by T A Williams
‘Hi, Sarah, I recognised you from the other side of the road. There’s something unmistakable about the sight of you in a bikini.’
For a moment she thought it might be Miles, and she was already smiling as she rolled back onto her front again. But this time she had got it wrong. It was Paul who was swimming out towards her, shaking his head. ‘Blimey, it’s cold.’ Although it wasn’t Miles, the smile didn’t leave her face.
‘So would you be, Paul, if you’d been lying here all winter. Only a few months ago there was quite probably ice on here, you know.’
He swam right up to her and stopped close by, treading water. He glanced around but there was nobody within earshot. ‘I wanted to tell you, I had a long chat to Miles this morning and again this afternoon. We’ve been talking about the future of the business and I really get the feeling he’s coming round to trusting me at last. We’ve cleared the air, talking about a whole load of stuff, going back to our childhood. By the way, I owned up and told him about how you saved my bacon as far as tonight’s party’s concerned and how I was actually hiding in your bathroom while he was at your door.’
‘I wouldn’t have breathed a word.’ Secretly, Sarah was very pleased, especially as Paul had also been able to explain to his brother why it was he had been in her bedroom.
‘I knew you wouldn’t have said anything, but I wanted to square things with him. I owe it to him to be honest about my mistakes.’ He ran one hand through his hair and, annoyingly, it still sprang back into shape. Sarah could feel hers plastered down all over her head. ‘I know I have responsibilities to people other than myself, and I promised him, and I promise you, I’ll live up to them.’
‘You don’t need to promise me anything, Paul. You and your brother are in charge. As long as you two trust each other, that’s all that’s needed.’ Sarah was smiling. Somehow she really got the feeling he was telling her the truth and that could only be good for everybody in the company.
‘And, by the way, before coming down to the beach, I stopped off at the restaurant you booked for tonight to check it out, and it’s amazing. It’s only a couple of hundred yards away, right on the lakeside. The tables are on a sort of deck, built out right over the water. It’s going to be awesome.’ He gave her a grin. ‘Which reminds me, are you going to dance with me tonight?’
‘Join the queue, buster.’ She grinned back at him. ‘I’ll pencil you in at number four unless I get a better offer.’
***
Paul hadn’t been joking. The restaurant looked every bit as good as he had described it. When Sarah got there at seven o’clock, she was delighted to find a huge table already set for them and a very cordial manageress waiting to greet her. Equally good news was that the band had already brought along a load of instruments, amplifiers and speakers in readiness for their appearance, scheduled for nine-thirty. As Paul had described it, the terrace of the restaurant extended out over the water on stilts and that whole area had been reserved for their group. Above their heads was a trellis covered in vines and, if you listened carefully, you could just hear the gentle lapping of wavelets below them. It was a unique and romantic spot and, just for a moment, Sarah wished she wasn’t here with a big group of people. To be here with one special person would be perfect, especially if that person wasn’t still deep in mourning for his former wife.
She didn’t have much time for thinking of what might have been, as only a few minutes later Polly arrived with the bag of prizes. This had been Polly’s idea and Sarah had agreed enthusiastically. They had prepared prizes for Fastest Going Uphill, Craziest Going Downhill, Most Lurid Clothes, and a load of others. When Polly saw Sarah, she gave an appreciative whistle.
‘Wow, Sarah, where’ve you been hiding that dress? It’s gorgeous.’
Sarah had bought the very expensive silk dress in the sales six months earlier and this was the first time she had chosen to wear it. It was a lovely cream colour, fairly short, with a halter neck that showed off her shoulders and back.
‘I bought this to take on my honeymoon, but seeing as that didn’t happen, I’m determined to get my money’s worth. The only problem with it is that I haven’t got anywhere to put my phone.’ She felt pleased to be able to talk about her honeymoon without feeling miserable and Polly noticed as well.
‘Give me your phone, I’ll stick it in my pocket. It’s great to see you smiling again, Sarah. In fact, you’ve been smiling a lot over the past few days. I reckon this means you’re getting back to normal, don’t you?’
Sarah thought hard before answering. ‘I’m not really sure what normal is any more. This is beginning to feel pretty normal. You know, get up, rub on sun cream, ride a bike, get tired, eat too much, go to bed.’ She didn’t add the word alone, but she was thinking it. ‘To be honest, the idea of going back to London feels a bit strange now, but I suppose I’ll just slip back into it. But, as far as the smiling’s concerned, yes, I’m feeling a hell of a lot happier than I did two weeks ago.’
As everybody started to turn up, Sarah and Polly were on hand to welcome them with a drink. Jean-Pierre and Véronique were among the first to arrive and she was looking beautiful, wearing a gorgeous black maxi dress that was also open down the back, but unlike Sarah’s, this one was open almost to her bottom. Jean-Pierre couldn’t keep his eyes, or his hands, off her. Paul and Miles arrived together, both looking very smart, and Sarah was especially pleased to see the two brothers together. As it was a special occasion, Sarah and Polly were greeting everybody with kisses, and when her turn came to kiss Miles, Sarah felt her knees go weak as his hands touched the bare skin of her back. As his lips brushed her cheeks, she felt for a moment as though she was going to faint. This delicious, light-headed moment lasted until her eyes alighted on those of Paul, with a funny expression on his face. As he caught her eye, he winked and she blushed. Gathering her strength, she released Miles.
‘How’s your room in the tower?’
‘Amazing. It’s remarkably modern inside although the structure was probably around back in the days of the Borgias. I’m all on my own so I hope I won’t be lonely.’
Sarah would dearly have loved to offer to keep him company, but, of course, she knew that wasn’t going to happen. Instead she stuck to her hostess role. ‘There are drinks on the tray, Miles.’ The way she was feeling after his touch, she didn’t trust her fingers to reach for the glass without spilling half of it.
‘Thanks, Sarah. That was a lovely welcome.’ It looked to her as if Miles had also enjoyed their brief moment, but he moved on without further comment and she turned her attention to the next arrivals, among whom she saw Diana, looking stunning in a very revealing dress whose neckline plunged almost as low as the back of Véronique’s dress. As the others arrived, she noticed Jo appeared to have relinquished Miles as a potential target in favour of Mike. Somehow, that pleased Sarah.
By the time of the prize-giving, everybody had arrived and spirits were high. A special award of a whistle was made to Glynis, to help her if she ever got lost again, and the prize for being the fastest uphill inevitably went to Terri. Papers were circulated and the men and women in the group held secret ballots to determine the sexiest man and woman. When the results were handed to Sarah, in her role as mistress of ceremonies, she wasn’t surprised to find Paul had swept the board among the women, while she was genuinely surprised to discover that she had won the men’s vote. There were many things she had been feeling over the past couple of weeks, but sexy definitely wasn’t one of them. As it was a secret ballot, only she and Polly had seen the results, so she fiddled the vote so that Véronique won the sexiest girl category. Polly gave her a quizzical look, but Sarah just gave the slightest shake of the head and made no comment. She finished with little presentations of her own to Gianluca for being a wonderful guide and to Polly for being so efficient, cheerful and, above all, for having spent so much of her time looking after poor Dan with his sore leg. Dan got an ironic chorus of boos and Polly got a lovely necklace.
By the end of the prize-giving, everybody had got a prize of some sort, even if it was a packet of antacid tablets for Weakest Stomach. By now, it was time to eat and Sarah told everybody to take a seat. She sat down halfway along the table, while Paul and Miles took up stations at opposing ends and Polly sat opposite her, with Gianluca alongside. Terri, needless to say, was right next to him on his other side. Once everybody was seated, Sarah heard a knife being struck against a glass and the noise volume around the table dropped. She saw Chuck, down towards the far end of the table, stand up.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I think this is a suitable moment to make our own presentation. As the oldest and ugliest person here, I’ve been given the job. We’ve all had a terrific time and we all agree the organisation has been second to none. You even fixed the weather for us, apart from that one day, but hell, we all make mistakes.’ He went on to embarrass Sarah totally before finishing with the words, ‘So, as a little sign of our appreciation to you, Sarah, for making everything run like clockwork and for helping even slowcoaches like me to get up the hills, here’s a little present from us all.’ There was a burst of clapping around the table and a small package, beautifully wrapped and tied with a ribbon, was handed to her. Before she could open it, there were cries of ‘Speech, speech’. Sarah was coaxed into standing up by Polly and Gianluca, and was, for a moment, lost for words. She looked around the table and saw smiling, happy faces and she knew it really had been a good trip.
‘Thank you, Chuck, and thank you all. I was just doing my job, you know. I’m lucky enough to have a job I love and maybe that’s why things went so well. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends to accompany me on this ride and, believe me, I really mean it when I call you friends.’ She glanced down at the package in her hands. ‘There was no need for this, but thank you so much for thinking of me. I’m the one who should be thanking you all.’ She raised her glass. ‘To all of you, cheers.’
As she sat back down again, Polly leant across the table. ‘Here, you’ve just got a text.’ She handed Sarah her phone. Looking down at the caller ID, Sarah saw it was from Lars. Hoping for the best, she swiped the green button and clicked on the message. It was short and very sweet.
Home safe and well. Feeling a lot better. Thank you, Sarah, for everything. Say hi to everybody there for me. Hope it’s been a great ride. Lars
Sarah stood up again and clapped her hands. ‘Just to tell you I’ve had a text from Lars. He’s doing just fine, and he says hi to you all.’ There was another round of applause and she sat down again and sent him a reply.
So pleased. Everybody sends love. Get well soon. XX Sarah
‘Well, go on, open the present.’ Polly reached over and took the phone back while Sarah undid the ribbon and looked into the package. Inside was a small, oblong box and, inside that, she was delighted to find a very smart new watch. She took it out and held it up so everybody could see.
‘That’s awesome, guys. I was going to buy myself a cheap watch at the airport and you’ve been and gone and replaced my broken one with this beauty.’ She blew kisses around the table as she slipped it on her wrist. ‘Thank you all so very much.’
The meal began and Sarah was thrilled and relieved to find it as good as she had hoped. The starters were numerous and varied, with excellent lasagne to follow. The wines were local and very drinkable, and the main course was wild boar in a rich, red-wine sauce. The dessert trolley, when it came round, was a glutton’s delight, with tiramisu, fruit tarts, chocolate cake, profiteroles and a choice of ice creams and sorbets. A couple of bottles of limoncello were circulated afterwards and, as the band struck up, Sarah was having serious doubts about whether she would be able to get up from her seat, let alone start dancing.
In fact, they all had to get up as their big table was dismembered and turned into smaller tables that were installed around the edges of the dance area. By this time, the band had launched into some kind of indefinable Euro-beat tune that started to attract people out onto the dance floor. Sarah felt a touch on her arm.
‘A promise is a promise. First dance.’
Sarah danced with Chuck and then the others until she had danced with pretty much everybody, including Glynis and a few of the other girls. As before, the one person who didn’t venture onto the dance floor was Miles. From time to time Sarah spotted him, steadfastly refusing the blandishments of a queue of women, all trying to get him up and dancing, but to no avail. When her new watch told her it was half past eleven, she took a break and helped herself to a glass of cool water. Even though tomorrow’s ride was short and flat, she had no intention of drinking any more alcohol, but she knew she had to keep hydrated as the temperature was still high, even now. She looked carefully around the dance floor, but there was no sign of Miles anywhere. After drinking the last of the water in her glass, she slipped out through the main part of the restaurant and onto the beach. She stood by the water’s edge for a few minutes while her eyes got used to the darkness and she started to cool down in the gentle breeze coming in off the water. Fifty yards away was a hefty tree trunk, washed up on the shore, and, as her night vision improved, she made out the shape of a figure sitting on it. She had a very strong suspicion she knew who it might be. She walked slowly along the beach until she was sure she knew it was him sitting there.
‘Miles, is that you?’
‘Sarah? Hi. I thought that looked like you in the starlight.’ He sounded tired.
‘Mind if I join you?’
‘Mind? Not at all.’ Sarah took a seat alongside him, both facing out across the still waters of the lake. The surface of the wood was smooth beneath her bare legs, as no doubt countless other people had also sat here, enjoying the view. There was very little light pollution and the sky was a mass of stars – so many that she realised they were actually shedding enough light to create faint shadows. She and Miles sat in silence for a while before she glanced towards him. Sensing the movement from her, he turned his face in her direction and she saw the starlight twinkle in his eyes.
‘You doing all right, Miles?’ She didn’t need to say more. Both of them knew why he hadn’t felt able to join in the fun and games.
‘I suppose so, Sarah.’ She realised that what she had initially interpreted as tiredness was in fact sorrow. ‘I’ve just been sitting here thinking. I’ve been to the lake before. I came here three or four times with Lucia, my wife, when I was living in Rome. We used to stay a bit further round the side of the lake, in a little hotel only a couple of miles from here, over to the west. It was a lovely, romantic spot and we had some good times there.’
‘I didn’t know. I’m sorry. So this visit has been bringing up all sorts of sad memories?’
She heard him take a deep breath before answering. ‘No, not sad, Sarah; happy and lovely memories. Like I say, we had some good times here. The sad part is that we’ll never have them again – at least, not together.’
Sarah couldn’t think of the right thing to say so she stayed quiet for a while and he seemed happy with the silence. Finally, she was just about to try changing the subject, just to get him talking about happier things, when he reached over and caught her arm with his hand. He let his fingers run down until they reached her hand and he took it in a gentle grip.
‘You’re wonderful, Sarah, you know that?’
She was so confused by the sensations his touch had spread throughout her body that she found herself floundering for words. ‘Me, wonderful?’
‘Yes, wonderful, and beautiful, and clever and kind and thoughtful. Everybody back there,’ he said, nodding in the direction of the music, ‘they all feel it and so do I. So does my brother, for that matter. I’ve never seen him so taken with anybody. By the way, I did as you asked and he and I had a long talk today and I think we’ve got things sorted out. You were right, you know; he has matured.’
Sarah was delighted to get confirmation of what Paul had told her. It looked like good relations had been restored between the brothers. She w
as acutely conscious of the feel of Miles’s hand on hers and did her best to keep the tone light. ‘Paul?’ She gave a little snort. ‘He keeps asking me to marry him.’ She hoped Miles could hear the humour in her voice but, just in case he missed it, she added. ‘I like Paul a lot now. I think I understand him better than before. As for marriage, he and I both know that’s just a joke.’
‘Why a joke? Is there someone else?’
For a moment, Sarah toyed with the idea of just blurting out her growing affection for him, but, cautious as ever, she resisted the temptation. Instead, she deliberately chose to misunderstand the question. ‘Someone else? I would think there’s a queue a mile long for your brother’s hand.’
‘And you, after your awful experience, do you think you’ll ever find somebody else?’ His voice was low, but insistent.
‘Maybe I have, Miles…’ She waited for him to probe further, but all she heard was the band’s rendition of an Italian ballad, with the singer’s tuneful voice lingering long over the notes. Finally, she decided to take the initiative. ‘And you, Miles? Do you think you’ll ever get over Lucia? It must be so very, very hard to lose a loved one like that.’
‘I’ve got to move on with my life, Sarah. I know that. It’s just so very, very tough.’
She sat there with him in silence until the band struck up again with their version of Elton John’s plaintive ‘Your Song’. Reaching a decision, she stood up, still holding his hand, and tugged him to his feet. ‘You and I haven’t ever danced together, you know. You owe me at least one dance, Miles.’