The Red Dress Chapter five

      

In the last chapter Lisa meets Nick, a wealthy tax exile now living in The Isle of Man, while she is there on holiday with her brother and parents. Although Lisa’s parents are wealthy, her mother is an alcoholic and has physically abused her in the past which makes Lisa apprehensive when left alone with her mother, especially when she’s been drinking.
 
The last chapter ends with Nick proposing to Lisa, even although they had only known each other for a few days. She doesn’t say yes, but she doesn’t say no either, and she suggests he comes over to Scotland after her week long holiday with her friend in Chelmsford, and take the relationship from there.
 
This chapter opens with the surprise arrival of Alan, a boy she had met at her friend’s house in Chelmsford. He was unaware that Lisa had eventually accepted Nick’s proposal when he’d visited her two weeks before, so Alan had set off from Chelmsford hoping to surprise her with his visit...
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
     The line of cars waiting for the ferry to Dunoon was split into several rows, and Alan was near the end of the last one. He looked over to where the ferry waited, its mouth open at the back like a yawning animal with a big black lower lip, waiting to receive its cargo of cars and lorries. It had taken him eight hours to drive up from Chelmsford, and his right leg was aching. He desperately needed to get out of the car and stretch his legs.
 
     Alan still wasn't quite sure what he was doing there. What had started as a great spontaneous idea...had turned into an embarrassing complication, and if his right leg was anything to go by, a painful one. He had waited too long to come, and now that he had, he was too late.
 
      The lines started to move and he lit a cigarette before looking distractedly over at the car beside him. Mother, father and two children, all eagerly waiting to be taken to a magical seaside town on the west coast of Scotland where they could sail, walk, swim, fish, play on the beach or play golf, none of which he did. He thought again about why he was about to board the ferry and laughed at himself because of his naivety. He had expected time to stand still and wait for him to play his lines, only to find out the final curtain had already come down.
 
 
    At last his line of cars started to move, and a bit like cattle being herded, the cars were directed into neatly efficient rows on the boat by the crew. Alan took one last draw from his half smoked cigarette, ground it out in the ashtray, and followed the line of cars in front of him.
 
     Once on the boat Alan picked up his jacket and gratefully stretched his legs when he got out of the car. The boat journey only took about twenty minutes, but he suddenly wished it would take hours, because he needed more time to work out what he was going to say to Lisa when he arrived. When he had called her earlier, his heart had skipped a beat at the sound of her voice when she answered. But then she had told him her news, and shattered his stupid, unrealistic illusions. How could he have got it so wrong? He had been totally convinced his attraction to her had been mirrored by her attraction to him during the evening they’d met. Obviously not, and now he was on a boat for no other reason than visiting a girl who regarded him as nothing more than an casual acquaintance.
 
     It was a beautiful day and the water was as smooth as glass, broken only by the wash of the boat. He looked back at Gourock one minute and towards Dunoon the next, feeling undecided and not knowing what to do for the best. There were a couple of people smoking on the upper deck so he thankfully took out his packet of cigarettes and lit up again. He knew he was smoking too much, but he couldn’t help it. The conversation he'd had with Lisa earlier on had really upset him, and he felt stupid having assumed so much.
 
     Alan reminisced as the wind smoked his cigarette for him. He remembered back to the night he’d met Lisa at a dinner party in Chelmsford the month before, and the reasons why he had organised this trip to her family's holiday home on impulse. He had been mesmerised by her. It wasn’t just her looks that had appealed to him, but the way she talked and looked straight into his eyes as she did. It was as though she could see right through to his soul, and the effect it had on him was unlike anything he had experienced before. At the end of the evening, Lisa had offered her address and phone number to the other guests at the dinner party her friend Vikki had arranged, and told them all they would be welcome to stay, should they ever visit Scotland. Alan had naively believed the invitation was really directed solely at him. Obviously not...
 
 
     Alan leaned one elbow on the rail feeling the soft wind on his face and tried to work out what excuse he could come up with for travelling so far. When he had phoned Lisa on his mobile half an hour before to tell her he was at Gourock, she was warm and enthusiastic on the phone before announcing that she'd got engaged to a guy in the Isle of Man who she'd met on holiday the week before she'd come to Chelmsford. To make matters worse, she was flying out there the following day to announce her engagement. It was now too late for Alan to back out gracefully because she was expecting him.
 
     The seaside town of Dunoon was getting closer, and Alan was moved by its beauty. The hills overlooked the coastline, which in turn bordered the Holy Loch, the place the Americans had chosen to keep their Polaris naval base so many years before. The Victorian villas, some painted in ice cream colours, stretched all along the water’s edge like sugar tipped monuments to a golden age. He looked about the deck and saw several couples talking, looking into each other’s eyes and holding hands. Alan wondered how many of them would be making love in the sleepy seaside town that night. He just wished he could be one of them. He had fantasised about making love to Lisa since the moment he'd met her, and now he knew it would never happen, he felt empty inside. Alan had been so certain there had been chemistry between them; otherwise he would never have come all this way. It had turned out to be a complete waste of time.
 
     The drivers and their passengers started making their way back to their cars as the boat reversed up to the jetty, and Alan held back for a moment or two, just as he did on planes when they landed, hating to look anxious to get off. He couldn’t stay there, but he really wished he didn't have to get off the boat and face up to the fact he had come on a fool’s errand.
 
     The water that lapped gently on the shore of Hunters Quay where the boat landed was crystal clear, and the sun was painting pink tips on the mountaintops behind as it began to set. Lisa had told him to turn right when he got off the boat and to keep on the coast road for about a mile until he got to Holy Loch House, where she had promised to meet him at eight. He couldn't miss it apparently, as it was situated on the shore road just a few minutes walk from her parents’ holiday home.
 
      Alan was relieved when he saw the sign on the road side advising drivers of the entrance to the hotel fifty yards ahead, but he was totally unprepared for the sight which met him as he turned into the driveway leading up to the hotel. Lisa had omitted to mention the fact the Hotel was very grand, with sweeping lawns running down to the shore road and wooded hills rising up behind it. He doubted he could afford it. He had assumed it was a small seaside hotel, with small seaside prices, and after he parked his car and went inside, he searched furiously in his pockets for his one and only credit card as he approached the reception desk in the elegant hallway.
 
     As it happened, he needn’t have worried. Lisa had arranged a special rate with Gerry the owner, which was surprisingly low, especially when he saw his room. He had stayed in a few seaside hotels before, but for what he was charged for the night, he had expected something basic. This was beautiful, and he suspected it was the bridal suite. Opulent cream damask drapes hung majestically over the top of the bed from a half tester, and the bay window, which boasted a panoramic view across the Holy loch, was framed with luxurious curtains. A huge pale blue Chinese rug reflected the colour of the walls, which in turn complemented the cream and gold French furniture. The room was obviously made for lovers, and Alan wondered why it had been given to him in the first place. It was totally wasted on him, and he assumed it was the only one left in the hotel when Lisa had booked it after his call.

     Confused by the effect that the room was having on him, Alan dived into the shower to cool off. He felt stupid at how much he still wanted to look good for Lisa… especially when she had made it quite clear she was in love with someone else, but Alan couldn't help himself. Never in his life before had a female had that effect on him as she did that evening. He had been instantly attracted to her when he'd watched her full lips pout and smile while she was talking to him, turning him on in a way he had never been turned on before. Alan couldn't believe she could have had that effect on him if she was in love with someone else. Surely he would have sensed it somehow? Thinking about it only confused him more and he decided with a touch of bitterness, not to be sucked in by those eyes again when he saw her.
 
     After he dressed, Alan looked out of the window across the bay. The only interruption to the view of The Holy Loch was the bobbing yachts dancing on the water's surface in the bay and the people walking along the shore road. Alan jealously watched a couple kiss and felt like a guilty voyeur. The place was idyllic, right down to the swans gathering in the bay preening each other in the setting sun, and all he could think of, yet again, was how perfect it would have been if Lisa had felt the same as him. Alan pulled on his sweater, and with a heavy heart, left his room and made his way along the corridor to the bar.
 
     The lounge bar of the hotel was decorated to remind you of where you were, with rich green walls complemented by the warm tones of red and green tartan. With a similar view to his room, the whole effect was magical. The bar was already pretty full, some people drinking, some having a meal, and Alan remembered he hadn't stopped to eat on the drive up, surviving only on a sandwich from the service station on the way. He ordered a pint of lager and a toasted sandwich, and waited for Lisa to arrive...