The Summer of Aphrodite

by Viva Jones

‘Oh, you know how I can’t bear airline food; I didn’t touch it. It doesn’t hurt to skip a meal now and then’, she added, her eyes darting pointedly to Anna’s stomach.

  Anna ignored her and opened up the car, putting Audrey’s suitcase in the boot.

  ‘Still got this old thing, then?’ Audrey eyed up her Honda Civic suspiciously.

  ‘It’s a good car.’

  ‘I’d have thought the bank could have provided Richard with something better by now. I mean, he is the manager, isn’t he?’

  Anna again decided not to comment.

  ‘Ah, the warmth of the sun,’ Audrey started, closing her eyes and feeling the rays on her face. ‘Doesn’t it feel wonderful?’

  ‘Doesn’t do much for your skin,’ Anna replied quickly. ‘If you put your face in it like that you’ll end up looking like an old prune.’

  ‘I read a wonderful quote by Catherine Deneuve the other day. She says, once you reach the age of thirty-five, you have to choose between your face and your arse!’

  ‘Mummy!’

  ‘I, of course, chose my arse, and kept myself thin, but perhaps to the detriment of my face. You, quite wisely, have chosen your face.’

  Anna pulled out her tissue, infused with Nathalie’s special mix, and put it to her nose, taking a deep breath. It was going to be a long week.

  ***

  Tanya looked up from her desk as the agency door opened, and to her astonishment, in walked the baby-faced man she’d seen in Dolores’ bar the other night. He was limping, she noticed, but he beamed at her as if she was an old friend.

  ‘I’m Marinos,’ he said, offering her his hand. ‘Didn’t I see you the other night? In that bar? What are the chances, eh?’

  ‘Yes, what are the chances?’ Tanya agreed, introducing herself.

  ‘You was a bit down in the dumps, wasn’t you? I couldn’t bear seeing such a gorgeous girl looking so miserable, it wasn’t right, innit.’

  ‘I do remember you, Marinos,’ she said, a bright smile masking her confusion. ‘Now, what can I do for you? Are you looking for a property or something?’

  ‘Yeah, I am, actually. I saw an ad for them villas you’re building in the paper.’ He pulled out a crumpled page of a newspaper from his pocket.

  Who was he trying to fool, Tanya thought. He must have found out where she worked somehow. Perhaps even Dolores had told him? Her heart lifted at the thought that their friendship might not be over. As Yannakis was on honeymoon and it had been a slow afternoon, she decided to play along with him.

  ‘The Odyssey Villas?’ she asked. ‘They’re proving very popular. I’ve only got three or four units left, basically.’ She got up to show him the to-scale model, and pointed out the properties which were as yet unclaimed. Then she talked him through the prices and the deal terms, expecting him to burst out laughing and admit that he’d found out where she worked from Dolores, and just wanted to ask her out. But he didn’t, instead he listened attentively and asked pertinent questions.

  So Tanya suggested making an appointment to take him to the show house, and he agreed. ‘I’d take you now but obviously I can’t leave the office empty,’ she told him. ‘And you should know there’s going to be a big party for all the buyers in September. We’re also proud to be sponsoring the Tiggles cat rescue centre with their campaign to neuter strays.’

  ‘I like cats,’ Marinos told her.

  ‘Then you’d like my friend, Ginnie,’ she said. ‘She’s a bit old for you, though.’ How old was he anyway, she wondered. Twenty-two, three?

  ‘I’ve got nothing against older women, but I’d prefer ‘em to be in their twenties.’

  Tanya tried not to blush. ‘So you’re over from London then, are you?’

  ‘That’s right. But a lot of my family still lives here. So I’d like to be able to come down from time to time, innit.’

  She didn’t want to seem rude but why he was keeping up the pretence was a mystery to her. Was it his parents who wanted a house? At his age, how could he possibly afford one?

  ‘Look, Tanya,’ he started, as if reading her mind. ‘I don’t want to be forward or nothing, but I’d love to ask you out.’

  ‘Oh, Marinos,’ she said with a gentle sigh. There it was at last. What was he, an apprentice plumber? An electrician? Tanya wanted more for herself than that. ‘That’s very sweet but I’m afraid I’m taken at the end of the day.’

  ‘That’s too bad. I should’ve known that someone as gorgeous as you would be. He’s a lucky bloke, innit.’

  Tanya tried to smile the smile of a woman happy and in-love. ‘You don’t really want a house at all, do you?’

  ‘Yeah, I do.’ His face changed. ‘Gimme a brochure and I’ll come back and see the show house. As long as you promise it’ll be you what takes me.’

  ‘Marinos,’ Tanya said with a pitying smile. ‘I’m sorry for being rude, but really. I’m a busy woman, and at the end of the day, how could you possibly afford one?’

  Marinos just smiled. ‘That’s for me to know and you to find out, innit?’ he told her with a wink.

  ***

  Ginnie arrived at Tiggles with a sense of trepidation. She’d been relieved to get Nigel’s phone call and to know that she was needed after all, but at the same time felt such shame and humiliation she wasn’t sure she could bear to look him in the eye again. What had she been thinking? How had she failed to spot that damned webcam? Even worse, how did she know that nothing had been released on the internet?

  She groped in her handbag for Nathalie’s oil, unscrewed the cap and inhaled it deeply, before entering Nigel’s office. She hadn’t had a drink, despite all her raw emotions, and felt all the stronger for it. This fact alone gave her confidence.

  Nigel looked up from his paperwork and smiled. ‘Ginnie, there you are. Thank you for coming.’

  He made it sound inappropriate. ‘Nigel, thank you for asking me. And I want to apologise, again, for my terrible behaviour. I don’t know what got into me. It will never happen again, I promise.’ When he said nothing, she asked, ‘How’s Gracie? And her kittens?’

  ‘They’re doing marvellously, look.’ He indicated to his monitor on the desk, and there Ginnie could see Gracie, lying on her side, the kittens suckling.

  ‘The squidgies,’ she whispered. ‘I wish I’d been there for her.’

  ‘She managed perfectly well as it was. She’s very popular, you know. We’ve had lots of enquiries about her kittens.’

  ‘Good, that’s wonderful news.’

  ‘So the webcam’s been a stroke of marketing genius, you could say.’

  ‘Yes, you’re quite right.’

  Nigel pressed his keyboard and another image came up, that of Ginnie, looking hot and tired, placing the vibrator inside her knickers.

  ‘This is, of course, what viewers might have seen.’

  ‘Nigel, do we have to? I’ve said I’m sorry. Can’t we erase this and put it behind us?’

  ‘Well, that would be easy, wouldn’t it? But in all honesty, Ginnie, why should I?’ He folded his hands behind his head revealing two damp patches under his arms, and pushed back from the monitor.

  ‘I don’t understand? What do you want from me?’

  ‘That’s more like it, Ginnie. Trisha’s been called away, you know. Her mother’s not well. So it’s all hands on deck here.’

  ‘I’ll do whatever you like, clean out litter trays, I’ll do all the de-fleaing, whatever you say.’

  ‘That’s what I wanted to hear.’ He pushed his chair out further and Ginnie could plainly see his hard-on straining through his trousers. ‘You see, I quite enjoy watching this tape. You’re a very sensual woman, did you know that? If I wasn’t a married man I’d be very keen, very keen indeed.’

  ‘But you are married,’ Ginnie countered quickly. ‘So I
’ll get on with the litter trays, shall I?’

  ‘Not so fast. Come on, Ginnie, we’re adults here. You know what I want. Watch this, it’s my favourite part, you’re on the verge of coming, see?’

  ‘Nigel please! Can’t we just erase this?’

  ‘I love the way you take your breasts like that. Look at your mouth, how it opens in desire; I just want to slip something in it, right at that point.’

  Ginnie faltered. ‘Do you want a blowjob?’ When he said nothing she went on: ‘One blowjob and the tape gets erased. Do I have your word?’

  He smiled triumphantly. ‘You have my word.’

  ‘You’ll erase it in front of me?’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘And can you assure me that it hasn’t been seen by anyone else?’

  ‘Fortunately, I can. I cut it off when I spotted you taking that thing out of your handbag.’

  ‘So you cut me off from being broadcast live, but you carried on taping all the same?’

  ‘It was too good to miss.’

  ‘Nigel, I feel so betrayed.’

  ‘One blowjob and it’s over.’

  ‘And then I carry on, as before, including the campaign?’

  ‘I was thinking I might get a bit more involved in that. The big launch party on the ninth, I thought I might represent Tiggles there.’

  ‘I can still go, surely?’

  ‘Of course you can, Ginnie, I’m not a mean man. Now, what are you going to do for me, now?’

  With a huff Ginnie got down on her knees and undid his fly like a nurse dealing with an irritating patient. She’d made a mistake, she told herself, and this was her atonement. She eased Nigel’s stiff cock out of his underpants and took him in her mouth. It tasted of pee and pre-come, and she wished she had a glass of water at the ready. There was always his tea on the table, she noticed. She could always take a slurp of that afterwards.

  He moaned in pleasure as she set to work, and she told herself this was practise for the real man who would surely come into her life sooner or later. She started stroking his shaft, and applying a little pressure to his balls. There was something nice about a stiff cock inside your mouth, she decided, as long as you didn’t focus too heavily on whose it actually was. She noted Nigel’s reactions when she squeezed here and nipped a little there, and began to feel just a little turned on herself. He had a little raspberry birthmark near his groin area, Ginnie spotted, and she was only just realising what a powerful observation that might be when suddenly he was coming, and he held her head down tightly against his cock, and squirted on the roof of her mouth. Ginnie felt pleased about a job well done. She swallowed, took a slurp of his luke-warm tea and got back up on her feet again.

  ‘That was wonderful, thank you Ginnie.’

  ‘Now let me see you erase that recording.’ Ginnie watched as he did so, and even though she was well aware he might have another copy hidden away, she knew that the knowledge of his raspberry birthmark now gave her something major on him. ‘When do you think Trisha will be back?’ she asked casually.

  ‘Two or three weeks,’ he replied. ‘In time for the big party. She doesn’t need to know about any of this.’

  ‘No she doesn’t, does she? I mean it’d be awful for you if she found out. Divorce can be so expensive, can’t it? Not to mention losing your children’s respect.’ She paused for a moment. ‘That birthmark of yours, I don’t suppose many people know about that, do they? Hidden away in such a secret place.’ She saw a flicker of recognition on his face. ‘All gone now, is it? Good, I’ll go and visit Gracie now, say hello to her kittens.’

  ‘Thank you, Ginnie. You do that.’

  Nigel looked distinctly less confident than before, and Ginnie walked out feeling triumphant. That little raspberry birthmark had realigned the balance of power. One mention of it to Trisha and his life would barely be worth living. How stupid he was not to have thought of that! Ginnie suddenly felt all-powerful. She was a goddess, she was sensual, she oozed sexuality, and she’d just won an extremely important battle.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ‘Anna, dear, are you still on your computer?’ Just hearing that woman’s voice set Anna’s teeth on edge.

  ‘I am a writer, mummy,’ Anna snarled back.

  ‘Yes, of course you are - ‘ her mother appeared in the doorway as quickly Anna switched from the game of Spider Solitaire she’d been playing to a Word document, ‘ - and I’m sure you’re terribly busy,’ Audrey added pointedly, ‘but if I could just go on-line for a few minutes?’

  Anna was furious with herself for getting caught, but she couldn’t write now, not with that woman in the vicinity. And playing cards could be so soothing. She closed down her programmes and got up, pulling the chair out for her mother. ‘It’s all yours. What are you going to do, anyway?’

  ‘I need to check on something,’ Audrey said, glancing quickly at her watch. ‘I might have to do a transfer depending on some injury news.’

  Anna was puzzled. ‘A transfer? What are you talking about?’

  ‘Fantasy football, dear, nothing to concern you.’ Peering into the monitor, Audrey pushed up her sleeves and began typing in a website address with the proficiency of a teenager.

  ‘Fantasy football?’ Anna repeated dumbly. ‘What on earth - ‘

  ‘Oh, you know very little about me,’ Audrey told her with a dismissive wave. ‘I’ve been playing for a couple of years now. Marvellous fun.’

  ‘Mummy, what do you know about football?’

  ‘A surprising amount these days, actually.’ Audrey was more concerned with the screen. ‘Damn, I knew it, my left-back’s gone. Achilles heel. I’m going to have to find someone else, and on a budget of just five point five million, too.’

  ‘Your left-back?’ Despite herself, Anna was intrigued.

  ‘Yes, Anna, my left-back,’ Audrey told her with a hint of an embarrassed smile. ‘It’s really quite simple,’ she continued matter-of-factly. ‘I have a budget of one hundred million and a team of eleven men to choose. All Premiership players. A goal-keeper, four defenders, four midfielders and two strikers. Now one of my defenders is out and I’ve got precisely twenty-one hours and forty-four minutes left before the transfer window closes.’

  ‘But what do you know about football?’ Anna repeated.

  Audrey turned to look at her, taking off her glasses. ‘Anna, like I just said, there’s a lot you don’t know about me. After Daddy died I had to become more resourceful. Well, one day I was reading the Sunday paper when I came across a full page spread, all on the Fantasy game. I could win a fortune, you know. I started reading it and it sounded rather fun. And it’s given me a whole new purpose in life! The weekends used to be so tedious, what with my friends all seeing their families and me not having anyone, and suddenly they’re full to bursting point. I listen to Radio Five Live and study the internet and work out how many points I’ve made and - you know, my striker would have scored a hat-trick last week, had his damned fool manager not taken him off after the second goal. And I’d have got a bonus five points for that!’ She turned back to the screen.

  ‘Mummy, you and Daddy used to hate football. You said all players and fans were thugs.’

  ‘Yes, well, that was then and this is now. One has to change with the times. Now, run along and let me concentrate.’

  Shaking her head, Anna started to leave the room.

  ‘Do you get Sky?’ Audrey called out suddenly.

  ‘No,’ Anna told her.

  ‘Pity. I could have watched a couple of matches over the weekend,’ Audrey said. ‘It’d be good to see my boys in action.’

  Anna just shook her head in disbelief.

  ***

  Nathalie was determined to find out if Douglas was somehow behind her dreams. She knew it made no sense, as she’d had them long before
she’d arrived in Cyprus, but was convinced he was up to something all the same. She made herself a special mix that combined patchouli, sandalwood, lilac oil, clove, ginger, petitgrain and rosemary. It was usually worn to invoke the powers of fire: energy, courage, strength, love and lust, but it also worked as protection against physical and emotional attacks. It bothered her that her nightmare had come back; she thought it might have stayed in London with her old life. Instead, here it was, her very own night stalker.

  Nathalie inhaled her potion and searched Douglas’ website. It looked slick, she had to admit, and was well put-together. She scrolled down his subject headings for one which appealed, until she came upon Lucid Dreaming - Getting Everything You Desire Without Hurting a Soul. Intrigued, she read Douglas’ theory about taking control of your dreams and living out your fantasies while fast asleep. She smiled at the thought of him sitting two doors away writing this stuff, and at the people who subscribed to it. The old rogue.

  But none of this was helping her. Her dream seemed way beyond her control and about as far from her fantasies as was possible. And why her? Why did it keep choosing her, over and over again? Unlike other dreams, such as finding yourself naked or being chased, nobody she’d ever shared it with had experienced anything like it. Should she even ask Douglas, she wondered, before instinctively deciding against. Why give him more weaponry? She got the feeling that anything she gave him might be used against her.

  She left his website and carried on searching for anything that might refer to her nightmare, such as other people’s experiences and what they might mean. Suddenly she found it, all there, on the screen: Sleep Paralysis, a disorder some are more prone to than others, she read. Complete paralysis, panic, the feeling of suffocation, the sense of an evil presence in the room. Nathalie’s heart raced. When one enters REM sleep a chemical is released in the brain to paralyse the body. This stops one from physically acting out one’s dreams and potentially putting oneself in danger. Sleep paralysis occurs when one’s conscious mind has nearly woken up, but one’s body is still affected by the paralysis.

  In the comments that followed readers even mentioned dreaming of being awake and going through all the repetitions that Nathalie herself had endured so many times. Now that she finally knew what it was, Nathalie felt like the most enormous weight had been lifted. The next time it happened she’d know exactly what was going on. There was no need to invoke a God she didn’t believe in, and no need to recite a prayer for the sake of it.