Emma: I took the girls back to the hotel after that, figuring that I’d promised them they could confide in me. If Julius was lying about his job, then I wasn’t going to bring it up with him because I didn’t want to break the girls’ trust.
Julius was coming out of the manager’s office just as we walked into the lobby. He ran across and ended up on his knees, with his arms around both the girls. They seemed somewhat embarrassed, while he was an understandable mix of angry and relieved. He said something like: ‘Didn’t I tell you to stay put?’ before looking up to me and asking where they’d been.
I half thought about lying, mainly to protect them, but I couldn’t think of anything better to say than the truth. I said they were on the cliffs, but nowhere close to the edge. They wanted to see where Dad fell – and that I’d have been curious if I was their age. I thought I was helping.
Julius: She basically called me a bad dad in front of everyone. She was saying that I should have dangled them off the cliff, or something like that, because it’s the only way they’d have lost their curiosity.
She had some cheek.
Liz: A right nerve on her. Imagine doing what she did to her own son – and then trying to give parenting lessons in front of everyone. Absolute liberty.
Emma: Julius told the girls they were grounded to the room for the rest of the day and then he took them off towards the stairs. They probably got away lightly compared to one of Mum or Dad’s punishments when we were young. We’d have had a slipper across the legs, no dinner, and then been made to stay in the room for the rest of the holiday.
Liz was watching me very closely, although she didn’t say anything right away. It was as if she was trying to figure out if I’d somehow kidnapped the girls and manufactured everything.
Liz: I genuinely would not put it past her.
Emma: I almost told her to do one – but then she turned around and walked off anyway.
I was about to follow her out towards the pool and cottages when someone called my name. I’d been in such a rush to get into the lobby and find Julius that I’d not noticed the man sitting on the chair right next to the door.
It’s fair to say I hadn’t expected to talk to him again – but that is when I found out who’d stolen my phone.
Chapter Thirty
THE SMELL OF SOMETHING ROTTEN
Emma: Lander was sitting with his knees crossed, like an old man at a bus stop. It almost made me laugh, except for the way he nodded towards the front door. When he wants to be serious, his eyebrows sink and join in the middle. It was the same that afternoon as it was when I used to spend all my days with him.
I don’t think I ever liked that expression. It always meant something bad was about to happen, or that it just had.
I followed Lander out through the main doors and caught up to him close to where the hotel leaves the bins to be collected. There was this smell of something rotten which caught in my throat and I said to Lander: ‘Are we doing this here?’
He was in a sort of trance and it was as if he’d not noticed the bins. He turned to look at them and blinked, before we headed off towards the cliffs.
It was the third time I’d been there that day… though I suppose the most open place on the island was also the most private. It’s the place where couples got engaged and had artsy photos taken with the ocean and the sunset in the background. It was only minutes before that I’d been sitting with Amy and Chloe – but Lander and I stood. I had no idea what he was going to say, though he’d never been one for talking in circles.
Lander: She told you…?
Emma: He said: ‘Rhea stole your phone.’ I think I stared at him for a little while, not sure what to say. It was so direct that it took me by surprise. I would’ve said something like: ‘How do you know?’ – and then he said that he was the person who’d made her return it to my room.
Lander: I… This isn’t what I wanted to talk about.
Emma: I remember the exact words because Lander was pounding his fist into his palm. He said: ‘She’s not a thief, but she gets very jealous.’
The envy stuff was largely self-evident, although I didn’t necessarily blame her. I could see why someone might have a problem with an ex-girlfriend appearing out of nowhere nine years later.
I asked how Rhea got into my room and Lander said she had a cousin on the hotel staff. He asked if we could keep it between us and not take anything further.
Lander: This is a lie.
Emma: Lander said that someone who worked on maintenance across various hotels had been arrested that morning for thefts from rooms. I remembered the woman I’d heard in the lobby at the start of the holiday, saying that she’d had money stolen. I think Paul said something about thefts from his hotel. I guess it was a much bigger problem than anyone had been letting on.
Lander seemed to think everyone knew about the arrest, even though it was the first I’d heard of it. I suppose it’s no surprise the hotel was keeping it quiet.
I didn’t get his point at first, but after the arrest, the cousin had gone back to Rhea, panicking that she’d be discovered. He was asking me to back away from any complaints about my phone in case it was traced back to Rhea’s cousin and, ultimately, Rhea.
Aside from fishing, tourism is the only real industry on the island and if someone gets blacklisted, there’s nowhere to go.
Lander: Emma told you this?
Emma: I asked him why my phone. The screen was locked and nobody could get into it. He said it was only to inconvenience me. He saw Rhea with my phone and, when she told him what it was, he insisted it be put back.
…
There was a part of me relieved to hear it. The phone really had been taken and returned. I’d not imagined it.
Lander: I… We… we were on the cliffs to say goodbye. That’s all.
Emma: I told him that I hoped everything worked out with him, Rhea and his kids. I said I wanted him to be happy and he said the same to me.
Rhea wouldn’t have been happy, but we hugged and it was another of those moments when it felt as if I was slipping through time. It was the way he held me, the position of his hands on my back and the curve of his shoulders. I think a hug is like a fingerprint sometimes. It wasn’t that I craved the past, it was that there was a comfort to it.
We separated and then he said goodbye. I think we both knew we’d never see each other again after that. I watched him walk away and there was a closure that I never thought we’d have. If that’s the only good thing to come from the holiday, then I suppose it’s one thing. Perhaps I should remind myself once in a while that it wasn’t all bad.
Lander: I don’t know why she’d say all this now. I know nothing about her phone.
Chapter Thirty-One
THE IMPORTANT SILENCES
Emma: By the time I got back to the hotel, Mum had returned from the hospital. She was sitting on a lounger a little away from the pool, quite close to the walkthrough for the cottages. The sun had dipped below the trees on the furthest side of the pool and shadows were covering half the patio. The buffet was open again, so people were starting to head back inside.