Chapter 10 #3
Edie frowned. ‘I know you work incredibly hard, and Mac’s work is so irregular. I wish you could share the load more.’
‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Hannah said darkly.
The comment worried Edie, but she didn’t get the chance to question her friend any further.
‘Come on,’ Hannah said, standing up and preparing to launch herself off the rock. ‘We’ll get left behind.’
She and Edie adopted a more leisurely pace as they made their way towards the shore and as she swam, Edie made a mental note not to mention Jessica to Hannah again for the time being. Clearly, Hannah wouldn’t have a word said against her and it would only cause friction.
They sunbathed for a while longer on the beach before gathering their things together.
Edie suggested they could perhaps hang round the village for a while and have supper out.
However, Hannah wanted to get changed and as no one could face the prospect of walking to and from the villa twice in one day, the idea was vetoed.
They were on their way to April’s shop to buy provisions for dinner together instead when Edie spotted Jean-Luc in dark glasses, sitting on the harbour wall sipping something from a can.
She shuddered, remembering Mac’s behaviour yesterday, and quickly looked in the other direction, but not fast enough.
‘Bonjour, tout le monde!’ Jean-Luc called, getting up and strolling towards the group. ‘How are you today?’
Edie, who was behind Mac, noticed his body stiffen and his fists clench, and she could swear his pace quickened, as if he intended to push on past.
‘Oh God, it’s the Frenchman,’ she whispered to Ralph, beside her. ‘I hope Mac doesn’t punch him.’
Just then, Hannah stopped, forcing her husband to do likewise.
Edie and Ralph came to a halt beside them and, without a word, Ralph stepped forward and shook Jean-Luc by the hand.
‘I’m Ralph, Edie’s husband,’ he said. ‘Edie told me she’d met you and your sister, the artist. I’d be interested to see her work sometime.’
The intervention was timely. Mac’s shoulders relaxed a little and his fists unclenched.
Jean-Luc bowed his head graciously. Barefoot and wearing a khaki T-shirt over bright blue swimming shorts, he looked more handsome than ever.
‘Thank you. She is very talented.’
‘So I hear. Edie went to her studio yesterday. She loved her paintings.’
‘It’s true,’ Edie agreed. ‘I just wish I could afford to buy one.’
Jean-Luc held out his hands, palms up, and shrugged. ‘Euh, I can’t afford them either. Unfortunately there are no discounts for little brothers.’
He stuck out his bottom lip like a sulky kid, making Edie laugh.
‘We must get a move on,’ she said, taking Ralph’s arm. ‘We’ve got to buy supper and go home and cook it.’
She was starting to move when Hannah piped up.
‘Est-ce que tu vas nager?’ she asked Jean-Luc, before flashing a coquettish little smile.
Edie, who spoke some French, understood perfectly well what she’d said: ‘Are you going for a swim?’
The bottom seemed to drop out of Edie’s chest. Jean-Luc turned to give Hannah his full attention and Mac’s face went white and pinched.
‘Mais oui,’ the Frenchman replied, with a playful little smile. ‘And when are we going to have that French lesson? You must give me a call.’
‘Um, sometime tomorrow, maybe?’ Hannah suggested.
Normally, a blatant come-on like Jean-Luc’s would have made Edie snort. But not when Mac was involved.
Hannah knew how jealous her husband was. After witnessing his rage last night, Edie couldn’t understand why on earth she’d do anything to provoke him further, especially since the couple seemed to have made up and got back on a more even keel.
Ralph hopped from one foot to another and back again, as if the ground was burning his feet.
‘Come on.’ He grabbed Edie’s hand and told her in a low voice to get Mac, too.
It wasn’t clear if Mac heard or not, but he started walking with them, without needing to be hustled, leaving his wife behind.
Edie glanced back, hoping to catch Hannah’s eye and make her hurry up, but Hannah was deep in conversation with Jean-Luc and didn’t notice.
April was on her own in the shop for once, tidying a row of cans on one of the shelves.
‘Where’s Nikos?’ Edie asked, looking round.
‘With Anthea. I think you met her?’
Edie nodded.
‘She offered to take him for a walk,’ April went on. ‘She loves little ones and they seem to adore her. When she comes here to do my hair, Nikos won’t leave her alone. She has to sit him beside me in front of the mirror and pretend to cut his hair, too.’
Edie smiled. ‘Did you know Alexandros, the father of her daughter?’
April raised her eyebrows, which were a slightly uneven shade of brown. She must have been in a hurry when she put on her make-up.
‘That bastard?’ She shook her head. ‘He was before my time. He was a wrong’un, by all accounts.’
She seemed to glare at Mac and Ralph, as if they were somehow implicated, and they shuffled uncomfortably.
‘He got sacked from his job for putting his hands in the till,’ she went on.
‘He treated Anthea really badly. Never gave her a penny or showed any interest in his child. Anthea’s a toughie, though.
She’s a great mum; Alexa’s turned out fabulous.
The only thing is, I don’t know why Anthea does all that stuff to her face.
She’s beautiful inside and out. She doesn’t need to. ’
‘Does she have a partner?’ Edie wanted to know, allowing curiosity to get the better of her. She knew she was holding the others up.
‘No,’ said April. ‘More’s the pity. I wish she could find a really decent, honourable man.
We all do. She deserves it. I’m sure she’s had offers, but as far as I’m aware there’s been no one for years.
I guess there’s not many eligible types round here who aren’t married. She’ll have to look further afield.’
Ralph cleared his throat. ‘We must get going,’ he said, sounding slightly desperate.
Edie apologised. ‘We need something for supper,’ she told April. ‘Any suggestions? It can’t be too complicated.’
April thought for a moment. ‘What about keftedes – Greek meatballs.’
She pointed to the meat section in one of the refrigerators.
‘All you need is some ground beef or lamb, fresh mint, chopped onion, garlic, an egg, salt and pepper and breadcrumbs. Mix them all together, make them into little balls and fry them in olive oil. They only take about fifteen minutes. You can have them with tzatziki – I’ve got some here – and a squeeze of lemon juice.
I’d serve them with pitta and a Greek salad. They’re delicious and dead easy.’
Edie glanced at Ralph, who nodded and said, ‘Sounds perfect.’
‘Mac?’ Edie prompted, because he hadn’t spoken and clearly wasn’t paying attention.
‘Oh, yes, anything. Great.’
She looked at him properly, because he sounded far away, and his appearance shook her. He seemed lost and sort of shrunken, all his anger and bluster gone.
‘You all right?’ she asked, experiencing an unexpected wave of sympathy.
‘Yes, fine, well…’ He swallowed. ‘You know, ish .’
She gave his arm a squeeze. ‘It’ll be all right, you’ll see.’ She wasn’t sure she believed it, though.
Hannah breezed in as they were paying for the food and offered her bank card.
‘It’s OK, Ralph and I have got this,’ Edie told her.
On the way back, Hannah made a point of staying close to Mac. She even took his hand at one point. Edie, behind them, wondered if he’d shake her off, but he didn’t.
In fact, there seemed to be a new spring in his step, as if his wife’s tender gesture had breathed new energy into his limbs and feet, which were landing on the ground more lightly.
Supper turned out to be a jolly affair. The wine flowed and moods were high. Ralph left the meatballs on for too long and they were rather burned, but no one cared.
Looking round the laughing faces in the candlelight, Edie felt her tension evaporating, like steam from a kettle. Perhaps Hannah and Ralph were OK and the holiday would be all right after all.
‘So, what’s the plan for tomorrow?’ she asked, when they all rose and started to clear up the plates and glasses.
Mac and Hannah exchanged glances.
‘I think we both fancy a chilled day here, right, Aitch?’ It was his pet name for her. Edie hadn’t heard him use it in a long while.
‘Definitely,’ Hannah replied, with an unmistakably cheeky grin.