Free The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon

then.’
    Jorge and Leo are already there. Tegan is with them.
    ‘Forecast not looking good for tomorrow,’ she comments as she turns around from her position at the bar and hands beers to Jorge and Leo. To my dismay, she pulls up a stool next to Leo. ‘Storm coming.’
    ‘What does that mean for us?’ I ask, halting in front of them instead of going straight to the bar. It’s my round.
    ‘Call the office in the morning,’ Jorge replies. ‘We might have to postpone the dive.’
    ‘Postpone it to when?’ Bridget asks worriedly.
    ‘Depends on the storm,’ Jorge says.
    ‘It will probably last only a day,’ Tegan chips in. ‘You should be able to continue on Thursday.’
    ‘Good,’ Bridget replies. ‘We’re going to Miami on Friday,’ she reminds us.
    I don’t want to go to Miami. I want to stay here.
    ‘Are you getting the drinks, or what?’ Marty nudges me.
    ‘Yeah, yeah. Beer?’
    Bridget and Marty nod as I go to stand at the bar, to the left of Tegan.
    ‘We’re going to Miami this weekend too, actually,’ I hear Jorge say. I glance over my shoulder to see him asking Leo: ‘You are coming, aren’t you?’
    Leo shrugs. ‘Haven’t decided yet.’
    Leo in Miami while I’m in Miami? Maybe Friday won’t be the last time I see him. My heart is on its own emotional roller coaster: up and down, up and down.
    ‘What can I get you?’
    I look up to see the barman speaking to me.
    ‘Three beers, please.’
    ‘My sister’s son is coming back from his travels,’ I hear Jorge telling Marty and Bridget. ‘We’re collecting him from the airport. At least, I am. I’ll check on my apartment and pick up my post while I’m there.’
    ‘Where has he been?’ I ask Jorge, paying the bartender and taking the drinks back to my friends.
    ‘South America. Cuba, too, but don’t tell the authorities.’
    I read somewhere recently that since the Cold War, US citizens have been forbidden to travel to Cuba without a special licence.
    ‘Cuba?’ I ask with interest, my eyes flitting between Jorge and Leo. ‘Do you have any family there?’
    ‘Going way back,’ Jorge replies with a grin. ‘My grandparents were Cuban. Leo’s father was, too.’ He glances at Leo, but Leo doesn’t react.
    ‘What shall we do in Miami, then?’ Marty asks. ‘Any good recommendations?’
    Jorge said Leo’s father was Cuban. Past tense. Does that mean he’s dead? It’s not a question I feel comfortable asking.
    Later, Marty, Bridget and I find ourselves on our balcony with a bottle of vodka and a couple of cartons of cranberry which we picked up from a nearby off-licence after dinner. We decided to head back here rather than hit another bar. The wind has picked up and we can definitely sense a storm is coming. To my disappointment, it looks like Tegan was right about the dive being postponed.
    ‘That is so rubbish about tomorrow’s dive,’ I say. I’m squeezed next to Bridget on the swinging seat. Marty is on one of the two wrought-iron chairs, with her bare feet resting on the other.
    ‘I think your disappointment is greater than ours,’ Marty replies with a knowing look.
    Bridget jovially nudges me.
    ‘Okay, I fancy him. So what?’ I snap, buoyed by the alcohol.
    Bridget bursts out laughing. ‘Too right!’ She chinks my glass. ‘And why shouldn’t you?’
    Marty’s face softens. ‘That’s hilarious.’
    ‘What is?’ I ask, feeling relief more than anything. It’s nice to be able to come clean and not have the piss taken out of me.
    ‘I love that you just admitted it,’ Marty says warmly.
    I scoff and take another gulp of my vodka cranberry. ‘It’s not like I’m going to do anything about it.’
    ‘You should just shag him and be done with it,’ Bridget says.
    I splutter and almost spit out my drink. ‘I don’t think so!’
    ‘I would,’ Bridget confesses between giggles.
    ‘Yeah, I know you would.’ I nod emphatically in the direction of her bedroom inside the apartment. ‘You already