‘A wine salesman. He travels a lot, meaning I’m home alone quite a bit. When Ed was still around—’ she shrugged ‘—it was fine, but now—’
‘Now you’re lonely?’ She couldn’t look him in the eye. She just nodded as she felt a sting of tears. Was it hormones? Peri-menopause? She’d read about that. She’d read about all the symptoms in some stupid article on the plane and had nearly thrown the glossy magazine across the aisle. All the symptoms seemed to point to it. Hot flushes (sometimes), anxiety and mood swings (well, yes), a feeling of being invisible and loss of confidence (Holy Batman, yes), decrease in sex drive (well, yes, but some weird sex drive of an imaginary sort had arrived in her frontal lobe, and had her fantasising about other people having sex all the time). She shook her head.
A beautiful girl with dark hair and eyes, dressed in simple black trousers and a pink floral blouse tied at the waist, revealing a taut coffee-coloured midriff, came up to the table and placed a dish in front of them. Now, she probably had lots of sex. Maddie!
‘Nasi uduk,’ the girl murmured, then walked away.
Rice and what looked like fried chicken and shredded omelette were beautifully presented on a pale blue china plate.
‘That’s tempe.’ Johnny pointed at it with his fork, he put the emphasis on the last ‘e’. ‘Soya bean cake.’
‘Listen, Johnny, I just wanted to say thank you, you know for saving Ed. I really don’t know—’ She felt her throat catch.
‘You don’t have to thank me,’ he said, smiling warmly at her. ‘Anyone would have done the same. Now, tell me more about yourself.’
She opened her mouth to start, then closed it again. She didn’t know how to answer. She certainly wasn’t going to say that she was scared of becoming invisible. Instead, she took a mouthful of food; it tasted of the beach.
‘Well, I’m forty-one, never been on a motorbike until today…’ She looked up at the ceiling. ‘Not a lot to tell.’ She looked at him and then took a sip of beer.
‘I think there’s a lot more to tell.’ He smiled at her and wiped his mouth with the napkin.
Maddie pushed some of her escaping hair off her forehead.
‘What will you write on your food blog?’ She changed the subject and sat back in her chair as he explained how ‘Bali on a Plate’ had started and how much he enjoyed writing it. As he talked, Maddie found herself studying his mouth, noticing the way he had a bit of a lopsided grin, wondering what his lips would taste like.
*
On the drive back to Kuta Beach, she was once again sitting with her legs astride Johnny, her arms around his waist, inhaling his maleness and trying to ignore how strong his back felt as she attempted not to squish her boobs into his spine. She’d tried to lean back a little, but as he bounced over potholes, she’d clung nearer for dear life. ‘Hold on!’ he’d yelled at her as they approached a junction, his arm thrown back, clutching her thigh with his strong grasp. She looked down at his hand encasing her thigh, the way her flesh around his fingertips was paler underneath. She tried to remember the last time a man had held her like that.
Johnny started to slow down. A policeman was on the side of the road, standing next to his motorbike and waving them down.
As they drove slowly past him to pull in, Johnny muttered to her under his breath, ‘Don’t say a word.’
The policeman was wearing dark trousers and a khaki jacket, with big pockets and brass buttons, and a large belt round his middle. He looked more like he was in the army than the police. He had a loose hi-vis jacket over him as well. He wandered over to them and pointed at the bike. ‘You have international drive licence?’
Johnny took his helmet off and shook his head. ‘I have an Australian one.’
‘Then you get fine. Fine of two million rupiah.’
‘Hey, no way,’ Johnny said. He shook his head again and got off the bike. He towered above the policeman. Then the policeman said something in Indonesian.
‘No!’ Johnny blinked a few times and looked at Maddie. ‘He’s saying that because we don’t have a licence we need to pay, but I’m not buying it. I’ve checked a few times and you can