The sound of the bell signalled Billy’s arrival, and I buzzed him in. He’d be gone before Geoff arrived, I assured myself, as I opened my apartment door.
“Great place, Kate. You never lost it, did you? The ability to surround yourself with beauty … You have impeccable taste!” He gave me one of his great big bear hugs followed by a smacker on my cheek before he walked into the living room and had a good look around.
“Sorry I didn’t get round to visiting your place yet, Billy,” I said to his back as he peered up at the Triple Goddess before moving to look out the window.
“Well you know what they say: ‘If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain then the mountain will have to come to Mohammed.’ So here I am, but thankfully not as mountain-sized as I once was.” He patted his quite trim torso. Then he turned to twiddle the leather handcrafted dream catcher hanging by the window, its rainbow coloured net of threads glistening in the sunlight. “Perhaps your dream catcher drew me here today Kate … any chance of a coffee?”
“I’m not a big coffee drinker, so I’ve only got instant …”
“Oh no! Ah, only kidding, instant’s fine. A little milk and no sugar. I want to talk business with you, Kate.” Following me into the kitchen, he sat at the table and opened the black leather cover of the iPad he was carrying. I handed him a mug of coffee, and took the chair beside him. He showed me a picture of a one-storey building faced with old stone and beautiful teak barn doors set in a central arch. “This is the outside of the cookery school. We converted one of the outhouses.” The next photo showed a very professionally laid-out lecture room, similar to that in third-level colleges. The top table was set on a podium with an overhead mirror, so that students could watch the teacher’s technique. Each of the eight units had its own worktable with fitted hob, while the oven and microwaves were wall-mounted. “Now of course we’d get you whatever equipment you needed, Kate – I’m thinking, an interactive display board, an automatic movie camera and a large screen.”
I was amazed. “It’s state of the art …”
“I’ve held back on ordering small equipment because I know you’ll have your own ideas regarding baking tins, food mixers and so on. You’ll also need to hire another cookery teacher or chef to work with you and share hours, and …”
I touched his arm. “Hang on, Billy, you’re talking as though I’ve said ‘yes’.”
“What’s to stop you? I’ll add twenty-five per cent to your present salary and give you one of the cottages on the estate rent free. Look! Isn’t that cute?” He brought up four images of a stone-faced cottage with a wild garden.
“Gorgeous. But I have a job here and this is where my friends are.”
“Ah, come on Kate. That’s just a job, not a career you’re passionate about. And you can make friends anywhere. I know you.” He was smiling at me intently, as if he couldn’t and wouldn’t understand a refusal.
I didn’t know what to think. “But I’d planned to stay working where I am until retirement … The timing is all wrong … I’ve just had the greatest upheaval of my life with my marriage break up … Maybe I’d consider it in five years time if you have a vacancy on the team ...”
“No. I know you, and if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s this: you have to be in charge of this. You won’t want to join later, and have to work under someone else. You’ve always been stubborn and proud, and however they have it organised you’ll tell me you would have done it differently. So it’s now or never. I need someone to head the school and you’re perfect. I’ll give you a week to think about it because after that I’m going to have to advertise the post. We’re starting a six-month course in January and I need the teacher to work on the syllabus before then. I want brochures printed and a website running for mid-October.” Softening his tone, he said, “Please tell me you’ll consider it.”
“I’ll think about it. I promise.” But all I could think of was that I needed to get rid of Billy right away, or Geoff might assume he’d spent the night. “I’m a creature of habit in lots of ways, Billy, and this would be a big upheaval, a huge lifestyle change.”
“One that would improve your quality of life no end. I’m telling you, you’ll fall in love with the estate. Look at these pictures!” He brought up images of the great house and its sprawling grounds. He turned to face me, his eyes shining: “We’ve almost finished work converting another outhouse into a lifestyle store to sell crafts, fashion and soft furnishings along with foods and preserves from the cookery school. In one corner, we’ll have a little bistro and coffee shop with a garden. Kate, it’s made for you. I don’t know why you’re not jumping in the air over this.”
“Billy, I wish you the best of luck with it, really it sounds great.” I was a teacher who had spent all my life working from nine to five within certain parameters. Billy’s enthusiasm scared the living daylights out of me.
“Don’t you see I want you to manage all of this? It’s the business opportunity of a lifetime! And I’m solvent, I have the funds to do this properly – I’m not like the rest of the schmucks who flew too close to the sun during the Celtic tiger years.”
“I’ll give it some thought. I promise.” I stood up. I needed him to go, right now.
“Kate, you know something?”
“What?”
“I believe in serendipity and meeting you so near Machu Picchu was the universe’s way of re-uniting us. I believe you and I would make a great team, and who knows where that could lead? They say when it comes to choosing a mate we should look to the person who could most easily be our best friend because friendship and loyalty will still be there long after the fireworks have gone out.”
“Billy, please …” I could feel myself flushing. Would he ever stop talking and get out? “Listen, we’ll talk again, but I have a very important meeting …”
“Ah, she’s throwing me out now. Okay, I’m going.” He gathered up his iPad, but then stopped at the door. “I’m only going on condition you’ll give this serious consideration.”
“I promise, I promise.” I pecked his cheek and opened the door for him. “The switch at the right of the front door opens it.”
What felt like only two minutes later Geoff rang the bell. I grabbed my jacket and ran upstairs to meet him. Scanning the car park, I was relieved to see that Billy had disappeared. “Hi!” I said shyly. “I’m ready to go now unless you want to come in for tea or coffee first?”
“No, I’m ready too.”
“I’ll drive, since I know the way.” I pressed the automatic key to open my silver Audi, and its lights flashed.
He smiled a wry smile. “Okay, I won’t refuse a ride in your nice sleek car. I tried to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke out of mine, but it lingers. Just let me get my camera equipment.”
As I led the way to my car, I hoped I hadn’t sounded too eager.
The drive to Coole Park in South Galway took longer than usual – the traffic was heavy in Clarinbridge, where the Oyster festival was in full swing. Once there, we walked together through the walled garden and studied the famous autograph tree bearing the carved initials of writers from Yeats to Synge to George Bernard Shaw – all regular visitors to Coole when it had been the private residence of Lady Gregory. Great literary works had been written in her magnificent home surrounded by exotic trees, many of which her husband Sir William had imported from his time as Governor of Ceylon. Now people came from far and wide to walk their dogs, while young families brought children for picnics because the walled garden was an ideal place for kids to run wild under their parents’ watchful eyes.
The surrounding woods were quieter than the garden – there was only the shimmying of the wind through the trees, the soft calling of the birds that nested there and the snapping of twigs beneath our feet. Scents of cedar, musk and wild garlic rose up to fill our nostrils. We arrived at a magnificent giant redwood with russet bark so scaly and hairy it resembled a prehistoric mammoth with seven trunks soaring from one root. The hig
her branches reached out and curled at their ends like tusks. “Feel it!” Geoff said, taking my hand and placing it on the bark. He set his hand above mine and we stroked it together. “It almost feels like a horse!” I said. “So animal-like.”
“It’s magnificent,” he said, and I could feel the warmth of his breath brush my ear. Then he stood back and took the cap off his lens. “Stay where you are and let’s try some shots,” he said. “Do whatever you feel like doing, just don’t pose.”
As I stood leaning against the redwood, I could feel the energy pulsating through the tree as though it were travelling rhythmically from her roots.
“That’s great, Kate, you’re a natural. Now just turn to the left ever so slightly and loosen your shoulders, while elongating your neck.” I could hear the shutter clicking.
“Now, shake out your hair, relax your jaw muscles and think of something nice.”
Hmm … That wasn’t so hard, since I was looking straight at the object of my fantasies.
Afterwards he came over to show me some of the shots on the camera’s digital display unit. Standing that close to me, his thigh touching mine, I was enveloped by his scent. “Wow, they’re good, Geoff. Probably the best shots I’ve ever seen of myself.” I tried to keep my voice even. Footsteps and the sound of wheels approached, and Geoff pulled me gently out of the way as a young mother arrived wheeling her toddler in a buggy.
“One last shot, Kate, of you walking down the centre of the path towards me. I want you to think power and grace, as though you’re the queen of the forest. Not arrogance, just inner power and self assuredness. Your natural qualities.”
But I felt self-conscious. I wasn’t used to doing this sort of thing. Standing exposed in the open, I had no prop to hide behind or hold. Suddenly an elderly man came down the path, tugged along by a golden Labrador. “Sorry to interrupt you,” he cried. “Great place for photography. I used to take a lot here one time myself.”
“Oh, could I borrow your dog for the picture? What do you think, Geoff?”
“Ideal, if he doesn’t run away with you!”
“He won’t,” the man assured me, handing over the dog’s lead.
Click … click … click … click … “Great shots.” Geoff showed the man the images on the camera and handed him his business card. “If you call me, I’ll send you a few. Would you like to have your own picture taken with Kate and the dog?”
“Ah no, sonny. This aul mug’s seen better days. She’s a gorgeous gal but she looks better with you, mate.” And he headed on his way.
We continued on our trail, holding hands while Geoff told me more about his painting and the fact he was planning a big exhibition for early December. “I work fast, so I’m fairly prolific. I just wish they flew out the door as fast as I finished them.” We had arrived back at the car park, and he lit up a cigarette as he leaned against the bonnet of my car. He had a habit of knocking back several tic tac mints as soon as he’d finished, which was just as well since I hated the smell and taste of smoke.
We drove back to Galway and carried on our day in a restaurant at the Spanish Arch, a simple rustic place with wooden tables and stone walls hung with fishing pictures. We had pre-ordered the slow-cooked shoulder of lamb for two, and delicious aromas of wild rosemary and thyme floated up around us as the succulent meat fell from the bone.
“So good, so good …” murmured Geoff between mouthfuls.
I decided to broach the subject of relationships. “Do you mind me asking what you meant last week about your love life being complicated?”
“Not at all. What I meant is that I have a responsibility to Liam, my teenage son with Down syndrome. I and my ex-wife share custody, and he’s in residential care during the week, but he often comes to stay with me. I love him to bits and I’m never going to abandon him.”
I asked, amazed, “How could anyone expect you to abandon him?”
“The last woman I was involved with found my commitment to him very trying. It’s one of those issues that can really test a relationship.”
“And how do you see us? Do you think a relationship could work?”
“I know the distance could prove a problem, and I have to stay in Dublin for Liam … But I’m falling hard for you, Kate, despite a voice in my head warning me that I don’t have much to offer you.”
“All I want is the right person to love me and me to love them. I don’t expect anything else. But let’s take things slowly.”
By the time we arrived back at the apartment it was ten in the evening. I felt safe in Geoff’s company and knew I could trust him, so as I parked the car I offered:
“Geoff, it’s getting late. Maybe you’d better stay the night. I’ve a spare bedroom.”
“I was hoping you’d invite me.” He smiled that wry smile again. “I’ll fetch my overnight bag and cancel the guesthouse.”
As I turned on the lights in the living room, Geoff handed me a bottle of prosecco. I put it in the freezer to hasten its cooling. “Do you fancy watching a movie?”
“Love to. What have you got?”
“I’ve a few subtitled French and Spanish movies. Ever seen ‘Like Water for Chocolate?’”
“I have, but I’d watch it again. Magical realism, right? But hang on now, it’s a bit steamy – I’ll have to behave myself while I sit beside you. How about we take a rain check on it for when we get past the taking-it-slowly stage?”
“Okay, what about a vintage Bollywood comedy called ‘Chupke Chupke’?”
“Perfect,” he said, grinning at my choice. “Do you mind if I use the bathroom first and then make a call to my daughter?”
“Of course not. Bathroom’s on the right and your bedroom’s on the left if you’d like to call her in there.”
As he made the phone call, I found myself hoping this would be about more than just passion because I considered I might be falling in love. Geoff made me feel young and carefree and I loved his wild creativity coupled with his intense love of nature – it appealed to my artistic side. Being in his company was like seeing the world in vivid technicolor after living in a grey place for a long time. When I talked to him, I found I knew things about art I thought I’d long forgotten, and everything took on a magical glow. I liked who I was in his company. I hadn’t fully gotten round the issue of him being an impoverished artist but maybe my spirituality would help me evolve on that front.
“A penny for them,” he said, coming into the kitchen behind me. I swung round to find him smiling at me.
“I was just reflecting on the nice day we spent together.” I pulled the prosecco from the freezer. “Will you try a Bellini cocktail?”
“What’s that when it’s at home, Kate? You’re what my mates’d call a ‘posh bird’! I’m not used to such fancy fare!”
“Prosecco with peach snaps and a little peach purée,” I said, laughing at the idea of being called a posh bird.
“I’ll take your word for it, you being a domestic Goddess and all that!”
“You sit down outside and I’ll have it in to you in a jiffy. Just press play and the movie’s ready to roll.”
“Are you always this hyper-organised? It’s a bit scary for the likes of me, I tend to be a bit disorganised.”
“God, Geoff, I’m the most angst-ridden creature on the planet. The hyper-organisation is a cover up. Are you the kind of man who can calm an anxious woman?”
“Well, I could try.” He came over to me and took the glass out of my hand. “Does this work?” he asked, before embracing me and covering my mouth with his. With his warm deft tongue, he parted my lips and searched my mouth, his hands moving over my waist and buttocks. He drew back. “Well?” His blue eyes were dancing as he looked into mine.
“Hmm … Yes, I think that could help. Not exactly calming, but it could get me through the odd crisis.”
“Come on then, let’s sit and watch the movie,” he said, taking my hand.
My head was spinning and spine tingling as I took my Bellini in
my free hand and allowed him to lead me out to the living area to sit on the sofa. As we watched the movie, we cuddled close together – I with my shoes thrown off and my legs curled underneath as he turned in to me and played intermittently with my hair and examined my hand like he had never before seen a hand. And God, it was so sexy when he kissed my ear and proceeded with a trail of kisses down my neck. How could just kissing my earlobe have me wanting to abandon myself to him, to tell him to take me there and then? It took all my resolve not to do so.
When the movie ended and we stood up to go to our separate bedrooms, he placed his mouth over mine and kissed me tenderly yet passionately, circling my tongue with his and sucking it playfully. He was the best kisser I’d ever met and I felt myself soaring with desire as kundalini energy rushed up my spine. But we’d promised to behave and behave we did, despite the sizzling electricity we appeared to generate whenever we touched.
Chapter Twenty-eight
The following morning I slowly awoke to the sound of my phone ringing incessantly in the living room. As soon as I opened my eyes, it stopped, but then it started again after about two minutes. Sighing, I hauled myself out of bed and went to find it. Trevor. Wasn’t he on holiday with Julie? What on earth did he want? “Hello?”
Love & The Goddess Page 24