by T A Williams
After walking for half an hour or so she came to a little ruined chapel and stopped for a rest in the shade of its dilapidated walls. The timbers supporting the roof had long since rotted away and there was more vegetation inside than architectural gems. She tipped some of her water into the plastic bowl she had brought specially for that purpose and Jeeves gulped it down gratefully, tail wagging. She took a couple of photos of the chapel and then sat down on what once upon a time might have been a horse trough. She was sitting there, sipping from her bottle and wiping the sweat from her brow, when her phone rang. The caller ID told her it was Mariarosa, her best friend from when she had lived in Rome. Mariarosa worked for the big media company where Sophie’s employers had rented an office and was one of the few people to have met Claudio and to be aware of the acrimonious conclusion to their relationship.
‘Ciao, Mariarosa. Come stai, cara?’
‘I’m fine thanks, Sophie. So how are things in Paradise castle?’ Sophie had told her all about her uncle’s generous bequest. ‘Does it have a ghost?’
‘No ghost, thank goodness, although it’s a spooky old place. I’m getting used to it now and it’s really lovely. There’s even a pool.’
As they chatted Sophie let her eyes range over the panorama before her. Beyond the trees she could see the roof of the castle highlighted against the deep blue of the sea, with the lighter blue of the sky beyond, now flecked with cotton wool clouds. The air was alive with the sound of bees collecting nectar from the colourful wild flowers at her feet and her canine companion was staring up at her with adoring eyes. She stretched her legs and leant back against the warm stone wall of the chapel, reflecting that this really was a little piece of paradise.
However, her idyll was about to be shattered as Mariarosa came to the main reason for her call.
‘Listen, Sophie, I’ve put my foot in it. I was out for a drink with the girls from work and they were asking if I’d heard from you. I was telling them how you’d inherited a castle and how happy I was you’d landed on your feet after everything that happened to you last year. They were all ever so happy for you. But then who should appear but Claudio of all people, throwing his money around and generally behaving like a big-headed pain in the butt? After what he did to you I refused to talk to him so I left, but it now emerges that Carla, one of the new girls, got talking to him and must have told him that you’re back in Italy.’
Sophie did her best to reassure her. ‘It could be worse. Don’t worry, Mariarosa. So he knows I’m back; Italy’s a big country.’
‘Yes… but… you see, I’ve always thought Paradiso was such an unusual, romantic name that I mentioned it to the girls and Carla told him.’
‘Ah…’ Sophie let her breath escape slowly, trying to suppress her irritation. As the seconds ticked away she knew she had to say something to try to defuse the situation. ‘It’s all right, Mariarosa, it’s not as if he’s going to do anything about it. After the way he behaved, even a moron like Claudio can be under no illusion that I never want to see him again. Surely even he can’t be stupid enough to think there’s any point in trying to get in touch. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.’
They carried on chatting but once the call ended and Sophie finally returned the phone to her pocket, she kept wondering whether he really might be that stupid. One thing was for sure – the last person on earth she wanted to see was Claudio.
After another hour’s walk in the hot sun, she finally reached the next village and was delighted to find a bar with tables in the shade, a drinking bowl full of fresh water for Jeeves, and a fine selection of homemade ice cream for her. A wonderful mixture of kiwi, lemon and strawberry ice cream and a bottle of sparkling mineral water went a long way towards cooling and calming her down. She was living in a castle after all, designed to repel assault from far more formidable foes than Claudio. She glanced down at the dog, stretched out on the cool cobbles at her feet, untroubled by such thoughts. Sometimes the idea of a life built solely around walks, food and snoozing had definite attraction.
When she got home again, feeling hot and sticky and quite weary, the sky was already starting to cover over and the humidity in the air was palpable. The first thing she did was to slip into her bikini and then she and Jeeves headed for the pool. She found her sister there sunbathing topless and the thought did occur to her that this might have been in the hope of another visit from their American neighbour, but such was not the case today.
‘Hi Soph, good walk?’
‘Great, thanks. I’ll tell you about it when I’ve had a good soak in the pool. I’m sweltering.’
Some time later, she climbed back out of the pool and stood under the poolside shower with Jeeves to wash the chemicals out of her hair and his fur, deciding she had better go down to Santa Rita in the morning to ask Gianni the mechanic about any possible detrimental effects of the chlorine on her dog. Not that Jeeves looked too bothered – he was soon rolling around on his back, legs in the air, growling ferociously at some imaginary prey. Dabbing herself dry, she sat down on the lounger alongside her sister and told her about the lovely walk and the not-so-lovely revelation from Mariarosa. Rachel snorted and told her not to worry.
‘From what you told me about the break-up, Soph, Claudio must have got the message that you never want to see him again. Don’t give it a thought. You won’t hear a thing from him.’
Sophie’s phone beeped and she checked it apprehensively just in case there might be a message from Claudio, but instead she saw it was from Gianni the mechanic telling her the new exhaust had arrived and to drop off the car at the garage any time she wanted. She replied, thanking him and saying she would be down the following morning. After pressing Send, she turned to her sister.
‘I’m taking the car in tomorrow morning. Fancy coming down with me for a bit of retail therapy? I’m going to need another bikini and you might want to do the same – and remember, young lady, you’re supposed to wear both bits.’ She tempered the admonition with a smile.
Rachel smiled back and Sophie was delighted to see her looking so relaxed. ‘Yes, big sister. You sound just like mum. It’s all right, I won’t show you up. I knew nobody was coming this afternoon. I saw Dan when I was out for a walk this morning and he told me he was going to be hard at it all afternoon.’
‘What’s he working on?’ An image of Dan, stripped to his waist, muscles rippling and running with sweat, digging a hole in the ground came to mind and, in spite of her nascent feelings for Chris, she suppressed a sigh.
‘His book… or so he said.’ Rachel actually did sigh out loud. ‘He really is such a hunk.’
Sophie couldn’t disagree. Of course, she had never seen Chris with his shirt off so maybe there was a similar treat in store for her there if he were to come over to the castle to visit her. She settled back onto the sunbed and breathed deeply, feeling pleasantly relaxed. Her relaxation didn’t last long as her sister’s voice shook her out of her somnolent state.
‘By the way, Soph, I’ve invited a few people to come and stay.’
Sophie raised her head and stared at her disbelievingly. ‘You’ve already invited them? Wouldn’t it have been a nice idea to run it by me first?’ Quite clearly the old self-centred Rachel hadn’t gone away with the passing of the years after all.
‘Well, I thought seeing as you’ve invited Chris, you wouldn’t mind… It’s only fair.’
‘First, I haven’t invited Chris – which, by the way, was your idea in the first place – and there’s a big difference between inviting one person we both know and a load of strangers.’
‘Not a load of them, I promise. And they’re very nice. They’re those friends of mine from Toledo I told you about. I did a bit of phoning around and one thing led to another.’
Sophie gave a resigned nod. ‘So how many have you invited? Two, three, four?’
Rachel had the decency to look a little sheepish. ‘I’m not completely sure but maybe seven or eight… certainly no more than ten.’
Rachel shook her head violently. ‘No, of course not. In a few weeks, I expect. Probably some time in August.’
‘You expect?’ Once again, Sophie had to struggle to resist the temptation to grab her little sister and shake some sense into her. ‘And how many days are they going to be staying, or don’t you know that either?’ From the expression on Rachel’s face it was clear that she didn’t have a clue, so Sophie decided to lay down the law. ‘Remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” Got that?’
‘But they’re coming all the way from Spain…’ Rachel’s expression hardened. ‘Besides, half this place is mine and if I want to invite people, I can. Why can’t you stop being the same old bossy big sister calling all the shots?’
Sophie had had enough. ‘Whatever… I’m going in to wash my hair. I’ll see you later.’ She had just stood up and collected her towel when another thought occurred to her. ‘And we both need to sign in on the computer or you won’t have a castle to invite them to.’
Chapter 7
Next morning Sophie didn’t want to get up. She had been woken just after midnight by the sound of a torrential downpour which had continued for most of the night, occasionally punctuated by claps of thunder and bright flashes of lightning which had worried Jeeves to the extent that she had even had to get up a couple of times to sit beside his basket and calm him as the storm passed overhead. In consequence she hadn’t slept a lot, and when he started nudging her with his nose around seven o’clock she would happily have rolled over and gone back to sleep again. Instead, accepting the inevitable, she kicked the covers aside and got up. The good news was that it was a whole lot cooler in the room after the overnight rain and the temperature outside, while not cold by any stretch of the imagination, was definitely refreshing.
She and Jeeves let themselves out of the front gates, which now opened smoothly and without protest, and murmuring a sincere thank you to Beppe and his oil can, she headed along the track towards the sea. This time they carried on along a narrow path as far as the military-looking construction festooned with a mass of wires and aerials right on the headland overlooking the beach far below. The rain had turned parts of the path into a quagmire and by the time they got to the end, Sophie’s trainers were soaked and muddy and Jeeves’s legs were those of a chocolate Labrador while the upper part of his body remained black.
She sat down on a low wall and ran her fingers through her hair. Although it was freshly washed, she could feel it was getting very scruffy. Maybe with Uncle George’s money she might treat herself to a visit to a hair salon. She knew her friends back in London, including Chris, had been on at her for months about her not looking after herself properly since the break-up with Claudio, but she simply hadn’t been bothered. Maybe now was the time to start again. Thought of Chris made her take out her phone and send him a short message telling him how great Paradiso was and asking if he felt like coming over. As she pressed Send she knew she would be very happy to see him again – whatever her intentions towards him or his towards her.
Dinner the previous night had been subdued, although the quality of the cured ham and handmade agnolotti they found in the fridge had been excellent. Rachel had spent the evening sulking, while Sophie had been left wondering if she had maybe been too hard on her impulsive sister. She now sat and continued with that train of thought. After the death of their father when Sophie was just seven, she had always looked out for her little sister, doing her best to help her mother who had often struggled to cope. Time and time again, however, Rachel had repaid her efforts with indifference, tantrums or worse. At university, when Sophie had been studying hard for her finals, she had also had to put up with continuous demands for help from Rachel in completing her first year English assignments. The problem, as Sophie knew well, wasn’t a lack of intelligence, it was a lack of application to her studies. For Rachel, her social life had always come first.
Sophie dreaded to think what this gang of Spaniards was going to be like. Noisy, no doubt. Hopefully the castle walls were thick enough to avoid disturbing the rest of the village too badly, but she had a sinking feeling that she herself wouldn’t get much sleep while they were here. Of course, she told herself, it was only fair and right for Rachel to invite friends to stay, but she shouldn’t have done it off her own bat without consultation. Sophie had tried to make that point time and time again over dinner, but Rachel had remained grumpy and monosyllabic and had disappeared off to the lounge to watch a movie from Uncle George’s huge collection as soon as the meal was over. Sophie cleared away the dishes and hoped that her sister’s moment of pique would pass; otherwise day four of their time together promised to be grim.
Back at the castle, Sophie found a hose and tap by the back door and managed to wash the worst of the mud off her shoes and her dog. Hearing the noise, Rita came to the door, took one look at Jeeves and went off to get his towel – now lovingly washed and ironed. Sophie made sure he was reasonably dry before setting her shoes on a ledge in the sun to dry and following him into the kitchen barefoot. To her surprise, she found Rachel already sitting at the table, sipping a cappuccino.
‘Hi, Soph. What happened to your shoes?’
She even produced a smile and Sophie felt a wave of relief. That had so often been the way with Rachel’s tantrums and moods – although ferocious at the time, they soon passed.
‘The rain last night turned the ground into mud.’
‘Still, it’s exactly what the garden needed. Beppe told me it was going to rain and he was right.’
‘How did it go with him? Do you know all about vines now?’
‘I haven’t even scratched the surface. There’s a hell of a lot to know, especially when it comes to pruning and, of course, making the wine. Anyway, that’s one less thing for you to worry about. You can cross keeping an eye on the grape harvest off Uncle George’s list of tasks for us. Leave that to me.’
This was all sounding very promising and Sophie was delighted. ‘Terrific, Rach. Thanks.’
‘Oh yes and the wine to the church, I’m on that as well. Next Thursday Beppe and I are going to deliver a damigiana – that’s the name for the big fifty-litre glass containers – of red to the priest.’
‘Is that for his personal consumption or as communion wine?’
‘I have no idea, but it’s good stuff. Beppe and I tasted it yesterday and it’s really good. I brought a couple of bottles up and they’re in the fridge. He tells me it’s okay to keep them in the fridge in this hot weather.’
‘That’s what we’re drinking tonight, then. So, are you still up for a visit to the shops this morning? We should buy some food – we can’t keep relying on Rita to supply us – and I wouldn’t mind getting my hair done.’
‘I got mine done just last week before I left Florida, but I never say no to a bit of shopping.’
They left Jeeves in Rita’s care and drove down to the garage just after nine. Sophie had quizzed her about hair salons and as a result had phoned to make an appointment for ten thirty. It would be good to tidy herself up a bit. She might even buy some new clothes – something she hadn’t done for over a year. Did this mean she was over Claudio and ready to move on? The precise direction in which she would move on was still unknown, but this seemed like a positive first step. Thought of Claudio, however, reminded her of Mariarosa’s call yesterday and she experienced a sense of impending doom at the thought of a potential visit from him. She did her best to chase him from her mind, but it wasn’t easy.
As she handed the keys over to Gianni at the garage, she told him where they were living and asked him about pool chemicals and Labradors. He didn’t seem too worried.
‘I can’t see they could harm your dog – after all if the water’s safe for little kids, it should be safe for a
fur coat – but I’ll ask my cousin, Dario. He installed the pool up at the castle so he knows all about it. His workshop’s in Albenga, but he travels all along the coast. Next time he’s in the area I’ll get him to call in at the castle and test the water for you. That way you’ll know for sure.’
Down in the town centre, Sophie and Rachel spent an enjoyable hour working their way through the numerous clothes shops along the main street and Sophie emerged not only with a new bikini but also a couple of new tops and a light and, by her standards, very short summer dress that Rachel bullied her into buying. As ten thirty approached, she left her sister browsing the shops and headed off to the salon. The young stylist – a good-looking man with a pony tail and a diamond earring, whose mother turned out to be a bosom buddy of Rita’s – gave her a long, searching look and suggested radical action.
‘You have beautiful long hair – and I love the colour – but don’t you think it might be time for a serious trim? For the health of your hair, it really needs to be cut back a bit.’
In for a penny, in for a pound, Sophie agreed and sat back, hoping for the best. She had always had long hair but she was aware that it had been getting out of hand – mainly because she hadn’t been bothered doing anything about it. While the man, Romeo, got to work, they chatted and he proved to be as good a source of information about Santa Rita and its surroundings as Rita herself, but with the added benefit of being half the housekeeper’s age. He told Sophie where along the coast the nightclubs were, which were the chic bars and the best restaurants for atmosphere as well as food. He also told her about the social highlight of the year, the beach festival scheduled for Ferragosto – the fifteenth of August.
‘Until you’ve tried dancing in sand, you’ve never danced. Promise me you’ll come along.’