“Easy does it, girl, I can hear the cattiness in your voice.”
“I’m sure she’s a lovely girl. She’d have to be, for Shane to marry her. I hated listening to him talk about her though. I mean, the hypocrisy of it! I had a husband and two strapping boys at home and I was so jealous of this woman who I’d never met.”
“So tell me, what did you do?” Annabel asked.
“We had the most wonderful lunch . . . then I gave him a blow job!”
“You didn’t?” Annabel’s mouth dropped open.
“Of course I didn’t,” Kate grinned. “But the thought did strike me! It was three bliss- filled hours spent recalling the old days. We sat in a cosy brassérie drinking coffees and staring into each other’s eyes like we were sixteen again. I even drove him back to the airport for his flight test. He said he comes down to Airbus at least once a year for his annual line-check.”
“Did he contact you after that?” Annabel was engrossed.
“He texted me the next day when he got home to Dublin, then I rang him about a week later and we must have been on the phone for a good hour. There was a gap after that, then he texted. I returned a message but then no more replies. I did text him later on that year to wish him a Happy Christmas but he didn’t answer.”
“It was probably a bit too much for him,” Annabel suggested.
“It was probably a bit much for both of us. I couldn’t concentrate on my work or anything for that matter for a good six months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Annabel was shaking her head slowly in disbelief.
“I guess I was having mixed emotions after seeing him again,” said Kate. “The only way I was going to cope was to try and forget him.”
“Did it work?” Annabel asked in anticipation.
“What do you think?” Kate said as she let out a sigh. “Hey, it’s a pity we didn’t have a bit of a snog though!”
Annabel grinned. She hadn’t heard that term in a long time. “I thought you might have – I mean you’ve been a bit of a slapper in the past!”
Annabel was the only person in the world that Kate would take this kind of jest from.
“You know, I’ve been faithful to Stefan since the day I took my wedding vows. And look where it got me! Mind you, I had a bit of a problem on the run-up to the wedding day, didn’t I?”
Annabel knew what she meant.
“You put me through hell,” she recalled. “There was I starving myself for months, preparing to be the perfect bridesmaid, and then you go and tell me about that gallery owner and your passionate fling over a pile of canvases in his studio!”
“Christophe was some mover. My one and only older man. Boy, am I glad I copped on though! He would have just turned sixty this year. The thought of that!” Kate scrunched her face until it contorted, in disgust at her own behaviour.
“But you were happy with Stefan when you met Shane, weren’t you?” Annabel said, anxious to change the subject and concerned at what her friend might say next.
“I was always content with Stefan and he paid the bills which gave me the freedom to paint. He supported my sons as if they were his own. But if I were to do it all again I sometimes wonder . . .”
Lost in her thoughts, Kate walked across the stone bridge leaving Annabel standing at the wall and gazing at the turquoise ocean crowned with rolling white-horse waves.
“They were never like this on Dollymount beach,” Annabel said out loud, but she was the only one to hear it.
Her mind was transported to the June of 1983. Everything was different that summer. She could clearly picture Kate and Shane on the silver sand, her in a little cerise bikini looking like “The Girl from Ipanema” and him in his T-shirt and Levi 501 jeans . . .
* * *
Annabel didn’t mind being on the sideline. She liked Shane’s friend Josh and since the boys were best mates the foursome fell into place nicely. Josh was easy company and put no pressure on Annabel although it was plainly obvious that he fancied her. Annabel had a passion of her own for a man who was unobtainable so she happily passed away the idle summer days with the protection of Josh at her side.
Kate sprang off the blanket and ran towards the incoming tide. “Come on, let’s jump in!”
“I haven’t got my trunks with me,” Shane laughed.
The current was deceptive in Dublin Bay and the friends usually only swam in a crowd. It was windy and the wave crests rushed in with ferocity. The three pals left behind on the seashore sat on the tartan rug and laughed at their hardy friend. Kate didn’t seem to mind as she dived in and was quickly engulfed by an incoming wave. She bobbed out of the water and swam into the next wave. Beyond it, she raised her arms in the air, as the others waved back. She disappeared again and Annabel noticed a look of concern in Shane’s eyes.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s a strong swimmer, she’s fine,” Annabel assured him.
“She’s gone under the waves a long time.”
“Look, there’s her arm, she’s okay.”
Shane jumped up, ripped off his chunky white boots and ran to the water’s edge with his socks and the rest of his clothes still on. He waded into the sea as quickly as he could until he was waist high in the water and then catapulted his body into the air, diving beneath the waves where he had last seen Kate. She came out of the water beyond him for a few brief seconds, then disappeared again. Shane frantically swam out further. It wasn’t made easier by the fact he was still wearing his clothes.
Kate erupted out of the water like a mermaid, her body glistening in the sunshine and her long dark hair clinging to the back of her neck, droplets of water spraying off her skin.
“I knew I’d get you in here somehow!” she cried with a wicked smile.
Shane was so relieved he grabbed her and tried to derobe her of her bikini but she was too quick in the water for him and he had to chase her all the way back to the sand dunes where the others sat laughing.
“You’re drenched! Now you’ll have to take your clothes off.” Annabel grinned.
Shane sat in a pair of wet underpants while they ate Mars bars and drank coke, the staple diet of the summer. Kate had Shane enthralled with her every move. Annabel had to admit she was a foil to Kate’s charms as well. While Kate was out there in the sea causing the commotions and making everyone fall in love with her more, Annabel stayed on the sideline and that’s the way it always was. Things hadn’t changed much.
* * *
“You should have gone over. The view is spectacular. I can make out four surfers on the water.” Kate was shaking the spray from her hair. “It must be some buzz.”
“Come on, let’s take a closer look,” Annabel said, linking her by the arm. “I want to get a photo on my phone and send it to Sam – he’d love it.”
The two walked along the edge of the seafront until they came to another viewing point that was near the winding roadway. They stood watching the brave young men fighting through the waves, trying to get as far out to sea as they could. The power of the ocean was relentless and continued pushing them back towards the shore. When they did get up on the waves they didn’t last long before tumbling back under the water like skittles.
“Do you miss the sea?” Annabel asked.
“Sometimes, but I love the mountains. Their colours are spectacular and they really enhance my painting.”
Annabel steadied her phone and took a shot of a surfer before he fell beneath the waves.
“I think I’d miss the mountains more if I left them,” Kate said, staring out at the waves. “What do you want to do now?”
“I think we’re due some shopping time,” Annabel said, putting her phone back into her bag. “What do you think?”
“Now this is your area, Annabel. You’ll have to show me the way – after all I’m a country bumpkin now.”
“It would be my pleasure. I saw a sign for your favourite clothes shop, Galleries Lafayette, on my way in the taxi.”
Ann
abel and Kate meandered down the curved sidewalks past the town square and neo-Gothic church. They passed an antique merry-go-round that had been entertaining children since bygone days. Every side street was dotted with patisserie shops, chocolate ateliers and boutiques.
“Shall we?” said Kate as she held open the glass doors of the huge department store.
A cornucopia of delights awaited them on entering. Displays of exquisite handbags and scarves took up their interest for much too long.
“If we stay here any longer we’ll never get upstairs to try anything on,” Annabel said, ushering her friend up to the escalator.
But Kate was distracted en route. “What do you think of this?” Kate held a stripy multicoloured wrap up to her face.
“Very Bohemian and art college – you are tapping the door of the big four-O, may I remind you!”
“There you go, taking the wind out of my sails. Come on, onward and upward!”
Kate was only joking but Annabel winced at the comment. Yes, she was the more conservative half of the relationship but that’s the way they always had been.
They finally made it to the moving stairs. The women’s New Season range was waiting for them on the first floor. Annabel rummaged through a rail of early season shirts and tops. She threw the turquoise and rich-sienna garments over her shoulder.
“Are you in the fitting room yet?” she called out.
“Yes, Mum,” Kate replied.
“This should do you for starters,” Annabel smiled, passing the clothes through the gap at the side of the curtain.
“I hope you are going to try something on?” Kate called from under her cotton cover.
“Plenty of time for that when you’re sorted out,” said Annabel.
She grabbed at a pair of chocolate-brown Capri pants. They would be perfect.
“Are you still a size 12 in jeans?” she asked Kate.
“You are too cruel, Annabel Hamilton! I resorted to a 14 earlier in the year. I can’t stand people who lose weight when they get divorced. I ate tons of chocolate for weeks.”
It was ironic, Annabel thought. In their twenties it was Annabel who was fighting off the pounds but now she was the trimmer and fitter of the pair. But those extra pounds somehow only served to make Kate even more voluptuous than usual. Life was never fair!
“You’re not going to make me put these on?” Kate said with a gasp.
“Trust me,” Annabel replied.
When Kate emerged, Annabel applauded her own powers of colour-coordination. It was one of the paradoxes of their relationship that the artist looked better when dressed by the pragmatist and it was some consolation to Annabel for having such a seductive friend
“I have to say I love it and in a million years I’d never have picked them off the rail for myself,” Kate said. “Do you remember that time in Prisunic – it was one of our later trips to France? You got me to try on that floral sundress? I wore it for years.”
Annabel smiled. She remembered that holiday well. That was the summer of ’85 and that trip to France was the most special journey in her life. How could she forget it?
“Annabel, what’s up? You’re in a trance. What do you think? Am I deluding myself here?” Kate asked with her hands in the air she gave a twirl, displaying her new ensemble. The contrast of the patterned blouse and brown pants was flattering.
“No, no, not at all– you look fabulous. And I’m going to buy it for your birthday present.”
“Well, then you’d better get looking for something yourself, so I can buy it for you!”
Annabel sifted through the next rail trying to yank her thoughts back from 1985 with each slide of the coat hanger. “You know, I don’t see anything here at the moment. We can come back tomorrow or we might see something somewhere else.”
“Are you sure?” Kate asked.
“Positive,” Annabel assured her. “Let’s go for a coffee or a drink in one of the cafés that we passed on the main street.”
When they got out on to the main street they were spoilt for choice. The thoroughfare was littered with lots of cosy chocolate, coffee and cocktail bars. Annabel spied an advertisement for Leffe beer, one of her favourite treats whenever she visited France. Kate followed her into the charming bar and they sat at a small round table with a view of the road outside.
“Do you remember drinking this in Britanny? It’s strong stuff – I don’t know how you do it,” Kate said, as the waiter put the large bulbous glass of frothy brown beer in front of Annabel.
“How could I forget?”
“We really had a great time on those trips. Remember my dad letting us get vodka in the duty-free? Mum would have had a fit if she knew what we were up to.”
Annabel nodded silently. “Those holidays were special,” she agreed.
“It was great having you along. My little brother was so painful. It was like having two holidays when we took the car on the ferry with my dad and then later met Mum off the plane with little Philip. I can’t believe he turned out to be such a pillar of virtue.”
“Did you tell me that he got a new job now? That he’s a registered psychologist?” Annabel asked.
“Yes, and working for the Department of Education. He’s still married to Gloria, God love her.”
“No kids yet?”
“Mum said they’re trying – it’s the IVF road. I feel sorry for them both,” Kate paused. “I’m so glad you came on those holidays – you know, you’re better than any sister could have been.”
Annabel smiled at the compliment but this wasn’t exactly how she felt when she was accompanying Kate on those family excursions.
“What about the night of that storm on the ferry, will you ever forget it?” Kate said with amusement.
“No, never,” Annabel shook her head but the reasons she would never forget that night were very different from Kate’s.
“I felt bad leaving you in the cabin on your own but that French guy was the cutest holiday romance I ever had,” Kate said with a mischievous grin as she got to her feet. “I have to go to the loo, back in a sec.”
Annabel was glad to be left for a few moments. She hadn’t been on her own in the cabin that night. She would never forget that night as long as she lived . . .
The ferry tossed and turned like a pea in a pot of boiling water. Most of the passengers were spewing the contents of their stomachs into the many latrines dotted around the ship or were trying hopelessly to sleep. Under the barrage of waves that smashed relentlessly against the cabin’s porthole, the lovers lay entwined in their forbidden embrace.
Annabel was finally with him. She had known since she first laid eyes on him that he was the one, but she never dreamt that it would come to this. The circumstances were somewhat unusual but she hadn’t conjured up the force seven gale. She was here now and for this moment everything was perfect. It could never last. It would probably never happen again, but it was so much better than the innocent fumbling she had experienced with boys in the past. Now she knew what it was like to really make love.
She dribbled her fingers along the fine hairs on his chest and felt him shudder under her touch. He raised his head slightly. She lifted her head off his chest and turned around until her gaze met his.
“Oh Annabel!” he said in a tone of despair and sorrow, mixed together like a potent cocktail.
“I love you,” she replied. “I’ve always loved you.”
Again he replied but this time with a sigh. “Oh, Annabel!”
She blinked back the well that was starting to fill up in her eyes. She knew the answer but she had to ask him . . .
“Where will we go, when there’s no storm to protect us?” The words rolled off her tongue as she repeated them quietly, twenty years later.
“Have you started talking to yourself? You’re only turning forty – it’s a bit early for senility to be setting in!” Kate said jokingly.
Annabel was shaken out of her trance by her friend’s return. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you c
ome back.”
“Do you fancy going to the hotel?” Kate asked. “The room must be ready.”
“I wouldn’t mind a shower,” Annabel replied, keen to wash the thoughts she had rekindled out of her head.
“You can have a long luxurious bath – no kids pestering you tonight!”
“It’s been total bliss sauntering around all afternoon like this,” Annabel agreed. “What are our plans for later?”
“We could always check out the casino after dinner.”
Annabel was well acquainted with Kate’s love of slot machines. They would end up there regardless.
* * *
The foyer of the Hotel Windsor was littered with surfboards and broad-shouldered young men in wet suits who were briskly taking their keys from reception and bounding up the stairs.
“I didn’t think the view would be this good inside the hotel!” Kate smiled a wicked smile at Annabel.
“You’re insatiable,” Annabel berated. “Give yourself a chance – you’re only separated a couple of months!”
“We haven’t got time to be sensible. Mind you, I can’t remember ever being sensible. That’s why I was so lucky to have you.”
Annabel smiled at the compliment but wondered how sensible she really was. Nervous, yes, cautious definitely, but sensible was not how she felt. Kate on the other hand was the opposite. Annabel could predict her moves no matter what the situation and nine times out of ten the result would turn out to be wacky or adventurous.
An athletic surfer in his twenties with a mop of sandy hair burnished from the saltwater and sun, brushed by Annabel. She couldn’t help staring at his muscular physique. What would Colin say if he saw her looking at him?
“What a dish! I think we have to find out where these young guns are going tonight and that’s where the fun will be,” Kate whispered in her ear.
“Are you going to lead me astray, as usual?” Annabel asked.
“Always,” her friend assured her.
Two Days in Biarritz Page 3