“No doubt by the time you’ll have had your hair done, those clouds will have cleared and the sun will have come out like it did yesterday,” said Milly. “We’ll see what it’s like then, shall we?”
Jean closed the door of the bathroom, feeling really happy for once. This time last year her husband, Larry, had been dead a month and if it hadn’t been for Doreen and Milly rallying round like they had and suggesting this holiday, she would probably be spending this birthday alone as well. It was no use expecting anything from her son, Tommy, he would have forgotten her birthday anyway. The last time she’d seen him was at his dad’s funeral, when soon after the small buffet she had prepared back at her house, her son had jumped into his hire car and headed back to the airport at Manchester. Pressures of work prevented him from staying with her, or so he had said, seeing as he was a golf pro’ now in a Spanish resort.
***
Lucy ran across the courtyard to the hotel, smoothing down her skirt as she went, making a mental note to cut down on her food intake or she would have to ask Kath for a larger size. She looked at her watch, to check that she had time for at least a bowl of fruit salad before waiting in the foyer for the guests, who were taking the coach to the airport. She would be responsible this time for both the Gatwick and Manchester flights, as both planes would depart for England within twenty minutes of each other. Kath would meet her at the airport to welcome the new guests as well.
Seeing Jenni sitting alone at her usual table, reminded Lucy that she had promised the girl to check at the bank, to see if her father’s transfer had arrived. She would have to hope that the coach driver this morning would be amenable to dropping her off outside the bank.
“Good morning, Jenni,” she said, as she brought her tray across to the table, feeling smug that only a bowl of fruit salad and yoghurt with a cup of coffee was upon it. “How did it go last night? Did you enjoy yourself after I’d gone?”
Jenni nodded, hastily swallowing a mouthful of bacon before she spoke.
“You’ll never guess who saw me to my hotel bedroom last night, Lucy,” she said, her eyes shining brightly as she confided in her.
“I can guess, it was Miguel, wasn’t it? He had his eye on you all night.”
“Yes, he’s so nice, isn’t he? We danced for ages, because he said with it being a change over day he wasn’t required until this evening, so he could stay up late. So around half past one, after the disco had finished, he walked me back to the bedroom and do you know, all he did was kiss my hand and say how much he had enjoyed my company. I couldn’t believe it. When I first went out with Simon, he was all over me, wanted a snogging session on the first night. Anyway, Miguel said if I hadn’t made any plans for today, we could go for a walk along the sea front together.”
“Oh, that’s great,” said Lucy, pleased that Jenni looked so happy after going through a woeful time.
“What time is he meeting you, because as you know I’m on duty all day and I can’t even manage a natter, I’m so busy?”
“Don’t worry about me,” said Jenni. “He said he’d meet me by the roundabout at eleven. It will give him chance to have a lie in, but besides that, I believe it is hotel policy not to get too friendly with the guests. He won’t want to lose his job because of me.”
“Yes, that’s true, Periquito Travel has the same policy, though I’ve never come across a guest I’d be willing to give my job up for. The men try it on, even the married ones like a bit of a flirt, but nothing is ever serious in this kind of life. Anyway, I’ll probably see you in the bar this evening, if not in the restaurant. I’ve an announcement to make over someone’s birthday at seven, so I’ll be in here about then.”
Lucy got up quickly, smiled at Rachael, who was clearing the breakfast dishes then dashed up the stairs to the foyer.
***
“I heard you coming in last night, Sonya,” said Greg, as he and Kate stood outside their daughter’s door, while she picked up her handbag with the key card in it. “Do you think next time you stay out late, you could take off your heeled shoes before entering the room?”
“Yes, Dad,” said Sonya blushing slightly. Thank goodness, Juan had been wearing trainers. She turned to call Evan, who had found a packet of Quavers left over from their journey on the aeroplane, which she had left on the dressing table. The child looked crestfallen, when the packet was snatched from his hand.
“You can have them if you eat your breakfast,” Greg said, who had come into the room and had put the crisps back where the child had found them. “Honestly Sonya, why didn’t you keep them in your holdall? Evan must learn he can only have that kind of thing as a treat.”
“Yes, Dad, shall we go down to breakfast now, I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving?”
“I suppose you were dancing with all and sundry last night,” said Greg, as the family walked along the corridor to the lift.
“No, Dad, I met this fantastically handsome fella and we came back to my bedroom and we made passionate love all night.”
“Stop being so damn cheeky, Sonya. If you were ten years younger I’d wash out your mouth with soap and water!
***
“What do yer fancy doing today, Mavis?”, asked Fred, as they finished their breakfast and prepared to leave the dining room.
“I’m not bothered,” she answered curtly, not looking at him while she answered, or he would have seen the bitterness in her face. They had been awake for nearly two hours now and he hadn’t even remembered their fiftieth wedding anniversary. No, “ thank you for all our wonderful years together”, even if he hadn’t meant it, those words would have made their life together worthwhile.
She had the gold cufflinks she had bought him, neatly packaged in her handbag in readiness to give him after she had heard those kind of words. So sod him, let him get on with it. At the moment she didn’t want to know.
“Well, I’d like to take part in the archery again, I’m doing very well if I do say it meself. I nearly got a bulls eye last time, yer know?”
“Very nice, Fred,” she said automatically. “Then perhaps I’ll see if that stretching class is on again.”
They parted at the bottom of the stairs, Mavis to sit with her book for the time being in the foyer area and Fred sauntering over to the tennis courts.
***
“Everyone ready?”, asked Paul, as his family settled themselves into the Espace, in preparation for their trip to Mount Teide. “Yes,” everyone cried in unison, the children bubbling with excitement to be going out for the day.
“Can I look at the map, Mummy?” asked Annabelle from her seat behind Cheryl. “Daddy says I’m as good as you when it comes to map reading.”
“Is that right, Darling?”, said Cheryl, looking rather smart in her cream corduroy boot leg trousers and lemon mohair sweater. “Let’s see how Mummy gets on and if I get us lost, then you can take over. I think you should go right at the roundabout first, Paul, then up the road to the motor way. It looks like we stay on that road until we’ve passed Playa de las Americas, then left onto a smaller road. Don’t forget that they don’t drive on the left like we do.”
“As if,” said Paul, smiling with good humour. “I’ll take it nice and easy and we should be there in under an hour.”
***
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you could just bring your luggage out to the left of the portico, I’ll go through my list to make sure you are all here for when the coach arrives,” said Lucy.
“Mr. and Mrs. Crowley, Gatwick flight. Mrs. and Mrs. Howard, James Howard and Madeline, Manchester flight.” She continued through her list, whilst the guests nodded to say they were there, until she got to a Mr. Flynn and a Mrs. Tucker. She repeated their names again, after a comic in the group declared that the people must have enjoyed their stay so much, that they didn’t want to go home. “Not if they’ve only had three proper days of sunshine like we have,” said a pale looking woman, in a strappy T shirt that showed red bits around her shoulders. “This
is the first time we’ve had such changeable weather in February and we’ve been coming to Tenerife for seven years.”
“I won’t be coming again at this time of the year,” chimed in another guest, “ and yet a man who drinks in our club, says he comes in January and it’s beautiful.”
“Does anybody know Mr. Flynn and Mrs. Tucker?”, asked Lucy worriedly. “Perhaps they didn’t look at the departure time.”
“There was a chap on our flight here, who was disabled,” said Mr. Crowley. “I thought he’d have been given one of those wheelchair taxis, but he struggled up the coach steps before we set off for coming here. Have you asked at the desk if he’s handed his key card in?”
“Of course,” said Lucy gratefully. “ I never thought of asking Dania. I won’t be a minute, keep your eye out for the coach.”
“It’s here,” shouted someone, as they all made a dash to get a good seat, dragging or carrying their suitcases. The driver got out of his compartment and started loading the luggage in the hold.
“Has Mr. Flynn and a Mrs. Tucker handed their key card in?”, asked Lucy of Dania, trying to keep her eye on the coach at the same time.
“Yes,” said the receptionist, “about ten minutes ago. He was walking with sticks and she had a folded up wheelchair.”
“I didn’t see them,” said Lucy “ and I’ve been here for the past fifteen minutes. I’ll just go and see the driver. If I don’t, he’ll think there isn’t a rep’ in accompaniment and he’ll just leave without me.”
Lucy ran over to the coach, where the driver was leaning against the bonnet smoking a cigarette.
“Sorry,” she told him breathlessly. “ We seem to have two passengers missing. Could you possibly wait until I find them?”
“Si, Senorita. I will wait until I have finished my cigarette and then you must ask your Reception to telephone for a taxi. We cannot wait all day for them, as you know.”
“Thank you,” said Lucy, pleased that the driver could speak such good English and didn’t mind waiting a little longer, though she didn’t know how long it would take him to smoke a cigarette.
She ran back into the foyer, wondering where to start in order to find the errant pair. Just as she decided that perhaps they had gone to the restaurant for a final coffee, a woman in her forties came dashing out of the disabled toilet along the corridor, her face looking flushed and worried as she did so.
“Are you Mrs. Tucker?”, asked Lucy, wondering what had happened to make the woman and her partner late?
“Yes, I am. It’s my father. I’ve left him in the toilet. He’s got the trots. He said he had a bad stomach when he got up this morning, but I thought it was just nerves, you know about flying on the ‘plane. I’ve given him some Imodium, but what are we going to do, I know the coach will be leaving soon?
Oh yes, I can see the others have gone.”
Lucy had to think on her feet. This problem had not come up before and she wondered whether to ring Kath on her mobile, or take a decision herself? The latter won, as she knew that the driver would have probably finished his cigarette and the passengers would be anxious to be on their way.
“We have to be at the airport three hours before take off, Mrs. Tucker,” she said. “I suggest when Mr. Flynn has finished in the toilet, you come to Reception and ask them to telephone for a taxi, preferably a wheelchair one if it is possible. You will of course have to pay for the taxi yourself, but if you explain what happened to your health insurer, they may reimburse you. I’ll be back in a minute and let you know, if the driver is prepared to wait for your father.”
Of course the driver wasn’t, even though Lucy explained the problem without going into too much detail. So, there was no option for Mrs. Tucker and her father, other than letting the coach go.
“Sorry about that,” Lucy said, as she switched on the microphone after she had climbed aboard the coach. “Unfortunately a guest has taken poorly and will have to follow on in a taxi. Can I remind you to take off your All Inclusive wristbands, if you haven’t already done so and I hope that you have made sure that you have your passports ready in your hand luggage?”
She sat down in the front passenger seat after signalling to the driver, whose name badge said Ramon, that they were ready to go.
“About time too,” she heard a disgruntled passenger from another hotel, who hadn’t been a guest of Periquito Travel, say. “You’d think our travel company would have made separate arrangements for us to get to the airport, instead of having to share this bus.”
Lucy ignored him, she knew that the company she worked for, hadn’t got the resources to always put on an exclusive coach.
She let her mind wander to the guests who were being met from the incoming ‘planes. Not so many this time. No one was going to Mountain View or San Lorenzo, just fourteen guests in total would be coming to stay at the Hotel Valia.
Her mind was still occupied on the forthcoming travellers, when the coach began to turn slowly around a small roundabout and onto a narrow dual carriage way, bringing the bank she dealt with suddenly into view. Hell, Jenni’s father’s bank draft, she thought, when was she going to be able to check that out?
She leapt to her feet, causing Ramon to put his foot on the brake. “Do you think you could drop me off here for a moment?” she asked quietly. “I’m sorry, but there’s something urgent I’ve got to do.”
Ramon looked at her in puzzlement, glanced meaningfully at his watch, then applying the brake again came slowly to a standstill. The sound of angry motorists behind came to Lucy’s ears, as she waited for Ramon to open the automatic door.
“Two minutes,” she said quickly. “Could you drive up to the next roundabout, then come back on the other side? I’ll be waiting for you there.”
“Si,” he said politely, as he pressed the button on his dashboard to allow her to jump off.
“Now what?”, said another passenger, annoyed that there seemed to be another delay. “The way we’re carrying on, we’ll be missing that bloody ‘plane.”
Lucy rushed to the A.T.M, pressed the button for English language, keyed in her pin number, then checked her balance. Fifty pounds had been credited to her account, so she went back to the menu again. She withdrew the equivalent in pesetas, then putting the money into her handbag, she ran across the zebra crossing to wait for the coach. She hoped that Kath wouldn’t hear about the cause of the coach’s diversion, or she’d be in a spot of trouble with her again!
***
“Shall we take Evan on that little train today?”, asked Sonya, as the family finished their breakfast and walked out to the patio overlooking the swimming pool. “I don’t think it’s warm enough for him to paddle and the sun isn’t out yet, so we’d look silly sitting on the sun loungers.”
“Do you not want to go to Kid’s club today, Evan?,” asked Kate, kneeling down so that she could be on her grandson’s eye level. Evan shook his head.
“It’s probably because he knows Jack has gone out with his family for the day,” said Greg. “They’re going up to Mount Teide I believe.”
“Well, should we go on the train then?” asked Sonya. “We’ll be able to have a look around the area instead of walking it.”
“We can go along to the stopping point and have a look at the timetable,” said Greg, “ but I’m not hanging around waiting if there isn’t one due. We can walk by the sea front again.”
“O.K. then,” Sonya replied, glad that she had put jackets on herself and Evan because the morning air was a bit chilly. “ Evan, do you want a wee wee before we go?”
The child shook his head again, but Greg said he would take him to the Gents anyway, as he didn’t want any mishaps on the way.
Kate and Sonya visited the Ladies before they set off. Kate was dying to hear what had happened on the previous night.
“Nothing,” said Sonya, as the two women washed their hands later. “I danced with the girls most of the time and then I came up to bed.”
“Well, I’m surprise
d that waiter called Juan, wasn’t chatting you up. I thought he was very taken with you.”
“I’m not bothered, Mum. I’ve come here for a rest and to spend some quality time with Evan. You know Dad would go mad if he thought I was having a fling.”
She felt rather bad at deceiving her mother, but it was no good telling her about Juan, as it would probably get back to her dad anyway.
***
Jenni walked slowly along the road to the roundabout. She had put on her black and white flowery sun dress; piled her hair up into a silver bobble and wore her pretty sandals with the silver flower decoration. She carried a short sleeved white cardigan over her arm as the morning still felt chilly, although the sun was beginning to appear occasionally from behind the clouds.
She was looking forward to her date with Miguel, he didn’t pose any threat to her like Simon had. She had always felt a little intimidated, insecure, worried where their relationship was taking them, whereas Miguel was so courteous and gorgeous looking with it, she could relax in his company and feel she had made a friend.
Her heart skipped a beat, as she rounded the corner and saw the young waiter sitting patiently on top of a low stone wall. He was wearing a white polo shirt with navy blue denims, his dark eyes lighting up in pleasure as he saw her walk along.
“Buenos dios, Jenni,” he said, as she reached him. “How are you? You are looking very pretty today.”
He felt anxious though as he gazed upon her, she was so young looking, although she had told him she was nearly eighteen. She looked childlike, innocent even, though Miguel knew she wasn’t, seeing she had arrived on holiday with her boyfriend. But then, that was the English way it seemed, they didn’t wait for a ring on their finger before sleeping with a man.
“Would you like to walk along the promenade for a while, Jenni?” he asked, as he linked her arm into his and began to walk in the direction of Playa del Duque. “I don’t mind where we go,” said Jenni happily. “It’s nice of you to ask me to come along.”
Clouds Below the Mountains Page 17