The Lies
I was in the bar when Anya arrived at the hotel. My younger sister, Ebony, and I sat on high stools in our sarongs. We’d just returned from a stroll on the beach after dinner, thinking a nice way to end the eve of the wedding would be with a rum punch or two.
I heard Mother greeting Anya, lots of kisses and exclamations of delight coming from Mother and very little enthusiasm emanating from Anya. She was known by people in her business as Lady Ice. She hated the name but there were many times I thought it very apt.
‘Aren’t you going out to say hello to Anya?’ asked Ebony who was leaning backwards on her stool and angling her view around me to see my ex-best friend.
‘I’ll let her settle in. You know how she hates a fuss.’
Ebony was quiet for a moment and accepted another round of rum punches after being prompted by the sexy barmaid with the island accent. Ebony raised the glass closer to her lips and sipped. I could feel her eyes boring into me as I stirred my punch with the straw. We sipped away in silence for a while.
‘So,’ said Ebony. ‘Why was it Anthony couldn’t come out again?’
‘Um …’ I was caught unawares. In focusing on the Anya/Magenta split I almost forgot that Anthony had left me. ‘He, um, he got this offer he couldn’t refuse and had to fly out of the country to meet a client.’
‘It was that good an offer he needed to miss the wedding?’ Ebony’s eyebrows were raised in alarm.
‘Well it’s not like Mother and Father haven’t done this before,’ I reasoned. ‘He was very torn but I encouraged him to pursue the work. He’s just starting off and everything; you can’t afford to piss off rich clients. These things get around.’
‘I suppose,’ said Ebony, not looking at me but at the last dregs of her rum punch. She was rattling her ice cubes, but not as manically as I was doing.
I told lots of lies as a youngster and found they rolled off my tongue when I needed to protect my parents from worrying about me if I was about to or had done something I shouldn’t. Very often Mother saw through me because I wasn’t that good a liar. I suspected that the astute Ebony wasn’t fooled for a second either but she had the decency not to push it.
Amber walked into the bar carrying Tallulah.
‘Tallulah was begging to see her Aunty Magenta. Couldn’t get her into bed without a goodnight kiss.’
The gorgeous little Tallulah had barely let me out of her sight, wanting to hang like a human accessory around my neck for the last few days. She clung to me at meal times, on the beach, and in the sea. Now she was desperate to spend the night in her Aunty Magenta’s room. I couldn’t resist those big, sleepy eyes and gave in to her whim. The hotel receptionist kindly arranged to have a little cot bed moved into my room.
‘Meanwhile,’ said Ebony, ‘we can order a few more cocktails and have them on your balcony.’
On our way to the room, Anya was sashaying along the corridor towards me and Ebony. All of a sudden the atmosphere changed. I was carrying the sleepy human accessory, Tallulah, and Ebony was carrying our drinks.
‘Nice to see you, Anya,’ said Ebony stopping for a chat. Neither Anya nor I stopped, we merely slowed down and attempted smiles of greeting. I hurried into my hotel room and settled Tallulah, who dropped off to sleep like a light in the little bed. When I joined Ebony on the balcony she was looking at me suspiciously.
She was at the glass table, sitting on one of the reclining chairs, the sound of crickets forming the backdrop to what I knew would be an awkward conversation.
‘So you and Anthony are all right?’ she said as if re-establishing facts in a notebook like a crime detective.
‘Correct,’ I said, tentatively, avoiding eyes that were slanting for effect.
‘And can the same be said about you and Anya?’ The inflexion of her voice was rising. ‘If I’m right, you haven’t talked about either of them in the whole time we’ve been here.’
‘Christ, Eb, we’re not joined at the hip the three of us,’ I said jiggling the ice in my glass. ‘I think it’s nice to be with my family for a change. I do miss you guys, you know? I can see those two any time I want.’
‘But Anya is away a lot. Don’t you two always have a lot to catch up on?’
‘We did that. I saw her recently when she came back from a trip. We had an awful lot to say to each other. All right?’
I stared off into the dark sky, not a single star in sight, but a cluster of fireflies danced their way past my balcony and towards the nearby tamarind trees where their lights disappeared.
Ebony didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, we made small talk until we admitted that we were going to need all our energy for the day ahead and we shouldn’t turn up at the altar with a hangover.
I kissed Ebony at the door and felt relieved at not having to answer any more questions. The next day we’d all be too busy to ask personal questions – at least that’s what I hoped. I could hear Tallulah breathing rhythmically from her bed and kissed the top of her head. Her shiny black curls were matted and slightly damp.
It was suddenly a very big and very quiet hotel room apart from Tallulah’s soft breathing and the odd stir.
I settled myself in bed after a lot of faffing in the bathroom and staring at Vera Wang, the ultimate bridesmaid dress, hanging up on the wardrobe door. I should have been excited, happy, overjoyed but I was pensive, sad, and slightly tipsy.
I wondered if Anya had been on her way to the bar to find me. I wondered where Anthony went after he left. I wondered if I should have called him and said I was sorry.