He looked at me in complete astonishment.
‘Juno!’ exclaimed Ana. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’
‘It’s the cat.’ I explained about Banquo/Ophelia and her kittens.
‘She’s only a cat,’ said Ana. ‘She won’t mind if we have a peek into the shed.’
‘She will,’ I protested. ‘The kittens are tiny. She’s very protective of them. You can’t let strangers go in. You just can’t.’
Ana shrugged and then spoke to the Carreños. I got the impression that the Spanish people were looking at me and thinking I was a crazy English person who cared more about animals than people, but eventually Señor Carreño nodded and they walked away from the shed.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘But they’re just babies.’
‘It’s OK,’ said Ana in amusement. ‘I don’t think seeing the inside, or not, of my storage area will affect the sale too much.’
She led the Carreños back to the house, where she offered them water. They stood on the patio chatting, while I wandered into the shade of the jacaranda tree. I wondered if Ana had told them anything about the history of the house. I supposed not. It might put them off. But without them knowing, the story of her grandfather might be lost forever. And that would be wrong somehow.
They finished their water and Ana waved at me.
‘We’re leaving now,’ she said. ‘They really like the house. They keep saying how bright and cheerful it is. If they buy it, it will be almost entirely thanks to your work. I’m very grateful.’
‘Hopefully I didn’t scupper the deal by jumping on top of Mr Carreño to stop him going into the shed,’ I said.
‘I do not understand scupper,’ said Ana. ‘But it was not a problem.’
‘Let me know if they make an offer,’ I said. ‘They won’t want to move in before I leave, will they?’
‘No. It will take a few weeks to sort everything out,’ Ana told me. ‘Do not worry.’
She kissed me goodbye.
I was glad for her. But my heart was heavy as I watched them leave.
Pep came to clean the pool again the following day. He strode across the garden looking as much of a Greek god as ever. I came out of the house and said hello, asking him why he was cleaning it again so soon.
‘Needs more treatment in hot weather,’ he replied as he uncoiled the hose. ‘It was not perfect last time. I come with chlorine tablets for it.’
‘OK.’
‘You are well?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘You miss me?’
I laughed. ‘I don’t spend all day sitting around thinking about you, you know.’
‘Pity,’ he said.
‘I’ve been busy,’ I told him. ‘I had to tidy the house. Ana had people to look at it yesterday.’
‘To look at it?’
‘People who might buy it.’
‘What?’
I told him about the Carreños.
‘They seemed to like it,’ I said. ‘They loved the pool and the garden and the house itself.’
‘She would sell to people from Valencia?’ He sounded aghast.
‘Well, she did make the very valid point that nobody from Beniflor wanted to buy it,’ I remarked. ‘And I’m guessing that the Carreños aren’t going to be too sticky about the price. They have the money to buy.’
‘Madre mía!’ He was clearly upset. ‘I do not know how my mother will feel about that.’
‘It’s not up to her,’ I said. ‘To be honest, I feel a little sad about it myself. But it’s always been Ana’s plan to sell and buy her apartment on the coast.’
‘Nevertheless . . .’ Pep dropped a big chlorine tablet into the deep end of the pool. ‘It is a pity to see the house go from the family.’
‘I know.’
He looked up at me. ‘This is your fault,’ he said. ‘Until you started the reformas nobody was interested.’
‘Which is a pity,’ I said. ‘It means that nobody could see past the outward appearance and appreciate the house for what it was.’
‘You are right.’ Pep looked at me thoughtfully. ‘You are very right, Juno. The people of Beniflor often do not see what is in front of them. It takes an extranjera to show.’
‘I think you’re exaggerating a bit,’ I said. ‘But I’m glad I’ve helped Ana. After all, she charged me hardly anything for the rental, and staying here has been a lovely experience.’
‘For me, too.’ He winked, and I burst out laughing. ‘Are you one hundred per cent sure you do not want to sleep with me one more time?’
I’d moved on from Pep. I knew I had. So I repeated what I’d said before.
‘OK.’ He sighed. ‘I am sad about it. But OK.’
‘I’m sure the young women of Beniflor will be delighted to have you back on the market,’ I told him.
‘Excuse me?’
‘Available to them again,’ I amended.
He grinned. ‘The young women of Alicante,’ he corrected me. ‘I will wait until I return to college to find my next girlfriend.’
‘You’re an arrogant sod,’ I said with a laugh, which made him frown, and I had to explain it to him.
‘But you tell me I am good in bed,’ he said. ‘And if I can be good for a woman and she is good for me too – then that is good for everyone, no?’
And I really didn’t have a response to that.
I told him about Ophelia and her babies as he was getting ready to leave.
‘Do you want me to get rid of them?’ he asked.
‘Pep! No! Of course not,’ I said in horror. ‘Actually, what I want is for them to find good homes.’
‘Not so many people have cats in their homes here,’ he said. ‘In their gardens, perhaps.’
‘That’d be fine,’ I said. ‘I don’t like to think of them being feral, that’s all. And I really feel that Ophelia should be sterilised. Goodness knows how many kittens she’s had already, and what might have happened to them.’
He shrugged. ‘Is not your problem,’ he said.
And yet, like so many things in the Villa Naranja, I sort of felt that it was.
Chapter 30
The following morning, my phone pinged with another text from Max Hollander. It was a photo of Dylan holding a kitten. Although his hair had started to grow back, there was still a scar at his temple running to the top of his cheekbone. But he was smiling.
Meet the new member of the family, Max said. Mac (short for Macbeth, obvs). Thought it would be a good idea for Dylan. Already inseparable. Hope Banquo has returned! M.
I stared at the message for a while and then opened the photos on my phone. I selected one I’d taken of Ophelia nursing her kittens.
Banquo has transitioned, I typed. Meet Ophelia and her family!
My phone pinged almost instantly with a couple of horror-face emojis followed by a string of laughing-face ones. And then another text message.
I thought s/he was a bit porky, Max wrote. But many congrats to the new family!
Fat shamer! I responded.
Am off to check Macbeth, replied Max. Tho will be making sure is neither male nor female in any event. One cat is enough.
Who are you telling? I responded. Am desperately trying to find homes for kittens. Not sure will succeed.
Knowing you, am confident you will, typed Max. Best of luck.
I couldn’t think of anything else to say. So I sent some thumbs-up emojis.
He didn’t reply.
It was Rosa who finally solved the problem of Ophelia’s kittens; although not until a couple of days later, and not until after Luis had called unexpectedly to the Villa Naranja first.
‘Is it true?’ he asked when he got out of his car. ‘That there are buyers from Valencia for Doña Carmen’s house?’
‘It’s true that people called around to look at it,’ I replied. ‘And they seemed interested.’
‘Joder,’ he muttered. ‘This is not good.’
‘It’s good for Ana,’ I told him
. ‘She’s been trying to sell the house for ages. And, like I told Pep, nobody in Beniflor wants to buy it.’
‘Nevertheless.’ He frowned. ‘Outsiders.’
‘This is the twenty-first century, and you’re not living in a backwater,’ I retorted. ‘I’m an outsider.’
‘True.’ He looked at me thoughtfully. ‘And I wasn’t very keen on you coming here, either.’
‘Because of Pep?’
He shook his head ‘No, no. I told you, I thought Pep would break your heart. And that you would be trouble for us. But I was wrong, and it has been nice to have you here.’
‘I’m sure the Carreños are lovely people too,’ I said. ‘And they’ll settle into the community and be part of it in no time.’
‘They may be lovely people,’ he conceded. ‘But it takes generations to settle into the community. That’s just the way it is.’
‘Well, I’m happy for Ana – and you should be too,’ I said.
Ophelia chose this moment to take a break from her maternal duties and strolled across the garden. She stopped in the shade of a hibiscus bush and began to wash. I was still annoyed at myself for not realising she was female from the start, although there was no doubt that – even without the baby weight – she was definitely a curvaceous kind of cat.
‘I must go,’ said Luis.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘But if you want to find out about the prospective buyers, you should really ring Ana Perez.’
‘I might do that,’ he said.
Perhaps he wanted to negotiate about the orange groves, I thought, as he left. Pep had said that the family had thought about buying some of the Perez land before, with the possibility of uprooting the orange trees and replacing them with vines. Obviously, if the property was to be sold, this would be the time to negotiate. And perhaps it would mean more money for Ana and her family too.
Ophelia came up and rubbed against my ankles. I scratched behind her ears.
‘Everything’s changing,’ I murmured. ‘Life moves on. For you. For me. For all of us.’
I went to Beniflor in the afternoon, and that’s when I talked to Rosa about the kittens.
‘What a hoot.’ She laughed. ‘You must have got a shock.’
‘D’you know, I always felt there was something about that cat,’ I admitted. ‘Like he – I mean she – was keeping an eye on me. It must have been her maternal instinct kicking in. I’m worried about the kittens, though. Pep asked if I wanted to get rid of them, and he wasn’t talking about finding them good homes!’
‘Typical.’ She snorted. ‘The Spanish have their pets, of course, but they’re not as sentimental as us about animals.’
‘I’m not sentimental,’ I said. ‘But I don’t want anything bad to happen to them.’
‘Leave it with me,’ said Rosa. ‘I know one or two people who might like a kitten. It’s going to be a few weeks before they’re ready to leave their mum, anyway.’
‘Eight weeks, according to Google,’ I said. ‘But the thing is, I’ll have gone home by then.’
‘Oh, really?’ She picked up my empty coffee cup. ‘When are you leaving?’
‘At the end of the month. I can’t believe it, to be honest. When I first came, the time stretched out in front of me, and now suddenly I’m thinking about getting back to work.’
‘I’ll miss you,’ said Rosa. ‘So will Pep.’
‘I won’t be keeping in touch with him,’ I said. ‘We were only ever going to be a short-term thing.’
‘I’m sorry I was ratty with you over him,’ said Rosa.
‘How’s it going with Tom?’ I asked.
She smiled. ‘Pretty well, so far. He’s very attentive. It’s nice.’
‘I’m glad,’ I told her. ‘You deserve someone nice.’
‘I’m in a better place with him than with Pep,’ she said. ‘Not as intense. But better. So you see,’ she added, ‘Magda was right. And she was right about Catalina. She might be right about you and your man too.’
I laughed. ‘I’m the exception,’ I said. ‘But that’s fine. It really is.’
‘Leave it with me, about the kittens,’ she said. ‘I’ll call you.’
‘Thanks.’
I finished my coffee and went home.
Although, of course, the Villa Naranja wasn’t home.
Rosa was a quick worker. She sent me a WhatsApp the following day to say that she had homes for the kittens and asked if she could see them. She didn’t have a car, so I picked her up from the café and brought her to the house.
‘I’ve never been here before,’ she said as she got out of the car. ‘It’s impressive, isn’t it? I love the shutters!’
‘Everyone’s taken by the shutters,’ I admitted. ‘But it only took some sanding and a lick of varnish to make them look good.’
‘Of course!’ She turned to me. ‘I’d forgotten you did all that. It looks great. So does the garden,’ she added as she looked around. ‘Did you do that too?’
I gave her a rundown of my DIY efforts over the past couple of months, and she told me that Ana had been lucky to find me. Everyone seemed to think of me as some kind of home-improvement fairy, I thought, as I brought her to the shed where Ophelia and her babies were. It was very satisfying to be lavished with praise, even if most of my work was superficial.
‘Oh, gosh, how cute!’ she whispered when I opened the door and she looked inside.
The kittens were latched on to Ophelia and feeding hungrily. She opened an eye to look at us but she knew we weren’t a threat.
‘They’re so sweet,’ said Rosa as we left them to it. ‘And I’m delighted to be able to find homes for them.’
‘Where?’ I asked.
‘Two of them are coming to us at the hotel,’ she said. ‘We already have a couple of dogs the guests can take for walks through the countryside, but Mum has always liked the idea of some cats too. So she’s happy to have them.’
‘And the others?’
‘Even better homes for them!’ Her eyes gleamed with excitement. ‘Hayley Carr is going to take them. She’s Carola’s sister – you remember Carola? She came to Magda with us.’
I nodded.
‘Hayley is the manager of a retirement home in Altea. That’s about twenty minutes or so from here. She wants to use pet therapy with the residents – apparently, it’s good for them to interact with animals. At the moment one of the nurses brings her own cat to visit, and they love it. So Hayley wants to have animals actually living there with the residents too.’
‘What a brilliant idea!’
‘It is, isn’t it? And ideal for Banquo’s babies.’
‘Ophelia,’ I corrected her. ‘Not that she cares one way or the other.’ I looked at Rosa with concern. ‘D’you think you could keep an eye on her too when I’m gone? I’d hate to think of her wandering around without anyone to care for her.’
‘You’re such a softie,’ Rosa teased.
‘I was going to bring her to the vet and have her sterilised,’ I admitted. ‘But the kittens have to be weaned first, and that takes about a month. I’ll be gone before then. It’s very frustrating.’
Rosa laughed. ‘You could stay a little longer.’
‘I wish,’ I said. ‘But I have to work.’
‘I’m sure you could get a job as a house fixer-upper,’ she said.
‘Even if I could . . .’ I shook my head. ‘This isn’t my life, Rosa. I love it here, but I also love my job. It would be a mistake to pretend I could change.’
‘Even for Pep?’
‘Especially for Pep.’ I grimaced. ‘How could I possibly live with a man who would’ve drowned the kittens!’
‘He was just trying to be helpful. And he wouldn’t have drowned them, he would’ve just brought them somewhere else and let them loose.’
‘They still would’ve died!’ I cried.
‘Has that really changed your view of him?’ asked Rosa. ‘Might you have stayed otherwise?’
I shook my head. ‘No. I told you, h
e was just a . . . a stopgap. And maybe I’m overreacting a bit about his attitude towards the kittens. All the same, Rosa, I need to go home. But I’m really glad I came.’
‘Are you over your relationship with the married man?’ she asked.
I nodded. ‘He broke my heart. But it’s mended again.’
‘They do mend, don’t they?’ She looked pensive. ‘I thought I’d never get over Pep, but I have. And even if Tom and I aren’t forever, I’ve changed. I’m not as naive as I was.’
‘It’s such hard work,’ I agreed. ‘Having to change. Having to adapt. Having to move on. But everyone has to do it at some point.’
‘I’m glad you came,’ Rosa said. ‘You were good for us, you know.’
‘And you were good for me,’ I said. ‘Spain was good for me. I hope I’ll be back.’
Chapter 31
And then, suddenly, it was almost time to go home. The week of my departure, I spent ages walking around the Villa Naranja, through the garden and along the orange groves, as though I could imprint every last centimetre of it on my heart. I’d grown to love the house, which was no longer even remotely eerie. I felt at peace there. And it would always be a part of me, even when it was finally sold and the outsiders from Valencia moved in.
I decided to ask a few people around for drinks two nights before I left. The Navarros, of course, Rosa and her mum, Carola and Hayley (who had yet to see the kittens), Catalina Ruiz and Ana Perez, who’d phoned earlier in the week to make sure that everything was OK before I left.
‘I need to drop by in the next couple of days, if that’s all right,’ she’d said. ‘I have stuff to do before I finalise the sale.’
‘If you’re here the day after tomorrow, I’m having some farewell drinks,’ I told her. ‘Please come.’
‘That suits me very well,’ said Ana. ‘I finish early then.’
‘Do you want to stay over?’ I felt slightly awkward asking if she wanted to stay in her own house, and even more awkward hoping she’d say no because I wanted those last days to myself.
‘No,’ she replied. ‘I’ll stay in Eduardo’s apartment.’
I’d forgotten about Pilar’s brother, who I’d never met, but I told her he was welcome to come along too.
And so, at eight o’clock on Thursday evening, the people of Beniflor – who were now friends to me – assembled in the garden of the Villa Naranja, which was looking bright and colourful in the evening sun.
The Hideaway Page 28