The Day Of The Wave (7 page)

'Oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't see anyone go for it,' he says, helping me look for a second. 'Wait, I'll tell the driver to tell everyone getting off, someone might have seen it.'

'Thank you,' I say, letting him squeeze past me with his backpack. I scoot around again on the floor for a second but there's nothing there. The photo of mom and dad was in that purse. I want to cry.

'Any luck?' the Scot asks, bounding up to me again when I step off the bus and leading me to the luggage hold. 'The driver's gone, sorry, maybe he's in the bathroom, or the shop.'

I look around me as he helps me pull my suitcase out of the hold. It's mayhem out here. Everyone's milling around, grabbing their bags and cases and making their way to various mini buses and cabs and scooters. There's no way we can ask every single person who was on that bus if they've seen my purse.

'Sorry, hun,' he says sincerely, putting a hand to my lower back and wheeling my suitcase over to a quieter patch in the chaos. 'Anything else I can do before I go? You can always come to Phi Phi if you like?'

'I'll be OK,' I tell him, but my heart is sinking further by the second now. What the hell was I thinking, coming here?

'Open your dive books, I have the log details for you if anyone's interested,' I say, swinging my legs over the wooden bench at the table with the four French girls. All of them have their wetsuits rolled down to their waists. The brunette with the shortest hair and the star tattoo on the side of her neck giggles and whispers something in French that I know is about me. She's been flirting all day and Kalaya is pissed.

'She uses her breasts on you,' she hissed at me earlier. I held up my hands. I knew what she was saying but it's not like I could do anything about it. People flirt.

I've been teaching the French girls for five days and they've just done their first fun dive. I couldn't teach for twenty-four hours after getting off the plane, so being back down there just now was like lifting a million tons of weight off my shoulders. I hardly ever go as long as that without diving. It's therapeutic, I guess, until Kalaya ruins the mood by accusing me of doing something I haven't even done. She's a fucking hurricane sometimes.

Sonthi walks up now with his own wetsuit half undone, sits down next to me as I read out the stats. Maximum depth: eleven meters. Fish spotted: one eagle ray, one lion fish, one green turtle, etc. etc. 'No dolphins,' the blond sighs and I smile. They all come here wanting dolphins. They never get them.

The blond whispers something to Sonthi. He grins and winks at her from behind his Ray Bans. He's relentless. I saw him spinning circles with her underwater, holding her hand when he led her over to the turtle. He knows she'll take him up on his offer of dinner and buckets on the beach tonight, but more importantly than that, he knows Kalaya will go straight to Sasi and report this, too. She's pretending to do the paperwork on reception, but I can feel her eyes on us both now like lasers. 

I reel off a few more stats from the dive and I'm just getting into how much air was left in everyone's tank by the end of it when a cough from Kalaya makes me turn my head. 'Somebody here for you,' she says, raising her eyebrow. I almost fall off the seat when I see who she's pointing to. 

Izzy is wheeling a navy blue suitcase over to the other table. It's covered in sand. She must have wheeled it all the way here from the street and asked for me. I stand up quickly, back over the bench, ramming my hands in my hair. Holy shit. She actually came. I walk over to her, trying to ignore Kalaya's eyes on me, and Sonthi's now, too. 

'Izzy!' My voice sounds as shocked as I feel. 'How did you get here?'

'On the bus,' she says. 'I hope it's OK, I'm sorry for just showing up.'

She looks hot and flustered. I am shocked; so shocked I can't even hug her like I want to. I couldn't anyway. I thought she would've called. 'How was the bus? Why didn't you get the plane?' I manage, standing with my back to everyone, looking down at her familiar but tired-looking eyes. I can see she's struggling to hold back tears and my hands itch to rub her shoulders or brush the stray strands of hair from across her forehead. I just finished hauling the tanks off the sand so there's sand all over me - another barrier. She's here.

'I thought first class would be OK. But it was so cold, I left my jumper in my suitcase and they put it in the luggage hold. Then I got my purse nicked.'

I smile as she talks a million miles an hour. I forgot how Brits call sweaters jumpers. Then I realize what she's said. Nicked is bad. 'Someone stole your purse?'

'It's my fault, I left it in the seat pocket,' she says with a sigh, taking a band from around her wrist and tying her hair up at the back in a ponytail. 

'It's not your fault some asshole took what wasn't theirs, Izzy,' I say, forcing myself to think straight. 'Did you tell the police?'

'Yes, that's why I'm here so late.' She folds her arms across herself in the self-conscious way she always did. She's wearing denim shorts and a low cut green T-shirt. 'I just spent three hours in the police station. Then I had to find an Internet place so I could get some money wired from my godmother and cancel all my cards. There's nothing I can do about my passport till I'm back in Bangkok, though. I have to go to the embassy. So annoying. Anyway, then I had to get another cab here 'cause I missed my transfer bus.'

'Wow, Izzy, I'm so sorry,' I say. 'What a day, huh? At least you made it, though. We can fix all that other stuff, don't worry, I can help you. You got insurance, right?'

'Thank you,' she says. 'Yes, I have insurance. I gave the police your number in case they hear anything, I hope that's OK.'

'Course that's OK.'

'This place looks... the same.' She gestures around us now. I don't miss the apprehension on her face, the deep breath she takes before fixing her eyes to the sandy floor. She noticed. 

'I built it back up pretty much the same,' I say and I get a flashback of her, sixteen, like I was, laughing as we fitted her with her flippers to go with the mask she lost in my fake shark attack. She was sitting on the bench that got swept away, just like the ones that are here now, painted blue and white to match the walls.

'Dream Dive,' she says, nodding thoughtfully. 'Seems like a dream.'

'Tell me about it,' I say, studying her face in the sun. Her hair is still the shiniest on the beach.

I don't miss her eyes flitting to Kalaya and then to my bare chest right in front of her, and to the ocean shimmering to our right. She swallows visibly. It's almost three p.m. There are people on the beach, sunbathing and snorkeling. The last time she was here, this stretch of sand must have looked very different. Is that what she's picturing now? The shards of glass and crunched up cars, sides of hotel rooms, store signs and shattered toilets sitting in piles of broken loungers?

'Wait here,' I say, putting a hand to her arm, then walking to the table. 'Guys, I'm going to go take my friend to find a room, OK? You can finish this up with Sonthi. I'll see you later.'

'Thank you Ben,' the French girls chorus, all staring hard at my torso and then giggling again. Sonthi throws me a look. I throw him one back. I can hear Kalaya clicking her tongue as I peel off my wetsuit and drop it into the bath at the side of the dive shop for the staff to hang and dry. My heart's flapping like a parrot in my chest. I wanted Izzy here, but now she's here I don't know what the hell to do. Kalaya's already on red alert and she doesn't even know who she is. 

'Kalaya,' I say to her quickly, leading her out from behind the desk by the hand. I walk her over to Izzy. She flicks her long hair over her shoulder as she eyes her up and down. 'Izzy, this is Kalaya,' I say. 'Kalaya, Izzy and I met here a long time ago, before the tsunami. This is the first time she's been back since it happened. I'm going to go help her get set up.'

'OK,' she says sweetly. I watch her hold a hand out; note the intrigue cross Izzy's face as she takes it. Why is this so damn awkward?

'Let's go,' I say. 'Leave your stuff here, I'll come back for it.' I roll the case around to behind the reception desk. Kalaya grabs my hand again and makes a show of kissing me on the cheek.

'See you when I finish my shift,' she says pointedly and her fingernails dig into my hand. I shake it out as I lead Izzy round the dive shop to the path. That hurt.

'Where are we going?' Izzy asks.

'We need to take the scooter, my place is a couple of beaches down.'

'Scooter?' She pauses as we reach the Yamaha and I hand her the helmet. The keys are still in the ignition. 

'Sure, it's too far to walk. Your chariot awaits!' I swing my leg over, pat the seat behind me. It's hot from the sun.

'Really?' she says, biting on her lip. I smile. I'm guessing she hasn't ridden too many scooters.

'I'm a safe driver, I promise you, come on, get on!' I turn the key and the bike splutters to life. Izzy does as I tell her, albeit reluctantly and in seconds I feel her gripping on tight to my bare middle as she circles me with her arms. Surreal.

We speed off. My heart's still a jackhammer as I fully process her proximity and Kalaya's reactions and the fact that I have no clue at all who this girl even is anymore. But she's here and some angel gave her back and that's all that matters.

It's so weird, feeling my arms around his body. He's hot and his heart's pounding so hard I can feel it. Because of me? Because of that girl? I'm focusing on this, not the fact that I'm on a scooter. I think my insurance covers this, but it's not exactly an excuse.

I've been focusing on Ben to distract myself since I got here to Khao Lak. Seeing the ocean yawning out on the same beach I lost mom and dad was almost enough to make me turn around as soon as the cab dropped me off, but thanks to that stupid thief on the bus, whoever it was, I'm stuck here till I figure out what to do. I can't exactly fly anywhere without my passport and I'm definitely not ready to go back to Bangkok on another night bus any time soon. 

We go over a bump.
Think of Ben
.

That girl Kalaya adores him. His friend Sonthi does too, and even those French girls couldn't take their eyes off him. It's not just his looks though. OK, yes, so his muscles are bigger than they looked in the T-shirt back in Bangkok somehow, and he has the kind of six-pack you only ever see on the TV, but Ben has presence. He always did. 

'Are you OK back there?' he says. I realize my face in the helmet is pressed against his back. I move my head, open my eyes.

'I'm OK,' I say into the wind, right as my ponytail slaps me round the mouth. He has a tattoo on his right shoulder blade that says T&C in an intricate, swirled black circle. It looks a lot like waves coming in. T&C. Terms and conditions. Or Toby and Charlie? Maybe both. The terms and conditions changed for all of us that day. 

I close my eyes again as we turn down a dirt track, back towards the sea. Admittedly everything looks completely different to how it was when I left. Everything's changed. It looks like it did before the wave came in, only more modern in places. I recognize the shops set up on the roadside, the bananas and red and spiky fruits stacked haphazardly outside. I recognize the songbirds in cages and the piles of big green coconuts. Same, same, but different, like the T-shirts said on Khao San Road.

'Hold on!' Ben yells. I grip tight to his waist as we hit another bump. It's weird to have just met his Thai girlfriend. I don't know why I was expecting he'd be single. We're not exactly sixteen anymore. Besides, it's not like Colin and I aren't still talking. 

Colin.

My insides twinge.

'Still OK?' Ben asks.

'I'm OK!' 

When I showed up at the flat the other night, we agreed a break was best while I came to terms with what happened and while he let it be known that he's still completely wracked with guilt. He'd painted the hallway the color I decided on myself in an act of relinquishing control in such domestic matters, I assume. He's still the one I called just now when I couldn't get hold of Maria. He had to keep trying till he got hold of her, but even after she wired me some money he offered to do the same once it runs out. 

I told him I was here in Khao Lak. I didn't tell him about Ben. I just said I'd bumped randomly into an old friend who lived here and decided now was the right time to return. I never did tell him about Ben anyway. I never told anyone. I saw him as my secret, I guess; someone I was keeping alive just by talking to him, telling everything to when times were shitty. Telling anyone he'd died would've put me in the basket with the nut jobs, even by my own admission, so I never said a word. 

'Home sweet home,' Ben says now, slowing the scooter to a stop and flipping the stand down in a small dusty parking area. Palm trees are lining the start of another pathway to our left and a sign says
Shady Palm Resort
. Tiny yellow butterflies are flitting everywhere.

'Very fitting,' I say, pointing at the sign and then up at the trees as he holds out his hand and helps me climb off the back. He grins as I straighten out my T-shirt and shorts. I'll admit, that was kind of thrilling; maybe because I wasn't on it for too long. It's worrying enough being in the car when someone else is driving and those have windows and doors. I won't be doing it again.

'I like it here, more than on Bang Niang,' he says now, helping me take the helmet off. His fingers brush my chin as he wriggles the strap and when his blue eyes meet mine for just a second in the blazing sunlight I feel something in my tummy jump again. A stray butterfly?

'You live in a resort?' I say, squishing it.

'Is there any other way to live?' He raises his eyebrows at me comically, puts the helmet on the bike seat, motions me up the pathway with him. I  run my fingers through my hair, try to keep my eyes off the way the sun shines intermittently off his shoulder blades and tanned upper back when we pass under a gap in the branches. Even through his black board shorts, the same ones he was wearing in Bangkok, I can see how toned and strong his bum and legs are. Ben got even sexier. I swallow, turn my eyes to the scenery.