‘Baby, no. It is orange. I juice by hand. I didn’t know how to work Ben’s fancy juicy machine.’
Miguel tries to catch my eye behind my sunglasses and I see the warmth of his gaze, the fact he knows how much I hurt. I raise my glass to him. ‘A toast to wonderfully wonderful Miguel,’ I say. He smiles back at me.
‘And to his pool-cleaning skills,’ Jess shouts.
‘And his massages,’ Zara says, shrieking with laughter as her daughter looks at her strangely.
‘My ladies. I hope you will come back to Ibiza, yes? You come and you can see me anytime. You too,chica…’ Miguel tells Bella. ‘Next time, I will take you and your brothers to all the best clubs and we will have so much fun.’
Bella’s eyes fizz with excitement but Zara stands behind her shaking her head.
‘I could come out here and revise with my mates next summer?’ she suggests.
‘Yeah, no,’ Zara says. ‘Worst idea ever. She can revise at home.’
Bella sticks her tongue out and then blows Zara a kiss. I don’t know if anything has been fixed between them but at least a rickety bridge has been built.
‘Well, you were very welcome at Lorenzo’s. Make sure you write us good reviews. And you tell us how we improve,’ Miguel says. ’How to make this better?’
We all pause to think. ‘There was no yoga,’ Zara says. ‘We were promised yoga?’
Miguel stands up and puts his arms to the air. ‘We have half an hour. I can stretch you out.’
Bella’s face reads absolute horror.
‘I love you, Migs, but no. Next time,’ Zara says, raising a cup of coffee in his direction.
He turns to Jess. ‘Anything?’
‘I feel bad I didn’t see more of the island. Dean bought me a guidebook and I didn’t see half the sea caves I thought I would,’ she says.
‘I can find one on the way to the airport. We can cross off list?’ he suggests.
We all laugh.
‘You have anything, Chloe?’ Zara asks.
I close my eyes for a moment and try to think of suggestions. It would have helped if the host was less charming, less good-looking, less good at sex. I’d have preferred a disclaimer that love was not on the menu, that I should have looked after my emotions better, but other than that…
‘Less honey in the face masks?’ I say, trying to crack a joke. Zara laughs but Jess reaches over and squeezes my hand.
‘But really, I have very few notes,’ Zara says. ‘What made this whole thing special was Ben.’ I look down as she says this. ‘The little touches. The flowers in the rooms, the fresh juices, the fact he knew that women need more than one towel…’
‘Amen to that,’ Jess says.
‘I got what I needed out of this. I got true rest and alignment and a chance to actually miss my family – before one of them flew all the way out here to check in on me,’ Zara says, looking at Bella pointedly and rolling her eyes. ‘So I will forever be grateful to Ben and this wonderful place.’
Jess nods in agreement. ‘He was a very good host.’
‘He was more than that. The boy is a unicorn. He saves weddings, he’s an outstanding cook. He does little things like…he buys Jess romcom novels, he knew I liked those olives stuffed with anchovies so he bought extra,’ Zara continues.
‘Now you understand why I was worried about your relationship with him, Mum? Stop with the glazing,’ Bella says, snorting.
I feel like saying the same but it hurts so much to remember all those wonderful careful, considerate things about Ben.It was all for show. For reviews maybe. This might be why it hurts so much.
‘Are you sure we won’t get to see him one last time before we go?’ Zara asks.
Miguel looks at me as I continue gazing down into my lap. ‘I’m so sorry – I will text again to check. He is not answering his phone.’
