Leanne only then noticed how hot it was. It hadn’t struck her as she stood admiring the view, as there was a cooling breeze from the sea. But here, in the shelter of the high walls, the heat was more intense, even in the shade of the umbrella. ‘You’re right. It’s boiling. Much hotter than Florence yesterday.’
‘They’re having a heatwave,’ Maddy said behind them. She sank down beside Leanne and fanned herself. ‘It’s already thirty-two degrees. I saw it on the thermometer outside the reception area.’
Claudia and Tony arrived shortly afterwards, both complaining about the heat. There was no sign of Lucilla, but Carlo explained she had gone to the marina to inspect the boats and arrange for the skipper. ‘She wants us to join her there as soon as possible so we can get going,’ he said. ‘It’ll be cooler at sea.’
‘Thank God for that,’ Claudia panted. ‘And also for an air-conditioned boat.’ Dressed in a white linen shift, a big hat and sunglasses, she still looked tense, her eyes darting around the terrace.
‘What’s the matter, Claudia?’ Maddy asked. ‘You look a little nervous.’
Claudia let out a brittle laugh. ‘Nervous? It’s just that I didn’t sleep so well. It was too hot even with the aircon.’ She eyed the assorted dishes on the table. ‘What a wonderful breakfast. All this fruit and fresh bread. Not that I’m going to touch the carbs, of course. But I enjoy the smell,’ she said wistfully.
‘Amazing,’ Maddy agreed and reached for a big bowl of pomegranate seeds. ‘I didn’t realise that food would be this good here in Dalmatia.’
‘Looks nearly too pretty to eat,’ Leanne said, admiring the display. ‘Like a still life.’
‘But we should eat it.’ Tony handed her a plump peach. ‘Here, try this.’
Leanne bit into it, the sweet juice dribbling down her chin. ‘Mmm, lovely,’ she mumbled as the rich flavour hit her taste buds.
Maddy picked up her phone. ‘Lovely shot,’ she exclaimed.
‘I’ll look like a pig,’ Leanne said, laughing.
‘Perfect,’ Maddy said. ‘Our fans will love it. You look totally disgusting.’
‘I don’t care. This peach is worth it.’
Tony bit into an apricot. ‘This is delicious. I had heard how good the food is here. It wasn’t great during the communist era, because everyone had to supply the markets in Belgrade in some kind of cooperative. Now the farmers can sell where they want, so the local markets are full of whatever grows here.’
‘Fantastic,’ Leanne said, busily taking shots of the fruit and bread with her phone. ‘And look, honey too. Must be local.’
‘Do we have time for a little sightseeing?’ Maddy asked, gazing out over the town as she ate. ‘There’s so much to see here.’
‘We don’t, I’m afraid,’ Tony replied. ‘But we’ll be visiting a lot of little towns and villages on the trip, all packed with ancient sites and buildings. This area is full of history, all the way from the Greeks to modern times. Dalmatia has been invaded so many times through the years. The Greeks, the Romans, the Venetians… This is the first time they’re truly independent.’
‘That’s right,’ Maddy agreed. ‘That’s what’s so fascinating. And so much of the old architecture was left untouched.’
‘I just love the view from here. I can’t wait to see the other islands and to swim in the sea,’ Leanne said, looking longingly at the azure water, sparkling under the sun.
‘We’ll stop in the first bay,’ Tony promised. ‘Then we can swim. But first, we must shop for food and get settled on the boats.’ He drained his coffee cup and got up. ‘Come on, gang, let’s get going.’
* * *
As they walked the short distance to the marina, Carlo drew Leanne aside. ‘The clothes we’ll be wearing are already on the yacht. Please try them on when you have the time. We have to do a few shots tomorrow morning, before it gets too hot. Just to see how they look in photos.’
‘Oh.’ Leanne nodded. ‘Great. Okay. I’ll try them on and let you know if they fit.’
Carlo shrugged. ‘Fit? They probably won’t. But you have to see what you can do to make the stuff look good, that’s all.’
‘Feck, you’re right.’ Leanne admired Carlo’s toned body. ‘But draped all over you, it’ll look stunning. On me? Not so much.’
‘You’ll look beautiful in anything.’ Carlo pulled her closer. ‘Together we’ll make it work,’ he whispered in her ear and let his lips brush her neck briefly. ‘I’m so glad you agreed. You’ll see, it’ll be a hit.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ Leanne said, smiling into his eyes.
‘Of course I am.’ He touched her cheek and then took her hand and led her across the bridge to the marina.
Despite the heat and their sweaty hands, Leanne felt a pull of joy as they walked hand-in-hand, feeling a sense of belonging to this handsome Italian. As they caught up with the rest of the group, Carlo let go of her hand. Nobody seemed to have noticed them. Except Tony, who shot Leanne a glance she couldn’t quite decipher. But she ignored him and looked back at Carlo, feeling suddenly confident about their plan. Not only that. It would also make her girlfriends at home sick with envy. The two of them flirting on yacht in Dalmatia had to top a wedding at some hotel in Killarney, even with twelve bridesmaids in matching designer dresses and a wedding cake the size of Mount Brandon.
Twelve
The yacht Claudia had picked out was called Yolanda and it was lovely. With a sun deck in the fore and a dining deck with a blue awning in the rear, there was also a saloon and galley kitchen in the middle. The bridge where the skipper would be piloting the boat was above the sun deck and would be a great place to look out over the sea and islands during the journey. The cabins were small but comfortable, each with a wide bed and a little en-suite shower and toilet. ‘So cute,’ Maddy exclaimed. ‘Like a doll’s house.’
‘Yes, but we’re not dolls,’ Claudia remarked drily after inspecting her quarters. ‘But it’ll do. Comfortable for one, not so much for two.’
Leanne rolled her eyes. ‘It must be such a pain to be used to luxury. This cabin is way nicer than my bedroom at home.’
Claudia stared at her, appalled. ‘You’re joking, of course.’
‘Nope,’ Leanne said and bounced on the bed. ‘This is heaven compared to my IKEA bed. Still has a Barbie duvet cover too. Pathetic, don’t you think?’
‘Ugh,’ Claudia grunted with a shudder.
‘The living room is nice,’ Maddy remarked.
‘It’s called a saloon on a yacht,’ Claudia corrected.
‘Thank God you’re here, Claudia,’ Maddy laughed. ‘Otherwise we wouldn’t have a clue.’
‘Yeah,’ Leanne agreed. ‘I wouldn’t know about saloons and stuff. But I know the toilet on a boat is called “the head”, which always made me laugh.’
‘Possibly on a small sailing boat. But not on a yacht,’ Claudia sniffed.
‘Let’s get organised,’ Maddy interrupted. ‘We can snipe at each other later over the champagne the yacht club gifted us,’ she said, pointing at an ice bucket on the table of the dining deck.
As there was no sign of the skipper, they quickly put their things in their cabins and walked the short distance to the supermarket to buy supplies. They met Lucilla there, who was pushing a trolley full of canned food and bottled water.
‘Hello,’ she said. ‘I’m glad you’re here. I got the basics; tuna, sardines, all kinds of tinned beans and tomatoes. What else do you think we should buy?’
‘Nothing with lactose or gluten,’ Claudia ordered.
Lucilla snorted. ‘What about that pizza you had in Florence? Must have been packed with gluten.’
‘I make an exception for Italian food,’ Claudia declared.
‘We’ll buy a mix of things,’ Maddy said. ‘Coffee, tea, jam or honey or whatever for breakfast. Bread maybe and then some fresh fruit and veg?’
Lucilla nodded. ‘Yes. You’ll find a little market around the corner. And there’s a fish shop. But only buy f
ish for tonight. All the villages on the islands have markets and fish stalls. And bakeries.’
‘And restaurants?’ Leanne asked, wanting to eat out and sample the local cuisine.
Lucilla smiled. ‘Yes. There are little restaurants everywhere. Very simple, fresh fish, home grown vegetables and anything they can grow themselves. Even wine.’
Claudia lifted an eyebrow. ‘Wine? From here? Is there nothing Italian? Or even French?’
‘The local wine’s very good, I’ve heard,’ Lucilla said. ‘Please, Claudia, this is a boat trip, not a cruise in the Caribbean.’
‘No room for snobs,’ Leanne said, with a glint in her eye.
‘I’m not a snob, I have standards,’ Claudia drawled.
‘You’d do better to park your fecking standards right here,’ Leanne quipped. ‘Or this holiday will be torture for you. And us,’ she added under her breath, meeting Claudia’s haughty stare with a steely look of her own. This woman was beginning to be a real pain.
‘Claudia, please come with me. I need you to help me with this stuff.’ Lucilla wheeled the trolley around and started to walk to the checkout. ‘Maddy, could you please get the rest of the things and we’ll sort out the bills later?’
‘Just a minute. Hey, everyone stand by the trolley and say cheese,’ Leanne ordered and picked up her phone. ‘I need a shot of reality before we get going.’
‘No,’ Claudia exclaimed and backed away, her eyes wild. ‘What did I tell you? I’m not going to be in any photo of any kind.’ With that, she turned and walked swiftly towards the checkout, her hat flapping.
‘What?’ Leanne lowered her phone and stared at Lucilla and Maddy. ‘What the hell is eating her?’
‘She’s been like that since yesterday,’ Maddy said. ‘What’s going on with her?’
Lucilla shrugged. ‘Who knows? Maybe she’s worried about looking old? In New York she was like a real… how do you say, social case?’
‘Socialite,’ Maddy corrected. ‘If you mean someone who’s important in society, not someone who’s poor and needs free food and shelter.’
Lucilla laughed. ‘Si, that’s what I meant. She was married to a famous writer, and they were always in the newspapers.’
‘Famous?’ Leanne asked. ‘How famous?’
‘Very,’ Lucilla said. ‘Molto importante. He writes for TV and movies in Hollywood. Was nominated for Oscar last year.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘His name…’ Lucilla thought for a moment. ‘Oliver something.’
‘Oliver Wilde?’ Maddy asked.
Lucilla nodded. ‘Yes. That’s his name.’
‘Oh my God,’ Leanne whispered, her eyes on stalks. ‘Oliver Wilde? The one who writes horror books and movies? And gory thrillers?’
Lucilla sighed. ‘Si, horrible.’
‘She was married to Oliver Wilde?!’ Maddy exclaimed. ‘Why didn’t she say?’
Lucilla shrugged. ‘I don’t know. She left New York in a rush. Then she says she doesn’t want to talk about it. She’s changing her name back to her old one too.’
‘Aha,’ Leanne said. ‘That’s why she wants to be incognito. Because of the divorce, I mean. If there are complications and gossip or something. Media interest maybe?’
‘Or her husband wants to murder her,’ Maddy whispered, her eyes wide. ‘Then he’ll get all her money, if the divorce hasn’t gone through.’
‘Aren’t we overacting a tad?’ Leanne said with a wink. ‘Thank God your divorce is amicable, or we’d be looking over our shoulders for Tom wielding an axe.’
Maddy burst out laughing. ‘I think he’d be more likely to bludgeon me with a niblick or whatever one of those golf clubs are called. But I’m sure that’s not what Claudia is worried about.’
Lucilla shook her head. ‘No, I think she just wants to disappear for a while. I don’t think she’s afraid of Oliver at all.’
‘He must be super rich himself, though. But it’s all very mysterious,’ Leanne mumbled, deciding to Google Oliver Wilde as soon as she had the chance.
Lucilla straightened up as if forcing herself back to business. ‘Okay, we’ll talk about that later,’ she said, pushing the trolley. ‘Don’t forget to buy dog food, Maddy.’
They resumed their shopping, getting everything they needed in the supermarket and arranging to have it delivered to the marina. They bought fresh mullet to grill for dinner in the fish shop, and big, plump peaches, ripe apricots, juicy apples, crisp lettuce and deep red tomatoes in the stall beside it. Shopping done, they went to organise the supplies and to see if the skipper had arrived. Then they would cast off and sail to the first little bay for lunch and a swim. Heaven, Leanne thought, wiping the sweat off her brow as she lugged the shopping onto the yacht. Everything was falling into place. But when they had put the supplies away and Carlo and Tony had left on their sailing boat, there was still no sign of the skipper.
As they sat on the rear deck drinking lime ice tea, Lucilla phoned the charter company complaining loudly, listening to the excuses and explanations at the other end. She finally said goodbye and hung up. ‘He’s on the way,’ she announced. ‘I think they made a mistake and thought we didn’t want a skipper. They’re organising some kind of reserve.’
Claudia peered out under the awning. ‘I see someone running this way,’ she announced. ‘A man dressed in white with a captain’s hat, carrying a big bag. Must be him.’
Leanne followed her gaze and spotted a tall deeply tanned man with greying short hair and beard running towards them. ‘Looks like it.’
‘Not bad looking,’ Claudia remarked.
The man came to a stop by the gangplank. He looked at the name of the yacht painted on the rear, wiped his forehead with a large handkerchief, holding his duffle bag in a tight grip. ‘Hello,’ he called when he saw them under the awning. ‘I’m Nico, your skipper. Sorry about the delay, there was some mix-up at the office.’
‘Hi, Nico,’ Leanne called back. ‘Please come aboard.’
Nico boarded the boat in two easy strides up the gangplank. He saluted, shook their hands and beamed them a brilliant white grin. ‘Nice to meet you, ladies,’ he said in accented but good English. ‘I’ve skippered this yacht before, so I know where everything is. I’ll just put my stuff in the cabin and then we’ll be off.’
‘Fabulous,’ Leanne sighed. ‘We can finally leave.’
‘Very nice man,’ Claudia whispered when Nico had gone to put his bag away. She smoothed her hair and straightened her hat. ‘Wonderful manners.’
Nico reappeared and climbed up the steps to the bridge. ‘Where will I take you?’
‘Anywhere you like,’ Claudia said with a flirty smile, all her earlier tension gone.
Lucilla frowned at Claudia. ‘Nico, we have an arrangement with our friends to meet up at Dvenik… something. The islands just outside Trogir. We’ll have lunch and a swim in the bay and then we have to get going to our evening spot. I’ll show you on the chart later and we can map out the journey for tomorrow as well.’
Nico made a sign to the yacht club staff on the marina to undo the dock lines and started the engines. ‘Okay,’ he called over the noise when they were pulling out. ‘We’ll be there in half an hour.’
Leanne put up her thumb. The yacht gathered speed and they were soon travelling fast, the water in their wake foaming, the wind whipping the women’s hair and cooling their hot faces. As they left the rocky coast of the mainland, they gradually approached the little islands sticking up out of the blue sea.
Leanne felt a surge of excitement as the speed increased and the little town disappeared in the distance. This was the best part of their adventure, she mused. Whatever happened now she would always remember this moment, when the boat took off and headed into the vast unknown.
* * *
The sailing boat was already anchored in the bay and they could see Carlo and Tony swimming around it. As soon as Nico killed the engine, Leanne nipped into her cabin and put on her bikini, a blue p
aisley patterned one she had bought in Florence. She ran out on the sun deck and dived straight into the crystal clear water. This was a dream, she thought as she emerged and floated on her back, her eyes closed. The cool, clear water on her body was like a soothing balm after the hot rays of the sun. Swimming had always been her favourite sport and she could outswim them all, being a champion long-distance swimmer. She gave a start as Tony’s head appeared beside her.
‘You’re a real water baby, I see,’ he remarked, floating beside her.
‘Yes,’ Leanne said, her eyes half-closed. ‘I love the water. I used to swim with my dad on holidays in Kerry. And sail too. Lots of sailing.’
Tony floated on his back beside her. ‘Ah, Kerry. Lovely county. The water is warm there in the summertime too.’
‘Mmm,’ Leanne mumbled. ‘And in Norway. My dad’s from Norway, you know.’
‘I know. Maddy told me. But I knew the moment I saw you there was Viking blood there. Apart from your lovely Irish eyes, of course.’
‘I’m a mongrel.’ Leanne turned to look at Tony. Without his glasses he looked younger and a little vulnerable. It moved her in a strange way, seeing him like that, despite all his teasing.
‘Me too,’ Tony said, meeting her eyes. ‘Italy and Ireland meet in my body.’
Leanne smiled. ‘Yeah, red hair but dark skin. Hazel eyes with black lashes. And then you have freckles too. It looks nice though.’
‘Thank you.’ Tony turned on his stomach. ‘I have to get back. Carlo’s fixing one of the riggings that seems to be a little wonky. Then lunch on your yacht.’
‘Fab,’ Leanne mumbled and resumed floating, closing her eyes to the sun as Tony left her, swimming away with a practised crawl. A sweet but somehow troubled man, she reflected, judging by the expression in his eyes. She tried to figure out what it was as she slowly floated back to the boat, where she could see Lucilla and Maddy laying the table on the rear deck. There was no sign of Claudia, but Nico was still on the bridge consulting a chart. As she lay back, soaking up the peaceful scene and the gentle voices floating across the water, she reflected on what a close-knit group they were becoming, all connected to each other in some way or other. How strange that people from so many different backgrounds could bond like this. It must be the beautiful setting, the sunshine and the general holiday mood. Except… she was certain there were tensions and troubles brewing under the glossy surface. Would some of that come to a head and suddenly explode?
A Holiday to Remember: An absolutely hilarious romantic comedy set under the Italian sun Page 10