Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
R ebecca pushed open the shutters, allowing sunlight to stream into her room, and stood for a moment admiring the view, which after two weeks still hadn’t grown old.
Another beautiful day, with another pure blue sky.
It hadn’t taken long for her to fall in love with the open landscape where the pale fields bordered with orange groves ran right down to meet the sea on the horizon.
Now she had her bearings she knew that the buildings in the distance were the hotels of Vilamoura, which she had yet to visit.
She grabbed her towel and flip-flops and quietly closed her bedroom door because she now knew the family routine. Maria and Ana would already be in the kitchen over in the restaurant, while Cristina and Katerina would both still be sleeping, and Felipe… Her heart did a stupid little leap.
Maybe she’d see him today. He’d been away in Faro for the last two days and she found she’d missed their early morning swim together, but the pool was deserted when she arrived and she resolutely ignored the ping of disappointment in her chest.
She eased herself into the water, more used to the temperature now, and struck out with a lazy crawl, enjoying the shock of the cold embracing her skin.
The early morning sun rippled through the water and she lost herself to the sensation of weightlessness and freedom, letting her mind wander at will.
Ha! The irony, her mind always came back to Will.
She wondered what he was doing. Had he even noticed she was gone?
Did he miss her? Probably not. No one had mentioned his name in any of the friendship WhatsApp groups she was part of, although she suspected plenty was being said behind her back.
Was he still seeing the woman from the ball? Had it been a one-off?
She flipped onto her back and squinted up at the sky, letting herself float free for a while, deliberately focusing on the here and now. It was something she taught in class.
Be present.
Look at what you have.
What are you grateful for?
Time to practise what she preached. Her classes were going well, but they were very dependent on the guests.
Mrs Adams had made her husband come and they’d both been so effusive that a couple of other guests who were complete beginners had tried her class out.
But some days she only had one in the class.
It would have been nice if she could have recruited some regular clientele, but she was limited to guests.
She glanced around quickly, disappointment nudging at her because there was no sign of Felipe this morning.
Most mornings, they swam together before breakfast and she enjoyed his company.
He was easy to be with, maybe because she had brothers and was used to male company.
Plenty of people had accused her of being a tomboy, but seriously, what option had she had?
In her family, masculinity ruled and she’d never really questioned it.
Now, living in an almost entirely female household, she was starting to see things differently.
There was a splash next to her and a wave of water flooded over her. She lowered her feet to the floor and stood up as Felipe emerged from the water, pushing his hair from his face. Her eyes were drawn to his flexed biceps and the dark, tanned skin.
‘Morning,’ he chirped, as bright and cheerful as the house martins darting about the pool.
‘You idiot,’ she said with a laugh and immediately the world felt a bit lighter and brighter.
‘Couldn’t resist. You looked like a lazy mermaid.’ His dark eyes focused on hers, laughter flashing in them as he approached her, water running down his tanned chest. He leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. ‘Mmm, and who knew lazy mermaids tasted so good.’
She loved that he was always so alive. Even his body looked ready for action, although that could have been the well-defined muscles. She kissed him back, lighting up inside, which she seemed to do whenever he was around. Not that she’d seen that much of him this week.
‘Not lazy. I was being present. Reflecting on the moment.’
‘How nice to have the time,’ he said, sober for once, and then, as if he’d let his guard slip, his expression changed so quickly she assumed she’d imagined it, especially when he looped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for another quick kiss.
‘Race you?’ he asked.
‘Sure. How many laps?’ she asked, with a wry smile.
‘One. Fastest to the end wins.’
‘One? That’s hardly worth breaking into a sweat for.’
‘Okay then, two.’
‘Seriously, is that all you’ve got?’ teased Rebecca.
‘Some of us have got things to do today,’ said Felipe with a nonchalant shrug.
‘Tell me about it,’ said Rebecca with feeling. It was changeover day in the hotel, which meant cleaning all the bedrooms and bathrooms after her class, plus stripping beds and making up beds because most people were leaving today and new guests were arriving.
‘On the count of three?’
‘Done, but no cheating!’ Last time his count of two and three had been so fast, she’d been caught out.
‘Who, me? I don’t need to cheat.’
‘Ha, tell that to the fairies.’
They arranged themselves against the wall.
‘Three, twoone.’
Once again, Felipe merged the numbers together and surged forward a second ahead of her.
She swam steadily, matching him stroke for stroke, working as hard as she could.
She enjoyed these daily workouts, enjoyed pushing herself.
Swimming on her own wasn’t half as much fun.
They both turned at the same moment and she smiled to herself, keeping pace with him.
She’d be pulling out her secret weapon for the final lap.
On the second lap, she pushed herself harder knowing she’d have the advantage on the final lap.
As they neared the wall, she pulled out the tumble turn she’d been practising the last two days while he wasn’t here and gained a few metres on him with the force of her underwater push-off.
She surfaced well ahead of him and put her all into the last twenty metres, thrashing her arms furiously through the water, her muscles burning as she sucked in a hasty breath on every third stroke.
She touched the side and surged up in triumph two strokes ahead of Felipe.
‘Yessssss!’ she hissed in sibilant triumph and splashed her hand down in the water, sending a plume upwards, her chest heaving.
Felipe stood there, equally winded, bent slightly at the waist and trying to catch his breath.
‘Sneaky.’
‘Just good technique,’ crowed Rebecca.
‘Winner pays for drinks tonight after dinner,’ said Felipe. ‘I need to eat with the family this evening.’
‘Okay,’ said Rebecca. ‘I haven’t seen you around much.’
‘I’ve been in Faro a lot. But I’m back now, and I’m all yours for this evening… if you’ll have me.’
‘I guess I could spare you some time, later. Now some of us need to get to work.’
‘Off you go then. Don’t overdo it.’
She shook her head, wondering what he did all day.
He seemed to be here, there and everywhere, but she wasn’t sure what it was he did.
A contrast to Will, who was tied to his desk, working hard.
Too hard, she reflected, thinking of the number of times she had to interrupt him to make sure he ate properly and get him out of the house occasionally.
She swam to the steps, hauled herself out, wrapped a towel around her chest and gave him a quick wave. Her muscles were warmed up and she felt relaxed and ready to teach her class.
‘Thank you all for coming. Anyone got any questions?’
‘Yes,’ called Mrs Adams, who’d been coming every day during her stay. ‘Can I take you home with me? You’ve been a great teacher. I’m going to be real sorry to go home.’
‘Aw, thank you, that’s kind of you to say. I’m going to miss you.’
‘Wasn’t difficult. If I come back next year, will you still be here?’
Rebecca stared at her. ‘I… I don’t know.
’ Not if Inês had her way, that was for sure.
Coming here had been purely expedient– it was only supposed to be temporary.
But she’d rapidly fallen in love with the place; the hotel, the family, her work, the temperature, the sea and the laid-back environment.
Originally, taking the job had been an escape from the public humiliation back home, where everyone knew that she’d made a complete idiot of herself over Will.
Even her brothers, not the most astute of people, had known she’d bombed that night.
Of course, they thought it was a huge joke that she’d got herself all dressed up for Will and he’d gone off with someone else half her size, twice as pretty and with a degree in flirting.
‘I hope so. I’ll be mentioning you to the manager. I’ll tell them they have to keep you on.’
‘That would be helpful.’ Hopefully, word would filter back. She loved the teaching, but less so Inês’s resentful management of her. Rebecca still felt that she was here on sufferance, which made her desperate to increase the numbers in her class.
She glanced over at the main house. It would be a dream to work here all the time, with the sun, the sea, the pool and the beach.
A pipe dream though because, obviously, there were far fewer people here in the out-of-season months, so it was unlikely they’d have a job for her even if Inês approved the idea.
But maybe she should seriously think about finding a new job back home, leaving the brewery and setting up her own Pilates classes.