Read Online Wish You Were Here by Mike Gayle - Free Book Online Page B

single round of drinks for the rest of the holiday.
    â€˜What are you having?’ I asked my friends. The bar was virtually empty apart from a group of lads in one corner and the girls that had arrived on our coach in another. Maybe people were put off drinking there by Steve-the-barman’s dress sense, or the Billy Joel greatest hits album that was playing over the sound system.
    â€˜I’ll have a pint,’ said Andy.
    â€˜We’re in Europe,’ I replied. ‘It’s litres and half litres here.’
    Andy sighed and sat on one of the tall stools in front of the bar. ‘I’ll have a litre, then.’
    â€˜Me too,’ replied Tom.
    â€˜I knew you’d guys would be down,’ said Steve cheerfully. ‘Oh, and sorry about bringing up the age thing. Just to give you boys a proper welcome – and to show you that the Apollo Bar welcomes anyone no matter how prehistoric – I’ve got something special for you.’
    Intrigued, we watched as Steve walked over to a large chest freezer and pulled out a plastic bottle filled with clear liquid. He carried it back over to the bar and then set three shot glasses up in front of us and began pouring.
    â€˜It’s Ouzo isn’t it?’ asked Andy.
    â€˜Close,’ replied Steve. ‘Raki.’
    He pushed the glasses over to our side of the bar, poured himself a glass too. ‘Yassou,’ he said, holding up his glass, and then on his cue we all knocked back our shots.
    The small explosion at the back of my throat was instant. And as the flames licked their way down to my lungs, up to my nostrils and tickled the back of my eyeballs, it was all I could do not to cough and splutter like a schoolboy trying his first cigarette.
    â€˜You get used to it,’ said Steve. ‘You sort of have to because they serve it everywhere around here.’
    Still chuckling, he began pouring our beers while Tom and Andy asked him questions about the best places to go in Malia.
    Feeling removed from the conversation I announced to my friends that I was going for a leak and made my way to the lounge area where I promptly sat down on one of the large sofas near the pay-per-go pool table. The truth was I didn’t need the toilet at all; I just needed to be on my own for a while. As much as I was enjoying being with my friends, the prospect of spending all day every day with them over the coming week was already beginning to overwhelm me. Things had changed a lot since our college days when we’d lived in each other’s pockets. I’d got older. More grumpy. Less likely to put up with other people’s nonsense. Now I was thirty-five I’d completely lost the tolerance required for living with anyone other than the woman I loved. Unfortunately for me, somewhere during the decade we were together, the woman I loved had somehow lost the tolerance for living with me.
    I reached into my pocket, pulled out my phone and reread Sarah’s text message, imprinting every word in my brain. Then, taking a deep breath, I pressed ‘delete’, and she was gone.

DAY ONE:
MONDAY

    Reptilian sensation
    I woke up shivering. I peered through the dim bedroom at the flashing light on the front of the air-conditioning unit that indicated that it was on (thanks to Andy) its maximum setting. Grimacing, I looked over at Andy and watched as he snored oblivious of the arctic chill in the air. With a sigh I pulled on my T-shirt from the floor and then looked at my watch. It was just after ten o’clock.
    As I slipped out of bed and continued getting dressed, I wondered how long Andy had been asleep. It wouldn’t have surprised me if it had only been a couple of hours. As it was, the three of us had remained in the hotel bar talking with Steve-the-barman until nearly four in the morning. Once again Tom had been the first to bed, followed half an hour later by me. But I could tell from the look of determination on Andy’s