Chapter 22 #2
We wandered along the harbour front, marvelling at the many flavours and colours of ice cream available in the little stands, enjoying the peaceful sight of the boats bobbing in the water.
Eventually we reached a little piazza where there were geometric shapes marked out in pebbles on the ground, and several smaller streets leading off further into the town.
The beauty of it was there was little or no traffic and we strolled happily for an hour or so, looking at the shops, buying little bottles of olive oil for which the place was famous and trying to decide where to take a break.
‘Oh,’ Anna said suddenly, ‘look who I’ve spotted!’
It was Jack of course, sitting at one of the waterside cafés with coffee, a glass of iced water and his notebook.
‘Shall we join him?’ Harriet said.
‘Please, let’s not,’ I said.
Marjorie’s words of warning were still foremost in my memory.
Shipboard romances never come to anything.
I might have been enjoying his company, might have found him attractive, but I didn’t want to waste my time in silly, idle flirtation that would eventually lead nowhere.
Was it possible to simply talk to a man, make friends with him, spend time in his company and know that neither of us wanted any more than that?
And if that was how he felt too, how did that make me feel? Relieved or disappointed?
But he’d already kissed me; I gave a little smile.
And I rather hoped he would kiss me again. There were other things that went with new relationships too, weren’t there? I didn’t think I minded the thought of that either. And that was amazing as far as I was concerned.
After the first few years of being in love and then newly married, and I suppose being committed to each other, the cleaving only unto him part of it, marital affection with Fred had become both predictable and infrequent. I wasn’t entirely convinced it had been satisfactory for either of us.
Perhaps this holiday and this meeting had shown me that older people could be just as loving, equally as passionate as young people. That was interesting.
‘Ahoy there, shipmate,’ Anna called, waving at Jack.
I felt my face burn with embarrassment, but when he looked up he smiled quite naturally and everything felt okay again. It wasn’t going to be awkward.
We did a bit of fussing about with chairs and who wanted to be sitting in the shade and who didn’t mind the sun, and then Jack called the waiter over and we ordered coffee. He ordered a second cup too, so he evidently didn’t see any need to rush away.
‘Beautiful place,’ Anna said. ‘I can’t get over how clean everything is, no litter, no graffiti at all.’
‘Isn’t it?’ he agreed. ‘I wish we had longer here.’
We carried on sipping our coffee and talking about the scenery, the food, the holiday, and for a while it was all very pleasant and peaceful.
‘Golly, I’ve just remembered something,’ Anna said, her eyes wide with alarm.
‘What?’ I said, somehow knowing where she was going with this.
Anna turned to Harriet. ‘That thing we were supposed to be filling in. That official form about the thing.’
Harriet frowned and looked blank for a moment and then her face cleared.
‘Oh, that thing. Yes, I meant to do that last night and, I don’t know, time just went by so fast what with the singing and everything.’
‘What thing?’ I said again. ‘Do I have to do it too?’
Anna drained her cup and stood up. And then she put some euros on the table.
‘I’ll explain later. Come on, Harriet, otherwise, you know—’
‘We’ll be in trouble with Rocco.’
‘Exactly,’ Anna said. ‘We won’t be long, we’ll catch up with you later.’
And just like that they left, hurrying away along the harbour and apparently back towards the boat.
‘What was all that about?’ Jack said.
‘Heaven knows,’ I replied with a sigh.
‘I think they were trying and failing to be subtle,’ he said.
I didn’t reply because I was so embarrassed.
‘Shall we take a walk around?’ he said at last. ‘I’d like to see the monastery, and the city gate.’
‘Aren’t we supposed to be going to see all that this afternoon?’
‘I’ve done some research, and I have some notes on my iPad. I think I’d prefer to see them with you rather than with thirty other people.’
I’d prefer to see them with you.
‘Yes,’ I said at last, feeling very happy, ‘that would be marvellous.’
We sat and finished our coffee. I was feeling quite calm and yet slightly jittery at the same time. Perhaps it was the caffeine, and perhaps it wasn’t.
* * *
After a while we decided to make a move and after a brief polite discussion, I paid the bill, saying it was surely my turn, and he nodded and didn’t make a fuss.
Then of course I started to wonder if we were slowly getting to the place where he would want to pay for the next thing.
Maybe even lunch which would cost far more than a simple coffee, and then it would feel like we were a couple and it might get awkward.
And then I realised I was doing what I always had done and was overthinking everything. If he wanted to buy me lunch later, why should that bother me?
We walked slowly up through the narrow streets away from the harbour, where the rows of old houses crowded in on each other and the shade from the midday sun was welcome.
Every so often there was a glimpse of a garden through some railings or an open door.
There were flowers spilling out from cracks in the walls and over fences and in terracotta pots that lined the simple steps up to sun-bleached front doors.
Unusual colours and shapes, olive trees and twisted black oaks, tumbling sage and rosemary bushes that released their scent as we passed.
Butterflies dodging from flower to flower among the bougainvillea.
And the further away from the harbour we walked, the simpler the streets became.
At last, we stopped, in front of us a round tower which looked almost like a chess piece.
‘The last watchtower, built by the Venetians,’ Jack said. ‘There used to be others, but I think the stone was taken away to build other things. Feel up to a little climb? There should be a great view.’
I agreed I was, and he paid the small entry fee. Once at the top, I turned away, leaning on the guard rail for a few minutes, pretending to be overawed by the outlook, but in fact trying to disguise how out of breath I was, and then I gazed down at the wonderful view of the town.
A patchwork of terracotta roofs stretched away below us and the sparkling sea beyond.
‘A good vantage point,’ he said. ‘People always like to be high up, don’t they? To keep watch for invaders or maybe just to enjoy the sight.’
‘It’s glorious,’ I agreed, ‘so tranquil, away from everyone and everything. Perhaps that’s another reason?’
‘Do you like that?’ he said. ‘So do I. It can be so much easier to be on your own sometimes. To have time to take things in. I think that’s perhaps one thing I’m not so sure about, being on the boat with a lot of other people, constantly hearing the same stories of why they are here, the delays they had with their travel, what their cabin is like, what they think of the food.
Never really getting to know them. And by the way, you are not the only one who has had problems with the water temperature in the shower. ’
‘I have people I do know with me,’ I said, ‘so I’m lucky.’
‘And yet for some reason they are at pains to scurry off and leave you,’ he said, smiling.
‘They think you and I are…’ I tailed off, not quite knowing what to say.
‘A thing? And of course we aren’t,’ he said with a comical look.
I grinned back at him, thrilled that he had understood the situation and neither of us were bothered what other people were assuming.
‘Absolutely not,’ I agreed, and he laughed.
‘Good, glad we cleared that up,’ he said.
He took my hand as we walked back along the road, quite naturally, as though perhaps we were indeed ‘a thing’.
And I realised I had a foolish smile on my face, that I was happy, and occasionally he looked down at me to see if I was all right, and then he smiled too, and I felt a new and unexpected contentment begin to grow in me.
We carried on along the road until we reached an unassuming building with a modern-looking statue outside.
Inside, we could just see into the church, and then we walked around the stone cloisters, enjoying the shade and the scent of the old stone mingled with herbs that grew in the garden.
There were pomegranate trees, tumbling roses and beautiful flowers everywhere.
It was quite magical. Jack told me some interesting things about the place, pointing out a very rare book in the little museum, and explaining the history of the place.
We carried on with our walk. The road was wider with more cars and an actual pavement, and then we turned left down an enticing-looking little alleyway, which brought us back down to the water and the walk beside the sea.
‘Let’s get lunch,’ he said. ‘It’s two thirty and that coffee was a long time ago. What do you think?’
Actually, I thought it was an excellent idea.
‘Only if we split the bill,’ I said, holding up an admonishing finger.
He gave a funny little bow. ‘Of course.’
We wandered along, finding each place looked more appealing than the last until eventually we settled on a place with an outside pergola.
It had plastic windows for when the weather was bad, but this afternoon they were tied back and we sat at a table with a lovely view out over the boats and the water.
A few minutes later a crocodile of familiar people walked past us, a young man at the head of the line holding up a stick with a red flag attached. Near the end of the line, I saw Anna and Harriet, and of course they saw us too. Anna gave an exaggerated thumbs-up sign and Harriet waved.