For sitting down and staring at people whilst drinking coffee, you know the square, and I know you’ve met Carlos – go there often – it’ll do you good. And there’s a little café opposite the lighthouse too. I know you like photography – Kathy told me – you’ll get some wonderful photos there. I think you should go there this week!
Aphrodite will make an appearance at some point. Just feed her twice a day and allow her to sit on your lap when she feels like it.
And there’s my homemade herbal teas. They all have a different function – read the packets carefully and don’t drink too much all at once as they are somewhat potent.
The doorbell rang and Alice jumped – it couldn’t be Kathy already, she thought. Pressing the button she stared, confused at the image on the screen.
‘Bom Dia, madam,’ said the porter. ‘I have your cat.’ He held Aphrodite up to the camera as confirmation. Mary and Frank were so busy that there hadn’t been any time for Alice to visit before she moved in, so this was her first sight of her. Aphrodite had been discussed with such reverence, Alice had pictured a prim and disdainful pedigree, but here was a tiny, raggedy, rather startled-looking black and white moggy.
‘I’ll put her in the lift,’ he said. ‘She brought in a mouse again, but don’t worry – I won’t put that in the lift!’
Alice saw Kathy rushing through the foyer. ‘Me too, hold the lift. I’m here!’ she shouted.
As the lift doors opened outside the apartment, Kathy almost threw herself at Alice whilst the cat stalked indifferently past her towards the food bowl in the kitchen. ‘Adam’s a bastard and I hate him,’ whispered Kathy into her ear. ‘Now remember, I’m gonna wash …’
‘I’ve already done that,’ said Alice, laughing and prising herself free.
‘Good, good, excellent. That means you’re okay?’
‘Nope … but what’s that noise?’ A loud impatient wailing was coming from the kitchen.
‘I think that’s your cat.’
‘Oh, yes. Aphrodite. She needs feeding I suppose.’ Alice peered into the kitchen, ‘She makes a big noise for such a tiny little thing.’ The yowling continued until the food was in the bowl, replaced by contented purring and slurping. ‘How lovely to find such happiness in a pink plastic dish full of smelly offcuts of who knows what,’ said Alice putting the kettle on. ‘Cup of tea?’
‘Yes please,’ replied Kathy walking into the living room. ‘So, I’ve brought these things from the past.’
Finding a stash of what looked like homemade herbal tea bags in the cupboard, Alice picked a couple with the words, ‘Really Very Relaxing’ on them and put them in two vibrant coral pink mugs.
‘Look.’ Kathy smiled as Alice carried the tea into the living room.
‘What?’
‘Here, silly.’
Two necklaces lay on the glass-topped coffee table: one with entwined white porcelain beads and delicate blue ribbon, the other a cacophony of multi-coloured wires linked to a small silver and gold locket attached to a swatch of lilac silk.
Alice’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, you kept them. You’ve still got them after all this time,’ she said, sitting on the floor and carefully picking them up.
‘Open the locket. Go on.’
Inside was a minute photograph of two women, their hair covered in daisies, plastic glasses in their hands, laughing. Alice beamed. ‘That’s us at the little festival by the South Bank. I can’t believe you still have them. You brought them all the way to Portugal.’
‘I kept them because you made them just for me. Clever, talented Alice. I was so thrilled.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’ Alice smiled again.
‘And look.’ Kathy held up a photograph on her phone. ‘This is the painting you did for my parents of the view of the hills from their garden. I got them to take a picture of it hanging on the wall so you could see it.’
Alice examined the image and felt a little rush of pride. ‘They still have it? Wow, that’s lovely.’
‘Of course they still have it,’ said Kathy. ‘You painted pictures, you took photographs and you made jewellery. And people bought all of it.’
‘A long time ago.’
‘Yes, but that Alice is still in there somewhere, lurking.’
Alice felt herself suddenly tense. That was another life, another Alice. ‘No I think that part of me has gone,’ she said firmly.
Kathy took a sip of the tea. ‘Mmmmmm. This is nice. What’s in it?’
Alice squinted at the writing on the label. ‘It said it’s really very relaxing. It’s got chamomile, mint, catnip … catnip? And a secret ingredient.’ Aphrodite jumped onto Kathy’s lap and tried to stick her head in the mug.
‘Well the catnip works then.’
Alice gently put the necklaces down and stared at them.
‘I wanted to remind you of what you can do,’ said Kathy, trying to push Aphrodite away.
‘Could do.’
‘Can do. Can I look at the bracelets you’ve got on? Can you take them off?
‘Yes, why?’ Alice was trying to forget what she used to do. It was something that had made her happy but she’d lost along the way, and it was easier not to remember.
Kathy stood up and went to the kitchen, reappearing with a pair of scissors. Alice sipped the tea and watched, confused for a moment, as Kathy picked up the first bracelet. The beads scattered onto the table as she cut it.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Alice, startled. ‘That’s mine. You can’t just cut it up.’
‘I’m doing what you used to do – cutting up something mundane so you could make something special,’ said Kathy, picking up the other three bracelets and doing the same.
‘Why are you doing it?’
‘You haven’t got any bracelets now, so you’ll have to make your own.’
‘Kathy – they’re my bracelets – that’s a bit … rude?’
Kathy laughed. ‘Cruel to be kind.’
Alice sipped the tea again. Its relaxing properties were clearly taking hold as she was feeling only mildly surprised that she wasn’t more angry with Kathy for destroying her jewellery. One minute earlier she’d been about to shout at her. ‘This is very nice,’ she said.
‘It is, isn’t it?’ said Kathy.
‘It’s even more relaxing than all that chamomile tea I drank after I lost my job … I am going to wash that man out of my hair completely,’ muttered Alice quietly.
‘And shall we send him on his bloody way?’ asked Kathy.
‘This tea is lovely,’ said Alice, laying on the sofa. ‘But I feel tired.’
‘It is very relaxing isn’t it?’ agreed Kathy. ‘I’m just going to lie down on the rug for a moment.’
The following morning Alice woke up face down on the sofa with the cat purring loudly into her left ear. Opening her eyes tentatively, she slowly realised that she had spent her first night in her new home and forgotten to go to bed. And it wasn’t because she’d drunk too much wine. ‘What the hell was in that tea, Aphrodite?’ she muttered, sitting up and stretching. Cracks of light filtered through the shutters, dotting the floor like cats’ eyes on a moonlit road. Following the dots to the terrace doors she opened them with a flourish and stood in a spotlight of white sun. ‘Ta dah!’ she said, nodding to an imaginary audience.
Stepping barefoot onto the warm tiles, she breathed in the fresh sea air and felt a surprising tingle of excitement. Walking to the kitchen to make breakfast she found a little note placed next to the necklaces Kathy had brought round.
Mad Mary strikes again. That tea was brilliant. I haven’t slept so well in ages. I woke up on the floor … one of the team has phoned in sick, so I may have to do an extra few shifts over the next couple of days. I will be absent in body, but here if you get stuck. And don’t forget: Fly Alice, fly! (or make yourself some new bracelets anyway) xxx
Alice giggled as she poured herself a glass of orange juice. ‘Fly Alice, fly.’ She smiled to herself. ‘Maybe I will.’
Walking back to the living room, she picked up a handful of the beads that Kathy had virtually torn from her wrist. Then she moved onto the balcony and looked at the sea again. It was so blue she wanted to pick it up and put it in the room, so it could shine its light on the walls. She looked back at the beads, and then at the sea. Half an hour later she was walking out of the apartment with a camera in her hand. Turning right at the end of the drive she walked purposefully until she reached a crossroads. Following her instincts and where she thought the sea was she turned right again, and then left at another crossroads. Pausing under the shade of a tree to try to get her bearings, she heard a familiar man’s voice from inside the house directly behind her.
The patio doors were open wide and her heart fluttered a little. It was Luis, waving a paint brush and apparently talking to his dog again. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’ he said loudly. ‘Luis Simal has just decorated this room completely in under six hours. Solo, alone. With no help whatsoever.’
‘It was a long night. I was working,’ shouted another voice from inside the house.
‘Working. Yes. At the casino,’ said Luis. ‘Hear that, Elvis, he’s lying again.’
Alice stood, intrigued, and a little embarrassed. She shouldn’t be listening to this argument and so she began to move slowly around the tree, not wanting to be seen.
‘Gambling. You were gambling,’ continued Luis. ‘He was, wasn’t he, Elvis?’ The dog barked apparently in agreement.
‘I’m sorry,’ said the other voice. ‘But if I want to spend all night in the casino I will.’
As she walked, their raised voices seemed to follow her, dragging her in. ‘I help you out,’ she heard Luis say. ‘Is it not too much to ask that when you say you will help me you do it?’
‘I’m doing it for the band. And you owe me. Remember when we had the record deal? Nearly had the record deal? We could do it again. We’re just as good.’
Record deal? thought Alice, intrigued again, and slowing a little so she could hear more.
‘Yes I owe you. Thank you. But all that was a long time ago and I am leaving.’
‘Just be patient,’ came the other voice. ‘Just for a few months, okay? Two months then? I am changing things. For old time’s sake, Luis.’ Alice sped up, guilty at her eavesdropping, and turned the corner towards the sea road. ‘Alright, alright,’ was the last thing she heard. ‘For two months maximum. No more.’
She saw the sea glistening in the distance, and walked purposefully towards it, trying to shake off what she’d just heard, but noting that for the second time in a week she’d somehow listened in on details of Luis’s life without meaning to. I’m only here for a few weeks, she thought. I’m not interested. I’m not. She crossed the road and paused on a stone bridge between a copse of trees in which stood a beautiful cream, red and green mansion with a triangle of blue-green sea to the front of it and a small café with a blue and white lighthouse opposite. The colours and light took her breath away, and she made her way to the shore. Clambering onto the rocks opposite the lighthouse, she stood close to the water, adjusting her camera to get the right light. The sea reflected the luscious green of the trees in the park overlooking a tiny beach under the bridge, oozing into a deep, bright blue as it stretched out beyond the headland.
And so she began, taking picture after picture, trying to capture the ever-changing palette of the water and sky, mesmerised and calmed by the soft ebb and flow of the tide as it washed against the rocks. Turning her attention to the mass of periwinkles clinging to the stones, she almost put her foot in the water.
‘Hey!’ shouted someone from the stone bridge. ‘Hey! Be careful. The rocks are sharp under there, and you may drop your camera on a fish and concuss it.’
Alice looked up as if woken from a dream. There he was. Luis. Tall, dark, handsome. And laughing.
‘Mmmmm. Yes,’ she said, disorientated and frantically searching her brain for a witty response, or any response apart from ‘yes’. But it didn’t come.
‘Do you have time for a coffee?’ he shouted again, indicating the café.
‘Mmmmm. Yes,’ said Alice, nodding enthusiastically, wondering why she kept stepping on, eavesdropping on and bumping into him. She tottered inelegantly up to the café where Luis had already found them a table. Elvis yawned noisily, laying down in the shade and stretching.
‘You looked lost in your own world there.’ Luis smiled.
‘Ahh. Yes … I was I suppose … taking photos of the sea and the rocks.’ She trailed off, slightly embarrassed, not only at being discovered taking photos of shellfish, but at the fact that she’d heard him arguing with his friend only a little while earlier.
He leaned forward. ‘The colours are magnificent aren’t they? I’ve spent hours here myself. You should come when the sun is setting over the sea. It’s the most beautiful sight.’ Luis paused, waiting for a response.
‘Mmmmmm, lovely,’ was all Alice could say, trying not to stare at the attractive crinkles around his eyes.
He smiled. ‘Are you taking photos for the sake of taking photos or for something else?’
She smiled back.
‘So, are you …?’
‘Ah, yes. I’m not actually sure,’ she said, pushing her brain into gear. ‘I used to … I studied art and I used to paint and make things. I sold quite a lot, actually, like a little cottage business, but I haven’t for years.’ The words tumbled out quickly. ‘But I decided this morning that I wanted to do something again. But I don’t know what.’ She paused and looked at Luis. ‘There’s something about this place.’
‘Yes, yes,’ he said. His gaze was intense. ‘I felt like that a few years ago when I first got here. It seemed to wake me up in a way. My paintings sell okay, but my photographs of this place do really well.’
‘You’re an artist? I thought you were a …’
‘Guitarist?’ he interrupted. ‘Alice. It is Alice, isn’t it? I am a renovator of houses, painter of walls, occasional guitarist, sometime photographer, and on rare moments a painter of paintings.’ He rubbed Elvis’s ear. ‘I also own a dog as you can see.’
‘That’s a lot. You must be busy,’ said Alice, intrigued.
‘Can I see?’ he asked, taking the camera and studying the photos. He smiled again. ‘We should go out and take some photos sometime. Together?’
‘Oh yes. That would be nice.’ Alice tried to sound casually pleased rather than very pleasantly surprised.
He looked at his watch. ‘Great. Give me your number and we’ll sort something out. You’re here for a few more weeks, aren’t you? I’ve got to go. Got to see a man about a house.’
As he left, Alice glanced at her top to make sure the buttons were all done up. They were. She had felt invisible for a long time, but just over two weeks in Cascais seemed to be changing that. Ordering another coffee she sat for a while trying to calm herself down. Her comfort zone over the past few years had been hiding out of sight so no one could hurt her. Alice could feel herself smiling inside with excitement. Leaving some coins for the drink she picked up her camera and decided to walk into town. Enjoy it, Alice, she thought. Whatever this is, try to enjoy it. Please. Because it’s something and nothing. You’re only here for few weeks. Be normal. Be bloody normal!
As she headed along the sea road, she allowed herself to enjoy the fact that this hugely attractive man seemed to like her. Ten minutes later she received a text.
You can buy canvas, paints and brushes in a shop in Rua Dos Descobrementos. Luis.
Then she received another one.
Adam is definitely flying back to the UK tomorrow.
It was from Tara. The sick feeling overwhelmed her again and her heart began to beat faster. A couple of hours without thinking about him, and there he was again, ruining it. I don’t want this. I don’t want this. I don’t want to know. It’s easier not to know, she thought, panicking again.
As Alice walked back to the apartment, the swimming pool shone in the distance, cool and welcoming, read
y to wash Adam away. She ran past, fighting the impulse to jump in fully clothed again. By the time she had got back to the apartment, she knew she needed a rest from him and his news – she’d come here for a holiday, and to take stock, and as usual, Adam was doing everything his way, not hers. Gathering a tiny bit of resolve, she composed a text and sent it before she could change her mind.
Dear Mum, Joseph and Tara,
I love you loads. But I need a bit of a break from Adam, as every time I hear his name I want to jump fully clothed into any bit of water near me. I have actually done it once already. So, can you no longer use his name if you text me– how about calling him by his initial, so he is now simply, A? And can you only let me know if he tries to contact you or break the door down in my house (not his house as it isn’t his house)? This is an A lock down! Love Alice xxx
Then she hid the phone at the bottom of her underwear draw for a while, drained a cup of another of Mary’s teas – this time ‘Quite Relaxing’ – and dragged a sunbed into the shade on the balcony. She drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep until the sun went down and the breeze woke her up. The distant lights of the fishing boats danced amongst the black waves in the bay to the screeched songs of the cicadas in the gardens below. Wide awake and restless, Alice threw on a cardigan and walked down the hill into the town, losing herself in the narrow, cobbled streets quietly buzzing with life. Pausing to inspect the tempting window display of the pastelaria in the main street, she caught sight of her reflection and smiled, pleasantly surprised at the healthy, tousled, happy-looking person staring back at her.
‘Hello,’ she said. ‘It’s lovely to see you again. You’ve been away a while.’ Then she moved on towards the sea and sat for a while, staring peacefully at the dark ocean.
Chapter Seven
The shop that Luis had recommended was in a narrow, unwelcomingly dark street hidden in the old town, but as Alice pushed open the creaky door and stepped into the untidy room, a long-forgotten excitement bubbled up from somewhere deep within her. She wanted to laugh and clap her hands with joy. Full to bursting with brushes, paper, pencils, chalks and paints, the shop smelt of white spirit and oil and it felt like home. An hour passed as brushes were examined, colours assessed, paper measured and advice sought from the owner. Eventually falling out into the sunlight, Alice struggled to carry the two carrier bags of artists’ materials and an A3 book of canvases she had bought. But she didn’t care – she was happy.
The House That Alice Built Page 6