punch landed somewhere on the man’s chin or cheek – and he toppled backwards into the piano. There was this enormous bang and the sound of tinkling keys.
I thought Victor might turn and run, but he did the opposite. Even though the other man was on the floor, Victor launched himself at him and started swinging his fists back and forth. It was one punch after another – maybe five or six – until a couple of blokes pulled him off. I couldn’t hear the words, but he was shouting and raging, still trying to fight even though there were three people holding him back.
There was a time when violence would shock me, but, on that night, I realised how much I’d changed. How desensitised I was. I didn’t want to be that person, but it’s like Pandora’s Box, isn’t it? When something’s out, it can’t be put back.
Five or six security guards showed up then and pulled Victor away. They pinned his arms behind his back and one of them had him by the neck. Victor was still trying to get away but had no chance. They dragged him out through a side door and there was a moment of calm confusion in the bar, where everyone stopped and looked to everyone else, wondering what had just happened.
It was only a second, maybe two, where there was this eerie, confusing peace. Like when you’ve been running a bath and then you turn off the taps and there’s a final drip before the silence.
Then it started to rain.
Chapter Eleven
Day Three
THE SHEPHERD AND SAILOR
Emma: I didn’t sleep a lot that night… I’m not sure how anyone could have. Julius got back to the room not long after Victor was taken away. The twins were still sleeping – I don’t think they’d moved – and then I headed off to the cottage.
The thunder and lightning started about half an hour after the rain, and it went through most of the night. Every time it felt like things were quietening down, there would be another boom of thunder and then the rain would clatter on the roof louder than before. I thought about checking on Mum, but I didn’t want to wake her in case she was sleeping through it.
Claire: I didn’t know there had been a storm until the next day. I’ve always been a heavy sleeper.
Julius: I don’t know what Emma did with the girls, but they didn’t stir all night. I slept here and there, but, every time I dropped off, the thunder came back.
Daniel: Slept like a log.
Emma: It was around four in the morning when I went onto the little patio at the side of the cottage. There was a big umbrella next to an outdoor table and I sat under that watching the lightning hit the ocean. The thunder would boom at almost the same moment as the light and there was something so… primal about it all.
I enjoyed it.
Julius: I watched the end of the storm from the balcony. There were quite a few lights on from the other windows of the hotel and I think lots of people were doing the same. I thought about getting the girls up, but they were sleeping so peacefully. I can’t remember the last time they were that tired.
Emma: There was a coffee machine in the cottage, so I made myself a mug and then watched the storm peter out. It was only a little while later that the sun started to rise. The view from the hotel is nowhere near as wide or clear as the one from the cliffs – but I sat and watched it anyway. The sky was flaming orange and I thought about the old saying ‘Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.’
Claire: Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning.
Emma: Some of the staff were sweeping water into the drains, but, within about an hour, it was as if the storm had never happened. Everything was dry again and the sky was cloudless and blue. I thought about Dad in hospital and wondered if there would be more improvement. I thought about Mum and her diagnosis – plus how this was the last thing she needed. The holiday felt like a mistake, but I’d had such a great night with the twins that I was stuck not knowing how I really thought about it.
Julius: I pulled the curtains and went back to bed as soon as the lightning stopped.