Chapter 12
I was a bit on edge after that, wondering why our paths kept crossing and why even despite a certain unease that I felt, I rather liked him.
Harriet and Anna of course wanted a whispered blow-by-blow account of what he had said and what I had said, which was embarrassing when the man in question was only sitting four rows in front of us.
For a while it was almost like being back on the train going to school, when the three of us would huddle together discussing the spotty boys from the grammar school in the next compartment and giggling about who had looked at whom and the time one of the sixth formers had asked fourteen-year-old Anna out on a date.
Meanwhile, the train left the suburbs of Ventimiglia and headed out along the coast towards the Italian border and Milan.
It was a glorious day, the sky clear and blue through the train windows, which, unlike in England, had been washed and were not smeared with rain and mud.
There were delicious views across the shining sea and enticing-looking little bays where the sand was golden and smooth.
Occasionally we saw stony breakwaters reaching out into the water, palm trees and apartment blocks with washing strung along the balconies.
Roads filled with cars driving on the wrong side, a helicopter heading out towards an island, a marina filled with tightly packed boats, glistening in the sunshine.
The seat was surprisingly comfortable and the carriage only about half full, so after a while I went to stretch my legs and find the loo.
Beyond that was a sort of bar, and an open area with a few high lime-green stools set up against the windows.
There was the usual delicious aroma of coffee and a glass cabinet filled with unexpectedly fine-looking pastries and filled rolls.
We were going to be on the train for over three hours; perhaps this would be a good place to while away some time?
I decided I would go back to my seat and get Anna and Harriet to come back with me and then I could treat us all to coffee and a crispy, sugar-dusted cannolo.
‘So tell me what you really are doing,’ said a voice, and I turned to see Jack Fisher standing a little way away from me.
Annoyingly I could feel myself blushing.
‘I’m not doing anything,’ I said indignantly.
He smiled and the dimple flashed for a moment, rather distractingly.
‘You sound very guilty. Not planning some international espionage?’
‘No, I’m not. Not at the moment. I tend to take the mornings off.’
‘Okay, let’s have coffee, shall we? My treat. And then we can find out why our paths keep crossing against all expectations.’
It was on the tip of my tongue to refuse and explain I needed to go and get my friends, but then at the last moment I didn’t.
Perhaps it was because I had managed to remove the tags from my new dress without tearing the material; maybe it was the fact that I liked his dark eyes and the humour I saw in them.
‘Okay,’ I said instead, ‘that would be lovely.’
Within a few minutes we were sitting on the stools drinking excellent coffee and facing the beautiful view of the Mediterranean, which was whizzing past below the railway tracks.
Jack had brought two of the cannoli I had been eyeing up, and he brought them to the narrow bar in front of us on rather insubstantial paper plates.
They were smothered in powdered sugar too, which meant eating them was not a very elegant affair.
Ordinarily I would have snarfed mine up in a few bites, but because he was there I had to be rather more careful, and instead I took polite little nibbles, hoping there was not too much sugar on my face.
‘I’m a journalist,’ Jack explained at last, ‘and now I write freelance for travel magazines and papers. And I’ve been asked to do this journey for an article.
The train service along this route has been recently upgraded, and I’ve been contracted to write a feature about it.
So there’s no mystery about why I am here. Now, what about you?’
I dabbed at the powdered sugar on my face and took a sip of coffee.
‘My friends and I are sort of – well, the two of them went Interrailing many years ago, and I wasn’t allowed go with them because my father wouldn’t let me.
I had to go and work in the bank, he said – oh, never mind.
Anyway, Anna, she’s the one with the red sweatshirt, said now we are all retired, why don’t we do it again.
And Harriet, the one with the spiky grey hair, wasn’t keen at first, but then she said yes, and really it’s been a bit much for her because of her knee operation.
And anyway, never mind about that either.
We are on our way to Milan, obviously, and then we are going to Venice. ’
He nodded. ‘And how are you enjoying it? So far I mean. I would be interested to know. It might give me some valuable insight.’
I thought about this, wondering what to say, because, yes, there were bits I was enjoying but also bits I wasn’t.
‘Of course I’m loving it,’ I said at last, because anything else would have been an admission of failure.
‘I think we could have done with some more lifts or escalators at the railway stations, rather than having to heave our cases about or rely on strangers helping us. The sleeper train was fine, although as you know, I had a bit of a mishap.’
He laughed. ‘As long as you were okay, that’s all that matters.’
‘And we had a bit of a mix-up with the hotel in Nice, which is why we ended up doing that awful karaoke because there was a discount on the hotel room. That was Anna’s idea. I hope your eardrums have recovered?’
‘I thought it was terrific,’ he said, ‘and of course everyone loved it.’
‘We won a trophy,’ I said, ‘although we will have to share it between the three of us.’
‘Very unfair,’ he said firmly. ‘I thought you were tremendous, you deserve one each.’
I laughed. ‘I haven’t won anything since I was fifteen and won the school essay prize. And that was only a book token.’
‘How predictable,’ he said. ‘You should have had a flashy silver cup to put on your mantlepiece.’
‘Chance would be a fine thing! So what are you doing when you get to Venice? Will you stay at a posh hotel and drift around the canals singing “O Sole Mio”?’
‘I might if I had the time,’ he said. ‘I like the sound of that, I must say.’
‘You mean you’re going somewhere else first? To be honest, I don’t think I want to get on another train for a long time after this.’
‘No, I am going to have a week on a ship. The Atalanta has been taken over by a new company and been completely refitted. I’m going to be like a secret shopper, finding out how efficient they are and what the food is like.
These smaller boats are coming into their own, now that the large ships are banned from the middle of Venice.
My job, hard as it sounds, is to check it out and report back. ’
‘You’re not going down the Dalmatian coast, are you?’ I said, feeling a bit peculiar.
He nodded. ‘Yes, I am actually. I’m looking forward to it a great deal. It’s a beautiful part of the world.’
‘Leaving late this evening?’
‘Yes. Why, do you know it?’
‘We will be on it,’ I said faintly. ‘Looks like we’re not getting away from each other any time soon. Your employer could have saved themselves the trouble and the expense and just asked one of us to write the piece.’
He finished his coffee and shook his head slowly.
‘That’s great. I’m sure we will have fun. If I didn’t know better I would think some strange force was at work.’
‘Strange indeed,’ I said.
We chatted quite easily after that. He told me about some of the places he had been during his career, how he had taken some time out for unnamed personal reasons a few years back.
The changes he had seen, the advent of massive planes and ships.
The unending search for new, unspoiled places which people seemed determined to spoil when they got there.
We made each other laugh, which was unexpected.
After a while I realised that the other two would be wondering where I was and without doubt coming to find me if I stayed away for much longer. I shoved the last bit of my cannoli into my mouth and slid down from my perch.
‘Thank you for the coffee. I’ll be seeing you, I expect,’ I said.
‘No doubt about it, Lizzie,’ he said with a rather disarming twinkle.
That made me feel rather odd. He seemed far too charismatic. I wasn’t used to men twinkling at me. He was much too confident and sure of himself. Years ago, it would have been Anna who caught his attention and yet she hadn’t.
I might be a bit battered around the edges, but I suddenly remembered all those funny little signals that showed when a man was interested.
It hadn’t happened for a long time to me because, after all, I was in my sixties and past all that sort of nonsense, wasn’t I?
But once I remembered, the signs were unmistakeable.
That little silence, the turn of a head, a look exchanged.
This was a bit of a turn up. And I had to admit to myself, I felt rather pleased.
I knew this boat we were going on was small compared to some of the massive cruise ships that were ploughing around the Mediterranean, and he would be there too. Which was unexpected.
On a big cruise ship, it might have been fine, but on the Atalanta there would be less chance of escaping him and his charm. But on the other hand, perhaps I didn’t want to. Maybe it would be interesting to hear some of his travellers tales, to find out more about him.
He had mentioned a granddaughter who had bought him Mickey Mouse socks, the fact that he didn’t have a wife. So, what had happened to her, I wondered.
He had been interested but not intrusive with me; he hadn’t really asked me anything much other than the most basic details. Perhaps he wasn’t that bothered after all. Maybe he was just being polite, and it was just a man thing.
Even when my son had been going through his legal separation with Stephanie, he had failed to ask his solicitor the most rudimentary facts and never seemed to know anything about what Stephanie and her new, rather flashy boyfriend were up to.
Except that Gary was a Sheffield Wednesday supporter and therefore beneath contempt.
As I made my way back to my seat I thought about Jack.
There was no doubt he was attractive and easy to talk to; perhaps that was because of his line of work.
He seemed interested in people and their experiences.
Yes, that was why he had struck up a conversation with me.
He was gathering information for his article.
Maybe we would get a mention when it was eventually published, as three slightly comical walk-on characters who cropped up unexpectedly and made fools of themselves.
Oh heavens, he had taken pictures of us singing at the karaoke evening.
That wouldn’t be good. I wondered if it might be possible to persuade him not to use it.
I got back to my seat to find Anna reading a book on her Kindle, and Harriet asleep with her mouth open, her head pillowed on her coat up against the window.
‘Where have you been?’ Anna whispered.
I watched as Jack returned to his seat four rows behind her and I smiled.
‘No where. Just exploring.’
‘It’s a train, Lizzie. There’s nowhere to explore,’ she said.
‘There’s a little bar-café thing further up that way. I had a coffee.’
She gave me a knowing look. ‘You’ve been gone for forty-five minutes. Were they roasting and grinding the beans?’
I laughed. ‘No, while I was there I met up with the hit man-stalker chap and we had a nice chat, and a cannoli. Name’s Jack Fisher.’
‘That’s a funny name for a cannoli.’
‘Very droll. He’s a freelance journalist. He’s been commissioned to write a piece on this journey, which is why we keep running into him.
You know what it’s like when you go to the supermarket and you see your neighbour as you go in, and then you pass them at least once in every aisle after that and you have to nod and smile and say something every time. Well, it’s a bit like that.’
Anna chuckled. ‘It’s nothing like that.’
For some reason I held back the knowledge that he was also going to be on the train to Venice. And neither did I mention that he would be on the boat with us next week. It all seemed a bit too much information, and knowing Anna it would just set her off imagining all sorts of things.
‘Is Harriet okay?’ I asked, nodding towards her.
‘I think so, just a bit worn out,’ Anna said, ‘I do feel awful. I’ve been thinking about what you said and much as I would like to argue, I can see you’re right. Now, where is this café? I quite fancy a coffee.’
She stood up, took her purse and went off down the corridor.
I went to sit in her seat next to the window where I could still see glimpses of the sea as we raced along the coast towards Genoa.
We were in Italy now, the country of the Renaissance, fabulous food and beautiful scenery.
We were going to have a peaceful week cruising down the Croatian coastline; I suddenly felt a new little leap of enthusiasm at the prospect.
Another message from Ben arrived.
Ben
I went back to see Jenna (that’s the vet) and she gave the kittens a good check-up. She’s really nice. Mrs Fluffy is a bit underweight and Darth has an eye infection so I’ve got some stuff. I have to take them back tomorrow.
Me
Gosh how much did that cost?
Ben
Nothing, she said I was a good Samaritan, so she didn’t charge me.
To me this sounded rather promising. Was my trip away also facilitating a fledgling romance? How marvellous if it was.