Jutta’s cleaning team had been in. Every surface gleamed in the sunlight dappling through the snowy white curtains. It wouldn’t be too long now until she was back with the twins. She was looking forward to seeing her daughters’ reaction to this new holiday home. She was looking forward too to spending time together with Cal and Jake. He was such a good little boy. You couldn’t but fall in love with him. Sally-Ann would never forget the heart-stopping moment when Jake had held his arms up to her to be lifted for the first time, and he’d snuggled in against her contentedly and she’d loved him as though he were her own child. The girls adored him. Instead of dividing them as she’d expected, his birth had brought healing to their family for sure, she reflected. Life was funny the way things worked out sometimes.
She would be saying adiós to her Spanish lover this trip. He’d told her he was getting married in the autumn. It was time to say goodbye. She would make sure it was a long farewell, Sally-Ann smiled to herself, looking forward to the lusty encounter that was to come later that evening. She and her tall, sexy banker would give Jutta and Eduardo a run for their money, but she’d make damn sure the drapes were closed. She didn’t want to cause a scandal in La Joya de Andalucía now that she was the new owner of Penthouse Ático, Portal 1.
‘But that’s the day of the AGM, Jutta. I won’t be able to attend,’ Eduardo exclaimed when she told him the date of closing the purchase of his penthouse.
‘But you wouldn’t have been attending anyway,’ she pointed out crisply. ‘I’ll be there in your stead with power of attorney.’
‘Of course, of course, what am I thinking?’ he said distractedly.
‘Don’t worry about it; we all have things on our minds. It’s a busy time of year. The vendor has confirmed his attendance. At least you won’t have to have contact with him, either,’ Jutta added.
‘Good, the less I see of him the better. He has sent an email to Señora Torres to say that his arrears will be deducted from the sale of the penthouse and forwarded to the community account.’ Eduardo stared out between the slatted blinds of his office window as he spoke to Jutta on the phone and tried not to think of her pert breasts which fitted just nicely into each hand when he’d been having sex with her.
‘So I’ll email you over some documents to sign and scan?’ he heard her say and reluctantly turned his attention back to the conversation.
‘Of course.’
‘Fine. I’ll give them to my accountant. Everything is up to date. We have fulfilled all our requirements. Hopefully on the day the vendor will have fulfilled all of his and it will go smoothly. Clearly the owner has no idea that you are the buyer and if and when he does, it will be too late.’ Jutta stifled a yawn. She felt terribly tired. The season was getting into full swing and with her new venture into apartment sales, there was a lot more work to be done.
‘Hopefully yes,’ he agreed in a serious tone and Jutta wondered yet again why he just could not react like she did to their night of sex, because that was all it was, now. His dour self-flagellation and awkwardness each time she phoned him about the purchase of the penthouse was such a turn-off.
‘It was sex and good sex too, now grow up and forget about it like most men would,’ she wanted to snap but of course she couldn’t, so she endured the sighs, and short clipped sentences, and attempted formality as best she could at least until she had the purchase secured and their business complete. Then she could wash her hair of him or seduce him again, Jutta couldn’t quite decide.
‘So Eduardo, I’ll be in contact nearer the date, unless there are any problems. On the day itself, I can meet you in La Joya with the keys after your AGM. If you would lodge the remainder of the purchase price into my client account, as you did with the deposit that would be excellent. There’s no need for you to do that until a couple of days before we close. I’ll present you with my bill, which we have already agreed upon, once I hand over the keys. And then you and I will complete the sign over at the notary’s office. Is that satisfactory?’
‘Indeed, and thank you for your hard work, Jutta,’ he said awkwardly.
‘De nada, Eduardo, adiós,’ she said before hanging up as though it were a run-of-the-mill business call and nothing existed between them.
It dismayed Eduardo that she seemed to have dismissed their tryst so easily. Jutta had shown no embarrassment when she’d phoned him a few days after their encounter. His life was one falsehood after another, it seemed. He was subsumed in a mire of secrecy, his infidelity with her another deception to add to the list. He couldn’t but admire her cool detachment. It was something he aspired to, but all he could think of was the wild feeling of abandon and freedom he’d experienced when they had coupled so passionately, so earthily, so uninhibitedly. He wished it had never happened and he wished he could stop brooding over that night of shame.
Tonight he had to pretend to be light-hearted and carefree. He was taking the three women in his life to dinner. Consuela, Beatriz and Isabella had all booked appointments at the hairdressers, ‘to go out on a special date with their special man,’ Isabella had announced. He wondered if they would think he was so special if they knew that he’d royally shagged a married woman in La Joya de Andalucía.
‘And Jeananne and Sneery Hole’s son got married last month and we weren’t even invited.’ Yvonne lay on her lounger sipping a Pina Colada. ‘I was devastated,’ she grinned.
‘I was invited, but that’s only because they were at Chloe’s and needless to say, I didn’t go.’ Anna lay under the shade of her umbrella feeling more relaxed than at any time since her husband’s death. ‘It was a very grand occasion in the Four Seasons, I believe.’
‘Don’t I have the photos to prove it.’ Yvonne hunted for her phone in her beach bag.
‘I thought you were going to unfollow Jeananne on Twitter or Instagram or whatever she’s on,’ Anna said, pulling down her sunglasses to look over at Yvonne who was scrolling madly.
‘I keep saying I will, but it’s sort of addictive. She has no boundaries. She shares every minute detail, or rather boasts about every minute detail of her life. I mean look at this.’ She passed the phone to Anna.
‘It’s a photo of a pair of shoes, why would she put that up? They’re a bit blingy. All those glittery bits will fall off. Can’t see her getting much wear out of them,’ she remarked.
‘They’re the “Mother-of-the-Bridegroom-Shoes”, as she captioned it.’ Yvonne handed the phone over to Breda.
‘Don’t you know a designer shoe when you see it, Anna? You’re hopeless. They’re Oscar de la Renta!’ Breda pointed out. ‘So Jeananne was having a boasty moment.’
‘Ah, I see!’ Anna grinned. ‘What’s new about that?’
‘I wonder are they in the villa in Antibes?’ Breda passed the phone over to Mary.
‘Well I tell you one thing, girls, if I had feet the size of a Yeti I wouldn’t be showing off pictures of my shoes. Look at the size of them. Jabba the Hutt could wear them,’ Mary quipped.
Anna started to laugh; she laughed so hard her sides ached. It came from the depths of her, great belly laughs that went on and on. They were all guffawing, tears streaming down their cheeks.
‘Clench, Anna, keep those legs crossed, we don’t want any little accidents,’ Yvonne advised and that set them off again, great hooting chortles they hadn’t enjoyed together for such a long time.
‘Oh my God, I’m not the better for that,’ Anna wheezed.
‘We possibly need another drink,’ Mary suggested.
‘I think we possibly do.’ Yvonne jumped up with alacrity, being the fittest of the quartet. ‘Where’s the kitty purse?’
‘Right here, Sista, right here.’ Mary waved it at her and gave her the thumbs up, so happy that their much-loved friend had had a thoroughly enjoyable moment of forgetting.
‘You know you should stay on for a while and rest after all you’ve been through, Anna,’ Mary suggested casually as the four of them enjoyed a Baileys after dinner that night, thei
r last in Andalucía for the foreseeable future. ‘It’s so peaceful here. So restful.’
‘Dead right,’ said Yvonne. ‘If I had the chance I’d down tools and stay put.’
‘But what about minding the grandkids?’ Anna exclaimed.
‘Not your problem, Anna. Your priority is minding you, and as a dear friend I just want to say, you’re minding the family, and have been for the last ten months. No one is minding you!’ Mary said firmly.
‘Mary’s right,’ Breda agreed. ‘Now it’s time for you. Why don’t you stay until the anniversary? You intend coming over for that anyway—’
‘But that’s two months away,’ Anna exclaimed.
‘And? Or as the kids say, So?’
‘Stay in a hotel for two months! Ah no! That’s way too expensive,’ she protested.
‘No more expensive than the maintenance fees were on the penthouse. And not being too personal about your affairs, but was a large lump sum not lodged into your account from the sale? Could a teeny few little bob out of that not go for a little bit of luxury for our friend Anna?’ Mary cajoled. ‘You paid for the girls to come out for a week—’
‘That was to empty out the apartment of our personal stuff,’ Anna interjected quickly.
‘It was still a week in España, missus! At your expense. And that’s fine, but what I’m saying is, if you can spend it on the girls and the children can you not spend some on yourself?’
‘It sounds lovely,’ Anna agreed wistfully. ‘But I’d feel guilty spending that amount of money on myself—’
‘What would Austen say?’ Breda said quietly. ‘Don’t answer because I know he’d be all for it.’
‘He would, yeah,’ she said sadly. ‘And I love the hotel. It helps that I have no memories of him here, so there aren’t constant reminders of things we did together. I’ve stayed well away from La Joya. I don’t have to go near it. Maybe I might go home with you all as planned tomorrow, and give the girls two weeks to make other arrangements and then come back.’ She took another sip of Baileys and said decisively, ‘You know, I think I’ll do it, girls. Great suggestion. I do deserve some time for myself.’
‘Good woman,’ applauded Yvonne. ‘You’ll have time to absorb all that’s happened, time to grieve, because you haven’t given yourself any time. You’ve just thrown yourself into minding everyone, trying to run away from it.’
‘I know,’ Anna agreed. ‘That’s exactly what I did.’
‘You can never run away from grief. It always catches up with you, until you deal with it,’ Breda commented sagely.
‘Well thank you, girls. I wouldn’t have even considered staying on longer without your encouragement. Hopefully I can book a room. It’s a bit late in the season to be booking, do you not think?’
‘Do it now,’ Breda ordered, ‘and then we’ll buy a bottle of bubbly and raise a glass to you.’
‘Will I? Chloe and Tara won’t be impressed.’ Anna made a face.
‘They’ll have to suck it up and deal with it. Come on, I’ll go with you just to make sure you do it.’ Yvonne stood up and pointed the way to Reception. ‘Breda, order that champagne.’
Anna laughed. ‘Bossy boots,’ she said fondly but she followed her friend out the door.
The following afternoon Anna sat at a window seat and watched Malaga airport disappear as the Airbus thundered down the runway launching itself into the bright blue void above it. She’d said goodbye to La Joya de Andalucía when she’d given it a quick glance as they drove to the airport and felt the familiar barb of sadness assail her.
It was a closed chapter now. She would come back to stay in the peaceful little hotel in San Antonio, and on the day of Austen’s first anniversary, she and her daughters would place a rose at the spot where he’d died. The first year of mourning would be complete. Perhaps the second one might not be as horrendous, she thought wistfully. There had been milestones in the last few days and she’d laughed again with those true and stalwart friends of hers. She was surviving, Anna reflected. She’d come this far, by putting one foot in front of the other every day, no matter how she felt. Bereavement was something that came to all, and had to be endured. Why should she be any different?
Austen, Austen, Austen! she cried out to her Beloved, silently. And as the plane banked over Malaga harbour to head north across the High Sierras, the sunlight caught the silver wing tip and sent a prism of rainbow light right to where she sat. A benevolent peace seemed to envelop her and Anna was strangely comforted, as though her husband’s loving presence was all around her.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
SALLY-ANN / LENORA / CAL
Sally-Ann tried not to show her amusement as, out of the corner of her eye, she watched Savannah preening in front of the long wall mirror that reflected the big floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the sea. Her daughter was wearing an orange and white floral-print bikini that had caused Cal’s eyebrows to shoot skywards when he’d seen it. She was deciding which way to tie a floaty matching sarong, undulating this way and that, tying it at the waist, then around the neck, then over one shoulder. On her head sat perched the ‘to die for’ Gucci sunglasses that were ‘seriously trendy’, which Sally-Ann had made her pay half for because, as Sally-Ann had put it, they were ‘seriously expensive’.
‘I never heard of anyone having to pay half for their birthday present,’ Savannah had sulked but Sally-Ann had insisted she take the money out of her savings, and while she was at it, made her put a twenty in the charity box for spending such an outrageous sum on sunglasses when she could have bought a pair for twenty dollars in the mall.
One of the reasons for the preening and posturing sat poolside, with a rippling six-pack, long legs with hard muscular thighs, a tanned, handsome face hidden beneath a peaked Nike cap, and dark glasses.
The life guard was ‘seriously sexy’, Sally-Ann had overheard Savannah say to Madison, who was already in the pool in her black one-piece swimsuit with the hot pink side panels, which was much more suited to the serious swimming she liked to do rather than prancing around in a bikini.
Several other gangly teenage reasons sat sprawled on white chairs, drinking sodas under the coconut roof of the coffee bar, watching the girls go by. Savannah had actually told her mother that this was ‘by far, beyond the best holiday’ she’d ever had. Much to Sally-Ann’s relief because Lord knows, her daughter had whined enough about it, once she’d heard her parents’ plan for the summer.
From the balcony, Sally-Ann could see Jake’s little red hat as he splashed up and down in the baby pool with the au pair.
‘Bye Mom.’ Savannah finally decided to go with her first choice of sarong tied at her waist for maximum exposure of her pert little boobs. She had the long, tanned, coltish legs Sally-Ann had had as a teen and she was almost the same height as Sally-Ann. Savannah and her sister were growing into beautiful young women, their mother thought proudly.
‘Enjoy, sweetie,’ Sally-Ann called but she was speaking to thin air. Savannah was already in the lift, admiring herself in the mirror as it descended.
She cleared the breakfast dishes and stacked the dishwasher before having her shower. Cal had gone for his daily five-kilometre walk along the boardwalk, stopping to have a coffee and a read of the paper on his way back. She’d lie on her lounger under the awning and let the breeze whisper across her body, reading. Later she was meeting up with Anna in San Antonio to go to the AGM.
‘There’s no reason for me to go, I’m not an owner anymore,’ Anna had protested when she’d suggested it.
‘Aw come on, Anna, I don’t want to go on my own. Cal’s not going, and besides it would be nice for you to see some of your friends there. A lot of people have asked me about you.’
‘I suppose I should have called in and said hello, I just couldn’t bear the thought of it.’
‘I understand that, darlin’, of course I do, and that’s why it might be easier to meet them in the hotel.’ Sally-Ann had been ever so pleased when Anna had agreed. I
t would be good for her to catch up with her friends, most of whom didn’t realize that she was staying in a hotel only ten minutes up the road.
She luxuriated under the large, round air-powered showerhead, as the hot water sluiced over her shoulders and she scrubbed her skin with exfoliant cream until it was glowing. Wrapping a terry robe around her she strolled out onto the balcony and towelled her hair dry. She could see Savannah in the baby pool with Jake and her heart lifted at the sight.
Lenora had tried to put a spanner in the works there, but Sally-Ann had called her on it. Her face darkened, remembering Cal telling her that his ex-girlfriend wasn’t happy with the idea of Jake being out of the States and so far away from her for a month. What kind of a nerve did she have? She hardly ever saw Jake now, being too busy leading the high life trying to find a wealthy new lover, having been ditched by Boyd Garland. He’d announced his engagement to one of the McClellan gals, who had a Southern pedigree Lenora Colton would never have.
‘Let me deal with it, mother to mother,’ she’d said to Cal, who was reluctant to involve her. ‘Honestly, I’ll sort it,’ she’d insisted.
‘You see, Lenora, it’s like this. Cal has two daughters, as you know, and we want to spend time together with them. We’d like Jake to be part of that holiday,’ she’d said sweetly, having finally arranged a date to meet for coffee in the Granduca because Lenora was ‘way busy’. She’d swanned into the hotel in head-to-toe Ralph Lauren, looking a million dollars.
‘I’m not happy to let him out of the country that long,’ Lenora said snootily.
‘OK, how about Cal lets the au pair take two weeks off, and I rent an apartment for you, and you come over for two weeks?’
‘And you’d pay for me to fly to Europe and stay for two weeks?’ Lenora looked at her quizzically. ‘Why?’
Orange Blossom Days Page 38
