Chapter 27 Wild Kiss
WILD KISS
Catherine woke from the best sleep she’d had in a long time.
No weird dreams about Francesca, no spiralling thoughts about Jules, just a deep, delicious slumber that had wrapped around her like a weighted blanket.
Warmth spread through her chest as she stretched amongst her pillows and thought about how the evening with Jules had panned out.
When it came to saying goodnight at the top of the stairs, Jules softly gripped her shoulders and grazed a chaste kiss on Catherine’s cheek, and somehow it had been exactly enough, whilst leaving her wanting so much more.
And they’d made plans… for today. Wild swimming.
As her joy crested, a wave of self-doubt crashed in.
Jules was impossibly attractive, and although Catherine looked after herself, she was at least eight years Jules’s senior.
The other woman would probably be repelled at the sight of Catherine’s fifty-six-year-old body in a bathing suit.
Christ, what was I thinking?
That was the problem, though; last night it hadn’t been her brain doing the thinking. With just a hint of touch, Jules had set her alight. Panic had Catherine picking up her phone to text Penny.
Help! Accidentally offered to take Jules wild swimming. Today!
Now she’s going to see me in next to nothing, looking about as attractive as a wet mop.
What do I do?
Penny instantly responded with a large laughing-face emoji. Great. Catherine sighed and flopped her phone, screen down, onto the bed. She pinched the bridge of her nose, wondering whether she could summon a migraine or some other such excuse to get out of the plans they’d made. Her phone pinged.
Penny:
Stop being ridiculous, babe. You’ve got a great body — flaunt it. She’d be mad not to bang you the second you slip out of your Dryrobe x
“Oh my God, Penny!” Despite herself, Catherine grinned at her phone as another text pinged through.
Penny:
Wear the black cozzie, your tits look great in that one xx
P.S. Lawrence says hi.
Why is my best friend such a pervert?
Hi to Loz xx
Okay, that’s good. I can do this.
With Penny’s bolstering pep talk — if you could call it that — front of mind, Catherine bounced out of bed to prepare for the day ahead.
Even though she normally didn’t bother until after a swim, she showered because she wanted to shave everything.
As with the lacy underwear, she had no expectations other than being prepared should she need to be.
She planned to take Jules to the secluded spot she’d discovered last summer, when she’d forced herself to go on a solo hike for blog content inspiration.
It would be ideal for wild swimming and perfect for a picnic on a second date.
Catherine pulled on her nicest, most flattering hiking clothes, then rummaged around in the depths of her closet for her picnic blanket.
“Aha!” She pulled out the folded tartan rug and threw it into a bag with her usual swim kit, making sure to pack her black bathing suit, because who was she to ignore Penny’s advice?
The morning light inflated the day with possibilities and an air of everything that could go right…
or wrong. But Catherine shrugged off the weight of her expectations and power-walked to M it’s fine! No, it’s not a naked thing. Yes, you’ll need a towel. And if my friend Penny is anything to go by, I think Will is being naughty with the aubergines.”
Why are we like this? We’re just two grown women, hanging out for the day. At this stage, they were little more than new neighbours getting to know each other.
Jules puffed out a breath. “Okay, good. That all sounds good. Do we need snacks?”
“All sorted.” Catherine pointed to the bags she’d set down by the door.
“I’m impressed. Aren’t you Ms Prepared?”
“It’s Doctor Prepared, thank you very much.”
“Of course, my bad, Doctor!” Jules said, with a playful elbow-nudge.
Catherine tried to hide her smile at the face Jules made when she realised the sleek black car parked across the road from their building was hers. And she took great satisfaction watching Jules’s reverie as the engine roared to life.
“Of course this is what you drive.” Jules laughed as she relaxed into the passenger seat.
Catherine arched an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” Jules grinned and turned to look at the sun-drenched landscape rolling by.
The hazy light gave the day a blurring, dream-like quality and Catherine smiled for no reason other than it suddenly felt like she’d been dropped into a high-definition version of her own life with Jules filling the space Catherine hadn’t considered as empty, at least until recently.
She focussed on the soft cadence of Jules’s voice as she talked about the trails she’d hiked around Mount Tibidabo and Montserrat, her enthusiasm infectious.
“God, I’m so sorry. I haven’t stopped yammering on.”
“It’s nice listening to you.”
Twenty minutes later, they arrived. Catherine pulled into a dirt lay-by under the canopy of a towering oak tree. She shrugged on the backpack containing the picnic and shouldered her other bag with the blanket and swimming kit.
“Can I help carry something?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not far.”
They fell into step on the well-worn trail, relaxing in the sounds of the forest — nothing but birdsong and the gentle crunch of the path underfoot as they wove their way through the woodland. They reached a fork in the path.
“This way,” Catherine whispered, with a soft touch to Jules’s shoulder.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy in flickering patches, casting golden freckles over the mossy ground. The air grew cooler, the earthy scent thicker and the ferns denser, forcing them into single file. Catherine led the way, stepping over roots and ducking under low-hanging branches.
“Ah, shit,” Jules yelled.
Catherine spun around to see her snatching at a bramble caught in her hair. Her sunglasses clattered to the ground as she twisted around, trying to liberate herself.
“Fuck.”
Catherine dropped the shoulder bag and dashed over to help her.
“Here, let me…” She reached up and carefully untangled a lock of Jules’s hair from the prickly branch. “There you go; you’re free.”
“Thank you.” Jules reached up to tame her hair back into its ponytail.
“It didn’t cut you, did it?”
“It’s stinging a bit here.” She turned her head and touched her finger to a scratch above her temple.
Catherine moved closer and swiped away a strand of Jules’s hair to reveal a thin red line dotted with blood. “Ouch! Yeah, it got you.”
Jules’s lips twitched with a grin, and Catherine became aware of how close they were standing, but she was rooted to the spot, mesmerised by the way the dappled sunlight danced across Jules’s face and illuminated the green flecks in her hazel eyes.
A twig snapped in the woods, and Catherine stepped back, bending to retrieve Jules’s fallen sunglasses.
“Before we trample them,” she said, handing them over.
“Er, thanks. Thank you. Yeah.” Jules’s words came out breathy and stilted.
“Shall we?”
“Yeah.”
They continued along the path for a short while, pushing through the exertion as the barely visible track ascended to higher ground.
They were both panting by the time Catherine stopped to catch her breath.
She puffed out a reassuring, “Not much further now,” when in truth she couldn’t actually remember how much further it was.
Jules hung her head and held up her hand. “God, this better be worth it.”
After another few hundred metres, the trees thinned, and the ground levelled out. Guarded like a secret by sentinel pines was an untouched lake. The smooth mirrored surface reflected the cloudless sky. No signs, no other swimmers, just them at this perfect spot on this beautiful day.
“This is just — wow!” Jules’s mouth hung open.
She dropped her bag and stepped closer to the water’s edge.
Catherine smiled as she watched her taking it all in because somehow this place was even better than she’d remembered it.
She tugged the picnic blanket out of her bag and rolled it out on the grassy bank before sitting down to chug some water and take off her boots, grateful to wriggle her toes in the cool grass.
Jules came bounding over, her face beaming as she flopped down next to Catherine on the blanket. “This place is unreal; it was so worth hiking up that bloody hill.”
“Do you need some water? Or gin, I brought gin.”
Jules lifted her sunglasses to squint at Catherine. “You mean to tell me you hiked up that hill with a picnic blanket and a bottle of gin?”
“No. Not a bottle of gin. I didn’t know what flavour you liked so…” She rummaged in her backpack and pulled out several cans.
Jules laughed. “You’re… funny.”