I think it must have been about midnight when I broke the seal on that bottle of rum. I wasn't bad enough to drink straight from the bottle though and I poured a decent shot of the liquid into one of the tooth glasses I'd retrieved from the bathroom. God knows how long I lay there, trying to understand where my life was going.
And what was it about Lindsey that she kept bugging me like she did. Christ, I'd dumped her two years ago and I'd had relationships of sorts with Millie, Patricia and Michelle, not to mention Bev. But none of them had gotten under my skin as much as Lindsey had. The girl was the bane of my life; every time someone mentioned her damned name, I got this damned lump in my throat. I knew that I had to force myself to get over her somehow
Why the hell had I listened to Conway's wife. She'd convinced me I'd been wrong about Lindsey, but in my befuddled brain I'd forgotten that over two years had passed since the last time she'd told me she loved me. And in those two years, I'd treated her like shit. Was Lindsey taking her revenge on me for doing so?
Was that it? Was the whole charade that day to prove to me that I'd been wrong and then stomp on me whilst I was down. Come to that, had Conway and Lindsey's little speech in the car park all been choreographed out for me to hear? Maybe even Conway's wife being in the shadows was a set-up. Had I been conned again? Was I supposed to walk into that library and see the woman that I loved accepting a proposal of marriage from another man?
I couldn't understand how they could have known that I was going to be in that car park at that particular time. But I had to think that that was somehow a possibility. Perhaps they had been watching me, waiting for the perfect opportunity.
If that was the case, had what was said by anyone that day been the truth? And if it was, why did I find that jerk proposing to Lindsey?
"No!" I told myself. When they had come out of the hotel, I was much too far too far away for them to see me, let alone recognise me. All of these jumbled thoughts were going around in my brain, and to be honest I couldn't make head or tail of any of it.
Whether I'd fallen asleep or was lost in my thoughts, I don't know. But someone knocked on my door about half twelve. I ignored the knocks and I could hear the sound of a muffled discussion going on about whether or not I was in the room. But I couldn't distinguish who was speaking. After knocking several more times and trying the door handle whoever they were went away.
A very similar thing happened again about two AM. But this time I quite plainly heard someone saying, "The occupant of that room has left specific instructions that he was not to be disturbed." There was some further muffled conversation then it went quiet again.
The next thing I remember the telephone was ringing.
"Your morning call, sir," the girl said first when I answered it. "I'm afraid I'm a few minutes early but there's a lady on the line insisting that she speak to you. She claims to be your sister, sir."
Julia, I assumed rightly, was going to lay into me for going to bed without saying good night to anyone. I was correct; when the girl put her through, she went bonkers about not saying goodnight to anyone.
Then she asked in an angry tone of voice, "What did you say to Lynn this time that upset her so much?"
"I never spoke to Lindsey at all yesterday, Julia!" I replied.
"You must have done. Joan was looking for you because she said she'd arranged for you and Lindsey to sit down and talk."
"Joan?"
"Yes, Conway's wife."
"Oh, is that her name? I didn't know. Well, whatever Joan was planning, I never actually got to speak to Lindsey. I saw her, but we never said a word to each other."
"Why ever not?"
"She was too busy, Julia. Busy talking with that guy she came with yesterday, if you understand me," I explained.
"That doesn't make sense. When we saw her she was crying; Conway and Joan were taking her home. Come to think of it, I didn't see that guy leaving with them."
"Well, the last I saw of them, Lindsey and that guy were having a very intimate conversation in the hotel library, not the sort of conversation anyone would want to interrupt!"
"Oh, shit! How intimate?" Julia asked.
"Very intimate," I replied.
"Embarrassingly, they weren't at it, were they?"
"No, I wouldn't have said that. More a conversation that most people would think impolite to interrupt," I explained.
"Then they weren't... you know?" Julia asked.
"No, Julia. That guy, whoever he was, was proposing to Lindsey."
"Holy shit! Surely she didn't accept?"
"I have no idea, Julia, but I should imagine so. It looked to me as if that guy was waving the bleeding Koh-I-Noor diamond under Lindsey's nose and I'd say that she was taking it from him when I walked in on them. I just got my arse the hell out of there, as quickly as I could. I was pretty upset at the time; bloody Conway's wife had just conned me into believing that Lindsey and I might be able to put things back... No, Julia, this is all just too upsetting for me; I don't want to go there. If you don't mind, I don't want to hear or talk about that woman ever again. The further I stay away from her, the happier I'll be!"
"No, Mack, you must have it all wrong again somehow. I spoke to Lindsey yesterday; she's still just as hooked on you as she's ever been. I know it!"
"Julia, everyone keeps telling me how much Lindsey loves me, but I stopped believing any of that crap before I left town; I have no idea why she's still keeping up this stupid pretence. I just can't figure out what kind of silly game she's playing or why. But guys don't go out and buy an f-ing great diamond ring like that bleeding thing he had in his hand last night on the off chance! As far as I'm concerned, Lindsey doesn't exist in my universe and I have no wish to ever hear about her again."
I got more than a little angry after that and reminded Julia that I had blanked her before when she had kept harping on about Lindsey and that I was quite prepared to do the same again. Then I ended the discussion by saying that I was going down for my breakfast.
Millie and Philip joined me at my table almost as soon as I got into the dining room. Millie began to say something about Lindsey, but I stopped her very quickly, reminding her that I was about to drive both of them back home and I could very easily travel alone. Luckily the newly weds arrived at that moment and Billie had news that was more important to everyone than Lindsey.
"Guess what, Mack. We're going to be your neighbours!" Billie gushed the moment she arrived at the table, "Philip's offered Laurence a job on his farm and we're going to live in a cottage in the village."
I quickly learnt that whilst Laurence and Philip had been talking at the wedding, the subject of where Billie and Laurence were going to live came up. They had planned to stay with Billie's parents until they'd found a flat or something that they could afford. Laurence is a mechanic of sorts and - as I've said he and Philip seemed to get on pretty good together - so Phil had offered Laurence a job with a tied cottage on the farm. That's what all the intrigue between the boys had been about at the reception. Although Laurence was a city boy, it was apparent that the plan was for Philip to teach him how to become a farmer in the long term.
