‘Uh-huh, I scored a freebie for myself and thought you’d enjoy a bit of festive exfoliation too. The spa’s only open for a few hours but your treatments are booked in for ten. I’m going to hit the sauna and the counter current exercise pool.’
‘You’renot? One of those little pools where you swim like mad and the water keeps pushing you back to the same spot?’
‘Yup! I could do with working off some stress after last night.’
‘You wouldn’t catch me in one of those. If I’m swimming I want to be moving through the water.’
‘On your way to the bar at the other side.’
‘Obviously. Swim with purpose,’ I say, grandly.
This is more like it, just me and Nari and our familiar chatty nonsense, exactly what we came here for, and it’s soothing my ragged emotions after last night’s strange and sudden disappointment and the sleepless night that followed Stellan’s departure.
I won’t tell Nari about how I lay awake digesting the horrible knowledge that I’d scared Stellan away all those years ago, and brooding on the embarrassment of him running off into the night after I’d opened up to him yesterday, when we’d been kissing and it had all felt so promising. I really thought he’d come back but he hasn’t even called. I can’t believe that’s how our lovely day ended and I won’t see him again because he’s busy today and we’re leaving early tomorrow morning. I’ve blown it again.
I try to pack away these thoughts and concentrate on Nari opening my gift, which I’m still not sure about: it’s a gold leather passport cover with her name embossed on the front and a matching luggage label from her favourite handbag designer. I’ve been worrying they’re a bit clichéd for a travel writer – not to mention that they cost me a week’s pay – but her delighted reaction makes that meaningless now.
Nari sits down again after hugging me and she’s looking at her presents when I see her face turn deathly pale and her eyes bulge. ‘Oh no!’ she cries, looking me in the eyes, horror-struck. ‘Oh God, no!’
‘What is it? You’re scaring me?’
‘I completely forgot!’ She’s talking now with her head in her hands, her hair falling onto the table.
‘Forgot what?’
‘I wrote it yesterday, the blog, and I scheduled it to go live early this morning. Oh no!’
‘OK, what’s the problem?’
‘Imighthave mentioned Niilo and our date, a little bit.’
‘What did you say? It can’t be that bad, surely?’
‘It’s too late to delete it now, people will have seen it, won’t they?’
‘Well I haven’t. I’ve run out of data. What’s the problem?’
‘I might have made a few hints that I liked him, totally off brand and weird, I know! And…’ I watch her raise her head, her eyes big and apologetic. ‘And…’
‘What?’
‘I might have made a little, innocent reference to you seeing Stellan.’
‘You didn’t!’
She nods and scrunches up her eyes as it comes back to her. I can see she’s remembering the actual words and it’s obviously mortifying.
‘Nari, you pillock! What’s gotten into you on this trip?’
‘I don’t know, it’s Niilo’s fault. I was doing fine before he turned up, being all rugged and worthy, and much younger than me, and super hot.’
‘Look, I doubt Stellan or Niilo have time to faff about reading blogs, do you? They probably haven’t seen it. And what does it matter anyway? We’re leaving tomorrow and it’s not like we’re seeing them again. Can’t you just delete it now? Are you worried that Stephen will see it?’
‘People will have read it. I scheduled it for seven a.m British time, and I forgot all about it, what with everything going on last night. I’ve spent years building my following, distancing myself from the old dating blog – not that I’m ashamed of it, notat all– but I worked so hard to be taken seriously in the travel industry and now I’m known as this single-girl adventurer.’ Her shoulders droop. ‘And no, Stephen won’t have seen it. He’s never read my blog.’
I watch Nari checking her phone and scrolling through the comments.
‘Can I at least see what you wrote?’ I say, reaching for the phone.
