Page 17 of The Pearl Sister
‘What are you doing?’ I asked out of politeness.
‘Nothing. I mean, it’s a man-made calendar, and if we lived in, say, China, we’d be celebrating at a different time of year.’
‘True, but it’s still a ritual, isn’t it? When you’re meant to be celebrating and end up feeling like a real loser if you’re sat there alone, getting texts from your mates at amazing parties.’ I grinned.
‘Last year, I was at an amazing party,’ Ace admitted. ‘It was in St Tropez at a club. We’d come in by boat and the hostesses were opening bottles of champagne that cost hundreds of euros each and spraying them all over the place like it was water. At the time, I thought it was great, but I was drunk and most things seem fantastic then, don’t they?’
‘To be honest, I’ve not been drunk very often. Alcohol doesn’t suit me, so most of the time I steer clear.’
‘Lucky you. I – and I guess most people – use it to forget. To ease the stress.’
‘Yeah, it certainly takes the edge off stuff.’
‘I did some really stupid things when I was boozing,’ Ace confessed. ‘So now I don’t go there. I haven’t had a drink for the past two and a half months, so I’d probably get drunk on a beer. It used to take me at least a couple of bottles of champagne and a few vodka chasers to even begin to feel that edge blunt.’
‘Wow. Well, I do like the odd glass of champagne on special occasions – birthdays and stuff.’
‘Tell you what.’ He leant forward and stared at me, his blue eyes suddenly alive. ‘What do you say to opening a bottle of champagne at midnight tomorrow? As you point out, it’s for special occasions and it is New Year’s Eve, after all. But, we limit ourselves to one glass each.’
I frowned and he saw it immediately.
‘Don’t worry, I was never an alcoholic. I came off completely the minute I realised what I was doing. Equally, I don’t want to be the sad person in the corner that refuses a drink and then everyone assumes is a member of AA. I want to enjoy it, but not to need it. Do you understand?’
‘I do, but—’
‘Trust me; one glass each. Deal?’
What could I say? He was my host, and I couldn’t deny him, but I’d have my rucksack packed and at the ready in case things got out of hand.
‘Deal,’ I agreed.
* * *
As I sat on Railay Beach the next afternoon, I could feel the pre-Christmas electricity back in the air as all the hotels set up their verandas for the evening’s festivities. Fed up with staring at the pathetic charcoal sketch I’d made of the limestone pillars, I stood up and walked across the sand towards the Railay Beach Hotel.
‘Hi, Cee, how’s it going?’
‘Fine,’ I said to Jack, who was placing glasses on a long trestle table. He looked far perkier than last time I’d seen him a few days ago, propping up the bar with his umpteenth beer. The reason why appeared behind him and put a possessive hand on his shoulder.
‘We short of forks,’ Nam said, glancing at me and giving me her usual death stare.
‘Think I got some spare ones in the kitchen.’
‘Go get them now, Jack. Wanna set up our table for later.’
‘On my way. You coming tonight?’ Jack asked me.
‘I might pop down later on, yeah,’ I replied, knowing that ‘later on’ he wouldn’t know if Jesus Christ himself was ordering drinks at the bar.
Jack began to follow Nam into the kitchen, then paused and turned back. ‘By the way, a mate of mine thinks he knows who your mystery man on the beach is. He’s gone off to Ko Phi Phi for the New Year, but he’s gonna tell me more when he gets back.’
‘Right.’
‘See ya, Cee,’ he said as he trudged off towards the kitchen, following Nam with his tray like a little lamb behind Bo Peep. That big, butch man who could scale a rock face faster than anyone I’d ever met . . .I just hoped I never treated any future partner of mine like that. But I’d seen so many men being bossed about by demanding females, maybe they liked it.
Did I boss Star around? Is that why she left?
I hated my brain for planting the thought in my head, so I decided to ignore it and get on with a day that was meant to herald new beginnings. I comforted myself that whatever Jack’s mate had to tell him about Ace was bound to be nothing. Out here, on a peninsula in the middle of nowhere, the fact that someone had eaten an ice cream instead of a lolly was news. Small communities thrived on gossip and people like Ace who kept to themselves sparked the most rumours. Just because my host hadn’t sounded off to anyone and everyone during a drunken conversation didn’t make him a bad person. In fact, I thought he was a very interesting person, with intelligent things to say.
