Time On Our Own
A couple’s holiday takes an unexpected turn in this amusing short story by Jacqui Cooper.
Lisa and Cam were looking for adventure, but this wasn’t quite what they’d had in mind . . .
WHEN they first got the invitation, Lisa had been excited. Cameron, not so much. “It’s what we wanted,” she argued. “Isn’t it?”
“I doubt I’ll be able to get time off,” her husband said.
The plan had been for them both to cut back their hours in the office, now they had reached “emptynester” status.
Lisa had already agreed it with her boss, but Cam was proving resistant.
“It’s just not the right moment,” Cam said.
“What about our plans?” Lisa asked.
He hesitated.
“There’s plenty of time for travel and classes and learning languages.”
Lisa didn’t understand. With the kids finally settled and happy, this was supposed to be their time.
They’d talked about adventures and new experiences for months.
To her, the invitation to Cam’s brother’s wedding in Guatemala definitely ticked all those boxes.
“You would miss Peter’s wedding because of work?”
Cam was about to argue. She saw it in his face. But maybe he saw something in hers, too.
She won that round, though it had been a hollow victory.
Cam actually spent more time at work in the run-up to the holiday. And, once they arrived in Guatemala, he took every chance he could to go online and reply to work e-mails.
“There’s a restaurant coming up,” she said now, referring to the guidebook. “We should stop for lunch.” “Good idea.”
The car continued to creep up the alarmingly steep hill.
As they turned another hairpin bend, a view of spectacular cloud forest unfolded before them.
It was all Lisa could do to keep from grabbing hold of her seat, but Cam remained distant and preoccupied beside her.
A few minutes later they passed the restaurant. “Cam!”
“What? Oh, sorry. I can’t turn, not here. There’s bound to be another.”
Lisa said nothing. This twisting, perilous track was unlikely to have another restaurant, but it was also no place to have a row.
Ten minutes later, Cam pulled off the road.
“There’s no GPS up here. I need to check the map.”
He unfolded it over the steering wheel.
Lisa climbed out of the car and gasped at the view.
Coffee grew on the hillside behind them while, in front, the valley dropped steeply and dramatically.
They were above the tree tops. Far off, Lisa could see a volcano, complete with plume of smoke.
“Cam, come and see!”
“In a minute.”
A huge bird soared on a current above them.
“Is that an eagle?” she asked, shielding her eyes. Cam peered upwards. “Probably a vulture. Are you coming?”
Lisa didn’t respond. She lifted her face to the sun and let herself linger for a moment in this world.
Cam refolded the map when she eventually climbed back in.
“Can’t really tell how far we still have to go. We should look for somewhere to ask directions.”
“Like a restaurant?” Instantly she regretted the sarcasm, but too late.
As they set off once more, the frosty atmosphere in the car had little to do with the airconditioning.
The landscape changed as they crested the hill and began to descend. Within an hour the view became less wild, more conventionally rural.
Farms appeared. People. The occasional small shop.
Lisa observed the women’s colourful, traditional costumes, and thought of the formal clothes she had packed.
“What do you think the wedding will be like?”
Her brother-in-law was a doctor working for an aid organisation, as was his French fiancée.
“No idea. Listen, what do you think about stopping for the night?” Cam said.
“Why?” she asked, alarmed. “Are you OK?”
“Tired,” he admitted. “Plus, the car’s overheating. I don’t want to break down in the dark.”
Lisa’s stomach lurched at the thought they might have broken down on that remote, twisting road.
“Then of course we should stop! Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t want to worry you.”
When would Cam learn that his silence worried her more than anything?
They had passed a few motels, though none were listed in her guidebook.
On her phone, Lisa tried to search for one online, but the signal was patchy.
Another motel whizzed
by – Auto Hotel Paraíso.
It had a high wall around it, preventing her from seeing inside.
Now she thought about it, all the hotels on this road had the same high perimeter wall.
“Shall I stop at the next one?” Cam asked.
“I’d rather know where we were staying,” she said. “I’m trying to find a review.”
Cam muttered something under his breath.
“What?”
“I said, where’s your great spirit of adventure?”
Said in a different tone, it could have been a joke.
“Fine!” she snapped. “The next one it is.”
They saw a sign for Hotel del Amor, and Cam drove through the gate.
The high walls concealed a pretty courtyard filled with tubs of flowers.
It was then that Lisa finally got a signal.
“Hang on.”
But Cam was already out of the car. She jumped out and followed him.
“Do you have a room?” Cam asked in careful Spanish.
The formidable woman at reception looked him up and down, then subjected Lisa to the same scrutiny. “One night?”
“Yes. And can you arrange for a local mechanic to look at the car?”
Finally the hotel’s details popped up on Lisa’s phone.
“Cam,” she whispered, tugging at his sleeve.
“What is it?” Cam hissed. He looked exhausted. And they couldn’t leave until the car was checked.
Lisa slipped her phone into her pocket.
“Nothing,” she mumbled. The formalities completed, and a mechanic arranged, Cam carried their bags to the room.
“This is nice.” He sounded almost cheerful. “Lisa?”
She shut the door and locked it. Then she twitched the curtain to peer outside.
“What are you doing?” Cam asked, bemused.
She showed him her phone.
“It’s a what?” he said, incredulous.
“A love hotel,” she whispered, trying not to laugh.
Cam took the phone. “‘The love hotels are intended for married couples seeking time alone’,” he read aloud. He raised an eyebrow. “By ‘time alone’, I presume they mean . . .”
She couldn’t stop a fit of giggles at his expression.
“I should imagine that’s exactly what they mean.” “Oh.”
Together they looked around the room.
It was immaculate, light and airy, the bed freshly made up with white linen, fresh flowers on the table.
“There’s a jacuzzi,” Cam reported, checking the bathroom. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
Lisa took her phone back. “Apparently, love hotels are a result of small houses, extended families and overcrowding.
“It says here that vouchers for a night’s stay are a popular wedding gift, which the happy couple store up to use as required.”
Cam considered that.
“So we could tell people it’s a honeymoon hotel?” Lisa grinned.
“I think that’s a bit optimistic, don’t you?” He grinned back.
“Never let it be said that I don’t know how to show my wife a good time on holiday!
“And let’s never speak of this when we get home. We can’t ever tell the kids.”
“Agreed,” she said, delighted by a glimpse of the old Cam.
‘I’m starving,’ he said.
Lisa searched her bag. “All I have are some melted Maltesers and a packet of Tic Tacs.”
He went to the window. “There’s a sign for a restaurant. Dare we?”
Lisa was hungry.
“Well, we can’t drive anywhere till the car is checked.”
They stepped out of the room. Lisa was surprised when Cam took her hand.
“I am so far out of my comfort zone I may as well be on the moon.”
“Me, too.”
“You are? I thought you were all about new experiences?”
She squeezed his hand. “I was thinking more of a bus tour of Sicily, or a Spanish cookery class.
“I must admit a night in a ‘love hotel’ never entered my mind!” Lisa said.
They ordered food, then huddled, heads together.
“Is anyone looking at us?” Cam whispered.
Lisa looked around. The little restaurant was full.
“Not a single one,” she reported truthfully.
The couples at the other tables only had eyes for each other.
For a wistful moment Lisa remembered when she and Cam had been like that.
Thirty years and three children were bound to bring changes.
She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I dragged you here.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m the one who picked the hotel.”
“Dragged you on holiday, I mean.”
“You didn’t drag me.” “You didn’t want to come.”
Cam grimaced.
“I know, but you were right to insist. It would have been wrong to miss the wedding,” he admitted.
This was it, their chance to talk.
“I thought work had agreed to you cutting back on your hours?” Lisa said.
“They did. In principle, anyway. Then this new contract came in.
“Now, they’re throwing up all sorts of objections, piling on the pressure.” Cam’s eyes clouded.
“It’s beginning to look as if I stay full time or walk away completely.”
Although Lisa was glad they were finally talking, his words caused concern.
When they had planned their new future they’d both expected to keep working part time.
They wouldn’t achieve half of what they wanted without Cam’s wages.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” “I’ve been trying to make them see reason. And you had your heart set on having these adventures.” He shrugged.
“I vowed on our wedding day I’d never disappoint you if I could help it. I’d hate to start now.”
Didn’t he know by now that he could never disappoint her?
Lisa looked around at all the couples who had scrimped and saved, simply to spend time with each other.
She doubted they would
Far off, Lisa could see a volcano, complete with plume of smoke
waste a second bickering. “Do you love your job?” “You know I don’t.”
“Then there’s your answer. Hold them to their word! If they won’t honour it, leave.”
“What about the money?” “You can always look for a part-time job. Our dream was never about holidays.
“It was about spending more time together after raising three great kids.
“We can scale back on our ideas. Get an allotment, instead of driving Route 66. Finally build that summer-house.” Cam looked doubtful.
“It’s not the adventure you talked about.”
Lisa rolled her eyes.
“That drive today was more adventure than I bargained for!” she admitted.
“I know! Talk about hair-raising!”
Their smiles faded.
“You look beautiful,” Cam said softly. “You’ve caught the sun.”
Lisa studied him. His hair was bleached. He was fit and healthy and handsome, and she loved him with all her heart.
“What’s with the look?” “Well, we are in a love hotel . . .”
He looked mischievous. “We are indeed.”
“We’re going to be OK, aren’t we?”
They were. She knew it.
The End.