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‘Mind if I take a dip in the pool?’ she asked.
‘Oh no,’ said Sean. ‘Grab your bikini, I can think of somewhere better to swim than here.’
‘Better than here?’ she said suspiciously.
‘Trust me.’
They got back in the Jeep and drove back towards the tiny village, turning off down a bumpy road behind the one–room schoolhouse, finally coming to a dusty dead end where Sean parked and jumped out.
‘Come on!’ he grinned, heading for a hole in a barbed–wire fence.
‘Where exactly are we going?’ said Tess.
‘Off–piste,’ called Sean as he disappeared through the hole. She followed him through and down a trail heading towards the jagged cliffs. They were surrounded by lush forest on all sides. Flowers on the trees were the bold red of traffic lights, the ripe mangos were as shiny as topaz; it was a picture–book Garden of Eden – apart from the fact that Tess felt the loose earth of the path might fall away into the sea at any moment. They slowly edged along a dusty and treacherous path that clung to the side of a cliff–face, at one point even having to double back where the trail disappeared into the sea from a landslide.
As they walked, Sean began to open up to Tess, and she learnt the real stories behind some of the things she had read or heard about him. Yes, he had been expelled from his exclusive prep school, but he had been dyslexic. ‘Couldn’t make sense of all those jumbled letters,’ he smiled. Relegated to the bottom stream, he became frustrated, which led to ‘high jinks’ to keep himself amused. ‘They didn’t really go for high jinks at my school,’ said Sean. ‘They suggested I might be happier elsewhere.’
Tess laughed. ‘And to think I thought you were just a trouble–maker. It just goes to show that behind every story is another more interesting story. My first editor always used to tell me that.’
‘Well, he was right about that,’ said Sean, ‘certainly when it comes to my life.’
Just then, Tess slipped on a loose rock and fell sideways. Sean’s hand shot out to grab her and they both sat down on the path with a bump. They exchanged a look of alarm, then both cracked up laughing. ‘Come on,’ said Tess, as she dusted herself off and sat down on a large rock.
‘What exactly am I risking my neck for?’
‘We’re going to the Secret Beach,’ said Sean as he sat down next to her.
‘Secret beach?’ she repeated with wonder, ‘How come you know this island so well?’
Sean sighed. ‘Ah well, that’s another of your “hidden stories”. Do you remember after the Venus party, my mother checked me into a rehab facility in Minnesota?’
She nodded. Meredith had told her.
‘Well, I lasted ten days. There were some seriously fucked people there and it made me feel worse. It wasn’t that I didn’t agree with what they were saying at the clinic, I just didn’t like the way they went about it,’ said Sean. ‘All that public confession, it’s not what I
was brought up to do. The Asgills deal with their problems within the family, I’m sure you’re up to speed on that?’
Tess smiled and nodded.
‘Anyway, the overdose had scared the hell out of me and I knew I had to do something. So I came out to Chris’s place. Believe it or not, they have NA meetings in a place as little as this. Anyway, I went to a few sessions but I found I didn’t really need it. Not here. Not when you’re surrounded by all this.’ He paused and looked around at the forest and the sea beyond.
‘I guess what happened just scared me shitless.’
‘At least you met Annabel in Minnesota,’ said Tess good–naturedly. She figured it was about time she brought up Sean’s girlfriend in conversation.
‘Annabel and I aren’t together any more,’ said Sean after a moment.
‘Really?’ she said, trying to sound casual. ‘I didn’t know.’
‘It only happened last week. I didn’t think it was serious enough to make an official statement,’ he replied, eyeing her cynically.
‘Well, you need to tell me these things.’
‘Do you ever stop thinking about work?’ he smiled, helping her up and setting off up the steep track once more.
‘Only today,’ she said, realizing that it was actually true. She hadn’t actually thought about work once since she had stood outside the Aloha Grand at seven a.m. that morning, waiting for the taxi, when she had pondered whether going on a two–day vacation with Sean Asgill was a sackable offence. More importantly, Tess realized she hadn’t even thought about her mother’s husband – my evil stepfather, she corrected herself – all morning.
‘Are you sure this is the way?’ puffed Tess as she followed Sean up a steep incline, the crumbling rock sliding away behind her feet. Sean pointed around the next corner and grinned. ‘I’m sure.’
