“I’m straight as ever,” she said, going to the kitchen and getting a glass of water. She was looking in great shape, and for a moment, I felt a stupid jealousy that she had kept her athletic body. I used to look like her… until I met Bradley.
No, I couldn’t blame him for that. I’d let myself go. I had to take some responsibility somewhere.
“You look really good, Scarlett.” I had wanted to add, ‘even in those grubby sweats and that stretched t-shirt’, but didn’t. I sat down at the table and thanked her for the glass of water.
“Sometimes the food here goes right through you,” she said, making a face.
Flat.”
“Yuck.”
She sat down opposite me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry to drop by without calling first.” “It’s no problem.”
“So you’ve been sending Mum letters but she hasn’t been replying?” “No,” Scarlett said. “I’ve sent her like six or seven now. All to the
“They’ve moved.” “What?”
“Yeah, Mum moved in with Robert.”
“So I’ve been sending my letters to the wrong address?” “Yes, I think so.”
“Oh. I guess that explains it.” She let out a high-pitched snort and slapped the table.
“Mum’s got a smartphone now. She’s even got all the chat programs loaded.”
“No way!”
“Yeah. Woman of the twenty-first century.” “Mum always was brave that way.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Like remarrying? That was brave.” “I think so, too.”
“I mean after Dad died…”
“Yeah.” We looked at each other for a moment, smiles fading. “So why are you in Thailand, Maya?”
“I needed to go away. Bradley… he’d been doing it for a long time, I think. He tried to blame it on me, too.”
“So did Jimmy. Said he wasn’t getting enough at home.”
I shook my head. The similarities in our situations were so bizarre. “Bradley said something similar, only he was so poisonous and passive-aggressive. It hurt.” I felt the threat of being pulled back into that pool of wallowing and struggled to force myself to smile. “But like I said. It’s probably better this way.”
“Yeah,” Scarlett said through a sigh. “Probably.”
Silence blanketed us then, and we simply sat together and sipped our water, both lost in thought. At one point she reached for my hand and squeezed it. She’d always been the touchy-feely type, and so often in our teenage years, boys had mistaken it for flirting. I was the complete opposite. Two years her junior, I had contracted none of that social confidence and playfulness which bubbled to bursting within her. She could make friends with anybody, and could aattractjust about any man she laid eyes on, whereas I had always had to work for those things.
“How is work?” she eventually asked, slicing through the quiet. “I quit.” We looked at each other before we started giggling.
“Damn, girl! You’re on a fucking roll!” “What are you talking about?”
“Dump your boyfriend, quit your job. Leave your country? You’re about to awaken a whole new side of you.”
“I don’t believe in your hippie stuff.”
“It’s not hippie stuff, Maya. I’m serious. I couldn’t imagine being stuck back home, in shitty gray winters, and just… enough!”
“It’s not that bad.”
“It is when you’ve been out here for a while. Life is so much easier.
It’s easier to earn money. I mean I own an online business that helps foreigners resell their furniture and stuff to other foreigners here in Thailand. I mean, isn’t that insane? All their precious wood and expensive, antique shit they bring over from wherever the fuck they’re from, and suddenly they’re like, shit, it doesn’t work out here in this climate! It doesn’t work when they’ve got to move frequently because of their jobs or falling-apart marriages because they did some bar bimbo on the side, or
whatever. So I thought one day, why not set myself up as a middle-woman? Simply through commission, I make enough money to live well. Back home? I’d be better off on the fucking dole.”
I narrowed my eyes at Scarlett. “You swear so much.” “Fuck off, like I shouldn’t.”
“How did you and I end up so different?” “I don’t know, Maya. I don’t know.”
“Good to hear that you’re doing well for yourself, though. Sounds like a pretty smart move if that middle-man thing is making you money.”
“Jimmy tried to take it with him even though it was my idea.” “I bet you gave him an earful.”
“Damn right, I did. Almost kicked his cheating ass, too. And I could
have!”
“I don’t doubt it,” I said, grinning. “Wow. It’s nice to talk to you again. Let’s never not talk for five years again, yeah?” “It’s been that long?”
“Yeah.”
Scarlett nodded. “Never again. Where are you staying?”
“At a guest house by the, you know, that big shopping center? I can’t remember the name. It’s got a fountain.”
“Oh yeah, I know. Fuck that, come stay with me.” “You have a spare room?”
“Of course! I’ll get you set up. Go get your shit and come back and you and I can just relax tonight and cook some dinner at home, and share a bottle of wine. A joint if you want?”
“No joint for me, but I’ll gladly say yes to the wine.” “Good.”
“You sure, Scar?”
“Yes, I’m sure! Go on, go get your stuff. Now!” “Now?” I looked around. “I just got here.”
“Well, it’s nearly noon, and if you don’t get your stuff out of the room by then, you’ll be billed another night.”
Good thinking, I thought. “Alright. Oh, by the way, your guard just let me in.”
“Yeah, he’s like that.” “Bit useless, isn’t it?”
“Welcome to Southeast Asia.” “You’re so cynical.”
“I don’t get disappointed. Now go! I’ll wait for you by the gate in case Eric decides he wants to do his job.”
“His name is Eric?”
“It is this week. Last week it was Richard.”
“Hah,” I sounded. “How delightfully flexible.” “Go on. Get your shit!”
“Okay, okay,” I murmured as Scarlett ushered me out of the door.
The woman had all the patience of a child.
“Hey,” I said, half out of the door. “Thanks.”
She made a face. “Come on. You’re my little sister.” “Yeah.” I smiled at her.
I felt really good.
This was going to be a great trip.
*