Lies That Bind Us(27)

“It’s a glorious day,” said Simon, grinning from ear to ear.

“And we’ve been up hours,” Melissa stage whispered. “You should see him when he wakes up. Like a bear in January.”

“Is Marcus not up?” I asked.

“Went for a walk,” said Brad. “Wanted to see the sights. Trees, presumably. And stones. There are lots of stones. It’s awesome.”

“OK, Mr. Grumpy,” said Kristen. “Time to shake it off.”

“Well, I hope you can get a taste for stones,” cooed Melissa, “because we’re gonna see lots of them today.”

“Uh-oh,” said Brad. “I don’t like the sound of this.”

“It’s gonna be great,” said Melissa.

“What is it?” asked Brad, still dour.

“Finish up your breakfast and we’ll head out,” said Melissa. “Bring your bathing suits.”

“Seriously, Mel,” said Brad. “What is it?”

“Just get your things together—” Melissa began.

“What if we don’t want to go?” said Brad, an edge to his smile. “I mean, we were flying for about a week yesterday. I thought we’d have a lazy day.”

“We can do that tomorrow,” said Melissa. “Last time we were here we barely left the hotel bar. This time . . .”

“Oh God,” said Brad. “If I’d wanted a tour I’d have booked one of those geriatric educational cruises.”

“Mel’s laid on some great stuff,” said Simon loyally. “Gonna be fun.”

“I’d just like to be able to provide a little input—” said Brad.

“It’s a mystery tour!” said Melissa. “Trust me. Gonna be a blast. And there’ll be plenty of time for lounging and drinking later.”

“Too bad there’s no pool,” said Brad, gazing out onto the patio. “Bit of a swim, no salt sticking to you for the rest of the day. That would hit the spot.”

Melissa turned to Simon, and her face, which had been so full of light, looked fractured, as if she was barely holding in a sob. It was so surprising I didn’t know what to say, but Kristen saw it too, and turned abruptly to Brad.

“Let’s get ready, Brad,” she said. “I think you’ve had enough coffee.”

There was something in her voice that I hadn’t heard before. Her soft British vowels and tight consonants were almost gone and she sounded like an American, all the Mary Poppins falling away. It made her sound sharp, forceful. Brad said nothing but got to his feet. I focused on stirring my coffee, as if I had stumbled onto something embarrassing.

“What crawled up his ass?” Simon muttered once they were out of earshot.

“Simon!” Melissa scolded.

“He’s being a prick,” said Simon. “Was he always a prick? I don’t remember.”

I wanted to say yes, he always kind of was, but we liked him anyway because he was usually funny with it and was mostly a prick to other people. He was the one with the snide remarks about the fat German on the beach, the one who teased the cab drivers for the age of their cars and mocked the waitresses for their patchy English, using words he knew they wouldn’t understand, then translating with even harder words. He did it gently, playfully, always with a smile so no one could take offense, but yes, he’d always been sort of a prick. The only thing that was new was his directing it at us. I wondered why.

“I’m gonna go get ready,” said Melissa. “Don’t take all day.”

“Absolutely, your highness,” said Simon. Melissa tapped his cheek lightly as she walked by, and he grinned after her just as her voice came back from the foyer.

“See any birds?” she called as she made for the stairs.

“A few.”

It was Marcus’s voice. Gretchen winced, suddenly small and chastened, and I turned to see that he had just walked in, looking braced and happy.

“What a day!” he said.

“Good walk?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “Not much to see in the way of civilization, but yes. Amazing views. There’s some sort of old gun casement in the cliffside below the house. World War II, I guess. I looked for a way up but couldn’t see one, then walked all the way round the other side. There’s a little church or monastery or something with a tower over on the far side of the valley. Beautiful. But nothing in walking distance. No houses. No shops. No gas stations. I hadn’t realized just how isolated we were. It’s kind of wonderful. I mean, I’m sure you could get to a village if you kept going in the right direction, but, yeah, we’re pretty much alone up here.”

He said it musingly, smiling at me, and I remembered why I had liked him. Loved him.

“Dude,” Simon remarked. “You make it sound so lame. This is just a base. We’re gonna do some great shit.”

“Morning, Marcus,” said Gretchen, putting a show of cheeriness on.

“Morning,” he said, smiling after the briefest hesitation, like he’d decided to just ease right past last night’s awkwardness.

“Listen,” she said, glancing around the room as if deciding whether to ask the rest of us to leave. She clasped and unclasped her hands. “I don’t really remember last night, Marcus, but I think I might have said . . .”