Bon Voyage

by Michelle Betham

  He pushed a hand through his short hair, staring down at his boots for a second before looking back up, into her eyes. ‘Sometimes it takes something like this to make you realise just what it is you’ve lost. You have to believe that, Aimee.’

  She leaned back against the bar, looking out at the mass of people in front of her enjoying the deck party, laughter ringing through the air. ‘I don’t have to believe anything, Robbie. You hurt me. You hurt me more than you’ll ever know.’ She turned to look at him. ‘Do you have any idea how humiliating it was to have your own fiancé dump you on the night of your engagement party? At your engagement party? Huh? Do you?’

  ‘Aimee…’

  ‘No. You don’t. Because you took the coward’s way out, said your piece, then walked away. You just walked away, Robbie. Without one frigging word of explanation… Jesus!’ She laughed a cynical laugh, pushing a hand through her blond curls. ‘That has to have been the worst night of my life, and you think you can just turn up here, tell me you didn’t know what you had until you lost it and then expect me to just fall at your bloody feet? Actually, no, that’s wrong, isn’t it? Because, technically, you didn’t lose me – losing me would imply that you were careless and let me slip through your fingers, that you maybe wanted to keep me and something else altogether got in the way. No, you didn’t lose me – you threw me away.’

  Robbie looked down at the ground again, fiddling with the huge cuff watch he always wore. ‘I deserved that.’

  ‘Oh, believe me, you deserve so much more than that… I need a drink.’ Aimee turned round to face the bar, ordering a vodka and cranberry juice.

  ‘Aimee, look… I know this is a bit of a shock, but you wouldn’t reply to any of my texts…’

  ‘Do you blame me?’ She took a good, long sip of her vodka, inwardly sighing as the cold liquid slipped down her throat. Those three Manhattan’s she’d had in Hemingway’s hadn’t even touched the sides tonight. She was going to need a hell of a lot more to take the edge off this situation.

  ‘No. I don’t blame you,’ Robbie sighed, picking up his pint of beer and taking a long drink.

  Aimee slid up onto the stool beside him, taking another sip of vodka. ‘Why are you really here, Robbie?’

  ‘I’ve told you why.’ He fixed her with a look that burned right into her very soul – the same look he’d given her the night he’d first told her he loved her. ‘I want you back, Aimee.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box, flipping it open to reveal a beautiful diamond solitaire set in a delicate band of platinum, at least, she assumed it was platinum because surely he wouldn’t have stooped so low as to have gone for sterling silver? ‘I want us to get back to where we were, babe. I want us to get married, settle down; maybe even have kids…’

  She tore her eyes away from the ring and looked back up at him, staring at him for a few seconds, trying to read his expression, to see if he was being completely genuine, because where Robbie Cartwright was concerned she now knew that that was a hard one to call sometimes.

  ‘Why would I come all this way if I wasn’t being honest, Aimee?’ he said, as though reading her mind. ‘If you really had meant nothing to me then seeing that picture of you with Danny Johnson wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest. But it did bother me.’

  ‘I can’t do this, Robbie. I really can’t do this,’ Aimee said, slipping down off the stool and grabbing her handbag from the bar. ‘I’ve got to get my head around everything…’

  Robbie followed her as she headed back inside, almost running to keep up with her because she was walking particularly fast, considering the heels she was wearing.

  ‘Can you just give me some time, Robbie.’ Aimee stopped for a second, turning round to face him. ‘Please? You turning up like this… I was forgetting you, okay? I was really starting to forget you. And then you bloody turn up, out of the blue, and… and everything’s all mixed up and crazy in my head again.’

  ‘I know. I know that, I know it was a selfish thing to do but… Listen, Aimee – Davina, she’s hell bent on saving her marriage to Danny and she’s going to stop at nothing to get him back, she’s told me that. In fact, she used those exact words. And she’s adamant it’s what he really wants too. She just has to make him realise that.’

  ‘Sounds like you two have had a really cosy chat on your way over here,’ Aimee said, folding her arms defensively across her chest.

  ‘She knows what she wants, that’s all I’m saying. And I know Davina Black, Aimee. I know that she’s a woman who usually gets whatever she wants so in the long run you never really stood a chance with Danny, did you? He was always going to go back to her, babe. He was always going to go back because they belong together, those two. Just like me and you. We belong together too.’

  ‘Pity you couldn’t have come to that conclusion two months ago,’ Aimee muttered, aware that her stomach was rumbling because, despite all the confusion and surprises and shocks this day had thrown up, she was still absolutely starving. And maybe there was some truth in what Robbie was telling her. Maybe Danny really was always going to go back to Davina, after all, two weeks away from her was probably only making him miss her more, giving him time to think about what he really wanted. Everything he’d said to her could have been nothing but flannel, just something to take his mind off what was happening back home. After all, what would Danny Johnson really want with a girl like her when he had Davina Black? No competition.

  She looked up at Robbie’s expectant expression. He was so good-looking it beggared belief sometimes. And yet he still wanted her. After everything that had gone on, he still wanted her, so why should she waste time chasing some stupid dream about running off with her favourite pop star when that really had been nothing but some silly holiday romance? She’d told Danny she wasn’t on the rebound but maybe that had been a lie.

  ‘How about grabbing something to eat?’ Robbie smiled, holding out his hand, and without even hesitating Aimee took it, her stomach immediately flipping over as that familiar feel of his fingers wrapping around hers sent her head spinning. She hadn’t touched him in so long and it felt so good. He felt so good. ‘We can talk some more. What do you say?’

  She looked at him again, and she couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. ‘I’d say, okay. Why not?’

  What harm could it possibly do?

  11:55pm

  He hadn’t seen her all night and Danny felt an almost despondent sensation in the pit of his stomach as he ordered yet another pint at the bar, turning round to face the crowd that had gathered in Caesar’s Casino, the Blackjack table drawing a particularly larger than usual crowd, but why wouldn’t it? When Davina Black was holding court in a low-cut, thigh-skimming tight little red number?

  ‘You know, maybe this is for the best?’ Andy said, joining Danny at the bar.

  ‘And what would you know about it?’ Danny asked without even looking at Andy.

  ‘It’s fate, Danny. Davina turning up like this, giving you the chance to patch up your marriage before you had the chance to make a big mistake.’

  This time Danny turned to look at Andy, narrowing his eyes as he spoke. ‘And, what mistake would that have been, huh? Leaving my gold-digging, fame-hungry wife for a funny, beautiful, genuine woman? Is that the mistake you’re talking about?’

  ‘Danny, come on, mate. Think about it.’

  Danny laughed. He couldn’t help it. ‘Believe me, I haven’t stopped thinking about it. And I still come back to the same conclusion – I still want that divorce.’

  ‘We’re moving onto big things here, Danny. You, me and the band. This comeback – it’s a reality now, can’t you see that?’

  ‘And what has any of that got to do with me divorcing Davina? Y’know, from where I’m standing it seems that everyone except me thinks I should forget about it and go back to playing happy families. For what, though? For the good of the band? Because Davina really doesn’t feel like letting me go anymore? Because she�
��s changed her mind? Yeah, and that’s only going to last until the next time the band splits up and I become pointless to her again. Forget it, Andy. It’s not happening. Well, actually if we’re talking about the divorce, it is. That is happening. You got that?’ He started to walk away, desperate for some fresh air. It was beginning to feel very claustrophobic in there.

  ‘I just don’t want to see you make a mistake, Danny, that’s all.’

  Danny stopped and turned around, staring at Andy. ‘The only mistake I ever made, Andy, was trusting you.’

  Andy threw his head back and sighed. ‘Look, mate… what if she – Aimee – what if she decides to go back to this Robbie guy?’

  ‘That won’t happen,’ Danny said, although he wished he felt as confident as he sounded saying that. ‘She’s told me how unhappy he made her, how bad he made her feel…’

  ‘What if I told you she already had?’

  Danny narrowed his eyes as he continued to stare at Andy. ‘What if she already had, what?’

  Andy took a deep breath. ‘What if she’s already taken him back?’

  ‘What the hell are you talking about, Andy? I’ve told you, she won’t take him back. She won’t do that, she’s not stupid... Me and her…’

  ‘I saw them, Danny. Her and this Robbie guy. I saw them. Earlier tonight, hand in hand, walking towards Sirocco’s.’ And that’s all he’d really seen. He had no concrete proof that Aimee actually had taken Robbie back, he couldn’t be sure of anything, but surely if Danny knew that the chance was there – that she wasn’t totally ignoring the man who’d come to win her back – then maybe he’d forget the whole idea, forget about her, and everything could get right back on track again. This reunion, getting Bon Voyage back together, it was Andy’s dream, and no way was he ready to fade back into obscurity again; he wasn’t going to let that happen. And with the prospect of the still-unpredictable Danny Johnson hovering on the brink of a brand new relationship, there was still a risk that everything could go tits-up before it had even had a chance to get back off the ground. So if he could just try and garner a little bit of stability, maybe they could continue this comeback the way Andy had planned it – because he wasn’t willing to lose control again.

  ‘You saw them?’ Danny repeated, still staring at Andy, because this was a man he just didn’t trust, not anymore, so how could he be really sure that what he was telling him was anywhere near the truth?

  ‘I saw them. She was smiling at him, mate. She was holding his hand and she was smiling at him. They looked pretty cosy, I have to tell you. Look, I’m not doing this to be cruel or…’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Danny said, with a cynical laugh.

  ‘Really,’ Andy replied, looking briefly over towards Davina, who threw him a sultry smile and a cheeky wink. How could Danny even think about binning a girl like Davina Black for someone like Aimee Anderson? Oh, Aimee was pretty enough, but who was she when all was said and done? Who was she, and what could she do for the band? Danny Johnson and Davina Black had the ability to become the celebrity couple of the moment, guaranteed to bring the press to their doorstep which in turn could only keep Bon Voyage right there in the limelight, where they deservedly belonged. Couldn’t Danny see that?

  ‘She was… she was holding his hand?’ Danny gulped, trying to process the information Andy was telling him.

  Andy nodded, not really enjoying seeing the pain flit across Danny’s face, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Danny’s world and Aimee’s world, they just weren’t the same. It would never work. But Davina and Danny came from the same world. And therein lay the difference.

  ‘Okay,’ Danny whispered, looking away from Andy, pushing a hand through his hair as he tried hard to get his head around everything. ‘But… Look, maybe I need to talk to her myself, hear it from her own mouth…’

  ‘I asked her, Danny.’ Andy had blurted that out without thinking, but he was desperate now. He needed Danny to believe that his holiday romance was over, that reality lay ahead now and that meant a few sacrifices – for everybody. And Danny would understand that – eventually. So if he had to tell a few little white lies… ‘I asked her if she… I asked if they were getting back together, and she said yes.’

  ‘She… No, I don’t believe you, I mean, this afternoon… No, you’ve got it wrong, Andy. She wouldn’t do that without talking to me first.’

  Andy shook his head, his heart beating ten to the dozen because he knew he was lying now – he hadn’t asked Aimee anything, he hadn’t spoken to her at all, but this was the right thing to do, he knew it was. ‘She’s taking him back, mate.’

  ‘Jesus…’ Danny couldn’t quite get to grips with the completely overwhelming feeling of disappointment that swept over him. He’d been stupid enough to think she was actually beginning to feel the same things he was feeling, but she quite obviously couldn’t have been, not if she’d gone running back to Robbie the second she’d clapped eyes on him. ‘Okay… well, that kind of puts an end to that one then, doesn’t it?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Danny. Really, I am, but I just didn’t think it was fair to let you go on thinking something might happen when it wasn’t going to. Better you know now, huh?’

  Danny looked at Andy again, still not entirely sure that he could trust him, and he had damn good reason for feeling that way. But then again, he hadn’t missed the look that had passed across Aimee’s face the second she’d seen Robbie. He hadn’t missed that look at all.

  ‘Yeah. It’s better I know now,’ Danny said quietly, looking over at the Blackjack table where Davina was eating up the constant barrage of attention she was receiving, throwing her head back and laughing at anything and everything her band of admirers was saying. ‘It’s better I know now.’

  CRUISE DAY 9

  Day at Sea

  9:52am

  ‘You didn’t, did you?’ Jemma asked, finding Aimee at a window table in the Lido Café sipping a cup of tea and nibbling on a slice of toast and marmalade.

  ‘I didn’t what?’ Aimee asked, reaching over for another slice of toast.

  ‘You spent the night with Robbie, didn’t you?’

  Aimee smothered a good, thick layer of butter all over her toast.

  ‘Oh, my God!’ Jemma gasped, clutching her chest, watching as Aimee took a huge bite from the newly-buttered slice of toast. ‘You did, didn’t you?’

  Aimee looked at Jemma as she chewed on her toast, taking her time, swallowing it down and taking another bite before she said anything. ‘We had a good talk, Jemma. A really good talk…’

  ‘In his cabin.’ It wasn’t a question.

  ‘Yeah. In his cabin.’

  ‘I could do with a brandy in this tea now,’ Jemma sighed, pouring herself a cup and spooning two large sugars into it. ‘After everything I said to you. After everything he’s done! Why, Aimee?’

  Aimee leaned forward, folding her arms on the table as she looked straight at her friend. ‘I still love him, Jem. Simple as that.’

  ‘Simple as… After he dumped you at your engagement party?’

  ‘He was scared, Jemma. He panicked, he just wasn’t thinking straight, and he knows what he did was wrong, but…’

  ‘But, nothing. How could he do that to you? How can he just turn up here and swear that he loves you when he did that to you?’

  ‘It’s because he loves me, Jem. That’s why he’s here. He said he didn’t realise just what it was he’d lost until he saw that photo of me and Danny…’ Aimee stopped the second she’d said Danny’s name, and that didn’t escape Jemma’s notice.

  ‘And what about Danny, huh? What’s happening there?’

  Aimee shrugged, picking up another slice of toast and this time covering it in raspberry jam. ‘Nothing’s happening. Not anymore. He’s going back to Davina, isn’t he?’

  ‘Has he told you that?’

  ‘Robbie told me Davina’s hell bent on calling off this divorce and that she won’t stop until she’s got Danny back. How can I compete with that?�
�

  Jemma watched Aimee’s face intently as she spoke. ‘Do you want to? Compete, I mean.’

  Aimee shook her head. ‘It was nothing but a silly holiday romance, Jemma.’ She shoved another piece of toast in her mouth, licking the jam from her fingers. ‘A nice holiday romance, but a holiday romance all the same. It could never have been anything else.’

  ‘Couldn’t it?’

  Aimee looked at Jemma. ‘No. It couldn’t.’

  Jemma sat back in her seat, pushing a hand through her dark hair, sighing in an almost resigned tone. ‘Well, I think you’re mad…’

  ‘He’s changed, Jemma. Robbie, he… Seeing me with Danny, it changed him, changed the way he felt about me. He told me it only made his feelings stronger…’

  ‘It seems he’s been telling you a lot of things,’ Jemma muttered, taking a look outside at the expanse of sea that surrounded them, the warm Mediterranean sun bouncing off the water’s surface.

  ‘And anyway…’ Aimee continued, completely ignoring Jemma’s remark, ‘… what’s the point in me having some kind of false hope that a relationship between Danny and I could ever have gone anywhere? Not when Davina Black’s on the scene. I’m just not in her league.’

  ‘Jesus, Aimee, she’s nothing special y’know. Take off the plastic nails, take out the false hair and the breast implants, wash off that fake tan, and what have you got? Some pretty ordinary woman from the west end of Newcastle. She’s no better than the rest of us, so stop putting yourself down, okay? Danny – he cared about you.’