This Book Made Me Think of You(20)
“OK, OK, no more work.” Tilly sets her out-of-office notice and makes a show of putting her phone away in her bag.
It hits her how lucky she is to be here, on her way to a beach resort thanks to Joe. He wanted her to relax on this trip, and she owes it to him to try her hardest to make that happen. Only fun, Harper said. Maybe for this trip at least, Tilly can stop being Harper’s boring grieving big sister and actually let her hair down.
“Do you think we’ve got time for one more cocktail?”
Harper grins in reply and says, “Definitely.” She goes to stand, but Tilly waves her back into her chair. “No, I’ll get these. Same again?”
When she returns to the table a few minutes later, Harper is typing rapidly on her phone, a slight frown on her face.
“Everything OK?” Tilly asks as she puts the drinks down on the table.
“Just texting Raj to let him know we’re nearly setting off.”
“Is he all right? I haven’t seen him for a while.”
There’s a moment’s pause before Harper replies. “He’s fine.”
Harper’s eyes flick to the information screen. “Our gate is up! Come on, let’s go!” Harper downs her drink in one gulp, placing the empty glass firmly on the table and grabbing her rucksack, neck pillow and eye mask swinging.
“Coming, Tils?”
Tilly takes a breath and lifts her own cocktail to her mouth, dipping her head back in a swift motion. Her throat burns and she fights back a cough, heat spreading to her stomach. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she puts down the empty glass. She adjusts the brim of her obnoxiously large hat, trying to imagine what Joe would say. You’ve got this, Mouse. Now go have an amazing time.
“Bali, here we come.”
Twelve
The beach bar hums with life, groups laughing and chatting over the background sounds of chill music and waves crashing down on the shore. Paper lanterns swing in a gentle breeze from the straw roof of the bar, and firepits glow on the beach, groups gathered around them on colorful beanbags. Streaked across the horizon are the last shades of lilac and rose-gold from that evening’s sunset.
“Coconut daiquiri,” Harper says as she returns from the bar with two drinks topped with yellow paper umbrellas, the purple glitter on her face sparkling in the warm light and matching the sequins on her top. Tilly is more understated in a simple white sundress, but she conceded in letting Harper paint flowers in glitter on her cheeks. It is their second night in Bali but their first leaving the hotel. Harper had grand plans for their first evening, but as soon as Tilly saw the twin beds in their beachfront room, she sank onto the crisp white sheets, suddenly exhausted. Thankfully Joe must have changed their booking from the honeymoon suite, because there wasn’t a bottle of champagne or a rose petal in sight. But she couldn’t help but think how they should have had champagne and rose petals. They should have had a whole life.
The combination of jet lag and grief knocked her out, and Tilly slept for fifteen hours, waking to a note from Harper telling her to come and join her for yoga on the beach. After having ruined Harper’s first night, she didn’t want to let her down again so borrowed a pair of Harper’s harem trousers from her suitcase and headed to the beach, feeling silly as she wobbled alongside the rest of the class but enjoying the view of the sea and the bit at the end where she got to lie down on the sand with her eyes shut.
The rest of the day had been spent by the infinity pool overlooking the beach, Harper swimming and Tilly sleeping under the shade of a sun umbrella. It has been a long time since she has slept this peacefully. But with the drowsy heat on her skin, the calming sound of the waves, and the smell of coconut in the air, she had let herself sink, letting go of tension she has been carrying for months.
“Can you take some photos for my social media?” Harper asked her in the afternoon, handing her phone over and posing by the pool.
“Because just being here isn’t enough, we must make everyone else jealous too.”
“Shh, just because you’re an old lady who doesn’t ‘do’ social media, it doesn’t mean everyone else is. It still amazes me that you work with social media influencers. Remind me how that works again?”
“I do my research. It’s just my job.”
“And this is part of mine. You know Voyageur like it if I share plenty of content while I’m traveling.”
Which explains why Harper leans in now and takes a photo of them both with their cocktails, Tilly smiling obligingly for the camera as Harper beams beside her. As Harper returns her phone to the tiny straw bag slung over her shoulder, she says, “Hey, I’m proud of you, by the way.”
“For what?”
“I haven’t seen you check your work email once since we’ve arrived. That must be some kind of record.”
“You’re the one who has been working! All the content you’ve been sharing is for work, isn’t it?”
“But that’s different.”
“Why is it different?” replies Tilly with an exasperated laugh, suspecting that the answer might just be because Harper is Harper and rules don’t apply to her little sister.
“Because I actually enjoy my job.” As Harper says it, she takes another sip of her drink, her hazel eyes flashing challengingly.