Ghosts of the Past

Ross called Rachel as arranged at her hotel that night.

"Are you safe?" she asked.

"Of course I'm safe!" Ross exclaimed, "Why wouldn't I be safe?" Rachel realised that no only was he safe, he was now worried because of her question. "Everyone's so nice and friendly. Why wouldn't I be safe?"

"No reason," Rachel said.

"Have you heard anything?" Ross asked anxiously, "I mean everything looks fine here, but I suppose appearances can be deceptive."

"No really," Rachel said, deciding that it was better not to alarm him, "I haven't heard anything about the place at all, except it's very nice."

'Then why did you ask if I was safe?" Ross asked.

"I did hear that they were terrible drivers," Rachel improvised.

"Tell me about it," Ross laughed, "I just avoided hit by a car just now."

"Oh no!"

"It's terrible," Ross said, "Some of them will do anything. This guy was doing a U turn, with no signal or anything! When you get here, you make sure you get brought straight to the door so that you don't have to cross any roads."

"I will," Rachel said. "Have you arrived at the hotel?"

"I've just got here," Ross said. "I haven't had a chance to have a look around. Julie said it was a good place."

"Julie said?"

"Yeah," Ross said, suddenly sounding reserved, "You know from years ago. She's not here, she's not even in Bali, she just recommended it. It doesn't cost much but it's supposed to be good. She said the hotel's ownership is foreign, but they treat the workers well, better than most of the local hotel owners do." She didn't know why she felt relieved to hear him confirm that Julie wasn't there. It was going to be a long time before she could be relaxed about any of Ross's ex girlfriends – so many things had happened over the years to mess things up.

"Good," Rachel said, having a soft spot for people in the service industries, like waitresses.

"So you get a good night sleep sweetie, and give Emma a good night kiss for me."

"And me?"

"Of course," Ross said. "I can't wait to see you."

"Me too," Rachel said. When she had hung up, Ross looked around the lobby.

It was still only early afternoon. He had already checked in and he decided to explore the hotel. This didn't take long and he decided to ask the way to the beach. This was close by, as advertised, he was glad to see. So many times he had booked hotels that was supposedly near the beach or near transport or something else that was important and that was nothing of the kind.

The beach seemed to be quite busy. He had already heard that this weekend was a long weekend in Australia, and there were a lot of Australian holiday makers around. If he had not booked when he had, he would have had a lot of trouble finding anywhere near the beach.

He noted all the good spots and mentally planned their itinerary. Of course, the point was to get away and relax, as Rachel had said, but how could you relax when you didn't know what was going to happen next? But Rachel said it was enough that the phone wasn't going to ring (that statement had caused Ross some quiet amusement) and that they wouldn't run into people they didn't want to see.

Mentioning Julie had been a bit of a faux pas, but he didn't see why he couldn't mention her. That was all over and Rachel had no right to get all funny about her. It wasn't like the time, last week, when they had run into Chloe. He had hated that, as much as Rachel had. It had happened so unexpectedly and she was in front of their eyes before they knew it. She had looked straight through them, not because she was putting on an act - what little Ross knew of her, she wasn't in to that kind off thing - but because she hadn't recognised them.

To not be recognised by a person who had been the pretext, however unwittingly, for their long years of division was almost like a slap in the face. Ross had wanted some recognition, but to demand it would have upset Rachel and made him look foolish. He had toyed with pretending that he hadn't recognised her, but mentioning Chloe's name was a risk he didn't want to take, even if he said something derogatory about her. It could turn nasty on him so quickly. After a complicated silence, Rachel had revealed that she was in a state of disbelief that Chloe hadn't recognised them, and Ross had been able to say, thus avoiding argument, "Who cares?" But the ghosts of arguments past hung around for a bit, even though both of them made no reference to any of those issues, and the encounter had spoiled a perfect day.

She was not going to be in Bali. Nobody was.. They could relax and have some more perfect times, just as long as Ross worked out where the best placed on the beach were.

He turned his steps to the hotel and went in through the front door. As he crossed the floor, a woman passed by in the other direction, holding a hat in one hand. She gave him a quick glance that caught his eye. He stopped and so did she. At least she hadn't forgotten him, but right now he was wishing that both of them had amnesia.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded. As soon as he heard himself speak the question he realised how dumb that was. She was a guest in the hotel. He hadn't thought of her for years but now that he had her in his sights, she was the last person he wanted to be sharing a hotel with. A few of the other names that had knocked at his memory on the beach were on that list of last people, but the nice thing about those names was that their owners were far far away.

"I manage the hotel," Emily said. Ross stared,

"You manage the hotel?"

"Someone has to." There was a honking of a car horn outside and Emily stepped past him. He turned to watch her go, putting on a large sunhat as she went down the steps. Emily was managing the hotel. That was even worse. If she had been a guest, there was always the possibility of her leaving the hotel before Rachel got here. Everyone had a last day of a hotel stay and today could have been hers. Hotel managers were another story.