Chapter 5
Olivia walks into the suite and smiles approvingly.
It’s so nice to be back in the delicately perfumed, air-conditioned atmosphere of the hotel after all that dust and noise and argy-bargy.
The run-in with that woman from next door has left her nerves jangling and she clutches the rose quartz pendant around her neck for a moment and stares at the sea view.
‘So that’s the architect, Marcus, then?’ says her daughter as she strolls into the room. Bella kicks off her flip-flops and throws herself down onto the cream chaise longue, legs aloft. ‘He’s a bit easy on the eye.’
Olivia turns, feeling herself bristle. Her daughter is so adept at knowing exactly how to say the one thing that will rankle.
‘Don’t be ridiculous, Belle. He’s far too old for you. Probably married with kids himself.’
‘I didn’t see a gold band. Just a hella nice ass and a car to match. Did you say he’s based in London?’
Olivia tuts.
‘You behave like such a little tramp these days. And speak properly, for goodness’ sake.’
‘Oh my God, Mum,’ Bella says, laughing. ‘You’re starting to sound just like Granny.’
It’s true, she concedes. She can hear her own mother’s words echoing around her head, and even on her lips, more often than she cares to admit. Is it just another reminder of how she’s getting older, out of touch, past it?
‘Besides, it’s not like I’m a virgin, you know,’ continues her daughter. ‘That ship sailed a while ago,’ she adds with a snort.
‘Stop it,’ Olivia snaps and Bella flinches before she rolls her eyes in an exaggerated fashion and drags herself off the sofa. ‘Chill out, Mother.’
‘And don’t call me that either,’ she says. ‘You know how I hate it.’
Her daughter huffs. ‘I’m going for a shower.’
‘You only just had one a couple of hours ago.’
‘So what? The water’s not on a bloody meter y’know. Might take an extra-long one and think about that Marcus,’ Bella says with a smirk.
Olivia watches as her daughter stalks out of the room; her long, lissom legs stepping with purpose on the plush carpet.
When did her little girl get so big, so grown-up?
So overtly sexual? She can only imagine how all the men on that building site must have reacted when they saw Bella today in her tiny denim cut-off shorts and crop top.
So much flesh on display. So ripe for the picking.
Her daughter is a woman now, with curves in all the right places.
She has outgrown her grasp, Olivia thinks.
Physically and mentally. It’s another reminder of her own age.
Bella is blooming and it makes her feel like she is slowly wilting in comparison.
She walks over to the window again and drinks in the view.
The water is incredible: calm and restful, with just the smallest white peaks.
A scene so beautiful it is hard to imagine anything bad could happen here.
Pale wisps of cloud stretch themselves along the sky, which looks to almost shimmer in a heat haze.
It is too bright though, the vista almost painful, and she must avert her eyes after a while, as though she is a child too scared to look any longer.
Above all, she wishes it was September or October already, when all the crowds will have thinned, the narrow streets will be quieter.
The sun will be lower, the colours softer, the light less harsh.
The renovation might be nearly finished by then and she can come here on her own and just be. Without Tobias. Without the kids.
Taking out her phone, she types out a hasty message.
How are things at the house? Just want it to be finished. Please can we do everything to make that happen asap?
A response comes soon afterwards, vibrating in her hand.
Don’t worry. I’m on it.
An hour later, Tobias and Drew come tumbling into the suite and she walks through to greet them. They smell of fresh air and salt. Olivia can see that they’ve both caught the sun today. Their faces shine and their hair is wind-ruffled, just like when they’ve been out sailing together.
Bella has been in her bedroom ever since her shower.
Likewise, Olivia has been lying prostrate on her own bed, trying to ward off a migraine.
She’d like to shift it before they head out for dinner tonight.
They’ve booked her favourite restaurant on the seafront and she has been dreaming of lemon sole and a nice crisp Chablis ever since she got back to the hotel.
‘Everything all right?’ she says to the boys.
‘Well, I’ve put a rocket up them all,’ says Tobias. ‘I left Marcus with strict instructions to liaise more closely with the foreman.’
‘Bill,’ prompts Olivia.
‘Yes, that’s the one. Should be getting another pair of hands on deck, which will speed things up a bit hopefully. And I’ve said I want all the electrics sorted soon as. No more excuses, they just need to get it done!’
‘That’s good,’ she replies, nodding. She’s really not that interested in the whys and the wherefores as long as the place is finished soon.
‘Tell you what though,’ continues Tobias.
‘I could do without Marcus being such a pedant. Always wants things doing to the most impossible standard, needs to know the long end of everything. Won’t compromise on budget, either.
And he seems to have no awareness of how it’s setting us back.
Anyone would think it was his bloody house not ours. ’
‘Oh he’s just doing his job, darling,’ she counters. ‘They’re always perfectionists, those types.’ She often feels the need to defend everyone, much to her husband’s annoyance. ‘And I’m sure Bill and the others are going as fast as they can.’
‘Not fast enough for my liking,’ he says with a grunt. ‘And I know how much this means to you,’ he adds, leaning in for a kiss, which he plants somewhere between her cheek and her forehead.
‘Pooh … you’re going to need a wash before we go out tonight,’ she says, wrinkling her nose.
Tobias sniffs under his armpit and grimaces.
‘By the way,’ he says. ‘I’ve asked Marcus to join us for a quick bite before he heads back to London. Seemed rude not to.’
Olivia makes a face.
‘Really, did you have to?’
‘Don’t be a spoilsport, Livvy. More the merrier!’
She remembers Bella’s comments earlier. No doubt her daughter will be making an appalling display of herself, flirting with Marcus at the dinner table. Tobias will be infuriated. If he even notices.
‘I just wanted a quiet one tonight. Especially after all that unpleasantness at the house earlier.’
‘What, that harridan next door? Don’t worry, she’s no match for me.’
‘I have no wish to fight with anyone, Tobias.’
He raises his hands in mock surrender.
‘I didn’t start it.’
‘Don’t be childish.’
‘Trust me, I have no issue with them either. But we are perfectly within our rights and legally they don’t have a leg to stand on.’
‘Hmm, that’s not strictly true, is it? And she didn’t exactly strike me as the considered, rational sort.
More the “act now, think later” type,’ she says, remembering the young, wiry woman with the dark pixie cut.
The way she had stood with such defiance on the stairwell, her arms crossed.
Olivia had been quietly impressed by her.
She’s never been that self-confident or forthright in her entire life.
And she does see their point. To a certain extent.
‘You leave her to me,’ Tobias says, plumping out his chest, his chin jutting. ‘I like a good sparring partner,’ he adds, walking in the direction of the bathroom.
‘That’s what I’m worried about,’ she says to herself softly.
The restaurant is heaving as they take their usual table overlooking the harbourside.
White lights are strung around the bay like a necklace glinting in the dusk and the sun is setting over the water, bathing the coastal cottages in a peachy glow.
A smell of fresh lemons and charred fish is heady in the air, competing with perfume and brine and warm bodies.
Olivia seats herself next to her son, Drew, who is regaling her with his plans to go paddleboarding tomorrow while attacking the bread basket with gusto.
Tobias sits opposite her at the other end of the table, studying the wine menu with his reading glasses.
Bella has taken herself off to the toilet, even though they only left the hotel five minutes ago.
She’s sure she does it on purpose, so that she can spend more time parading about in full view of the other diners.
Casting her eye over the specials board, Olivia sees that the sole has been scored through and marked as sold out.
She feels a moment of personal grief before settling on a lobster salad.
Anything as long as it comes with the much-longed-for glass of cold white wine.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Marcus arrive and, spotting their table, he raises a hand and comes over.
‘Marcus! Good chap!’ says Tobias, standing and clapping him on the back. ‘Sit here next to me. I need to pick your brains a bit more before you escape back to London.’
Olivia sighs inwardly. She’d hoped to avoid talk of the renovation tonight.
It all gets very technical and competitive when Marcus and Tobias are together and much of it goes over her head, she must admit.
She eyes the two remaining empty seats around the table wondering where her daughter has got to.
And right on cue, Bella can be seen weaving her way through the restaurant, tottering on high wedge sandals and wearing a tight, ruched dress that inches its way up her thighs with every step she takes.
As she approaches the table, her daughter clocks the two available seats and promptly takes the one next to Marcus.
‘I’m starving,’ she announces to everyone, picking up her menu. ‘Dad, can I have an Aperol Spritz, please?’
‘Yes, baby. What’s everyone else having?’ He looks around. ‘Shall I just order a bottle for the table? You’re driving after all, Marcus.’
‘I’m surprised you don’t want to get home,’ says Olivia, hoping the mild irritation in her voice isn’t too obvious.
‘It’s fine,’ Marcus replies. ‘To be honest it’s easier if I drive back later tonight when most of the holiday traffic has cleared.’
She nods, smiling, and looks back down at the tablecloth, not before she sees her daughter lean over coquettishly.
‘Hi,’ says Bella in her best growly, Marlboro Light voice. Something Olivia has watched her cultivate in recent years. ‘Nice to see you again, Marcus. God, you deserve a medal for putting up with my parents for the last few months.’
Olivia heaves a sigh and turns her attention back to Drew.
It feels like this summer is one of his last; he is on the precipice between boy and man and sometimes it seems as though she is the only thing standing in the way.
But then he looks up and smiles, gifting her with one of his toothy grins, and all is right with the world. What would she do without him?