At the base of the park was another building, which I knew from my guidebook had once been Gaudí’s home, but was now a museum. This was my last chance to find Ford. If he was planning to hide in Park Güell for the night, he’d probably want to find cover, and what more poetic place to sleep than the former home of Gaudí himself?
But when we approached the house, the ticket sales counter was closed. I knocked on the glass, but the harassed-looking woman inside shook her head furiously and pointed at the sign. No amount of pleading on my part would soften her resolve, and I turned away in despair.
‘Is there a problem, señorita?’ said a voice from behind me.
I turned to see a small man in a uniform. ‘Please, I need to go into the museum! Just for a few minutes.’
‘I am sorry, señorita,’ the man said. ‘The park is about to close. You and your husband can come back and see the museum tomorrow.’
‘Oh, he’s not my husband. He’s my… gay friend.’ I ignored Nick’s glare as I rummaged in my bag for the photo of Ford. ‘I’m looking for my boyfriend—this is him, isn’t he delicious? I think he may have got himself stuck in the museum.’
The man laughed. ‘I can assure you, señorita, there is no one in the museum.’
‘Please, I’ve been trying to find him for days! I’m worried about him. He’s not himself, you see… his medication has run out and if I don’t find him soon, I don’t know what he’ll do. Could I please just take a quick look inside?’
The man appeared to consider my request for a moment as he looked down at the photo.
‘I am sorry, señorita,’ he said again. ‘You are going to have to leave.’
My pride took a nosedive. ‘I’ll pay you,’ I blurted without thinking. ‘Fifty euros for five minutes in the museum.’
The man gave me a suspicious look as I tried to convert euros into Australian dollars in my head. I felt sure Katrina would consider it a worthwhile investment.
Then the man looked away and started shouting something in Spanish. My stomach fell.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ Nick said in my ear. He put his hand on my back and steered me away while the man continued to shout.
‘Sorry, sorry!’ I called back to him as we retreated.
‘Jesus, Burrowes,’ Nick said as we reached the entrance to the park. But he was looking at me with grudging admiration.
I couldn’t help smiling. ‘It was worth a try.’
‘I can’t believe you actually tried to bribe him. And gay friend? Really?’
His mocking tone joined the knot of tiredness and frustration that had formed in my belly and swirled around in moody agitation. ‘I didn’t see you come up with any better ideas. Let’s go.’
‘Where to now?’
‘Back to the hostel. I’m out of ideas for now.’
We didn’t speak much on the return journey. My feet were burning with pain, my whole body was exhausted and my spirits were low after my few promising leads had come to nothing. The last thing I needed was to listen to more of Nick’s jibes.
‘I wasn’t insulting you before, you know,’ Nick said as we walked into the hostel. ‘You did a pretty good job for your first day.’
I stopped just inside the entrance and turned to him in astonishment. I opened my mouth to say something—I don’t know what—but it never came out because Nick was already striding over to the reception desk where Estel was chatting with a young male co-worker.
‘Hey, Estel,’ Nick said in that extra special smooth voice he used when he was trying to pick up. The voice he’d used with me, until he’d got what he was after. I remembered how it’d felt, to be singled out like that, like there was something special that had drawn him to me. The kind of thing that made girls like me, who didn’t usually do stuff like that, sleep with a guy they barely knew. Since then, I’d seen him use the same tactic on girl after girl.
Estel looked up at him with her big, white Spanish smile. ‘Hola!’ she said, and I could tell she was falling for his charms, just like I had. Just like they all did.
‘You all finished up for the day?’ he asked. She nodded. ‘Want to go for that drink now?’
‘Sure,’ she said.
I didn’t say anything to either of them—as if they would have noticed I was alive anyway—as I stomped away up the stairs.
Men!
CHAPTER FIVE
It was only as I slammed the door to my room in a petulant sulk that I realised it was nine o’clock and I hadn’t eaten. I was angry with Nick, but I couldn’t for the life of me work out why. It’s not like I hadn’t known about his sleazy ways. Maybe it was the unlikely compliment that had thrown me.
A compliment which was hardly deserved, because here I was now, stuck alone in a hotel room and no closer to finding Ford.
I peeled the goddamn bloody sandals away from the open blisters on my feet, threw them across the room and flopped down on the bed. A sudden, intense longing for James swept over me. In the early days of our relationship, we’d wanted to spend every moment together. Then, later, there was the sense of contentment that came from just sharing a bed. I’d do just about anything to have him beside me now, smiling at me as he told me how proud of me he was.
But he was gone, and I was sentenced to sleeping alone. What the hell had happened? What had I done wrong?
I sat up. Right. Time to stop wallowing. James was in Sydney, doing god knows what. He wouldn’t even speak to me, let alone explain why our relationship had ended. He didn’t deserve
