Chapter 28
The following morning, we were due to leave Rab at seven o’clock, and bang on time the engines fired into life and we were off again.
We would reach Krk around midday and some of us had signed up for a wine tasting at a local winery, something that everyone seemed to be pleased about, except Dawn of course, who was very vocal about how far too much wine had been consumed on this trip already, and the captain was just enabling everyone towards cirrhosis and an early grave.
Krk was to be our last stop before we returned to Opatija and the coach transfer to the airport, so everyone was determined to enjoy themselves.
We arrived at a beautiful harbour where ranks of hotels and cafés looked out over a clear sea. Our tour guide was waiting for us on the quayside, this time another attractive brunette lady who greeted captain Rocco with a warm hug and double cheek kisses.
We couldn’t help it; we all looked back towards the ship to see if Anjelica was around to see this, and of course she was.
She was standing on the top deck, leaning over the rail with an expression that would have curdled milk.
She began berating her husband in fluent something that happily none of us understood, and the pair sprang apart.
‘This is your tour guide for the next part of our trip. Her name is Lola,’ Rocco said.
‘She wore a diamond,’ Don sang, and quite a lot of people sniggered.
This was too much for Anjelica and she flounced her way down the stairs, shouting all the way, eventually coming out onto the dock and making her way purposefully towards her husband and the hapless Lola, who went to hide behind a lamppost.
‘I see what you are doing. What you have been doing. Now it is all clear to me. Koji ti je kurac? What is wrong with you? Who is this woman? Now I know why you kept me at home all that time. You are—’
She looked around and saw us all watching, some of us open-mouthed.
‘—ti si obi?na kanta!’
There was an audible intake of breath, and Ivan, who had been placidly coiling a rope around a bollard, interrupted.
‘She called him a total bucket,’ he said apologetically. ‘She is upset.’
‘Neka ti je sram! ?upak!’ Anjelica screamed.
‘I don’t translate that one,’ Ivan said. ‘Very rude.’
Rocco corralled his furious wife back towards the ship and just as efficiently, Lola hurried to chivvy us in the other direction. And very smoothly she started her talk.
‘Krk is the largest island in the Adriatic, although it is now connected to the mainland by a bridge. Today the sea is very calm, but later in the year the Bora winds may cause very rough conditions, so you are lucky people. I am going to show you St Mary’s cathedral where you will see the traditional chequerboard pattern in stone above the door and in the porch.
Some people like to say this symbol was chosen for Croatia because a Croatian king won the country by beating the Pope at chess three times.
I am not sure this is true but it makes a nice story.
There are some beautiful streets, some of them very narrow.
Around this first corner, through one of the last remaining original gates to the city, there is a medieval tower with an unusual twenty-four-hour dial on the clock. ’
‘I wonder what’s happening back there?’ Harriet said, looking over her shoulder as though Anjelica might suddenly appear.
‘Awful, isn’t it,’ Anna said, although her eyes were sparkling with amusement.
‘And as we pass the cathedral, which may date back to the fourth century, you can see the statue of an angel which is also a weathervane. This was originally copper over a wooden frame, but replaced by a plastic one quite recently… in the 1970s.’
‘Seems a shame,’ I said. ‘I suppose it’s cheaper and will last longer. But even so—’
‘Another beautiful town,’ Jack said just behind me, and as if by magic Harriet and Anna faded away from my side to ostensibly look at some stone carvings.
‘Isn’t it?’ I said. ‘Another place I would like to come back and explore properly.’
We stopped for a few minutes so he could take a few pictures and dictate some thoughts into his phone.
‘I wish I knew more about the history,’ I said. ‘This seems to be a place where many people have fought to decide who ruled here.’
‘I have a book you could borrow,’ he said, ‘if you wanted to.’
It was then we realised that Lola wasn’t hanging about and had already moved on to the next thing, taking the group with her. It seemed impossible that fifteen people had magically vanished but they had, and in the maze of narrow streets, who could tell where she had taken them?
‘And now I have no idea which way to go, or even how to get back to the boat,’ I said. ‘I have a terrible sense of direction.’
‘The path of flat stones laid down the middle of the street will help,’ he said, ‘and I have a great sense of direction. Stick with me, kid.’
‘We might have learned more if we had kept up with the tour group,’ I said after a few minutes.
Jack looked apologetic. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.’
‘You’ve been distracting me quite a bit,’ I said.
‘Have I? Oh, good.’ He grinned and yet again, he reached out his hand towards me, and I took it, enjoying the feeling.
* * *
I was beginning to wonder if we actually were becoming an item. That was something Ben said, when he had been floating between girlfriends over the years. What had we called it back in the day? Dating? Going out? A couple? Going steady?
Well, this didn’t seem steady at all. I’d only known this man for a few days and already he seemed to be featuring in my thoughts rather too much.
I was aware that I kept looking out for him; I was hoping he was doing the same for me.
And he did seem to be. But how did anyone know when simple curiosity turned into something deeper?
In my younger days, boys had asked me out. Asked if I wanted to go to the pictures, if I wanted to meet up again. And on one cringe-inducing occasion in the local park, Leo Webber had asked would I mind if he kissed me. And I did mind, because at fourteen the whole thing was so embarrassing.
But now, with the benefit of wisdom, surely I should know more, and be better at reading the situation. I was rather surprised to realise I didn’t. Even in my sixties, the mysteries of new relationships were a thing cloaked in doubt and confusion.
‘You are going home tomorrow,’ he said after a few minutes. ‘I’d like to stay in touch.’
It was more of a statement than a question.
‘But only if that’s okay with you,’ he added.
I liked that; it showed me that perhaps he too was unfamiliar with this sort of situation, that he didn’t assume he had the upper hand. That if we saw each other again it would be a joint decision.
We came out of a narrow lane into a beautiful open square where a fountain splashed in the sunshine, and I turned to him.
‘I’d like that very much,’ I said, and he put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a little hug.
And I couldn’t help myself; my heart soared and for a moment we just stood and looked at each other.
And I wanted to say something funny or memorable, but I couldn’t think of anything.
Wow.
* * *
We had lunch together after being monumentally indecisive about which restaurant to visit, until eventually I flipped a coin and we chose a place in the shade of a tower where there were some tables and chairs set out under a red canopy.
We shared a sandwich and drank iced water and talked some more. Things about both of us, our lives and our plans. And it was lovely, both to listen and be listened to.
I wasn’t just the flotsam of a failed marriage, an ex-wife, a mother, someone’s work colleague or friend.
I was also me in my own right. With ideas and preferences of my own which were just as valuable as anyone else’s.
And that made a change. For a moment I could almost imagine I was sitting up a little straighter, walking a little taller than I had.
Perhaps the way people always seemed to want more from life wasn’t necessarily the way to live.
A bigger television, a newer car, outward signs of success.
After all, I had a home, my health, people who liked me and would miss me if I wasn’t there.
My life would probably never be perfect, but did it need to be?
Could I be content with small kindnesses and not look for grand gestures? Could I be comfortable within myself?
At last he looked at his watch.
‘I’m afraid we have played truant for long enough. If we are going to go on the last tour we need to go back to the boat and meet up with the group who have signed up for the wine tasting.’
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ I said, and I pulled out some euros from my bag to pay the bill, because by my reckoning, it was my turn.
And then we walked back along the harbourside where the sea was still the same ridiculous blue and the sun was bright in a clear sky, and I felt happier than I had for a very long time.
‘There you are at last,’ Evelyn said as we appeared round the last corner.
‘We were beginning to wonder. There is a short bus ride to the wine place; we have to walk over there to the car park. Bernardo is here to take us there. No sign of Anjelica; we came back early to see if she was driving holes into the side of the boat. Perhaps she has gone off to calm down?’
‘Let’s hope so,’ I said.
Bernardo clapped his hands for our attention.
‘We go now to the winery. Very fine indeed. Best of all wines. And a simple place which is good. I am very simple too, so I know about these things. We will leave momentarily.’
* * *
The wine tasting was in another small town with even narrower alleyways including one which was pointed out to us as the narrowest street in the world. I didn’t know if it was true or not but it certainly made us wonder once again how furniture or delivery men managed in such a place.