Chapter 1 #2
‘And before anyone says it, yes, I know I’m sitting directly in the sun. Being half Spanish has its advantages, and one of them is the ability to tan easily. Believe me, after sitting in that office day in day out for what seems like ever, I’m desperate to feel the sun on my body.’
Sofia stretched her arms up into the air and pushed out her chest.
‘Apparently, there’s a nudist beach on the other side of the town. Anyone else up for it?’
Maddie pulled her hat down even further and hugged her knees under her pink floral kaftan, another number she’d knocked up herself.
‘Not me, that’s for sure.’
Charlotte shook her head.
‘Me neither. No interest in showing the world my stretch marks and Caesarean scar. Not that I’d ever swap my kids, but not having any has certainly helped you keep your fabulous figure, Sof. No more bikinis for me. But if I had your body, perhaps even I’d be tempted.’
Charlotte was confident that Sofia would take this as the compliment it was. That was the advantage of knowing someone for so long. They knew everything, or as near to everything as it was possible to, about each other. Which wasn’t quite the case at the moment, but she was working on it.
In the early years, they’d shared everything, from starting their periods to the stress of exams to the joy and despair of boyfriends. She’d met Maddie and Sofia a couple of weeks after they all started at secondary school, and the three of them had remained tight to this day.
They’d never been the popular girls, in fact Charlotte smiled remembering how downright awkward they’d been back in the day.
Three only children, without any siblings to pave the way at a sprawling comprehensive.
Sofia had been teased for her braces and the trace of a Spanish accent, she for having a posh voice and being tall and skinny, and Maddie for her flattened northern vowels and blushing the same colour as her hair if anyone even spoke to her.
They’d improved with age, like fine wine, or that’s what they liked to believe. The combination of a petite brunette, a gangly blonde and a redhead with a temper to match always reminded her of a selection box. Dressed up in their finery, they were convinced they’d still got it.
Sofia had said way back in school that she never wanted children and stuck to it. She’d been a favourite, if sometimes overindulgent, aunty to her and Maddie’s children, but she’d never shown the slightest inkling to change her mind. Obviously, it was far too late now anyway.
Sofia wagged her finger at the two of them.
‘We’ll see. Swimming naked is one of life’s true pleasures. Maybe later on in the trip when you’re both a bit more relaxed, I can gently persuade you.’
Charlotte snorted.
‘Force us into it, you mean, with your special set of lawyer-talk tools?’
‘Oh, I didn’t know that was a thing. Where can I buy some? Is there a B they’d seen the devastation first hand; they’d held her as she sobbed.
The experience had made their friend fiercely independent, and the steady stream of gorgeous guys who paraded through her life never lasted, even if they thought they were in with a chance.
Maddie couldn’t imagine being with someone so much younger.
She couldn’t imagine being with anyone else, full stop.
But especially not with the way she felt about her own body at the moment.
She’d bought two swimsuits with tummy control panels, but she was planning to wear her kaftans over the top most of the time.
Ironically, of the three of them, she’d always been the fitness freak, the one constantly in the gym, walking for miles, watching what she ate and drank. Until… Tony’s smiling face flashed before her eyes, but she couldn’t give him a seat at the table right now.
The ice-cold beer was placed on the table, its green bottle dripping with condensation, a very welcome distraction.
The glass to accompany it was iced on the outside, turning it opaque.
Maddie nodded her thanks and poured out a full glass, desperate to get her hands on the liquid gold and feel it cooling her throat and snaking its way down to her stomach to give it a hug. It certainly helped take the edge off.
Sofia tried not to watch Maddie drinking with such relish as she washed off her suntan oil in the open-air shower at the side of the pool. The woman was entitled to drink what she liked after what she’d been through, and they were on holiday after all.
She forced herself to look away and stared down at the shower tray inlaid with grey and white pebbles in star shapes, which matched the floors and terraces throughout the hotel, while all the doors and woodwork were painted a pastel blue.
It was the same décor in their rooms. The three of them were next to each other in a row on the second floor, with their own little terraces complete with concrete bench seats and plunge pools.
It was major luxury, and although she thought Charlotte had worked it out for herself, she’d confess to her later that she’d told a little white lie to Maddie about the price and subbed it herself.
Charlotte was like a bloodhound. Once she got a sniff of something, she wouldn’t let it go. Sofia pulled her dark bob into a ball on top of her head with the band she wore round her wrist.
‘Time for a swim. The food’ll take ages. I know that from bitter experience after staying with my friend Grace on her island in the Cyclades. It’s the same all over Greece. They prepare everything properly with fresh ingredients, but the one thing it isn’t is quick.’
She turned and dived into the deep end with a flourish, kicking up spray that managed to splatter both of the others.
‘Urgh! You monster. Go away.’ Charlotte stirred on her super thick grey sunbed cushion, tastefully edged in cream, before closing her eyes again and turning onto her stomach.
The cool water enveloped Sofia as she dived deeper. She opened her eyes to stare at the dolphin painted on the bottom of the pool.
Hopefully Charlotte, or Sherlock as she’d be calling her from now on, wouldn’t dig any deeper into why she was suddenly so flush with money and able to take such a large chunk of time off.
The truth was too painful to voice to her friends.
She’d been cruelly tossed aside by the law firm she’d helped to build, leaving a big black hole in her life.
The words redundancy agreement in black and white at the top of the letter delivered to her house by a courier had left her breathless.
She might have more money in her bank account than she’d ever had in her life, but what the hell would she do next?
That, she wasn’t ready to talk about.