Part 23 (1/2)

Holly raised her eyebrows.

Sharon continued, ”Because to us, that's just how Gerry was. He wasn't all nice. We remember all of him, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

There was a long silence.

Denise was the first to speak. ”I wish my Tom had known Gerry.” Her voice trembled a little.

Holly looked at her in surprise.

”Gerry was my friend too,” she said, tears p.r.i.c.king in her eyes. ”And Tom didn't even know him at all. So I try to tell him things about Gerry all the time just so he knows that not long ago, one of the nicest men on this earth was my friend and I think everyone should have known him.” Her lip wobbled and she bit down on it hard. ”But I can't believe that someone I now love so much, who knows everything else about me, doesn't know a friend that I loved for ten years.”

A tear ran down Holly's cheek and she reached out to hug her friend. ”Well then, Denise, we'll just have to keep telling Tom about him, won't we?”

They didn't bother meeting up with their holiday rep the next morning, as they had no intention of going on any tours or taking part in any silly sports tournaments. Instead, they got up early and took part in the sun bed dance, running around trying to throw their towels on the sun beds to reserve their positions for the day. Unfortunately, they still hadn't managed to get up early enough. (”Don't those b.l.o.o.d.y Germans ever sleep?” Sharon had given out.) Finally after Sharon had sneakily thrown a few towels away from some unattended beds, the girls managed to get three beds together.

Just as Holly found herself nodding off she heard piercing screams and a crowd ran by her. For some reason, Gary, one of the holiday reps, thought it would be a really funny idea to dress in drag and be chased around the swimming pool by Victoria. Everyone around the pool cheered them on as the girls rolled their eyes. Eventually Victoria caught Gary and they both managed to fall on top of each other into the swimming pool.

Everyone applauded.

Minutes later as Holly was taking a quiet swim a woman announced into a microphone attached to her head that she was going to begin aqua aerobics in the pool in five minutes. Victoria and Gary, helped by the Barbie Brigade, ran around all the sun beds dragging everyone up and forcing them to take part.

”Ah, would you ever f.u.c.k off!” Holly heard Sharon scream at one of the members of the Barbie Brigade as she tried to drag her into the pool. Holly was soon forced out of the pool by the approaching herd of hippopotami who were about to dive in for their aqua aerobics session. They sat through an incredibly annoying half hour session of aerobics with the instructor yelling out the movements into the headpiece. When it was finally over they announced a water polo tournament was about to take place, so the girls immediately jumped up and headed over to the beach for some peace and quiet.

”You ever hear from Gerry's parents, Holly?” Sharon asked as she and Holly lounged on their inflatable rafts in the sea.

”Yeah, they send me postcards every few weeks telling me where they are and how they're getting on.”

”So they're still on that cruise?”

”Yeah.”

”Do you miss them?”

”To be honest, I don't really think they feel like they're part of me anymore. Their son's gone and they have no grandchildren, so I don't think they feel we have any connection anymore.”

”That's bulls.h.i.+t, Holly. You were married to their son and that makes you their daughter-in-law. That's a very strong connection.”

”Oh, I don't know,” she sighed. ”I just don't think that's enough for them.”

”They're a bit backward, aren't they?”

”Yeah, very. They hated me and Gerry 'living in sin' as they said. Couldn't wait for us to get married. And then they were even worse when we did! They couldn't understand why I wouldn't change my name.”

”Yeah, I remember that,” Sharon said. ”His mum gave me an earful at the wedding. She said it was the woman's duty to change her name as a sign of respect to her husband. Imagine that? The cheek of her!”

Holly laughed.

”Ah well, you're better off without them being around anyway,” Sharon a.s.sured her.

”h.e.l.lo girls.” Denise floated out to meet them.

”Hey, where have you been?” Holly asked.

”Oh, I was just chatting to some bloke from Miami. Really nice guy.”

”Miami? That's where Daniel went on holiday,” she said, lightly running her fingers through the clear blue water.

”Hmmm,” Sharon replied, ”nice guy, Daniel, isn't he?”

”Yeah, he's a really nice guy,” Holly agreed. ”Very easy to talk to.”

”Tom was telling me he's really been through the wars recently,” Denise said, turning to lie on her back.

Sharon's ears p.r.i.c.ked up at the sound of gossip, ”Why's that?”

”Oh, he was engaged to be married to some chick and it turns out she was sleeping with someone else. That's why he moved to Dublin and bought the pub, to get away from her.”

”I know, it's awful, isn't it?” Holly said sadly.

”Why, where did he live before?” Sharon asked.

”Galway. He used to run a pub there,” Holly explained.

”Oh,” Sharon said, surprised, ”he doesn't have a Galway accent.”

”Well, he grew up in Dublin and joined the army, then he left and moved to Galway where his family owns a pub, then he met Laura, they were together for seven years, were engaged to be married, but she cheated on him so they broke up and he moved back to Dublin and bought Hogan's.” Holly caught her breath.

”Don't know much about him, do you?” Denise teased.

”Well, if you and Tom had paid the slightest bit more attention to us the other night in the pub then maybe I wouldn't know so much about him,” Holly replied playfully.

Denise sighed loudly. ”G.o.d, I really miss Tom,” she said sadly.

”Did you tell the guy from Miami that?” Sharon laughed.

”No, I was just chatting to him,” Denise said defensively. ”To be honest, n.o.body else interests me. It's really weird, it's like I can't even see any other men, and I mean that I don't even notice them. And as we are currently surrounded by hundreds of half-naked men, I think that's saying a lot.”

”I think they call it love, Denise.” Sharon smiled at her friend.

”Well, whatever it is, I've never felt like this before.”

”It's a nice feeling,” Holly said more to herself.

They lay in silence for a while, all lost in their own thoughts, allowing the gentle motion of the waves to soothe them.

”Holy s.h.i.+t!” Denise suddenly yelled, causing the other two to jump. ”Look how far out we are!”