me again.’

  ‘Oh, Soph.’

  She held out her arms to me.

  ‘It’s OK. I’m fine about that. The real problem is that he dumped me because he found out our secret.’

  Clare didn’t yet know about our appearance in the newspaper. While I opened Hannah’s email on my iPhone, I told her why Callum was not with me that day and why I’d probably never see him again outside the confines of Stockwell Lifts.

  ‘Bloody Hannah,’ said Clare, as she looked at the incriminating Sun article complete with the photograph taken in my backyard.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I know this is going to affect things with you and Evan too. Do you think you can stop him from finding out the truth until we work out what to do? You’ll have to tell him it was all my fault and I made you do it. I’ll never forgive myself if you guys break up because of me.’

  Clare shook her head and took my hand. She looked up towards the balcony of the room she and Evan had been sharing that week. As we watched, he shambled out into the sunshine. He was frowning. Was it just a hangover?

  ‘Sophie,’ said Clare, ‘it’s already too late for that.’

  ‘Oh, no.’

  This was far worse than being dumped by Callum for a second time. I had so hoped that Clare and Evan would sort things out. I’d been reminded on this trip just how much I liked him, and how much he loved my sister. Was Clare going to use the discovery of our lie as an excuse to get out of the wedding? She seemed strangely calm.

  ‘Last night,’ she began, ‘as we were walking back to the hotel, Evan took my hand and asked me if I really wanted to go back to the hotel room, since it was still quite early. I told him, honestly for once, that I was actually pissed off to be having another early night when we were supposed to be on holiday. And seeing as how we’d blown half our wedding budget to be in Majorca, we might as well enjoy it. I was expecting him to turn round and tell me that in light of our financial situation, staying out any later would only make things worse, but he said, “You know what, I agree with you. Let’s go somewhere nice and have a nightcap.” And a nightcap turned into a bottle of champagne to celebrate the one-year anniversary of our engagement. And once he’d had his share of the champagne, I actually persuaded Evan to dance. And once he was dancing, I felt like the guy I fell in love with was back.’

  This was terrible. Clare had decided to patch things up and now everything would be destroyed because of me.

  Clare sank back into her sunlounger, still looking up at Evan on the balcony. Evan was rubbing his eyes.

  ‘The most important thing is that while we were dancing, he told me he’d known for ages that I was unhappy. He’d been worried stiff about it, but he didn’t know how to start turning things round again. He didn’t dare say anything to me because he thought it might make things worse. He was scared I was planning to go. I’ve been a real idiot, assuming that Evan was carrying on in his lunk-headed way, not noticing whether I was happy or sad or about to jump off a cliff.

  ‘Evan asked exactly how unhappy I’d been. He said he really wanted to know how close he had come to losing me. I took a deep breath and told him the truth. I told him that I’d been unhappy enough to spend a week behind closed doors in Clapham. I told him everything. I told him I had a better time confined to your flat than I had done for the rest of the year. He knows about the beach. He knows about the fire, Soph. He even knows about Jason.’

  ‘That
you kissed him?’

  ‘That he tried to kiss me, but I resisted,’ said Clare.

  ‘OK.’

  She knew I would keep her secret.

  ‘Anyway, I had to make him realise how serious the situation was, and it seemed that telling him the whole truth really was the only way. I couldn’t risk letting another month go by just hoping that something would change. It was all or nothing. Either Evan would understand and prove he was the man I fell in love with or he would freak out and we’d come to the end of the road. He said he understood. I apologised. He apologised too. What he told me last night made me know for sure that he’s a good man and he wants us both to be happy. That’s all he’s ever wanted. We’ve promised to try to make things better. He knows he’s been stressed stupid about money and that all the budgeting has been driving me insane. So I’ve said I’ll scale back my wedding plans and he’s sworn that we’ll never go without a holiday for so long again.’

  ‘I’m so relieved. I thought that week in my flat was going to be the end of everything for both of us.’

  ‘Our holiday in your flat brought me and Evan back together . . . Hey, gorgeous!’ Clare shouted up to Evan on the balcony. He stopped rubbing his eyes and looked down at us. When he saw his darling fiancée, he smiled as though he’d been given the universe.

  So Clare and Evan were happy again. Thank God. With Clare gone back inside to help Evan put his suncream on – he believed in getting covered before he even stepped outside – I could concentrate on my own disaster.

  But was it such a disaster? Callum had gone, but I was nowhere near as unhappy as I had been a week earlier, when he refused to come on holiday at all. I settled down for another day by the pool, but this time it was going to be a day of not having to worry whether Tom would pitch up across the cool blue water. In fact, I would have been glad to see him. When, a little later, I thought I might have felt a tear coming on, I raised my face towards the sunshine and its golden warmth chased the prospect of salt water away. Forget Callum. Forget the girls at work having a laugh at my expense. Sunshine makes everything better.

  The morning progressed. I ordered a tall fruit smoothie and ate ice cream for elevenses. I read my book without interruption. I let the emails pile up on my iPhone. I did not even let Mum’s hysterical email entitled ‘You could have been killed!!!’ spoil my peace.

  ‘I am back in London,’ Callum texted at around three o’clock.

  ‘Good,’ I texted back. ‘I’m glad you had a safe flight.’ But that was it. I had no desire to know what he planned to do next. I wasn’t going to prolong that morning’s discussion. I certainly wasn’t going to beg his forgiveness for the holiday charade. I was going to enjoy the rest of my real holiday without him.

  ‘You know what,’ I said to Clare as we ordered aperitifs in the pool bar. ‘I don’t think I’m going to miss him at all.’

  When Evan joined us, he ordered a couple of cocktails to help me celebrate my sudden weight loss.

  ‘Weight loss?’ I was confused.

  ‘Yep, you’ve just lost eleven stone of useless fatheaded boyfriend.’

  It was the first time in a while I’d heard Evan make a joke. Maybe Clare’s dream of an altogether lighter, more fun-filled future could be a reality after all. Indeed, it was Evan who suggested that we go to the Palacio Blanco that night. When he and Clare came downstairs after changing, I was surprised to see she had got her own way on what he was wearing too. His usual buttoned-up polo shirt was gone, replaced by an altogether more continental-looking linen shirt. A pink linen shirt. Slightly creased.

  ‘I pointed it out in the hotel’s boutique,’ Clare whispered to me as Evan walked in front of us. ‘And he went ahead and bought it. He didn’t quibble about the colour or the creased look, and I didn’t even have to tell him that it would last for ages to make sure he got his money’s worth. And look at this.’ Clare showed me her new leather handbag, decorated with pretty punched flowers. ‘Evan went back to the market and bought this for me while I was sulking in the pool.’

  Guessing that we were talking about him, Evan turned round. Clare smiled at him with an expression that could definitely be described as love. Maybe Puerto Bona was as magical as Hannah had suggested all those months ago.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  So we went to the Palacio Blanco. The band was playing as we arrived. The bouncer on the door gave me a knowing nod as we walked in. I had been just a little worried that he wouldn’t let me in. I was relieved that I didn’t seem to have been barred along with Callum.

  Evan found us a table near to the dance floor. We ordered a huge pile of tapas, a big jug of sangria and settled down for the evening. It was wonderful to be in the company of my sister and Evan that night. They seemed completely different people from the couple who had come out the night before. I wondered if Callum’s absence had anything to do with the increased level of bonhomie.

  Though I was happy that my sister and Evan were so obviously in love again, I was perhaps a little more reflective now that we were in the club. I couldn’t help thinking back to the previous evening and how angry Callum had looked when he caught Tom looking at me from across the dance floor. If only Tom were looking at me now that I didn’t have to worry about my jealous ex. I scanned the crowd.

  ‘Looking for someone in particular?’ my sister asked. Of course she had guessed who. That afternoon, I had told her how flattered I had felt when Tom told Callum that he didn’t deserve me. Even when I should have been worried that Tom was going to knock Callum into next Christmas.

  ‘I told you Tom fancied you,’ said Clare. This time, I was pleased to hear her say it and asked her to tell me in great detail why she thought that was. What were the signs?

  And suddenly there he was. Tom and his friends arrived at a little after nine o’clock. Tom was dressed in a white shirt that made the most of his holiday tan. As he walked in, he seemed to be scanning the room too, and when his eyes fell on me, he smiled. I blushed to the roots of my hair and concentrated on the ice in my margarita.

  ‘Looks like he’s arrived,’ said Clare.

  ‘We’ll stop cramping your style,’ said Evan. ‘Why don’t you stay here and look after our drinks while Clare and I take a turn round the floor?’

  ‘Dance? To this song?’ my sister protested. The band was taking a breather and the DJ had put on that summer’s biggest dance hit, sung by two Eastern European girls whose dance moves were better than their singing voices. In resorts all over the Med, the song had sparked a new dance craze that looked like mass morris dancing. Already, a group of excited teenagers were on the floor and going through the routine, which started with a movement like brushing your teeth and followed with several knee bends guaranteed to sort the young from the old. ‘We can’t dance to this,’ Clare complained. ‘I don’t know the moves for a start.’

  ‘Come on,’ said Evan, dragging her to her feet.

  And so Clare and Evan stepped out onto the dance floor together and pretty soon Clare was laughing her head off while Evan tried to keep up with the teenaged girls who surrounded him. And while they were dancing, Tom made his move. He was smiling broadly as he approached my table. I couldn’t help but be embarrassed. The last time I’d seen Tom, he’d been wrestling Callum to the floor.

  ‘Where’s your boyfriend?’ Tom asked. ‘I don’t want to risk getting my nose broken.’

  ‘I am so sorry about that.’ I blushed to the roots of my hair again. ‘He’s actually gone back to England.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Really. He flew out this morning. I think he felt embarrassed having picked a fight with someone out of his league. I don’t know why he did it,’ I continued. ‘Well, I do know, but it’s all really silly. I think he thought you fancied me.’ I added a comedic grimace to show that I thought that was a stupid idea.

  ‘What’s silly about that?’ Tom asked.

  I was about to tell him exactly what was silly about that, but I was distracted by the way he wa
s suddenly looking at me. He was completely straight-faced.

  ‘I do fancy you,’ Tom admitted. ‘I fancied you the moment you opened the door to let me into Mrs Kenman’s flat.’

  ‘You did?’

  ‘Yeah. Though obviously I didn’t have time to do anything about it at that point. And I fancied you even more when I came back later that night. I don’t make a habit of mixing work with pleasure, but you seemed like someone worth getting to know.’

  ‘But you must have thought I was a crazy woman – all that sand in the backyard.’

  ‘It was an odd sort of thing to do, but it didn’t stop me thinking about how pretty you are. I was dead nervous about coming back to your flat for that party. And then I got really drunk. I would have tried to kiss you there and then if you hadn’t seemed a bit preoccupied.’

  ‘Oh. Gosh.’ I sounded like something out of the 1920s. I was still blushing so hard that the temperature must have been five degrees higher in my immediate vicinity.

  ‘Do you want to dance?’ Tom asked.

  The band had struck up James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful’. It wasn’t exactly a George Michael disco classic. There’s only one way to dance to James Blunt’s most croonful tune. I wasn’t sure I was ready for it, but Tom took me by the hand and led me to the middle of the floor and pretty soon I had a feeling that I was about to embark on a holiday romance.

  Epilogue

  And so my two-week holiday drew to a close. It certainly hadn’t been the holiday I was expecting when I left the office that Tuesday night fourteen days earlier. I wasn’t sure the carpet would ever recover from Clare’s impromptu beach party, but I felt as though I had had one of the best holidays ever. I returned to my scruffy, sandy little flat full of energy and optimism about the future. It helped that I had Tom’s phone number saved on my iPhone.