Jarvis's wife Nina made me nervous. I was already feeling frumpy in my jade green dress, with its horrible v-line neck and wrap-around waist. It was like something my mother would wear to the office. It wasn't me.
Nina looked amazing. She'd hit the right balance between holiday casual and special night out, in her tight black jeans and black lace blouse. Her nails were polished in a dark maroon colour, her hair was frizzless, she wore a dainty gold chain on her wrist and her makeup was a perfect template.
I sat there ashamed of my stupid green dress and my frizzy island hair, that hadn't behaved since we'd arrived, and the fact that even though I knew how to wear eyeliner tonight I'd gone makeup free, because I'd also forgotten my foundation in my rush to repack my bags to hide all my Lolita vibes. I felt furious with Alistair. It was his fault that I was sitting there in a jade green, v-line dress.
Nina was so confident. She was doing an MA in marketing and was quite keen to talk about herself and what she knew. When she politely asked me what I did and I answered I was still in school it was like there was nowhere to go with the conversation.
'But I want to be an architect,' I blurted out, 'Like my dad. He's a Professor of Architecture and Design at Melbourne University.'
'Your dad is a Professor?' she asked. But before I could go on, she started talking about some Professor who had taken a particular interest in her and personally mentored her at university. I could tell that she thought she was better than both Alistair and myself.
She reminded me of my mother. She had similar high ambitions and was uncompromising about what she wanted to achieve. 'Jarvis is always telling me that I need more balance in my life,' she said. 'It's just that some people are more driven than others.' It was an obvious dig at Jarvis and I felt sorry for him. 'I've studied so hard all year,' she told us. 'Jarvis never understands why. He says that I just need to pass. That's what he did – he just scraped through at university. He doesn't see the point in excelling.' I could feel myself cringing. I really didn't like people airing their dirty laundry in public. 'Of course, we're quite different. It's hard to measure the success with what he does.'
I could finally look at Jarvis. He wasn't the sexy beast from the other day, he was the down-trodden husband of this overachieving narcissist. I knew all about hard driven women.
'Of course, I understand art,' Nina said, stretching out the word 'art' as one long pompous sound. 'I love the arts. I go to the theatre all the time, I'm a full member of the Sydney Theatre Company. Jarvis and I went to Brisbane just the other day to the Renaissance exhibition. Have you seen it? It's brilliant. And I dance. I take lessons at the Sydney Contemporary Dance Centre twice a week. It keeps me fit and helps me to unwind. I've made so many great friends there and the teacher is exceptional. So talented. Everything is at a professional level there. My friends ask, "but isn't it hard?" But nothing is hard if you practice and practice at it. I've been having lessons there twice a week, for three years now. Have you seen them perform? It's so abstract. Some people don't get it. You have to feel their moves. And last year I was in Shanghai with my sister for ...'
By now I knew that I hated her and I pitied Jarvis. He'd hardly spoken. I realised he must get drowned out by the sound of her know-it-all voice all the time. The way she presented her ideas didn't open up anything to conversation, it lead to everyone having to listen to her opinion. 'Did you see such and such movie the other day, it was dreadful.' Well what if I liked it? Did one have to argue with her? No, it just meant that everyone mostly stayed silent.
At one point, Jarvis and I made eye contact. His dashing smile was a remix of our sweetest moments together, and I felt my heart lured towards him.
I found myself tuning out of the conversation, secretly hoping we'd get a moment alone together. When desert was done, Nina called for the bill. She tallied up the figures on her Zaplet, saying 'Jarvis had an extra cocktail, so we owe more.' Before announcing the amounts each couple needed to pay. Alistair and Nina went to the bar to pay the tab, while Jarvis and I sat together at the table staring at each other.
He leaned across and whispered, 'I want you to know ... the other day ... it was very precious to me. I wish we could ...'
But just then, Nina yelled out 'Jarvis, come along.' We both stood, awkwardly, and walked over to the bar.
'Thanks mate,' Alistair said, 'for entertaining Sylvie the other day.'
'My pleasure,' Jarvis replied.
'We hope you both have a fabulous honeymoon,' Nina said.
Jarvis and Alistair shook hands.
I murmured, 'nice to meet you' to Jarvis and I reached out my hand politely. His forefinger caressed my palm gently, and he smiled at me adoringly, sealing our own code of conduct.
Afterwards, back in our suite, Alistair said, 'That Nina is so lovely, don't you think? So clever. She'll go places, you can tell.'
'You've got to be kidding,' I scoffed. 'She was a bitch. Did you hear how she spoke about Jarvis?'
'What the hell is your problem?' Alistair asked. 'We just had a lovely evening out with a nice couple and you have to drag everyone down.'
'She was a bitch,' I said, incredulous that we'd had dinner with the same woman and he didn't see her how I saw her.
'Maybe if you didn't have such a stick up your ass, you would get along with people better. We can't all be as perfect as you.'
'What are you talking about? You're in a virtual world all the time. You even fuck virtually.'
'I hate you,' he said, before walking away and slamming the bedroom door.
So my husband had just admitted he hated me and the honeymoon wasn't even over yet. It could only be up from there. Surely?