The Love Resort (27 page)

‘Yes, I agree,’ Tim encouraged.

‘You shut up, you’re the fucking limit,’ Thea shouted.

‘Oh, let’s start that again, shall we, Little Miss Perfect?’ Tim replied.

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Always on my case: “Tim, you drink too much. Tim, you should do some work. Tim, the house is a mess.” Well, Thea, the pressure you put me under would lead any man to drink.’

‘I have always looked out for you, taken care of you, for years, ever since I’ve known you.’

‘Well, maybe if you hadn’t, I would have been able to take care of myself.’

‘How could you?’

‘Quite fucking easily.’

‘Maybe we should calm down,’ Lee suggested.

‘Really, Lee, really, should we? Why, so you bunch of scumbags can get away with it?’ Carla demanded.

‘Don’t speak to him like that,’ Emily shouted.

‘You bitch, how fucking dare you?’

‘Carla, isn’t it time you admitted that you were the one in the wrong? Lee never gave you any hint of encouragement.’

‘Oh, he told you that, did he? Did he tell you how he slept with me before I entered the competition, how he got drunk and came home and crawled into my bed? I’d call that encouragement. And then the next day I went to the doctor for the morning-after pill and that was when I found this stupid competition.’

‘Well, no, but you said he was drunk.’

‘He was drunk last night when he shagged you in public.’

‘It wasn’t like that.’

‘Oh, really?’

Emily went to stand in between Carla and Lee. ‘No, he really loves me and you can’t understand that.’

‘Oh, I think I can.’ Carla’s eyes were blazing as she pushed Emily.

‘Don’t touch her,’ Lee said, grabbing hold of Carla’s arm.

‘You get off her,’ Jimmy intervened, pushing Lee out of the way.

‘Leave him alone,’ Emily shouted.

‘You leave him alone,’ Carla shouted back.

Thea stood, as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Who threw the first punch she couldn’t say. But Lee fell to the floor and Emily went to hit Jimmy and Carla jumped on top of her, knocking her over.

As Anne-Marie, Ed and Lily entered the room, Tim was standing on a chair.

‘Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight...’ he was chanting.

‘Get them off each other,’ Anne-Marie shouted, darting around them and trying her best not to get too near, as if they might contaminate her.

Ed pulled Jimmy and Lee apart and Lily grabbed Emily. Finally, they all became quiet and stood, looking ashamed.

‘Enough,’ Ed said. ‘I should never have left them alone.’ He was no longer amused, but actually worried about his wife’s health. She was teetering on the edge of desperation.

‘Your behaviour is totally unacceptable in my resort,’ Anne-Marie started. ‘I have done my best with you but you have proved yourselves unworthy of my hospitality and now I find out that one couple even lied to me.’

‘Two couples, actually,’ Ed explained, having overheard them.

‘You are kidding? Who?’

‘Carla and Lee.’

‘Why did you enter my competition for new love if you weren’t even in love? It just seems unbelievable.’

‘We—’ Thea began.

‘Stop.’ Anne-Marie held up her hand to silence them. ‘I don’t care any more. We spent all day trying to get you on a flight home, but unfortunately they are all full. There’s nothing we can do until next week, but I can’t have you behaving like this until then. I just don’t know what to do.’

‘Maybe we should discuss this,’ Ed suggested. He hadn’t had time to think about what they would do next, apart from the fact that they certainly couldn’t send the couples back to their original rooms.

‘There is no need,’ Lily said. ‘Anne-Marie?’

‘I’m afraid that I can’t run the risk of having you running riot around my resort. Too many people are upset. Mr and Mrs Greyton have left and we had to give them a full refund. By the way, Tim, I am still considering suing you.’

‘Well, I don’t actually have any money,’ Tim explained.

‘Then I’ll just take a pound of flesh.’ Her eyes were ablaze with anger. ‘So, here is what I am going to do. Carla, you will share a room with Thea. Tim, you will share with Jimmy. Emily and Lee, you will have to share. I don’t have any spare rooms, so you will all accept my decision on the matter.’

‘Fine by me,’ Emily said, defiantly staring at Carla.

‘What about keeping an eye on them?’

‘Oh, Ed, darling, I am so glad you brought that up. You will all agree to my terms, or I shall throw you out of the resort with nowhere to stay and no way of getting home. Why am I being so accommodating to you? I don’t know, but I am a kind person. So, the terms are that you stay in your rooms until it’s time for dinner. You will all dine together, under the watchful eye of Lily, who will be your evening chaperone. Tomorrow, we will work something out. I feel that I owe it to Carla and Jimmy not to have to spend time with Lee and Emily, so please don’t worry, I shall ensure that after tonight that doesn’t happen. However, apart from Jimmy, no one is blameless in all this.’

‘I think that’s a marvellous solution,’ Ed said.

‘Hang on. Can I just clarify?’ Tim asked.

Anne-Marie sighed. ‘If you must.’

‘We have to stay in our rooms until you say otherwise?’

‘Yes.’

‘And we have to have a babysitter?’

‘Correct.’

‘We’re adults, Anne-Marie, and we’re on holiday. This isn’t fair.’

‘Tim, what’s not fair,’ Anne-Marie bared her teeth, causing him to take a step backwards, ‘is that you owe me over ten thousand dollars. That you lied to get here and then you all created havoc. Why I even have to explain myself, I have no idea. You are doing your best to ruin my resort and I will not have that. Now. For the last time. HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?’

Everyone was too scared to respond.

*

‘I thought we’d have an early supper. What would you like?’ Katie asked.

‘Um, I don’t mind. Maybe some fish?’ Todd answered distractedly.

‘Leave it to me.’ Katie picked up the phone and ordered dinner. Todd heard her say that it had to be served at seven o’clock sharp before telling him she was going to get ready. He had no idea what she was getting ready for, but the predatory look in her eyes unnerved him.

After he relayed the day’s events over the telephone to his very amused brother, he showered in the second bathroom and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. When he went outside, he saw her, wearing what seemed at first to be a negligée, but on closer inspection was just a slutty dress. It was black and sheer. She was wearing knickers, but no bra. As he tried to avert his eyes from her nipples, he noticed that she was wearing full make-up and a pair of diamante high-heeled shoes. Gulping at the thought of what was in store for him, he sat down as she pulled out a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket and insisted that it was time to celebrate. He took the glass from her, still unable to speak and then he realised that he was in for a very long and torturous evening.

For someone who never ate, Katie was making a huge fuss about food. She had ordered all their meals for them and then made an enthusiastic display over every dish served up, before taking a mouthful and discarding it. Todd was almost more disappointed by the fact that his wife was a Hollywood cliché than he was by the fact that he had a wife.

‘This is so perfect, Todd,’ Katie said, as they sat in the lazy chairs, sipping champagne.

‘It’s a great setting. A bit over the top, but breathtaking.’

‘Romantic, though—it really is romantic.’ She bit her lip and looked at him.

‘It is.’ It was romantic, the setting, just not the couple in it.

‘Todd?’

‘Yes?’

‘Do you realise that this is our one week anniversary here?’

‘Huh?’

‘We’ve been here on honeymoon for a week today, and I think that it’s time we—’ As the plates clattered down on the table behind them, she looked round. ‘Marcus, did you have to be so clumsy? I was in the middle of talking to my husband,’ she snapped.

‘Sorry.’ He didn’t sound sorry. He looked at Todd, and then at Katie. Todd noticed Marcus looking Katie up and down, and his face said that he knew she was trying to seduce her husband. In her tiny designer dress—was it Valentino? Her killer heels—Blahniks? The G-string that was just hinting at its presence, La Perla? As Todd felt he was reading Marcus’s mind, he refused to meet his eyes. He couldn’t bear to meet his eyes.

‘We should sit down to eat,’ Todd suggested, grateful for the interruption but also uncomfortable at its instigator.

As they sat, Todd felt Marcus push something into his hand. Still unable to meet his gaze, he put it in his pocket. He knew that over dinner he would be thinking of the note, desperately wanting to read it.

‘Marcus, you can go,’ Katie snapped.

‘Katie...’ Todd started, as soon as they were alone. He was unsure where he was going to go with the conversation, but he knew he had to have it. He also knew that he should have had it a long time ago. He had to take some of the blame.

‘Todd, I have never been as happy as I am now.’

‘What?’

‘You know I love you. I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I wanted to marry you. This whole studio thing, that didn’t matter to me. I wanted you.’

‘But, Katie, you have to understand—’

‘No, Todd, I don’t. Because I know, I know that deep down you feel exactly the same way.’

Momentarily dumbstruck, Todd knew he was in big trouble. He took a deep breath, ‘Katie, I’m gay.’ Could he be any more succinct?

‘Well, yes, you say that, but a lot of men are bisexual, and I don’t mind that. I’m quite happy for us to be together, knowing that you’ve slept with men. I mean, a lot of women are bisexual as well. I might even be. You never know, because I’ve never slept with a woman.’

‘So we have something in common then.’ He laughed; she didn’t.

‘We have so much in common, Todd.’ Katie edged closer. Todd was at a loss. It seemed that reason didn’t work with his new wife. But he had to do something.

‘Katie, I’m gay.’ He looked at her, begging her to understand.

‘Why?’ she pouted.

‘I just am.’ He felt he was banging his head against a brick wall.

‘But you might—’

‘No, Katie, no. We will never be more than friends. I like men.’ He was shouting and he felt awful. She seemed so hurt. He felt guilty and mean, but what could he do? Over the last few days he thought he understood her, but now she’d come back with this whole seduction routine. He met her eye apologetically, but she didn’t say anything. She just started crying.

‘Katie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.’ He felt terrible; his emotions were murdering him.

‘Todd, no one has rejected me for years. I don’t understand it. Why don’t you like me?’

‘It’s not that I don’t like you.’ He reached over and took her hand. Wondering if that was a smart move or not, he squeezed it briefly then dropped it. ‘I do like you. Although, if we’re being honest, I don’t always like the way you treat people. Like Mary.’ It was time to try to get her to understand; time for honesty.

‘Oh.’

‘Yes, and the hairdresser and everyone that works for you.’

‘Mary was really sweet to me.’

‘And maybe you should be sweet to her, at all times, not just when you need something from her.’ David would have a field day when he told him how he actually felt sorry for his wife.

‘So, if I was nicer to people, which I can be, then you’d fall in love with me?’ Her eyes sparkled with hope; Todd put his head in his hands in despair. ‘I’ll go and call Mary right now. I’ll apologise and explain everything. I’ll do whatever it takes to get her forgiveness.’

‘That’s great, Katie, but it doesn’t change things.’ What could he do? She was determined to interpret things in her own way. He couldn’t win.

‘Not right now, Todd. I understand you’re angry with me for being so horrible, but once I’ve put things right, then you’ll feel differently.’ She trotted off on her heels.

As soon as she’d gone, he pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket. There was no harm in reading it; he didn’t have to act on it. As he read the note, confusion swept over him.

‘I can’t wait to see you again,’ it said. ‘Please meet me tonight by the north entrance to the beach. There’s a shack there used for storing equipment. We can be alone. Be there at nine thirty. Please. Marcus.’

Harriet’s words about being careful flooded his mind. But then Katie’s determination to seduce him knocked them away. The shack would be deserted. Marcus probably had keys so he could lock it. If anyone saw him he would say he was taking a walk. He’d check around that no one was there. He would be careful. Being careful didn’t mean he couldn’t go.

Making a decision, Todd stood up. He had to be gone by the time Katie came off the phone. That way, there was nothing to stop him.

*

Todd stood nervously at the shack. He knocked on the door and was relieved when Marcus opened it and pulled him inside. He was sure no one had seen them; he’d been extra vigilant. He kissed Marcus, long and hard.

‘I was afraid you weren’t going to turn up,’ Marcus said.

‘So was I,’ Todd replied, kissing him again.

*

Tim paced the room he was now sharing with Jimmy.

‘Tim, what’s the story with you and Thea?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, I just found out today that you’re not even a couple, so I just wondered, really.’

‘Hmm. If I say that I never think about Thea and me does that make it clear?’

‘As mud.’

‘What I mean is, well, I don’t think about us because we just are. She’s always been there, like a twin really, and I love her but not in that way, and I think she feels the same.’

‘So there’s nothing sexual in it at all?’ Jimmy was having a job processing the revelations of the day that had just passed, and he wasn’t sure he ever would. It was more bizarre than anything he could have imagined.

‘God, no, it’d be like incest, and I believe that’s still illegal. You know I really didn’t want to come here. When she told me she’d won a competition, I said that if I had to act like her boyfriend for two weeks I’d mess things up.’