The Love Resort (12 page)

He had procured the table next to the competition winners. They had all left the welcome meeting together and gone to the bar, where Tim took charge of ordering drinks, with Lee encouraging him. It had been Jimmy’s idea to go to dinner, and they’d decided to dine as a group. He was unsure if Anne-Marie would find this a plus for her story or not (although, of course, it was only the first night), but he continued making notes as he ordered a light dinner as cover. At least having them all together made his mission easier. If they were off in different directions, how would he know who to follow? And he would put money on his choosing the wrong couple. In his wife’s eyes, anyway. He shook his head and told himself not to think about it.

‘Who thought that Anne-Marie looked really scary?’ Tim asked as he poured wine for everyone.

‘Oh, yeah, Tim, I noticed your horrified expression when she walked in,’ Lee said.

‘I know! I had to nudge him. Bloody hell, Tim, let’s hope she didn’t notice,’ Thea added. ‘Mind you, all that sucking up you did meant that you’re her favourite now,’ she teased.

‘But she’s a romance writer, that’s how they’re supposed to look,’ Emily protested.

‘No, Emily, she looked like something out of a horror film,’ Tim laughed. ‘But having her on my side is not a bad move.’

Ed crossed out all recent notes.

‘I wonder what tomorrow will have in store. The first proper day of our holiday,’ Carla mused.

‘I need sleep. And a tan, of course, although we’ve got heaps of time,’ Thea pointed out.

‘We could go diving, Carla,’ Lee suggested.

‘I can’t dive. But one of those organised boat trips might be fun.’

‘Diving sounds scary—the idea of drowning, or getting your air cut off,’ Tim said.

‘I’ve known you less than twenty-four hours but I know you watch too many disaster movies,’ Lee stated.

‘It’s true, I do,’ Tim admitted.

Ed was finding it all a bit dull. This spying was hardly James Bond action, was it?

‘Dinner was delicious but I’m beat,’ Carla said as they finished dessert.

‘Fancy a moonlight walk on the beach?’ Tim asked. Ed covertly looked at Thea, whose face had lit up.

‘That’d be fun.’ She leant over to touch Tim’s face. Ed sighed with relief. Finally he had something romantic.

‘That was a nice idea. Lee, wasn’t that a nice idea?’ Carla asked.

‘Sure, babes. But I thought we’d have an early night.’ He raised his eyebrows and Carla giggled.

‘What about us?’ Emily asked. Jimmy was red-faced.

‘I have plans for us.’ Jimmy didn’t sound suggestive, like Lee.

Ed scribbled furiously.

After dinner, Ed decided to follow Tim and Thea, as the others had gone back to their rooms. When he’d agreed to do Anne-Marie’s bidding (after all, he knew it was fruitless to argue), he had said that he wasn’t going to hide in wardrobes or anything like that. His wife had scowled but eventually agreed that that might be going too far.

He stood behind a beach hut where he was out of sight and watched them, although he could no longer hear them. Tim was holding their shoes; Thea had her arm linked into his. At one point they stopped and faced each other, he brushed hair out of her eyes. Ed could hear the echo of laughter, which he told himself to remember, as they went to the water’s edge, and it looked as if Tim was going in before Thea pulled him back. They stayed out for half an hour before turning round and making their way back. Ed almost held his breath as they got close to him.

‘Tim, I really enjoyed the walk,’ Thea said, genuinely thrilled.

‘Good. It seemed like the thing to do.’ Tim sounded bashful.

‘You don’t need to explain. It was lovely, that’s all. But I’m exhausted; do you want to go to bed?’

‘Yeah, I do want to go to bed.’ He kissed her cheek and they made their way to their room.

When they were out of sight, Ed went home.

*

Carla thought she must have jet lag. She’d never had it before so she couldn’t be sure, but she was wide awake although she was so tired she wanted to cry.

After dinner they’d come back to the room, showered and gone to bed, both too tired for conversation. Not that Lee was a huge conversationalist at the best of times, but tonight she was too tired to think, let alone speak. Next to her, he was snoring away. It was so unfair. She propped herself up on her elbow and stared at him. He was so perfect; apart from the electric drill noise that he emitted.

*

Jimmy was awake, having slept for only a couple of hours. Then his eyes had sprung wide open and refused to close again. He couldn’t stop smiling as he remembered the way Emily looked when he’d led her back to the room to find a bottle of champagne and two glasses on their terrace. They’d watched the beautiful Caribbean night sky together and talked, really talked. He had thought about proposing, but he’d bottled it. He couldn’t quite decide if it was perfect enough. Or maybe he’d chickened out. Did all men feel like this when on the verge of such a major decision? He wished he had someone to ask. He was sure that Lee and Tim weren’t the best people.

After they’d finished the champagne, they’d both been giggly and a little tipsy, as they’d made love before falling asleep. He wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t sleep. Perhaps, like a child, he was just too excited. There was so much to look forward to.

*

‘Anne-Marie, it’s late, really late,’ Ed pointed out.

‘I don’t care. I gave you both a job to do and I want to hear all about it. I stayed up especially, and you know how important my sleep is to me. Call her.’

Ed did as he was told, and a weary-sounding Lily informed him that she would be there as soon as possible.

‘I haven’t had time to write it up,’ Ed said, hoping she didn’t want to see his notebook.

‘Give me a verbal report and then in the morning, I’ll have the written one.’

Lily arrived, looking slightly dishevelled, which Ed thought made her look even sexier, if that was possible.

Anne-Marie ordered them to sit on the sofa; she placed herself across from them in an armchair. Ed wondered if this was anything like being in MI5.

‘Lily, tell me about the evening.’ Anne-Marie’s eyes lit up, and she licked her lips, greedy for details, as Lily began recounting the tale.

After Ed had given his version of events, he stood up. ‘Anne-Marie, I’m going to walk Lily back and then do my nightly check.’ This should buy him at least an hour with her. His wife looked at him, but she was clearly distracted.

‘OK, good work. Can you ensure that you’ve typed everything up by tomorrow morning?’

Ed nodded. He wondered if his wife was losing it, although it was hard to tell with her.

‘So, how was your first evening as a spy?’ Ed asked, as he shut the door behind them.

‘You know, surprising. That stuff I said...’

‘Was embellished?’ Ed raised an eyebrow.

‘Total crap. Todd and Katie barely said two words to each other and although she tried her best, he didn’t go near her.’

‘How strange for newlyweds.’

‘That’s what I thought.’

‘Maybe you should be a writer; all that stuff about gazing into each other’s eyes, jumping across the table, very imaginative.’ Ed laughed; he imagined Lily’s work going straight into Anne-Marie’s book.

‘Well, I guessed that she’d probably kill me if I told her the truth.’

‘Of course, it would have been your fault. Well, at least my subjects behaved the way she wanted. Well, pretty much. Lee wasn’t exactly romantic, more lecherous really.’

‘Oh, really? Well, you made him so like a true Romeo.’

‘Umm, maybe you weren’t the only one stretching the truth slightly.’ He winked at her, and patted her on the bottom.

12

Every week, a special barbecue is held for the guests.* Enjoy a beautiful Caribbean evening with delectable food and, of course, your loved one. A live steel band provides the entertainment, playing love songs to get you in the mood for love! We look forward to seeing you there.

Guest
Handbook

*The barbecue is held every Sunday evening outside the main restaurant. It is part of your all-inclusive package. If it rains then it will be moved to the ballroom.

*

‘I’m glad you’re all here.’ Anne-Marie looked at Ed, Lily and Abigail as they sat in the office. ‘I feel that we are heading in the right direction.’

‘With the book?’ Abigail asked.

‘Yes, yes! It’s all going splendidly, but I need to outline tonight’s plan.’ Ed groaned involuntarily. ‘What was that Ed?’

‘Nothing, darling, just a touch of indigestion, that’s all,’ he grimaced, worried about what his wife had in store for him.

‘Tonight, I have arranged for Lily and myself to dine with Todd and Katie on the premise of discussing the publicity arrangements.’

Ed held back another groan. That meant another night with him watching the competition winners. And another night without Lily.

‘Of course, if we’re dining with them, we can’t really take notes. I know, I’ll use my Dictaphone.’

‘Are you sure?’ Lily’s eyes were wide.

‘Yes, darling, don’t you think that it might be too risky?’ Ed suggested. He knew that spying on them was wrong, but taping them—whatever next?

‘Oh, don’t be silly. No one will find out,’ Abigail stated.

‘Thank you, Abigail, you’re right as always,’ Anne-Marie smiled.

Ed couldn’t believe how far they were going for the as yet unwritten book.

‘So that brings me to you two,’ Anne-Marie continued.

‘Us?’ Ed shuddered as he looked at Abigail.

‘Yes. Now you two will have to go to the romantic barbecue tonight and watch our competition winners.’

‘You want me to go?’ Abigail sounded as horrified as Ed felt.

‘Of course, darling, I can’t possibly expect Ed to be able to gather information on them all. Not at an event like that. I mean, we were lucky they dined together last night, in a way, although that didn’t show too much romance, but tonight they might not be in a group. You two will have to ensure that you spend time watching each of the couples, then report back. Now, do you want Dictaphones?’

‘No thanks. I’d rather collect information and make notes,’ Ed said quickly. At least he wouldn’t have to spend all evening with Abigail; they could split up.

‘So what time do I have to be there?’ Abigail asked, annoyed, which gave Ed a small amount of satisfaction.

‘At seven. Ed will come and collect you. This is all going to be worth it.’

‘For the book,’ Abigail finished.

*

‘So you’re sure they’re all going?’

‘Yes, Anne-Marie, I went round and spoke to them myself.’ Lily smiled as her boss handed her a drink. She sat on the sofa in Anne-Marie’s house. It seemed a lamp was shining in her eyes, she felt as if she was being interrogated. Perhaps she was getting too paranoid.

‘Good, and what were they doing today?’ Anne-Marie’s eyes narrowed. Lily took out her notebook.

‘Well, Emily and Jimmy had lunch at the Coral Restaurant—they missed breakfast—and then they spent the afternoon in their room. That’s where I spoke to them. They were sunbathing on the terrace.’

‘Um, so they spent the day gazing into each other’s eyes.’

‘I guess so.’ Lily raised an eyebrow. They were doing what normal people did on holiday, as far as she was concerned. ‘Anyway, I saw Lee and Carla on the beach. They too missed breakfast, and they spent all the rest of the day doing water sports. They’re both quite sporty, actually. Carla said that she was trying to exhaust herself because she had trouble sleeping last night.’

‘Right. So they engaged in romantic water sports—um, yes, I think I can use that.’ Lily had no idea how—it sounded obscene, more like something you’d find in a porn novel than a romantic one.

‘Tim and Thea slept nearly all day, according to Thea. I found them at the burger bar. Thea was a bit annoyed at wasting a day, Tim told her that they had ages left so not to be so silly. They said they were going to take a walk round the resort, to explore, before getting changed for tonight.’

‘More romantic strolls. How lovely. How appropriate.’

‘That’s about all for now.’

‘Good work, Lily. Of course I know you gave me the shortened version, so you can fill in the details in your typed report.’

‘Oh, hi, Lily,’ Ed said, as he entered the room. Lily wanted to swoon. He was so handsome.

‘Ed, how are you?’

‘Just about to go and get Abigail.’ His look told Lily all she needed to know.

‘Right, now don’t forget, I really need some romantic dialogue,’ Anne-Marie launched in. ‘Remind Abigail of that, although she’ll probably already know. Now off you go, you don’t want to be late.’

*

‘Abigail.’

‘Ed.’

‘We’d better get going.’ Ed knew there was no option but to see this through. ‘At first I thought that perhaps we should split up, but then I thought that we’d look more conspicuous on our own. So I think we should stick together, ensuring we have equal time with each couple.’

‘Your wife has you well trained.’ The disdain was evident in her voice, and Ed wanted to put her straight, but he held his tongue.

‘Well, anything for the book, Abigail,’ he said sarcastically. She shot him a dirty look. Tonight was going to be anything but fun.

They reached the terrace where the barbecue was beginning to liven up. A long table was laid out, ready for the sumptuous feast that the chefs were preparing. The steel drum band was setting up, and staff were running around all over the place. A few couples had arrived and were drinking and eyeing the food greedily.

‘Christ, Anne-Marie was right about one thing, there’s a lot of fat couples here.’

‘Abigail, keep your voice down. We don’t want the guests to hear you.’

‘No, of course not. But no wonder she doesn’t feel inspired to write.’

‘Right, shall I get you a drink?’

‘I think you’d better. Before your guests mistake me for part of the feast.’ Ed tried to give her a withering look but he couldn’t. Even after all these years she terrified him. He went to get two drinks, spotting Thea and Tim by the bar.