Anna just stared at her newly arrived friends. She had no idea what to say. Of course, she was happy to see them, but she also felt like she had betrayed James. He was such a nice guy and they had so much in common, but she hadn't told him the whole truth.
James stood slightly confused looking across the apartment block at his ex-girlfriend's sister.
"James, let me explain. This isn't as bad as it looks." Anna pleaded with him.
"Well, it looks pretty bad. You didn't think to tell me that your friend Danni just happens to be my ex's sister? And that would be the one who is coming? What you going to tell me next that Alex is coming?" He phrased this last part of the question to Danielle.
"Jim, no, I promise she isn't. I give you my word, she doesn't even know which hotel we are in, and I'm not going to tell her." Danielle promised him.
"OK so this is a really interesting start to this holiday." Anna's other friend interrupted trying to break the tension. "I'm Cara by the way." Waving a little.
"James." He replied.
"James, can we talk about this, I want to tell you everything, this is exactly what I was trying to avoid, I tried to tell you last night, but you had already fallen asleep." Anna spoke quietly so her friends wouldn't hear.
"Yeah, we will but not now. Go and have some time with your friends, they are here early so have some fun with them." James told her slightly coldly.
"OK, but what about dinner? We were going to eat together?" She asked slightly upset but trying to hide it.
"No, it's alright, Cara and Danielle are here, you came to have some girl time, you told me how much you were looking forward to it. You should eat together." He told her.
"What about you? Why don't you join us?" She would have liked that.
"Yeah Jim, we haven't seen each other in ages, come join us." Danielle said. Obviously, they weren't as quiet as he thought.
"No, it's fine honestly. I think I might just grab a burrito or something from the buffet." He told her.
"OK but I will see you later yeah?" Anna asked.
"I will be around. I'm probably going to one of the bars tonight and have a couple of drinks" He told her.
"OK, please James, I will explain everything." Anna told him.
"I know. See you later." With that he turned around and went into his room alone leaving her stood there in front of the door.
James wasn't planning on meeting up with her. He wasn't even sure he wanted to know her explanation. He felt betrayed even though he didn't know why. She hadn't lied to him she just hadn't told him the whole truth or was it the same thing?
James decided that he would continue his holiday on his own. He had known her for 2 days and wouldn't let this ruin his break away. It was a big complex and was sure he could avoid the 3 of them if he really wanted to.
He got himself sorted for the night and poured himself a whiskey while he shaved and styled his hair. It was 6.30 and he was starting to get hungry, so he headed to the buffet restaurant. The food was as good as he had become accustomed to. Not as good as the Al A Carte restaurant but better than he could cook.
The complex was massive, along with his hotel, there were two others containing their own restaurants. He went to one of the other hotels to have a look around and enjoy the nightly entertainment. It was a pirate show, more for kids than adults, and not really his thing so be headed to the bar. He ordered himself a whiskey while he looked around. There were plenty of people sitting around, some in singles some in pairs. It appeared that he wasn't the only one holidaying alone.
After about 10 minutes sitting at the bar a young woman came up to order herself a glass of wine. She was one of the women who had been sitting on her own.
"Is this seat taken?" She asked James, indicating the stool next to him.
"No, help yourself." He replied
"Thank you. Can I get you one?"
He thought this a bit of an odd question, they were at an all-inclusive hotel, why would she offer to get him a drink?
"Um yeah sure, thank you."
She got the bartender's attention again and ordered James another whiskey.
"I'm Krissie, nice to meet you." She held out her hand for James to shake it as Anna had done on the flight.
"James. Nice to meet you too."
"You're British, aren't you?" She asked
"Yup, how could you tell?" He asked her
"The drink, the accent, the lack of a tan, it was a bit of a giveaway." She said chuckling.
"Fair enough, what about you? Where you from?"
"California."
"I have never been, is it as nice as it looks?"
They sat chatting at the bar for a while about where they were from, she had never even heard of Yorkshire. They went and sat at a table after ordering another round of drinks.
"So why was a handsome guy like you sitting alone tonight?" She asked him.
"I'm actually here on my own, was meant to be here with my girlfriend but we broke up, so I came out alone."
"Oh, I'm sorry." She told him sheepishly.
"Don't be, it's not your fault. So, what about you? Why are you here on your own?" He asked her.
"I'm actually here on business. The company I work for has offices in Cancun so had to have a few meetings down here. Then I decided to stay for a few days and rest a bit. I'm actually going home day after tomorrow."
"That's great you can do that. The closest I get to travelling for work is a monthly meeting in Sheffield. Um, it's a town about 30 miles south of where I usually work." He added the last past in case she didn't get the joke, she obviously hadn't.
"It is good yes, I love Mexico, but they only send the higher up people to Europe. I have always wanted to go to London, or Paris or Rome." She told him.
They sat talking for a few hours before James was suddenly feeling tired, he assumed jet lag had finally caught up to him properly.
"So, what are you doing for your last day?" He asked her.
"I was thinking about going over to Cozumel Island."
"Never heard of it." He confessed.
"It's a little island just off the coast, you can get a ferry from Playa Del Carmen. It's got beautiful beaches."
"Sounds nice actually. Will have to have a look into going at some point." He said.
"What are you doing tomorrow? Do you want to come with me? Would be nice to have company." She asked him
"I'm not sure yet actually, I haven't got any plans but not sure what I fancy doing yet." He told her. He was still thinking about Anna and when or if he should talk to her.
"Well tell you what, here's my number, drop me a message if you want to come. I'm leaving at 10. I'm just going to go have some beach time and a nice lunch." She wrote her number down on a napkin, luckily, she had a pen in her handbag, it seemed very old school to him.
"Thanks, I will let you know either way." He promised her. "Well, I'm going to call it a night, I think jet lag is starting to catch up with me."
"I'm going too, want to enjoy my last day here. Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow."
"I will let you know; I promise." He said as he was about to leave. He gave her a little kiss on the cheek before leaving. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
James had no idea that Anna and her friends had seen all of this. He didn't see how upset Anna was as her eyes swam with tears.
James returned to his room, it wasn't too late, but he thought he might watch some "24" and call it an early night. At around 11pm there was a soft knock at the door. He thought it might be Anna, but he wasn't ready to talk to her. He didn't answer and heard footsteps walking away from the door. He would talk to her soon.
He went and got his phone out of the safe, turning it on for the first time since he arrived at the resort. He checked his messages, seeing none of importance he typed in Krissie's number and a quick text. "Hi, it's James from the bar. I would like to come with you tomorrow if the offer is still there?"
He thought she might be asleep by now, but the response came back almost immediately.
"Hi James, of course the offer is still open, I will see you in the lobby at 10. Night. Xx"
James locked up his phone again. He needed to take it out with him and take some photos at some point. He got back in to bed, setting up the sleep timer on his tablet. He fell asleep quickly, but still thinking of Anna. How had she gotten under his skin so much?