Chapter 25
The port of Athens was waiting for us when we woke the following morning. The sun was shining in a cloudless blue sky, and I think we were both rather sad to realise that this was the end of our adventure together.
‘I wish we could go and explore Athens, but Radio Wonderful booked us on an earlier flight home that means we don’t have time,’ I said.
We were sitting up in bed with tea that Alfred had brought us in his usual discreet and silent style, and we were finishing off the cookies from the dwindling supply in the kitchenette area.
‘Well, I guess Athens has been there for thousands of years. We can always come back,’ Diana said.
‘We could,’ I said, suddenly more cheerful, ‘perhaps next year. Although I am hoping to persuade Eddy to do a bit of travelling. I’ve been researching it on my laptop. I have enough points from all my supermarket shops to pay for the airfares, and then we could rent a car and have a road trip. You could always come with us?’
Diana laughed. ‘I don’t need to be a spare wheel in your holidays. And anyway, I might have plans of my own.’
‘Such as?’
‘I’m going to Scotland very soon, and then again in December for the wedding. And – you know.’
‘No, I don’t know. What?’
She blushed rather attractively.
‘Rapha?l. He’s talking about coming to visit me, and who knows, I might go on another cruise.’
‘You mean with him?’
‘You’ll have to wait and see.’
‘You’ll get a smaller cabin if you do.’
‘I do know that, Jill.’
Goodness, that was a bit of a turn up for the books. I felt a bit annoyed with myself for not grilling Rapha?l a bit more. To find out what his intentions were towards my only sister, like some sort of Jane Austen mama.
‘I hope you’re being careful,’ I said at last.
Diana laughed. ‘I’m hardly going to get pregnant.’
‘Why? Have you… when? I thought you decided not to have sex with him? So, you just kissed him instead.’
‘Oh, well,’ Diana tried to look offhand.
My mouth dropped open. This was very unexpected. But then why shouldn’t she enjoy herself. They were both single, reasonably sensible adults.
‘I don’t know what to say.’
There were a few minutes silence then, broken by the sound of Diana munching biscotti. Her fillings must have been in good shape, I always dunked mine in my coffee first.
‘And?’ I said at last.
‘Don’t be so damned nosey. It was great. I enjoyed it,’ she said with a little smile. ‘He was very?—’
What? I wondered. Kind? Considerate? Athletic?
I don’t think I’d ever had a lover I would describe as athletic. It always conjured up an image of someone in running shorts and a sweatband. Like John McEnroe in the Seventies. These days they might also have an iPhone strapped to one arm to check their vital stats. Which would be very off-putting indeed. What if it beeped at an important moment to say the daily step target had been reached and to start cooling down?
‘…Enthusiastic,’ Diana said at last, ‘and so was I.’
‘You little devil,’ I said. ‘Go you! So, when and where did this enthusiastic behaviour take place?’
Diana looked at her watch. ‘I’m not going to talk about it. It’s eight thirty, we should get dressed so we can meet up with Evelyn for our last breakfast together.’
‘You know you aren’t going to get away with that, don’t you?’ I said. ‘I’ll get it out of you if I need to use wine, or the threat of violence.’
Diana just laughed. And then she went to the door and picked something up off the floor.
‘Ah,’ she said, ‘this is what I warned you about. This is the moment of truth. It’s our bar bill.’
After paying our bar bill and marvelling that it was such a considerable sum, we made our way to the Bizet restaurant which was surprisingly almost empty that morning. Because we were in a suite on the eleventh floor, we didn’t have to get off the ship too early. And the buses to take us to the airport were also going to be later than the ones going on the excursions.
We found Evelyn sitting at what we had come to think of as ‘our’ table, drinking tea, pulling a croissant apart and staring out of the window. There were the usual cranes and trucks out there, plus the concrete buildings we had come to expect.
Behind us was the distant bustle of people sorting out their luggage and preparing to leave the ship. It really did feel like the end of something.
‘The busiest port in Europe, so they say,’ Evelyn said as we sat down. ‘Carlos told me they deal with twenty million passengers every year.’
‘Didn’t you want to go off on an excursion?’ I asked. ‘After all, you’re not leaving the ship today.’
‘I’ve seen Athens many times, I thought it would be nice to have a quiet day for a change. My new hip has been playing me up a bit, and I think my poor ankle needs a rest, too. I seem to have been racing about all this week.’
‘That’s our fault,’ Diana said, ‘sorry if we made you do too much.’
‘Nonsense. I’ve enjoyed it. But now you are leaving, I need to boldly go and find new people to talk to, on my way to Dubai and beyond. I hope they will be as amusing as you two have been.’
I felt a bit doubtful then, and slightly concerned, as though we had been the comedy turn for Evelyn’s week. Perhaps we had. Still, we had not sat on our balcony muffled up in blankets complaining about the bacon being the wrong sort or the shower pressure being too low as had other people I had eavesdropped on.
‘At least this way you don’t have to rush to get the earlier shuttle to the Acropolis tour. You’ll have time for a leisurely breakfast. And plane food isn’t what it was, even if it is free,’ Evelyn said.
‘We would have to pay for food on our airline,’ I said, ‘and even then, it would probably be some horrible, microwaved thing.’
Her eyebrows raised. ‘Really? Things have changed. I can remember when Wendy was working on long flights, they used to carve joints of meat in the aisles and wear white, cotton gloves too.’
‘I think it’s disposable vinyl ones now,’ Diana said.
We ordered our breakfast and sat in quiet reflection for a while. Outside, far below us, we could see the piles of suitcases being loaded onto shuttle buses and queues of people waiting to be told where to go. It was quite an organisational feat, and this was just one lot of passengers from one ship.
Evelyn opened her handbag and pulled out a little silver case.
‘Here’s my card,’ she said, pushing one across the table, ‘so we can keep in touch. Even if it’s just a note at Christmas. I’ve so enjoyed meeting you both. You’ve cheered me up no end.’
The possibility that we had indeed been like an unexpected entertainment grew, and I felt rather embarrassed.
‘I hope we haven’t been too hard going,’ I said at last.
‘Oh, goodness no. Once, in the Baltic, I spent some time in the company of a couple who did nothing but complain about everything from the lighting in their cabin to the comfort of the dining-room chairs. Very tiresome. You two have been such fun. Always something interesting to talk about. And missing the ship altogether was quite an experience, I’ve often wondered how that was possible and what I would do if I did. All’s well that ends well. Life often turns out like that, I find. It may not feel like it at the time, but people can be so kind, I don’t think we realise that sometimes.’
‘I envy you a bit, staying on,’ Diana said suddenly, ‘although I’ve been on so many ships and seen so many places, I can honestly say this trip has been the most fun out of all of them. And considering how many I have been on, that’s a bit of a shock. It’s been like, well, a proper holiday, rather than work.’
‘So, what will you do next?’ Evelyn asked.
‘I realised I’ve never explored my own country. And people come from all over the world to visit it. I’m going to Scotland to see Sam, and I’ll enjoy that, but I want to see places like Canterbury, and Hever Castle, perhaps the Norfolk Broads?—’
‘Very flat, Norfolk,’ I said in my best No?l Coward voice.
‘And Cornwall; I’ve always loved Daphne du Maurier. And the Lake District. That sort of thing. And I really might just write that book, even if it’s just for my own entertainment.’
‘Good idea,’ Evelyn said.
‘So you’re not going to travel so far, but I am going to do the exact opposite,’ I said. ‘I am determined to explore a bit more of the world with Eddy.’
As I said it, I felt really excited at the prospect. And America was a great place to start. I’d already done some research on my laptop and the visitor centres looked incredible. Particularly the one in Gettysburg. Eddy would love that.
‘Brilliant idea,’ Diana said, ‘I’ve told you so often there are wonderful places to see.’
‘And now I can see you are right,’ I said, ‘and if I tell Eddy he needs a spreadsheet, he’ll be thrilled.’
I suddenly had a vision of Eddy, sitting at the computer at the end of the dining room table, tapping away at the keyboard, his hair sticking up as he ran his hands through it as he always did when he was excited. And I felt a warm glow of affection for him, I couldn’t wait to see him again, it felt as though we had been apart for a very long time. I had seen so many great things on this trip, and the only thing that would have made it even better was if he had been here too.
There was a bit of a pause in the conversation then as the waiters came to our table with some luscious-looking Eggs Benedict, the hollandaise sauce gleaming in the lights from the chandelier above us, a tiny sprig of coriander placed carefully on the top of each perfectly poached egg. My breakfasts from now on wouldn’t be nearly so exciting.
Diana picked up her cutlery and then paused.
‘You know, this holiday has been the end of something for me, and perhaps the beginning of something. I still have life left in me. I don’t have to spend the next years feeling as though nothing can change, that I’ve done everything I’m going to do. I miss Casper, of course I do, I think I always will. I loved him very much and we did have a great life together. It will be difficult moving on without him. But perhaps I’m not quite done yet.’
Evelyn nodded. ‘I remember when Douglas died, a friend wrote something in a card, something I’ve never forgotten and that I’ve kept close to my heart ever since: “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”Lovely, isn’t it?’
We spent the rest of our time chatting about inconsequential things, laughing about the time we had spent together, and then it was time to leave, so we could go back to our cabin for the last time and pick up our belongings.
We got as far as the grand staircase with the dizzying view down to the main hallway, the marble floors and the huge glass light fitting, and there was Rapha?l, waiting for us.
‘One last picture, ladies,’ he said, ‘and then I will leave you in peace.’
I snuck a look at my sister and then back at him and could see there was definitely something between them. Something rather lovely. And then my brain drifted off to wondering about them sharing some ‘enthusiastic’ time together, and I mentally slapped myself and made myself think about something else. I’d been there for my sister through puberty and school and exams and her wedding and pregnancy but pondering on her sex life was something very out of bounds.
He posed the three of us together and took a few shots, and then he did individual pictures. Did he spend more time on my sister? Yes, of course he did.
‘I wish you a pleasant and safe trip home,’ he said at last, and he gave Diana that twinkly look, which showed that this was far from the end of things, and I was glad for her. If anyone deserved a nice, kind, enthusiastic man in her life, then Diana did.
I caught hold of his arm as he turned to leave.
‘You’d better be good to her, or twinkly and charming or not, you’ll answer to me,’ I muttered, rather astonished at my own outspokenness.
He gave me a little nod. ‘Of course, madame.’
‘Yes. Well. I’m just saying.’
Down below us on the quayside we could see the coach which was to take us to the airport. It was one of those huge white ones, with enormous wing mirrors that looked like ears, and the tireless crew members were shunting all our luggage into the caverns beneath it.
Rather subdued, we waited to be called forward.
‘This is it then,’ I said, ‘we’re off home again. It feels like it’s been ages, doesn’t it? We’ve had quite an adventure.’
‘In more ways than one,’ Diana agreed.
‘You know you’re going to tell me eventually,’ I said.
‘And maybe I won’t,’ she said with a little smirk. ‘I hope Colin will be there to meet us when we get back to Heathrow.’
‘Or Craig,’ I said, and Diana giggled.
The plane was only ten minutes late leaving Athens, and I looked out of the window rather wistfully as we soared into the blue sky. Over buildings, roads and houses filled with Greek people getting on with their lives. And then distant mountains and the vibrant blue of the Mediterranean far below us now, when once it had been so close. It had taken us ten days to get there and would take only four hours to get back.
I wondered how Eddy had got on with the new patio. Had he finished it and was he happy with what he had achieved? Was he even then hastily clearing away piles of beer cans and fast-food containers? Had he missed me as I had missed him?
I felt a little leap of excitement inside at the thought of seeing him again. Somehow it seemed a very long time since I had seen him. And perhaps that was true in every sense of the word. Perhaps he had just become a fixture, someone who was always there without me actually seeing him. That would have to change – after decades of work, both of us deserved more than that.
‘I wonder how Evelyn is getting on,’ Diana said. ‘I hope she finds someone fun to talk to.’
‘I’m sure she will,’ I said, ‘after all, she found us. And perhaps Evelyn makes her own fun. That’s what we should do.’
We landed at Heathrow in the early afternoon and of course it was raining. The cloud cover dense over London, hiding the views until the last minute. And then there were more buildings and houses and people, and then we landed.
We made our way through security, me with the usual feeling that I was going to be stopped and searched, but nothing happened and then we trundled our bags to the exit, both wondering if Colin/Craig would be there, and if he was, would we recognise him.
We needn’t have worried. As we came through the arrivals gate, there was someone holding a huge balloon with Welcome Home written on it, and it wasn’t Colin/Craig at all. It was Eddy.
‘What are you doing here?’ I gasped.
Eddy grinned. ‘Well, I thought it might be fun to give you a surprise. I got in touch with the radio station and told them I’d be collecting you, and not to bother with the driver. They want to interview you both by the way, so get your stories straight. Had a good time?’
‘Yes, I’ve got such a lot to tell you,’ I said, and then I burst into tears.
‘Come here, you daft bat,’ he said, grinning the same smile he always did.
Eddy hugged me, and the helium balloon slipped out of his grasp and floated up to the high ceiling where I expect it stayed for quite a while. I liked the thought of it being there, like a marker for the day when I started my life again.
Standing in his arms felt marvellous. The roughness of his tweed jacket under my hands, the same scent of soap and sandalwood aftershave. And at the moment, I really did feel as though I had come home.