Learning to Dance Again

by Frankie Valente

  ‘Hmm, not surprising, she caught me at a bad moment. I was in a very dark place this morning. But I’ve realised I should be thinking about others too, like my sons; and I should start to do something positive. What use am I to them if I fall apart?’

  ‘That’s true. My children are what helped me to hold on to my sanity – and my career for that matter.’

  ‘I have to sort my job situation too. But that can wait until I get home. In the meantime I’m going to try and get my head together, rest and recuperate. Spend some time chilling out by the pool, read some books – maybe some of yours – and by the time Bryden and his girlfriend fly out, I will be a new woman.’

  ‘Sounds like a good plan; although don’t feel you have to read my books. But I do have a complete set in the house.’

  ‘You mean you don’t have any lying around this place,’ Julia replied, looking inside towards a little bookcase she hadn’t paid much attention to before.

  ‘No, that would be a bit crass wouldn’t it?’

  ‘I don’t think so. I had no idea when I booked this place it was owned by a famous writer. What a lovely surprise that turned out to be.’

  Tony laughed.

  ‘I’m hardly famous. I could walk down any busy street in London and nobody would know who I am.’

  ‘Isn’t that the best kind of famous? People know your name, but not necessarily what you look like. I would hate to be mobbed by crowds every time I went anywhere, and have people trying to take photographs of me looking awful – like this morning in fact.’

  ‘That’s very true. But you most certainly don’t look awful.’

  ‘I had some young lady give me a makeover. It’s probably a more suitable look for someone in their twenties going out clubbing, but it did make me feel a bit better.’

  ‘Ah yes. These young ones do tend to plaster on the makeup. My daughter is absolutely stunning, but she walks around looking like a hooker most of the time.’

  Julia snorted with laughter. She stood up and went inside to get some more wine from the fridge and topped up their glasses before sitting down again.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about what you said about Shetland the other evening. It sounds really inspiring, so I’ve been doing a little bit of research today. I might think about putting Shetland in my next novel. I know you don’t get much crime there, but it sounds like an unusual and interesting place for a crime novel.’

  ‘Hmm, I think you may find that’s been done already. In fact there are a whole series of crime novels set in Shetland, which have even been serialised by the BBC.’

  ‘Really? Who by?’

  ‘Ann Cleeves.’

  ‘Oh her! Damn that woman; she beat me to a crime writers’ award once. It shows you how out of the loop I’ve been; I hadn’t heard about that series.’

  ‘Why don’t you write a different kind of story then? Do you only ever write crime fiction?’

  ‘Well so far that’s all I’ve done. That’s what my publishers demand from me. But I have been thinking of doing something different.’

  ‘Well maybe you should take a trip to Shetland and see it for yourself. But leave it until the summer; it’s not the best destination for a winter holiday. Not unless you’re there for Up Helly Aa.’

  ‘Ah yes, I read about that today; the Viking fire festival. That’s what got my interest actually. It looks amazing.’

  ‘It is. My husband always took part in it, and he would have been in the Jarl Squad for the next Up Helly Aa. He’d been looking forward to it for years.’

  ‘The Jarl Squad? They’re the ones that dress up in the Viking outfits?’

  Julia nodded.

  The following morning Julia borrowed the moped and took it for a tentative run down to the town. She negotiated her way to a grocery on the edge of the town and stopped to buy some fresh bread. She didn’t feel confident enough to go exploring any further so she got back on the moped and rode back to the villa.

  When she parked it on the driveway she got off, and stood beside it as she unfastened her helmet. The front door of Tony’s villa opened and Tony came out.

  ‘How did you get on?’

  ‘It was great – I’m still alive!’

  ‘Well that usually indicates a successful mission. Keep the keys and the helmet; take it out whenever you want.’

  ‘That’s brilliant thanks. I might try it again later; it was fun!’

  Julia put the bread away in the cupboard and then got changed out of her jeans and jacket into a swimsuit and kaftan. She put on a wide brimmed hat and then selected the first of the series of books Tony had lent her and carried it out to the swimming pool and sat down on one of the loungers.

  Julia read for a while, took a dip in the pool, dozed off in the sun and then woke up and picked up the book again. She carried on in this fashion for the rest of the day, stopping only to fetch a drink or a snack or to apply more sunblock. When the sun started to set she realised for the first time in ages she felt entirely relaxed. The book had been a welcome distraction and it was all the more interesting to read when she knew the author was just a few metres away in his villa, working on his next book. She thought it would be spooky reading about murders and violent crime and wondered if it would change the way she viewed Tony; but it was the brief scenes of romance and passion she found the most uncomfortable. She thought she might blush the next time she saw him.

  Julia spent the next couple of days ploughing her way through Tony’s novels. She didn’t normally enjoy crime stories, but now she was hooked. The time spent in the sun meant she was gradually losing her luminous pale complexion in favour of a more flattering golden sheen. Breaking up the sunbathing and reading by vigorous bursts of energy in the swimming pool, stopped her from feeling totally sluggish and as the end of her first week in Sicily approached, she realised she had somehow turned a corner. She looked better, slept better and felt better than she had done in months.

  On Saturday evening she borrowed the moped and took a trip into the town and walked along the promenade. She wore her new jeans, a black cashmere cardigan and her red boots and she rather hoped she looked as glamorous as the woman she had seen on the scooter earlier in the week.

  Julia sat down on the sea wall and watched a young couple walking along the shore with their arms wrapped so tightly around each other she wondered how they managed to walk at all. They stopped to kiss and Julia turned away, although she doubted they cared about their privacy.

  Her phone rang, from the depths of her handbag and she reached in to retrieve it. She frowned with surprise when she saw it was Cameron.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Aye Aye; how’s Sicily?’

  ‘It’s lovely actually. I’m sitting on the beach – without a coat on!’

  ‘Really, that good eh? You’d need a bloody survival suit on if you wanted to sit on the beach in Shetland tonight.’

  Julia laughed. She watched the young couple walk away along the beach, and then turned her attention back to Cameron. ‘So how are you getting on?’

  ‘Fine; great actually, thanks to you!’

  ‘Really, what have I done?’

  ‘That German architect you met the other day, Jürgen Hoffmann, well he emailed me this week about some project he wanted some advice with. We spoke yesterday, and he’s invited me over to Palermo to meet with him. I might end up with a great little project as a result of this.’

  ‘Wow! I had forgotten all about that. I meant to text you to say he might email you, but I didn’t know whether he was serious or not, or whether it was just dinner-party talk.’

  ‘He was definitely serious. Anyway, I wanted to let you know I’m flying over to Sicily tomorrow, as I’m meeting Jürgen on Monday.’

  ‘Tomorrow?’ Julia replied, sitting up straight and fussing with her hair.’

  ‘Yeah, you don’t mind do you? I mean, we don’t have to meet up if you don’t want to, but I thought you might welcome a friendly face from Shetland.’

  �
��Of course. It would great to see you. Where are you staying? How long are you going to be here?’

  ‘I haven’t booked anywhere yet. I’ve only just sorted out the flights and my knowledge of Sicily is pretty poor. I don’t even know where you’re staying.’

  ‘I’m in Cefalu which is about an hour or so, by train, from Palermo. Or probably less if you’re hiring a car. I haven’t bothered with a car yet, but I’m getting about on a scooter.’

  ‘A scooter? That’s very brave of you.’

  ‘Isn’t it just!’

  ‘Well, I have to meet Jürgen on Monday morning, and I think we will be busy for most of the day, but other than that I’ll have some time to have a bit of a holiday. I’m flying back on Friday.’

  Julia thought hard about what to say a hotel. She had a spare room which he could have. But did she want him so close to her? Oh what the hell, it would be stupid for him to book a hotel.

  ‘I have a spare room in my villa. You could stay here. If you rent a car at the airport you could get back to Palermo easily for your meeting. Maybe I could even spend the day in the city and meet you later,’ she said, thinking it might be nice to have company when she visited the busy capital city of Sicily.

  ‘Really? Are you sure? That would be great.’

  They made arrangements to meet at the airport the next day.

  Julia woke early on Sunday morning. She hadn’t slept well as she had fretted about Cameron’s unexpected visit to Sicily. She put her swimsuit on and went for an early morning swim in the pool. She stretched out on her back in the water and stared up at the sky, listening to the birds singing in the olive trees. It was peaceful in this part of the garden. She could just see the top of Tony’s villa protruding above the hedges that lent privacy to the pool area.

  She had just started to enjoy her self-imposed exile and wasn’t sure she was ready to see anyone connected to her normal life. She shivered, although the water was still warm. Julia climbed out of the pool and made her way indoors and headed straight for the shower.

  She dithered about what to wear. She wanted to wear one of her new dresses, but wondered what signals it would send to Cameron. In the end she decided there was every possibility he wouldn’t even notice what she wore. He was just a friend after all. They had been friends since they were teenagers. That drunken kiss of three weeks ago was ancient history; a mistake he wouldn’t dare repeat.

  Julia couldn’t explain why, but she was keen to show she was coping well on her own. She put on a brightly coloured dress and her new gold sandals; did her hair, put on some make-up and perfume and stood and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked dramatically different to the frazzled, exhausted woman that had arrived in Sicily eight days earlier. She stood taller, her shoulders had lost some of their tension and the shadows that ringed her eyes had vanished, albeit with some cosmetic help. She smiled at herself and noticed her eyes sparkled back.

  She didn’t need to leave for the airport for hours so she made some breakfast then picked up her book and took it outside, intending to make the most of the remaining peace and quiet. She looked at her watch frequently, checked and rechecked the train timetable online, and then she realised she would either have to call a taxi to take her to the train-station, walk down to the town or ride the scooter. She decided to walk. She would wear a pair of plimsolls, and put her sandals on when she got to the train station.

  Cameron strode through the door of the arrivals hall dragging his silver metal trolley bag behind him. He stopped when he spotted her, clearly surprised. He hurried forward, grinning at her, so obviously delighted to see her, Julia couldn’t help but smile back.

  ‘Julia, you look amazing. This holiday has obviously been good for you,’ Cameron said, as he planted a suitably platonic kiss on her cheek.

  ‘Thanks!’

  ‘Well, let’s go and find the car hire office and get back out into the sunshine, before the sun goes down.’

  They walked over to the car hire desk and Julia waited patiently while Cameron negotiated over the car and a sat-nav. He handed over his platinum credit card and paid for it and picked up the keys and grinned at Julia.

  Cameron had hired a two-seater SMART cabriolet, which raised an even bigger smile on his face when they reached the car, all shiny red and perfect. Julia opened the passenger door while Cameron put his suitcase in the miniscule boot. Julia hadn’t been in such a small car before; the cabin space was uncomfortably intimate.

  Cameron fiddled with the sat-nav with the seriousness of an airline pilot about to take off. He started the engine, checked the mirror and then drove out of the car park.

  ‘Have you driven abroad much before?’ Julia asked, envying his confidence on the road.

  ‘At least once a year I suppose. We went to Portugal last year and Spain the year before. You get used to it after a while. What about you? Tell me about this scooter you’ve been running around on.’

  Julia talked about some of her little trips into town on the scooter and about how nice and helpful her landlord was.

  ‘You’ve certainly got yourself a dream holiday villa.’

  ‘Definitely! Tony’s really nice; you might get to meet him, although I noticed his car wasn’t there this morning. I didn’t get a chance to say you were coming to stay since you took me by surprise yesterday.’

  ‘A nice surprise I hope,’ Cameron said, turning briefly to look at her.

  Julia grinned wickedly.

  ‘We’ll see. Just so long as you behave yourself.’

  ‘Me? I’m always the perfect gentleman. Well apart from that one little whisky fuelled error of judgement.’

  Julia turned and looked out of the window and stared at the cars driving past them. Cameron was driving quite sedately, which was a relief as the top was down on the car and Julia’s hair fluttered around her face.

  ‘Who knows you’re here?’ Julia asked, after a moment of silence.

  ‘Um, nobody actually. My colleagues know I’m meeting with a German architect; but I let them assume I’m in Germany.’

  ‘I’m glad. People would talk, and they would find this situation rather suspicious. I didn’t even tell Marianne.’

  ‘Really? So nobody knows?’

  Julia laughed.

  ‘No, and I prefer to keep it that way.’

  When they reached Cefalu, Cameron insisted on taking Julia out to dinner before going back to the villa. He had left Shetland first thing that morning and had been travelling all day, and now he was hungry. They found a restaurant on the seafront and parked the car outside.

  They ordered their dinner and while they ate they caught up with each other’s news. Julia felt like she had been away from Shetland forever. As they talked she started to relax in Cameron’s company. He was charming and entertaining, but he certainly wasn’t trying to flirt with her, which was a relief.

  Tony’s car was not on the drive when they arrived home, but Julia still felt the need to be quiet as she led the way along the path to her villa while Cameron carried his case behind her.

  ‘Nice solar lighting!’

  ‘It’s pretty isn’t it? And very necessary, it would be pitch black without those lights. There’s some around the pool too.’

  ‘You’ve got a swimming pool?’

  ‘Oh yes, not too shabby eh?’

  ‘I quite fancy a swim actually.’

  ‘I thought you were tired,’ Julia said, as they reached the door to the villa. She reached into her bag to find the keys. Cameron stood behind her and admired the veranda.

  ‘I’m knackered actually; but it feels wrong to pass up an opportunity to swim outside at this time of night, but maybe I should wait until tomorrow.’

  Julia smiled in agreement and ushered him indoors. She switched on the lights in the villa and walked through to the spare bedroom.

  ‘This is your room. It has a great view of the mountain in the morning. The bathroom is next door, and it’s all yours. I have an ensuite in my room.’
r />   Cameron set his case down with a broad grin on his face.

  ‘Much nicer than a hotel. Thanks for letting me stay with you. This is just what I needed; a break from everything. I think you did the right thing getting away for a while.’

  ‘It’s been a bit up and down actually; but I do feel a bit better in myself.’

  ‘You look good on it Jules.’

  ‘Thanks!’

  Julia turned on her heel and walked back to the kitchen. Cameron followed, his eyes taking in the décor and the furniture. Julia headed for the fridge and took out a bottle of wine.

  ‘Fancy a drink now you don’t have to drive anywhere?’

  ‘I would love one, thanks!’

  Julia poured two glasses of white wine and carried them outside to the veranda. It was a little cooler than it had been on the previous evening, but still warm enough to sit outside.

  Cameron sat down on one of the loungers and put his feet up and shut his eyes for a moment, his head resting on the back of the cushioned head rest.

  ‘I’m in heaven. Two days ago I was standing in a cold wet field with a client, discussing their plans to build a new house. I was freezing, and now I’m here, sitting outside with a glass of wine.’

  Julia smiled and nodded.

  ‘Tell me about this project Jürgen wants to talk to you about.’

  ‘He’s been commissioned to design a luxurious holiday resort on the coast not far from Palermo. But not just any old resort. His client specialises in upmarket eco-tourism holidays and the complex must be designed to be as eco-friendly as possible, using sustainable materials, renewable energy sources and recycled waste water to support the landscaping. And they want to design something that makes the best of the bonny views, with big windows and lots of light. Most of the local buildings tend to have small windows covered in shutters against the heat.’

  ‘I didn’t think you’d be interested in helping to design a holiday resort.’

  ‘Ordinarily I wouldn’t be; not my kind of thing at all. But this is a chance to try out some state of the art building techniques Scottish building regulations haven’t approved yet. It’s a really prestigious project and it would be great to do something different for a bit. I love designing individual houses, don’t get me wrong; but there are so many things I would like to try out - new types of insulation, ventilation, renewable energy, different materials…’