Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Carol joined Mr. James and his wife, where they were relaxing by the beach, and watching the waves, already regretting her outburst at Sebastian. It was not his fault that those girls had swarmed around him like a flock of bees, after all, he was a highly desirable man, and he was rich too.  Women naturally tended to flock around men like that. Carol did not wish to acknowledge it, but she knew exactly why she was so pissed. She was green with envy. Envy that she lay beside Sebastian at night to sleep, and had lived with him for the past nine to ten months, yet could not summon up the courage to touch him as boldly as that girl had after knowing him for all of ten minutes or even less.

“So you chickened out of the scuba diving thingy then?” Mrs. James asked as Carol came over and spread her blanket beside hers so she could lay on it. Nothing gave her pleasure as much as just lying on the beach and staring at the waves with a cool drink in her hands.

“Yes. Maybe some other time.”

“That’s okay. Where is Sebastian?”

“He has gone diving.”

“I trust him. That is his favorite thing to do whenever there is an ocean nearby. He has done it right from when he was a child and we took him to Hawaii on vacation.” Mrs. James said fondly, her eyes taking on a dreamy look. Her husband slept peacefully, or not so peacefully beside her. His breathing sounded raspy, as though he was having difficulty breathing very well. Mrs. Sebastian adjusted his head on the pillow, but it did not seem to have much effect.

“So anyway, I’ve booked an appointment for us at the spa this afternoon. You and I are going to the spa for a good ladies' time.” Mrs. James informed Carol.

“Oh. That’s nice. I’ll love that very much, Mrs. James.”

“You’re welcome, my dear.”

***

Sebastian had been gone for more than four hours and by this time, Carol had driven herself sick with the worry that he was mad at her. That was one thing about her. If sufficiently pissed, she did not hesitate to show her anger, but immediately after that, she would feel bad about showing how angry she had been. Except that Sebastian had done nothing to anger her, at least, not really. She was only jealous and had allowed her jealousy to manifest.

By this time, Mr. James and his wife had retired to their suite for an afternoon nap. Carol was feeling quite sleepy and would have done the same, but she was feeling guilty about how she had talked to Sebastian and was waiting around to see if he would show up so that she could apologize.  She had the feeling that he was trying to avoid her because she was sure that he had not spent this whole time underwater. Since the sun was becoming too hot for her to bear, she had moved to the large swimming pool of the resort instead, glad that too many people were not there. There were only a handful of people there, who did not pay her any mind as she came over to swim in the pool. Carol had been there for all of five of six minutes when she had the feeling that she was being watched intensely. She raised her gaze to see a lady watching her intently from across the pool. The woman did not even bother to hide the fact that she had been staring, or look away.

She looked vaguely familiar to Carol, but Carol couldn’t place where she had met her before, so she looked away, hoping that the lady would stop staring at her, as there was hardly anything she hated more than being stared at. The woman did not look friendly either but was watching Carol with ill-concealed animosity and unabashed hatred. A minute later, Carol risked a glance at her to find that the lady, who seemed to be about two or three years older than her, was still staring at her with the same look of hatred.

“What the hell is her problem now?” Carol wondered, trying to stare the woman down, but when that did not work, she nodded at her in greeting and turned away, hoping that the woman would get the hint and stop staring. This pool was meant for everyone staying at the resort, so she refused to be cowed into leaving just because a stranger was staring at her in an unfriendly manner. She had as much right to be here as that woman did, after all. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that the woman looked familiar, as though she had met or seen her before, so she tried her best to remember where they must have met before.

She tried swimming for a while to get her mind off the woman and her unfriendly stare, and had just come up for some air when a raspy voice spoke.

“Hello.”

Carol wiped the water from her eyes to see that it was the woman from earlier who was speaking, and she was speaking to her. Suddenly, she remembered where she had seen her. The woman had been staring at everyone at their table in the restaurant where she had gone to eat with Sebastian, Mr. James, and his wife. Did this woman know her from somewhere and have any beef with her? Up close, she did not look as unfriendly as she had earlier, so Carol relaxed a little, but was still wary.

“Hello.” She replied, wondering what on earth she wanted.

“I’ve been seeing you around this resort.”

“Um, yeah. I came here on vacation.”

“Nice. Me too. Are you American?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I thought so. That was why I came up to you. I’m American too.” The woman told Carol, as though this was a big deal.

“Oh, that’s nice. Where do you live?”

“I can hardly say that I live in one place or the other as I’m always up and about.”

“Oh cool. W…”

“Listen. I know that I’m a stranger and all that and I’m sorry to be bugging you this much, but I don’t know what I was thinking. I came on this vacation alone. I was supposed to be with my boyfriend, but I caught him cheating on me two days before I came. He had the balls to be defensive and pick up a fight with me, so I broke up with him. I should have just stayed back home, but I still decided to come on the trip since it was already paid for, without him of course.”

“I’m so sorry about that,” Carol told the lady, feeling a little sorry for her, but wondering why any of this was supposed to be her business.

“Yeah. It sucks real bad when you love someone with all that you've got and they take that love and trample it to pieces. Look, I know you’re wondering what all of this has got to do with you.”

“Oh no. Of course not.” Carol lied. She was indeed wondering just that and was wishing that this woman will leave her the hell alone.

“Thank God. The thing is that now that I am here, I am so bored and do not know what to do with myself.”

“I thought that was your boyfriend I saw you with the other night at the restaurant.”

“Oh no. That is just my friend. Although I have to admit that I'm posing with him as my boyfriend so as to make my ex jealous in case he somehow knows what I'm doing. Pathetic right?”

It was indeed pathetic, but of course, Carol was not going to say that. “That’s sad.” She said instead, not knowing what else to say.

“So to the reason why I’m bugging you…my friend is a guy, and most times, he prefers to do guy things with other guys. I can't expect him to tag along and try to make me happy all the time. Which is why I'm here. I was wondering if you wanted a friend to do girly things with, like go to the spa and stuff like that, you know.”

“Oh, um…well, I…” Carol began, trying to think of the best way to refuse this unwanted offer.

“That’s settled, then. You will not be sorry, you’ll see.” The lady replied, not giving her a chance to protest. “So for starters, I have a spa session scheduled for this evening by four. Do you want to tag along? It will be fun, I promise. Naturally, I’ll pay for it since I’m in the one inviting you.”

“Oh, there’s no need for you to do that. As it turns out, my husband’s aunt and I are scheduled to have a spa session at exactly the same time this evening, so we can all just have a girl’s evening out or something like that.”

“That's terrific! You are married? Good for you, girl. Are you sure she wouldn't mind, considering that it was just the two of you who were supposed to go before?” The lady asked.

“Oh, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. In any case, you'll be saving me from a grilling session about why I'm not yet pregnant and other annoying stuff like that. I'm sure of it, so it's all good.”

“Well, I'm glad to be of service. What's your name anyway?”

“It’s Carol. How about you?”

“My name is Melissa. It’s nice to meet you, Carol.” Charlotte lied through her teeth.