She laughed. ‘Ah, Elvis. It’s lovely to see you too!’
Luis squeezed her hand. ‘And sorry I texted so late last night,’ he said as he drove them up into the hills behind the coast road. ‘Yesterday was quite tiring what with work and Antonio’s games. When I got home I wanted to hear a friendly voice.’
‘Is Antonio okay now?’ asked Alice gently.
‘Who knows? I know he was lying when he said his mother needed work done on her car. She didn’t know anything about it.’
‘Why would he do that?’
‘Antonio being Antonio. Well, he’s not always been like that. Just in the past couple of years.’ He turned the car up a narrow track. ‘Look,’ he said, his voice becoming more animated. ‘Just up there – my new project. My baby!’
Alice saw a tiny dilapidated old house hidden behind some olive trees, surrounded by overgrown bushes shot through with multi-coloured flowers. It looked like it needed some love, she thought.
‘I used to drive past this all the time and never noticed it,’ he said. ‘But a guy I know was selling it – it was his grandparents’ house – and he showed me the photos. And I wanted it as soon as I saw it.’
‘It looks lovely, full of character,’ said Alice.
‘I don’t know why it affected me so much. All my other projects are hard-headed business opportunities. Buy, refurbish, sell. No emotion. But this one ... I wanted to save it.’
‘Love at first sight,’ said Alice.
Luis stopped the car and smiled at her. ‘Must have been,’ he said, and opened the door. ‘Joel,’ he said to the tall, elegant man walking towards them. ‘Thanks for coming so early. This is Alice.’
‘Hello Alice,’ said Joel. ‘Pleased to meet you. Be careful, Luis will have you knocking down walls and painting ceilings before you know it.’
Alice laughed. ‘Just my cup of tea,’ she said.
‘I know you’ve got to be quick,’ said Luis. ‘Shall we start?’
The heavy footsteps of Luis and Joel moved slowly around the bedrooms of the farmhouse, as Alice quietly explored the worn-out kitchen, brushing her fingers along the abandoned worktops, trying to imagine how the men were going to bring it back to life. There was something about it, she thought, a sense of warmth that probably came from all the happy families that had lived there over the years. Pushing the back door open, she stepped through the early morning light into the overgrown garden: a riot of red geraniums, white bougainvillea and yellow pansies, dark green moss dotted with tiny blue wildflowers and tall sprigs of lavender. The remnants of a vegetable patch, covered in weeds hugged a dirty white out-building at the far end of the land, and beyond it the hills tumbled down towards the sea.
Walking to the end of the garden she turned to survey the house. Luis, hair unkempt and face unshaven, was talking animatedly to Joel, both of them framed in a brown, dusty window. Alice smiled, her stomach doing the familiar loop the loop. An image of herself walking barefoot on the grass and clipping a bunch of crimson roses to take inside to a sunlit kitchen suddenly popped into her head. As it did, her phone buzzed. Another message from her sister, Tara.
Adam has been to Mum and Dad’s house. You have to do something. He’s trying to wheedle his way in again. You need to contact him. You can’t run away forever.
Alice felt a tiny knot of anger in her stomach.
The men walked into the garden, smiling. ‘So,’ said Joel, climbing into his car. ‘Big plans. Glad you have a project to finally get your teeth into, Luis. I will send you the drawings in the next two weeks. Good to meet you Alice. Now I have to go to my work. Ate logo.’
‘He’s a busy man,’ said Alice. ‘Does he always do consultations this early?’
‘Joel is doing me a favour. We go back a long way. He was once in the band.’
‘Was he really?’
‘Yes, and then he grew up and left and got a proper job,’ laughed Luis, guiding Alice into the living room. ‘What would you do with this space?’ he asked.
‘Me?’ Alice looked around at the neglect and felt a stab of sadness. It was such a lovely place, with so much history, and even more potential.
‘Yes, you. You mentioned you had decorated your house didn’t you? You made it beautiful? I do up old houses, paint the walls white then leave.’
‘But you are a painter and a photographer and—’
‘Alice, I am a mere man. I need a woman’s vision.’
‘Oh, that’s quite a compliment.’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Well then,’ said Alice, eager to help. ‘I would – and this is at first glance – rub this wooden floor down and re-varnish it – don’t put tiles in here – and I would paint the shutters blue, not green, and I would make those windows into glass doors from floor to ceiling, the entire wall, opening up onto decking, with a wooden roof or something, make an outside room and I would have voiles – with blue flecks – and big voluptuous tassels hooking them to the wall … and a couple of rugs here.’ She glanced at Luis to gauge his reaction.
‘Go on.’ He smiled. ‘What about the kitchen?’
‘I would have a lovely modern kitchen, with an island in the middle, dark grey or black tiles. Or would the terracotta ones be better? It’s a big space, so you could have a table at the end there – make it an open plan kitchen diner. It has such a lovely feel to it, you’d want to be true to its past. Do you know what I mean? I watch a lot of property programmes.’
‘Property programmes?’ asked Luis.
‘Programmes where people look for their dream houses, then decide they are going to change them completely anyway … knock down walls, build an extension, that kind of thing.’
‘It’ll look great when I clean it up,’ said Luis, pacing around the room, scanning the walls and the floor. ‘I feel so excited about it. Can’t wait to get started.’
‘Are you going to do that soon?’
‘As soon as Joel gets the plans back to me. In the meantime I’ve got to get some more prints of my paintings and choose which photos to supply to the tourist shops. It all helps the finances. And a couple of gigs, unfortunately. Those I could do without.’
‘Busy, busy, busy.’
‘Not today. I was supposed to be finalising the paperwork with the guy who’s buying the other place but he’s had to fly to Madrid for urgent business. Hopefully nothing to worry about. What have you got planned?’
‘A swim, a walk, and a bit of painting, so nothing really. I took a photo of the moon last night and I wondered what it would look like in watercolour.’
‘Can I see?’
‘I haven’t got my camera with me. It’s in the apartment.’
‘Well,’ said Luis. ‘Have you had breakfast?’
‘No.’
‘I will take you for breakfast. Then I need to walk Elvis. He’s fast asleep in the car, lazy dog! We could drive by your place and collect the camera after that?’
Alice thought of Tara’s text. Push Adam away, she thought, push him away. ‘Just a sec,’ she said. ‘Just got to respond to a text.’ She looked at the phone, pictured Adam’s face and deleted the message. Then she looked up at Luis. ‘Sounds like a plan.’ She smiled, trying to sound nonchalant. You wouldn’t know nonchalant if it knocked on your door and said hello, I’m nonchalant, whispered the voice in her head.
But during a convivial breakfast where they discussed what colours to paint the walls, the texture of the tiles and whether stand-alone baths were a good idea, it crossed Alice’s mind that she’d started to say yes to things instead of standing still and hiding. She liked it.
Luis drove them to the apartment afterwards. ‘I’ll turn the car around while you fetch your camera.’
‘Oh, you can come up if you like,’ said Alice. ‘Mary won’t mind. I mean she’s not there, so she wouldn’t know. But I live there, so people can come up and ... It’s to see the photos. On the camera ...’
‘I can’t leave Elvis in the car. It’s too hot already. Bit unusu
al this time of year. No wind. I mean the weather not Elvis. His wind never subsides ...’ Luis trailed off. ‘So, I can’t come up.’
‘I didn’t think. Sorry,’ said Alice clambering out of the car as if her life depended on getting away from Luis. Which at that moment it felt like it did. ‘I’ll be a couple of minutes,’ she squeaked, almost sprinting to the foyer. If someone asked her to write a definition of ‘acute embarrassment’ for a new dictionary, she thought, this experience would definitely be used to illustrate it. ‘I have no idea what I’m doing, Aphrodite,’ she said to the cat, picking up the camera. ‘It’s been so long since any man has come near me. Really. And that’s only if I count Adam as a man. Which he isn’t. In my opinion. Bugger, I’ve said his name again.’ She raced to the lift and out to the car trying to look calm. Opening the door and sitting down, she smiled very brightly. She waved the camera at Luis. ‘Here it is ... I took loads of photos. Got a bit carried away actually. Do you want to see?’
He took the camera, put it on the dashboard and kissed Alice, long and lingering, his hands gently framing her face, stroking her hair then lightly touching her neck. ‘So,’ he whispered.
‘So …’ she echoed, knowing that everything was about to change.
‘These photos of the moon …’
‘Yes,’
‘I have some, too … they are in my house. Shall we go there?’
‘Yes.’
Luis kissed her again. ‘I really do have photos of the moon in my house,’ he said turning on the ignition.
‘I’m sure you do.’ Alice smiled.
‘I do. Really.’ They drove down towards the road, Elvis stirring noisily in the back.
‘So you really do have photos of the moon,’ said Alice, looking through a box of pictures as Luis opened all the shutters, flooding light into the darkened room.
‘Yep,’ he said. ‘They sell very well, especially the black and white ones for some reason.’
‘Well, I’m going to paint mine, so that will be a bit different.’
‘Yes it will, but … follow me …’ Luis took her hand and led her upstairs. On the landing was a large painting of a big orange moon hanging over a dark sky, the lighthouse to one side, the café to another, a triangle of light on the glistening black sea.
‘Wow!’ exclaimed Alice. ‘Genuinely, wow! I took all those photos of the orange moon last night. When did you paint this?’
‘A couple of years ago. Just for me. I don’t paint much now,’ he said, standing behind her. ‘Just walls … white … as you can see. No time.’
Alice felt his arms around her waist, his breath on her neck and her heart began to beat faster. She turned to him. ‘I haven’t … there’s been no one since … I’m out of practice.’ She sighed, exasperated with herself. ‘Did I just ruin the moment?’
‘No,’ murmured Luis, his lips brushing her mouth. ‘I have paintings in my bedroom too. Do you want to see?’
‘Yes,’ whispered Alice, as Luis guided her towards the bed.
‘I will show you later,’ he breathed into her ear, as he moved his hand gently down her neck, following the outline of her breasts to her waist.
‘Alice, Alice?’ whispered Luis.
‘Mmmmm?’ she muttered sleepily.
‘It’s 8 o’clock.’
Alice rolled over to him, opening her eyes slowly.
‘8 o’clock …? What time did we get here?’
‘About half past ten …’
‘All day … really?’
‘Really.’
‘Well, it’s been most enjoyable.’
Luis kissed her. ‘Yes, most enjoyable.’ He stood up and put on his shirt.
‘Do you have to?’
‘No I don’t’ he said, taking it off again. ‘But I have wine in the fridge, plus some bread and ham, and so I must put on my trousers. Don’t look at me like that, we need to eat. I need to regain some strength!’
Alice stretched lazily and climbed out of bed as he walked down the stairs. Pulling her sundress over her head she opened the doors to the terrace and stood breathing in the warm, calm evening air. In the distance was an ocean liner making its way out of Lisbon towards the Atlantic. Luis came back and stood beside her, setting the wine glasses down on a table.
‘There’s no breeze,’ he said softly. ‘Look how calm the sea is. No swell, no waves.’ The ship seemed to float slowly through the sky, sailing through the stars, the sea and sky the same jet-black, the moon obscured by clouds. They stood for a while, entwined, caught up in the stillness of the night as the lights of the boat became more and more distant, finally disappearing around the headland.
‘You don’t have anywhere to go tonight?’ asked Luis.
‘Nowhere. I can message the porter and ask him to feed Aphrodite.’
‘Good. Stay. Tomorrow I will take you home. We won’t check our phones or e-mails until then. For now, it is just us.’
Luis handed her a glass and she sipped the wine thoughtfully. ‘So, Luis, why are you so in love with that house?’
‘I’m thinking of living there.’
‘What and selling this?’
‘Yes, eventually.’
‘Oh, so you don’t only buy and sell for profit?’
‘Normally I do, but it’s different with this one. I fell in love with it at first sight. I’ve never done that before. And so …’
‘And so …?’
Luis kissed her again. ‘Bring your wine back to bed,’ he whispered.
As he took her hand again, she knew she was giving into life, for once. She didn’t care about anything at that moment, about the house, about Adam, about Antonio or Marcella. Real life could wait.
‘Where have you been? Why haven’t you been answering my calls? I was worried sick about you.’ Alice was back in her apartment, and real life, also known as Kathy, was crashing in.
‘I’m fine,’ said Alice, answering the buzzing of the intercom. ‘No need to keep buzzing the door like that.’
‘Well, I’ve been here for ages,’ shouted Kathy, exasperated.
‘Sorry, I had my headphones on. I was concentrating. I just stopped to have a drink of water.’
‘Are you actually going to let me in?’
‘Sorry, I forgot I had to press the button.’
‘Yes, and when I come up in the lift, I have to press another buzzer, and what you have to do is this: you have to walk to the door and open it and what happens then is this: I can come in.’
‘Very funny.’
‘I know. Press the button. Please.’
Alice pressed the button, then opened the door and headed for the kitchen
‘Very funny,’ said Kathy two minutes later from the hallway.
‘I know,’ shouted Alice. ‘You already said. Tea?’
‘Mary’s special recipe?’
‘No. Common or garden English Breakfast.’
Kathy followed her into the kitchen. ‘Must email her again to chase her up about that … Alice …’
‘What?’
‘You’ve got paint all over your face.’
Alice wiped her face with the back of her hand and glanced at it absently. ‘Oh, yes … orange … I’ve been painting on the balcony. God, I hope I haven’t got it on the furniture.’
‘Looks like just the face to me, and now the hands.’
‘Oh.’
‘Alice,’ said Kathy sharply. ‘What is going on with you?’
‘What?’
‘I’ve been trying to call you for two days. And your Mum has. And your sister.’
‘I’ve had my phone turned off.’ Alice suddenly tensed. Here it was, real life, she thought, it’s back. ‘God what’s happened? Are they alright?’
‘They are okay, but Adam ... sorry He Who Shall Not Be Named … has been back to your mum’s house. Had an argument with your stepdad. And says if you don’t contact him in the next two days he’s getting a solicitor involved.’
‘Let him,’ said Alice, handing a mug
of tea to Kathy. ‘Let him spend his money. I don’t care.’
‘You’ve got to speak to him, Alice,’ said Kathy.
‘I will. When I’m ready. And obviously I’m not. I’m busy painting. I’m going to wash my hands.’ Alice felt a twinge of defiance. When I’m ready, she thought. Not when he’s ready. Not this time.
‘Why did you turn your phone off?’ asked Kathy following her to the bathroom.
‘I didn’t. I just forgot to turn it on again. We were just enjoying being away from all the stuff … you know …’
Kathy stood in the doorway, arms folded, grinning. ‘We?’
‘Yes we. Stop smiling like that. I can see you in the mirror!’
‘You’re doing it too. I know you are.’
Alice turned to her friend and giggled. ‘Come on,’ she said, ‘Let’s take tea on the terrace.’
‘Where did all these dust sheets come from?’ asked Kathy, perching awkwardly on a chair.
‘Luis brought them round when he brought me home last night. He uses them when he’s painting houses. I’ve been doing some painting too. Luis was encouraging me.’
‘He’s your mentor now, is he?’
‘Amongst other things, yes, and he’s fulfilling the role very well, thank you very much!’
‘I can see that!’
Alice sighed. ‘I’d better ring my mum. Was she upset?’
‘No. She loves a good fight. And your stepdad too, by the sounds of it. But Alice—’
‘I know, but Kathy, I’ve just started to relax. I’ve found something … someone … for a while at least, and I’m fed up of bloody Adam upsetting me with what he wants all the damn time. It was always like that. What he wanted—’ Alice’s voice rose with a sudden anger that seemed to come from nowhere ‘—he wanted to buy the house, then he wanted to go freelance, and he wanted to wait a bit longer until we had children. I wasted all those years thinking he meant it, and I went along with it because I am too loyal. I’m not doing it any more.’
The House That Alice Built Page 12