Me: Sure. I’ll catch the first flight in the morning.
Mia: Thank you Chloe. You are the bestest sister ever. XOXOXO
I sigh. I’m feeling a strange combination of fear and frustration. Yes, my sister can be prone to exaggeration, but I can’t risk not taking her seriously. I’ve read too many stories about people drinking poison alcohol in Bali. Who knows if it’s the same in Thailand?
I open up my email again and write another message to Keith, telling him that my situation has changed again, and I am now going to be even later than originally planned. He’s going to have a fit, but it can’t be helped.
I have no idea how much longer I might need to stay here. What if Mia is in a coma by the time I reach her? If she has to spend time in hospital before coming home, it could be a week before she’s OK to fly.
I then call up the airline and change my flight to next Friday, figuring I can always reschedule it again. I’m not exactly rolling in cash, but I can’t worry about my finances when my sister’s health is at stake. I also book a one-way flight to Koh Samui and a ferry to Koh Pha Ngan. It’s times like these I’m glad I have my credit card back.
I send Rosie a quick email, letting her know I won’t be around tomorrow and that I’ll be in touch again soon. There’s no use making any promises to her until I know what’s going on with Mia.
Now, if I don’t want to return to a smoking pile of rubble the Monday after next, I just have one thing left to do.
I’m so glad Bethany included her mobile number on her email signature. I call it now and mentally plan out how to approach the impending conversation.
“Hello?”
She sounds different to how I expected. Which is strange, because I didn’t know I had any expectations until that moment. Her voice is squeaky, like a chipmunk.
“Uh, hi. Bethany?”
“Speaking.”
“It’s Chloe. Beech.” Just in case she didn’t make the connection immediately.
“Oh.” Her initial polite tone suddenly goes flat. “What’s up?”
“Well, I just wanted to apologise on behalf of Keith for his behaviour. I know how hard he is to deal with sometimes…”
“Sometimes? Try all the time.”
“Look, I know how you feel, but believe it or not, he can be a nice guy. And if you give him a chance, he will start to appreciate your work and reward you accordingly.” I tend to forget that myself sometimes. Like how willing he was to spot me a salary advance on a Sunday, and how he obviously must trust my abilities to rely on me so heavily.
“It’s too late. I already quit. He can manage without me until you get back. Aren’t you in on Monday anyway?”
“I was supposed to be, but my sister is having some sort of medical emergency in Koh Pha Ngan and I need to fly down tomorrow and see her. So I might not be back for another few days.”
“I take it you were hoping I’d cover for you?” The way she says it does not sound promising.
“Sort of. I mean, I’m not going to try and force you to do anything you don’t want to do, but it would help me out a lot if you could. I really appreciated how you handled that whole Leanne Smith thing…and how you noticed I’d forgotten the tax file forms and the superannuation stuff. To be honest, you’re probably better at the job than I am.”
She laughs without humour. “That’s sweet of you to say, but my sanity cannot handle another week with Keith. Chloe, did you know on Monday he wanted me to go and get a dozen photos of his face printed?”
I frown. “That doesn’t seem so strange. But did he say why?”
“Uh, yeah. Apparently they were for some party he was throwing, and they each had to be a metre high!”
I stifle a laugh. “That’s different.”
“And then he needed me to source a jumping castle that could support a bunch of adults.”
This time I can’t help myself and burst into a fit of giggles. “That’s pretty unusual, even by Keith’s standards.”
“I know, right? It’s not normal. I’m supposed to be doing HR stuff, not working as his slave. By the way, why doesn’t Imogen ever do anything?”
“I don’t know. I’ve often wondered whether she’s blackmailing him somehow. I never actually see her working.”
“So you can understand why I don’t want to go back, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. But what if I arrange a raise for you? I’m worried that if there’s no one holding down the fort while I’m away, I won’t have an office to return to.”
“If the stability of a whole business is reliant on one person, and they’re not even the boss, then that’s not a good sign.”
I sigh. “I know. And I’ll have a chat about it with Keith when I get back, but in the meantime, I need to look after my sister. So what do you say about the raise?”
She’s quiet for a second. “OK. But I want double.”
I have no idea what her current salary is, but I figure Keith can absorb the cost for one week.
“Done. I’ll make sure Keith approves it immediately.”
“Oh. OK.”
“What?”
“I just thought you’d say no,” she admits. “I don’t actually want to go back at all.”
“What would make it more bearable?”
“Um, to have a competent person in charge?”
“What if you knew how to control him?”
“Go on.”
I trawl through my brain to think of all the tricks of the trade I use on Keith so he doesn’t send me completely round the bend.
“Well, first, he’s really predictable. He’s always losing his glasses, but ninety-nine percent of the time they’re in his second drawer. And he has to have his coffee at 10am on the dot, made with lots of foam and two sugars. If he’s particularly irrational, it’s because he hasn’t eaten. Give him a granola bar—I have a stack in the break room in the top left cupboard. And then if he starts accusing you of not doing something, just ask him if he put the request in our shared computer drive. He usually hasn’t, so you can tell him that you prioritise the things in there first.”
“Keith sounds like more of an idiot than I thought,” she says.
I chuckle. “Yeah, I guess he can give that impression. Oh, and if all else fails, pay him a compliment. He’ll be so grateful that he’ll probably give you an even higher raise.”
“Alright. I’ll do it. But just for one more week. And only to help you out, because I feel sorry for you that this is your full time job. And because you can double my pay and I need the money.”
I fist pump the air in victory. “Thanks, Bethany. This means a lot to me.”
“I know. Can you write me a reference when I leave?”
“Sure.”
“Then we have a deal. I hope your sister is OK.”
“Thanks. Yeah, I hope so too. I really do.”
I hang up and start packing my bag. In a weird way, I’m kind of glad for the distraction. It will take my mind off Daniel for a while.
Just when I thought all the craziness was over, life goes and throws me this curveball.
I don’t feel like I will ever understand the universe’s plan for me.
TWENTY
The weather is gorgeous for my flight down to Koh Samui and the subsequent ferry ride across to Koh Pha Ngan. As my boat carries me across the calm waters of the gulf, I try to push down all the feelings that have unsettled me for the past twenty-four hours. Yes, I’m anxious about my sister’s health, I still feel strange about the break-up with Aaron, and I don’t know how I feel about Daniel anymore, but I’m in paradise.
The sky is a hazy blue over the rich teal water. As we near the island, white sand and palm trees come into view. It’s impossible not to feel at least a little positive in such a beautiful location.
I climb out of the boat and allow myself to be herded along with the other tourists to the main road. I only brought one small bag with me, having left my full-sized suitcase back at Daniel’s apartment.
I use my phone to look up the address of the resort where Mia is staying and hitch a ride to my resort in a taxi van that has an open back and sides. We drive east for just under ten minutes on a noisy concrete road.
It then belatedly occurs to me I was supposed to be staying there too. I had even already paid for my share!
For a moment, I’m furious with my sister for making me feel unwelcome at something I had equal right to, but then I figure if she’s been puking all night, it’s probably enough of a punishment.
After arriving at the resort, a quick check with reception tells me where Mia is—an air-conditioned bungalow overlooking the beach. The patio at the front has a hammock suspended from the rafters, and tropical plants create a soothing shady environment. Mia picked well.
I look in through the glass door at the front and find the room empty. The door to the bathroom is open at the back, which makes me think Mia wouldn’t be in there either. Unless she stumbled in there earlier and passed out on the tiles without having a chance to think of things like closing doors.
I try to manoeuvre my body around at all possible angles to see if there’s anyone lying on the floor in there, and finally satisfy myself that there isn’t.
So what now? Did Mia get so sick that she needed to be taken to the hospital? I assume the woman at reception would have told me if that was the case. Maybe she was feeling a bit better and went for a walk? While that would annoy me, it’s obviously the preferable option.
I dump my bag near the door and climb into the hammock with my phone. After sending a quick message on Facebook to let Mia know I’ve arrived, I lie back and stare out at the ocean. The sun reflects off the water in glittery diamonds. I wish I was here under more normal circumstances. It’s really hard to relax properly.
My mind starts playing back all the times I’ve come to Mia’s rescue. In the early days when we still lived with Mum, there were many. I was born in Melbourne, but after Dad left, we moved to Brisbane and stayed with Mum’s sister, Annie. I vaguely remember that being an OK time, because even though Mum was still in shock about Dad abandoning us, Annie was really supportive and made sure we were clothed and fed on the days Mum was too sad to get out of bed. We were living on acreage in the Samford Valley, and I used to love paddling in the creek at the back of her property and exploring the nearby bush. Mia was only a baby then.
But tragically, less than a year after we moved in, Annie died of a heart attack. Mum had just started to make progress, but that sent her completely off the deep end. We hadn’t realised, but Annie had re-mortgaged her place to help us out, so the bank took possession of the property when she died. The only place Mum could afford for us after that was a rat-infested one-bedroom apartment in Sunnybank, on the complete opposite side of Brisbane. From there it all went downhill.
There were days when Mum forgot to buy food, or bathe us. I became completely self-sufficient, and I ended up looking after Mia most of the time. I never went to daycare or kindergarten, and I remember wanting to take Mia with me on my first day at school, because I didn’t know who was going to look out for her if I wasn’t there.
Thankfully, there was an elderly man who lived next door who could see what was happening, and he often called in to check on us. I remember we even stayed at his house a few times when his daughter visited.
Honestly, I’m surprised we weren’t put into foster care or taken away by child protection. Mum must have held it together just enough to convince the authorities she could cope.
But once she started drinking, she would fall into these unpredictable moods and would sometimes lash out at us. I protected Mia from it as much as I could when I was at home, but I could see she suffered while I was at school. She had way too many bruises on her little body to be explained away by regular play.
As the years went on, Mum became more of a shell of herself. I hated to see her shrivel before my eyes, but it was preferable to her being physically abusive. I ended up running the household and managing the bills as best I could, and everything carried on in the only way we knew how. When I turned eighteen, I desperately wanted to move out, but I knew I couldn’t leave Mia behind. She was already pretty wild, and prone to mood swings of her own. But as soon as she turned sixteen, we left together. I’d been working part time while studying at university, and I’d managed to save up just enough money to rent us a small place in St Lucia. Mia got a weekend job at a McDonald’s to help with the bills, and we finally found our feet. I even arranged us some counselling at one point, to try and deal with everything we’d been through. I think it helped a little.
I started working for Keith almost straight out of uni, and I met Aaron the year after. I can see now that I had some unresolved issues, seeking out a guy who basically took on a controlling father role.
Mia moved out when she was nineteen, but not before I lost count of all the times I had to pick her up from parties when she’d overdone it…or the morning after texts she’d sent from some random guy’s house, asking for a lift home. I guess I should be grateful she managed to come out with a positive attitude—even if it is a bit self-centred at times.
I suddenly feel exhausted. That tends to happen when I re-hash the past.
Maybe if I just close my eyes for a few minutes and try meditating…
“Chloe!”
I sit up and almost topple out of the hammock in surprise.
“Mia!”
She stares at me. “Were you trying to get a tan or something?”
I look down at my arms and legs and notice they are bright red. The shade I was lying in just a few minutes earlier has receded, and I’m now in full sun.
“What time is it?” I ask feeling disconcerted.
“Three.”
“Oh!” So much for just closing my eyes. This trip has really messed with my body clock. I seem to be able to sleep for long periods of time without waking for things like my skin frying. Or sisters who do runners in the early hours of the morning.
My concern gives way to relief as I notice that Mia looks well. If I hadn’t spoken to her last night, I’d have no idea she was even sick.
And then I start to get angry. “I take it you’re not ill anymore?”
She smiles happily. “No! It must have been one of those weird twenty-four bugs or something.”
“So you didn’t need me to race down here and save you after all?”
“Oh. I suppose not. But it’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re here.” She seems completely oblivious to how her leaving note affected me, and her lack of response to my upset Facebook message.
“So you’re fine either way?” I ask sarcastically.
“Hey, hey. What’s with the attitude?”
“Are you serious? Do you have any idea what I went through when you abandoned me? You acted like you didn’t want me around! I was fine to stay in Bangkok for an extra few days and then catch up with you, but you had to make it all about you. If you had bothered to hang around, you’d know I went to hospital with a head injury after that stupid boat trip! I had to spend a big chunk of money on medical bills! You left me with three hundred dollars and nowhere to stay!”
She has the grace to look shamefaced. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I didn’t know. You said the bump wasn’t that bad…”
“Yes, but you didn’t even check when you came back!” I say, gathering steam. “I’m so sick of you only considering yourself and treating me like a servant who will do your bidding. You didn’t even have the courtesy to be here when I showed up several hours ago. And now I’m bloody sunburnt!”
I start to cry and Mia leans over and gives me a hug. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t realise. I just always see you as my awesome big sister—and I guess I thought you didn’t want to be on the trip, so I wanted to make it easy for both of us to move on.”
“But it wasn’t easy!” I protest. “I couldn’t afford any of the hotels…”
“So what did you do?”
“Well, at the last minute, D
aniel offered to let me stay in one of his apartments…”
“Hold up! Who’s Daniel?”
“Oh, the perfume guy.”
“The perfume guy? You mean the one who helped out when you were pickpocketed?”
“Yep.”
“He sounds like a sweetie. And you said he was hot too? When do I get to meet him?”
Despite my remaining confusion over Daniel’s character, I am still reluctant to introduce him to Mia. I know it’s silly, but I want to keep him separate from my family for now. Besides, there’s a chance I might not even see him again.
“Unless you’re coming back to Bangkok with me, you might not.”
“Oh. Right. Yeah, I’m not sure that’s going to happen.”
I take a few calming breaths, trying to regain a bit of control. “So what are your plans? You said you missed your flight home with the others?”
She waves a hand dismissively. “We’ll talk about that later. Why don’t you put your stuff inside and we’ll go have something to eat. I found this great little place a bit further down the beach.”
My need for order is screaming in protest, but I know if I push Mia, she’ll resist even more. I’ll have to go at her pace.
“Alright,” I say, resigned. “Show me around. I am pretty hungry.”
She claps her hands together. “Excellent. Let’s go.”
I shove all my misgivings down as far as they will go.
It’s not like I’ve never done that before.
***
If there’s one thing I can say about Mia, it’s that she’s good at making the best of a situation. Faced with her friends leaving, she promptly went out and made new ones. Apparently that’s what she was doing while I was asleep in the hammock.
After we share a massaman curry at the eatery she discovered, Mia takes me down to the beach, where a party is gathering momentum. It’s one of the infamous full moon parties I was dreading only a couple of weeks ago. But now that I’m single, I feel like I might be able to let go a little. Granted, my skin feels like an overcooked sausage, and I might be suffering from a case of heatstroke, but after a couple of drinks, I feel pretty good. I’ve even forgiven Mia. She’s my sister, so it’s not like I have any choice. I’m just glad we’re safely reunited.
Perfume Therapy Page 16