The Summer of Aphrodite

by Viva Jones

  ‘Is this a party you’re talking about?’ Audrey was suddenly awake.

  Anna looked ashen-faced. She hadn’t told her mother about it. ‘Richard’s fortieth in a week.’

  ‘And you’re throwing him a party?’

  ‘Yes, but it’s a surprise, he hasn’t a clue, all right?’

  ‘Oh, he hasn’t a clue about many things, really, has he, but how splendid, you know how much I love a party!’

  ‘Yes, but you’ll have gone by then, mummy. You are leaving on the fifth, aren’t you?’

  ‘Oh, but if you’re having a party I’ll change my flight. It’s so easy these days; I can do it on the Internet.’

  ‘But mummy, you don’t even like Richard!’

  ‘Nonsense, I was just never sure that he was good enough for you. But if you’re happy then so am I. Oh, a party, how wonderful. And I’ve brought just the ideal dress.’ She settled back to continue with her snooze.

  Anna turned back to Nathalie, who mouthed ‘Sorry’.

  Anna shook her head. ‘Big mistake,’ she mouthed back. She felt like cancelling the whole thing. She was momentarily distracted by the sound of a car arriving, and a minute or so later, Richard appeared.

  ‘Ah, three of my favourite women, all in one go.’ He gave his wife a peck on the forehead.

  ‘Nice day at the office, darling?’ Anna asked with ironic sweetness.

  Audrey humphed.

  ‘Fine, thank you,’ Richard said. Then, ‘Enjoying the sun, Audrey?’ he tried.

  ‘It’s divine,’ she told him eyeing the newspaper he was holding. ‘Give me the sports pages, would you Richard?’

  ‘Ah, yes,’ he started, handing them over. ‘You’re a born again football fan I hear. Which team do you support?’

  ‘My own,’ Audrey told him curtly, starting to read.

  ‘I always had a soft spot for Wolves, you know.’

  ‘Not in the Premier League, and no chance of getting back in the near future, either,’ Audrey snorted.

  There was an awkward silence, which Anna eventually broke. ‘Mummy thinks she might stay on a bit longer,’ she told Richard.

  ‘Oh, right,’ he said brightly. ‘Can’t get enough of us, eh? That will be nice.’

  Then he turned to go inside. He couldn’t stand it any longer. He needed a beer.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Douglas was returning to Fig Tree Villas on his road bike. It hadn’t been a good ride; the hills had seemed longer and more arduous than usual, or perhaps he’d just felt weaker for some reason. Was his age finally catching up with him? That was a depressing thought. As he approached the complex’s entrance, he passed Audrey, out for an early morning walk.

  ‘Marvellous, isn’t it, the air here?’ She beamed.

  ‘Yes it is, especially this early. My favourite time of day.’

  ‘Must be wonderful to be out on a bicycle, with no traffic around?’

  ‘Usually,’ Douglas replied.

  ‘And this must be the perfect time, it would be too hot otherwise.’

  ‘Quite.’ Douglas was conscious that he was dripping sweat from beneath his helmet, and longed to get inside and showered.

  ‘You’re a divorcee, I gather?’

  ‘That’s right.’ He had no idea where this was going, but didn’t like it much already.

  ‘I presume there are all sorts of things for us oldies to do on the island? Clubs and things?’

  ‘Possibly, not that I do any of them. Now, if you’ll excuse me - ‘

  ‘Oh, of course!’ Audrey exclaimed. ‘You must be exhausted. You don’t want me holding you back. I’ll see you later. Around the pool, perhaps?’

  Christ, Douglas thought as he peddled off. His powers were in overdrive in one direction and fading miserably in the other. He would shower and eat and sleep, and hopefully feel better afterwards. A night in the magnificent Svetlana’s company would do him the world of good, but there was no point in taking such a risk. His enemies, whoever they were, seemed to have let him off for the time being, and that was a status quo he had no intention of upsetting.

  Audrey carried on walking briskly in her flat pumps. She’d always believed in staying fit, unlike her daughter. It was a nice enough island, she’d decided, but a bit quiet for her liking. She needed action - theatre, exhibitions, galleries to go to - Audrey needed to be stimulated. It was a pity her children didn’t share her zest for life. There was Anna, happy to lock herself up in front of a computer all day, pretending to write some drivel that would undoubtedly never see the inside of an airport departure lounge, and then there was Christopher, who’d married such a plain girl and moved to Canada. Hardly the high life.

  One had children, one did one’s best for them, and then they did nothing but disappoint. What kind of return was that on her investment?

  Now she, of course, had been an ideal child, marrying well and living at such a smart address on Kensington Church Street. She’d provided the requisite grandchildren for both sets of parents and had arranged family get-togethers for every occasion. She’d supported her husband in his business dealings, providing entertaining dinners full of constantly interesting company. Yes, looking back, Audrey had made a success of her life, unlike those two. She paused to watch a hire car turn into Fig Tree Villas. She’d been warned there would be other guests. Strangers around what she now considered to be her pool. How could Anna live like this?

  She turned to go back. The sun was getting stronger now and she fancied a coffee. With any luck that daughter of hers would be up by now and have the kettle on.

  She made her way back to number eight and found Anna and Richard in the kitchen, organising breakfast.

  ‘I’ll just have fruit,’ she told them, and a little natural yoghurt.’

  Anna looked at her sheepishly. ‘I’m afraid we’re out of yoghurt.’

  ‘Out of yoghurt?’ Audrey said sharply. ‘But I have yoghurt every morning.’

  ‘Well, I’m afraid we’re out, so if you could just go without for a couple of days - ‘

  ‘Go without my yoghurt?’ Audrey was indignant.

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Richard leapt up. ‘I’ll go to the supermarket and get some. Nothing’s too much trouble for my mother-in-law,’ Richard insisted, secretly pleased with the excuse to get away.

  ‘Now, I always keep a list on the fridge under a magnet,’ Audrey started after he’d left. ‘Which I keep up to date as things run out. That way I never forget anything.’ Why Anna couldn’t be more like her was a mystery to Audrey.

  Anna bit back her tears of indignation. How her mother was capable of ruining a perfectly good Saturday morning was beyond her. Flexibility wasn’t a word in her vocabulary. And now she was staying even longer! How Anna longed for Nathalie, for her warmth and her softness, for the taste of her skin and the generosity of her tongue. She went to the window to look out at the pool. Usually, she found it soothing, but today two squat couples were sitting on the sun loungers, beers on the tables beside them. She checked her watch - it was still only ten o’clock!

  She sighed heavily. Her day had just gone from bad to worse.

  ***

  Ginnie looked up from her sewing machine. She was making herself a shift dress in a shiny turquoise silk which flattered her tan. She’d weighed herself recently and discovered to her amazement that she’d lost half a stone, simply by giving up drinking. This, then, was her treat. She was going to look a million dollars for her Adonis if it killed her. She noticed Richard heading for his car, no doubt chased out by that witch mother-in-law of his, Ginnie thought. She might have had problems with Anna in the past, but she was a district nurse compared to that woman.

  There was that sound again, those unfamiliar voices. Ginnie peered out to see who was down below, and spotted two couples, very rough lookin
g, lying around, drinking beer. Couldn’t Tanya filter out these people? The women had stripped off their tops already, and their saggy boobs were turning pink, as were the other rolls of flab which made up their bodies. The men, with more hairs on their chests than heads, were wearing indecently small briefs. Didn’t these people have mirrors?

  It was at times like these when Ginnie felt a stranger in her own home, intimidated by newcomers. She watched as one of the women got up and went inside, to return again a moment later armed with umpteen packets of crisps, which she tossed at the others. Ginnie thought of her new diet, inspired by all those smoothies, and felt highly superior. She was a slim, beautiful woman, who had a date lined up with a wonderful man. Imagine he’s yours already, she told herself, slipping her hand inside her knickers. She began to rub herself but the sight of one of the women smearing sun lotion over her fat halted her, and she lost the will.

  If and when she did bed Demetrius, she knew he’d be worth the wait.

  ***

  That afternoon, Tanya returned from the office to find the pool divided into two camps. At the near end to her own house were the visitors she’d shown in that morning, surrounded by beer cans and crisp packets, forgotten sun tan lotions and a radio blaring out the sports news. At the far end were the residents - Richard and Anna with Audrey, reading books and papers and sipping mineral water under the shade of their umbrellas.

  Tanya, having checked that the visitors were happy, decided it was better the devil she knew, and went to the others. ‘Another lovely day, isn’t it?’

  ‘Tanya, who are those people?’ Anna whispered tersely.

  ‘It’s only for a week. And as I’ve said before, I’ve got no control over the holiday rentals. The bookings are done at head office and all I’m given is names. So, at the end of the day, please don’t take it out on me.’

  Anna, surprised by the strength of her tone, introduced her to her mother.

  ‘And are you married?’ Audrey asked, inspecting Tanya’s fingers.

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Tanya said with a giggle. ‘I value my independence too much. Though God knows, there’s something in the air at the minute. I’ve had all sorts of admirers lately. One bloke went so far as to pretend he wanted to buy one of the Odyssey Villas, and borrowed his uncle’s Merc to impress me! I don’t know.’

  Audrey, whose eyes had lit up at the sight of this pretty young thing arriving, had faded into disinterest at the sound of her voice, and had started scrutinising her daughter. ‘You know, those sunglasses really don’t suit you, do they?’

  ‘I like them,’ Anna said without looking up, but the brief touch she gave them betrayed her sudden doubt.

  ‘So young, you know?’ Tanya waffled, embarrassed for her neighbour. ‘Not my type at all. At the end of the day I prefer more mature men, you know?’ There was a second’s pause which Tanya felt compelled to fill. ‘Marinos, his name was. Had a bit of a limp, poor love.’

  Audrey suddenly sat up. ‘Not Marinos Kiriakos?’ she asked.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The winger, Marinos Kiriakos? He’s Cypriot originally, but based in London. Still young, but hugely talented. I nearly had him in my team but he’s very injury-prone, broke his foot recently, he’ll be out for weeks.’

  Tanya froze. ‘He’s a footballer?’

  ‘And a very good one, at that, must be on at least fifty grand a week.’

  Tanya started to feel faint. This was the man she’d turned down? ‘I’ve never heard of him.’

  ‘Ah well,’ Audrey said, tapping her newspaper. ‘It pays to read the sports pages.’

  ‘But he wanted to ask me out.’

  ‘Well, but like you said, he wasn’t your type, so what does it matter?’ Audrey settled back to read. ‘To think, Marinos Kiriakos was over here and I missed him. I may well transfer him into my team once he’s recovered,’ she continued. ‘He’s a good little scorer, you know, and that’s valuable in a midfielder. Gets me six points a time.’

  But Tanya was no longer listening. All she could think of was Marinos’ details, somewhere in her client file, and of the three occasions she’d met him. What was that comment he’d made when she’d asked about his money: that’s for me to know and you to find out. Of course! How he’d enjoyed her ignorance, and the way she hadn’t fawned over him like everyone else must. Tanya slumped, her head in her hands. Here was her great opportunity, she told herself, and she’d blown it. Big time.

  ‘Fancy a drink, anyone?’ Richard had been counting down the seconds to six o’clock. ‘Audrey? A little something?’

  ‘Oh, splendid idea, Richard, I’ll have a vodka and tonic.’

  ‘Tanya, how about having a drink with us?’

  ‘That’s very kind.’ Tanya smiled bravely. ‘I’ll have a white wine, please.’

  ‘Anna?’

  ‘V and T,’ she said. ‘Large.’

  As Richard disappeared to get the drinks, Audrey cocked her head, listening to something. ‘Is that the footie they’ve got on over there?’ she asked. ‘Second half match commentary?’ She leapt up, tying a sarong around herself, and marched over to where the newcomers were lounging.

  ‘Oh God,’ Anna muttered. ‘What is she doing? This sudden passion for football? And how could she be talking to them?’

  Anna watched as her mother entered into an animated conversation with the two men, their wives watching on in amused disbelief. Every now and then Audrey would pause to hear a result and clap excitedly, exclaiming ‘splendid, that’s another six points!’ or ‘oh bugger it, and I’d been hoping for a clean sheet from him.’

  ‘She wasn’t like this before, you know,’ Anna said. ‘She’d have died if any boyfriend of mine had followed football, and now look at her. She’d have been thrilled if you’d dated that Marinade chap.’

  ‘I thought he was having me on. I didn’t take him seriously.’

  ‘Ideally, she wanted me to marry someone with a title,’ Anna continued. ‘The heir to some whopping pile in the country. At second best a financier, or a businessman, as long as he was successful, of course. Nothing, and no one, was ever good enough for her - and now look at her, chatting to those people like they were at Ascot!’

  ‘I told him I had a boyfriend and he was really disappointed. I suppose I could always say we broke up.’

  ‘What are they, anyway, builders? Bus drivers and their dinner lady wives?’

  ‘He might still come through, I s’pose. I mean, he might fax through his details and then I’ll have an excuse to contact him, won’t I? Though, of course, I’ll have to carry on pretending I don’t know who he is, at the end of the day.’

  ‘Drinks, everyone?’ Richard arrived, carrying a tray. Then he stopped. ‘What is your mother doing over there?’

  ‘Give you three guesses.’

  Richard handed them their drinks. ‘D’you think she’ll come back or am I expected to go over there and deliver this?’

  Anna shook her head. ‘Just go, Richard.’

  Richard prepared to make his way over, but as he was about to set off, Audrey noticed him and jumped up.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m coming back,’ she called, waving goodbye to her new friends.

  ‘They’re Leeds supporters,’ she announced on her return. ‘They’ve had a miserable time of it lately. Ooh, lovely, thank you Richard.’ She took a sip of her drink, before rifling through her bag and retrieving a diary. ‘Now then, let me see. Two points for him, two for him, he’s not playing until tomorrow. Then I get a goal there, that’s six points, but he conceded one, so that’s a minus.’ She started making calculations and then, satisfied, returned to her drink.

  Richard and Anna exchanged glances. Only another ten days to go.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Nathalie was coming back from her morning swim when she ran into Ann
a, pacing outside her house.

  ‘I just had to get away from her, it’s a living nightmare.’

  ‘I’ll make some coffee,’ Nathalie suggested, unlocking the door.

  ‘Everything I say or do is wrong,’ Anna continued, following her inside. ‘She’s driving poor Richard up the wall. And we can’t even make love, because she’s such a light sleeper.’

  Nathalie giggled, dumping her beach bag on the floor. ‘She won’t be here for ever.’

  Anna grasped her lover and kissed her with an intensity that took both women by surprise. ‘Please. I don’t want coffee. I need you. I miss you so much. I can’t speak to that woman, I can’t tell her how I feel, or what a bitch she’s being. I’m like a volcano that’s about to erupt. Please, just make me come.’

  They stumbled into Nathalie’s sitting room, a groundswell of kisses and longing and desire. Nathalie sank to her knees and raised Anna’s skirt up to her waist, before pulling aside her knickers and burying her tongue in Anna’s pussy. She licked her with strong, darting movements, and Anna sank back on the sofa, opening her legs wide while caressing her lover’s head in her hands.

  ‘God I’ve needed this. Yes, just like that, that’s right - ‘

  There was a sound, the click of the door, and then Richard’s voice: ‘Anna? Are you in here, only I thought I saw you - w hat in God’s name is going on in here?’

  Nathalie pulled away, and turned to face him. It was Anna who tried to explain.

  ‘Richard I’m sorry. Nathalie and I - ‘

  ‘You’re lesbians?’

  ‘No, I don’t think so, I don’t know what we are. We’ve just been - oh, God, Richard, I need it right now, I need it so much, what with that dragon in our home.’

  Richard’s eyes were fixated on his wife’s pussy. ‘You two have been having lesbian sex?’

  Nathalie said, ‘It just happened. We never meant any harm.’

  ‘I need an orgasm,’ Anna said.

  ‘Isn’t that up to me to deliver?’

  ‘Please do. Come on, don’t be cross. Nathalie’s opened me up, sexually. I’m ready for anything. To tell you the truth, I think I’ve always wanted you to find us. I’ve been persuading Nathalie to have a threesome for ages.’