Sunshine and Second Chances Page 4

  ‘Come on, you gorgeous, lot,’ she called. ‘Lunch is served!’

  ‘God, I’m stuffed,’ Debs said as she popped yet another sweet baby pepper stuffed with cream cheese in her mouth and started to clear away. Fiona got up to help her.

  ‘Oh, me too! That was lush! I’ve eaten more carbs in one meal than I ate last month. That bread was amazing. I might have to get up and go for a run in the morning.’ Liv stretched and yawned. ‘I can’t believe I’m tired. I’ve done nothing so far today.’

  ‘That’s the trouble sometimes. You run around like a loon at home, and then you come away and stop. It’s your body’s way of telling you that you need to rest. From what you said over lunch, it sounds like you never stop running around after your family, Liv.’ Samantha moved her chair nearer to Liv and into the line of the sun.

  ‘Well, I don’t, but it’s not like I’m working like most people, is it? I shouldn’t complain. But sometimes the constant neediness of my family is totally exhausting. It’s my own fault though. It’s the way I’ve made them. It’s like I’ve created a monster family who can’t do anything for themselves.’

  She looked sad and Samantha started to wonder whether what people saw on the outside as the perfect family actually had more cracks than they might think possible.

  ‘You’re happy though, aren’t you?’ she asked.

  Liv hesitated for just a little longer than Samantha expected her to before she answered, and Samantha realised that she’d hit a nerve. As she looked over at Liv she noticed a tear trickle down her cheek. Liv wiped it off and Samantha looked away discreetly.

  ‘I’m fine, Sam, I just need a break. I’m shattered with it all. You guys and this place will energise me to get stuck right back in when I get home.’

  ‘Perhaps you could try to make them a little more self-sufficient, Liv.’

  ‘Ha! Seb is so lazy and dependent on me that he won’t even wipe his own backside. James just grunts from morning to night and gives me attitude, and George treats me like a skivvy most of the time. And I’m so bloody stupid that I let him. I think the only one who really loves me is the dog.’

  ‘You are far from stupid, Liv. You were cleverer than any of us when we were at uni, without even trying very hard. Perhaps you just need to have a think while you are here about making a few changes at home. The perfect time to think about stuff like that is when you’re away from it all. To be honest, I think I’ll be filling my notebook with lots of thoughts and making a big to-do list while I’m here.’

  ‘So, what about you then, Sam? What’s happening in your life?’

  ‘Nothing, Liv. Nothing at all. That’s the problem.’

  ‘Oh well, we need to sort that out too then, don’t we? I think this holiday is going to do us all some good.’ Liv reached out and squeezed Samantha’s hand. making Samantha realise that she really missed touch in her life. She had always been a tactile person. ‘So, as you brought a notebook with you, does that mean that you’re still a stationery addict?’ asked Liv.

  Samantha smiled as she remembered the delivery she’d had the day before from a stationery store. Notebooks, list pads, journals. She loved it all. ‘You could say that.’

  ‘More wine, anyone?’ Debs came out brandishing another bottle of red. Samantha and Liv glanced knowingly at each other and Debs pretended that she didn’t notice.

  ‘Not for me, thanks. I want to appreciate this gorgeous weather.’ Liv stood and stretched and made her way over to the rattan sunbeds. She sat down and sank into the padded cushions and sighed. She took off her kaftan and picked up her bottle of suntan lotion and slathered it over her body, while Debs stared at her amazing figure. How could she possibly still look that fabulous when she had just gone fifty?

  ‘Me neither, thanks,’ said Samantha. ‘I’m going to grab my novel from my handbag and have a little read on that bed next to you, Liv, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Fill your boots, Sam. I’m just going to lie here and be. Just be me. Without anyone needing me.’

  ‘Well, don’t mind if I do.’ Debs grinned as she filled up her glass to the brim for the fourth time.

  ‘You need to put some suntan lotion on, Debs, or you’ll burn.’ Liv threw her a bottle of factor 40 and Debs put it down by the side of her bed. ‘Yep, in a bit.’

  Liv laughed. ‘God, I need to remember that you are all adults and not one of my useless bloody family. If I didn’t tell them what to do from morning to night they’d never even get out of bed, let alone dressed. I wonder if they all got off to school and work OK today.’

  ‘I’m sure you’d have heard if they hadn’t,’ Debs replied from under her baseball cap.

  ‘Well, if I hadn’t turned my phone off the minute I arrived, I might have done,’ Liv replied.

  ‘Good for you, honey, good for you! I’m sure they’ll cope one way or another,’ Samantha said.

  ‘Where’s Fi?’ Liv asked.

  ‘Gone upstairs to make a phone call apparently. Not sure who to. All very mysterious if you ask me,’ Debs replied as she picked up her glass of wine and downed the lot.

  Two minutes later, she was snoring away.

  ‘Honestly, Fiona, she’s absolutely fine. We’ve had a singer in this afternoon and she really enjoyed that. She loves a sing-song and even got up to have a dance at one point. We’ve had a singer in called Maddy Young. Lovely girl. Got all the old ones up dancing and singing. We’ve had a wonderful afternoon. Apparently she does gigs like this with her friend Beth in local care homes. They run a doggy day-care centre together too.’

  ‘Oh, that’s so good to hear, Brenda. I can’t thank you enough. I really can’t.’

  ‘She’s settled in so well, Fiona. She’s absolutely fine, I promise you. Now go and relax with your friends. And I mean it when I say ring anytime you like to put your mind at rest, but go and have some fun and chill out.’

  ‘Thank you, Brenda.’

  As Fiona ended the call, she really believed Brenda was an angel on earth and just what she and Marion needed right now.

  Fiona joined the others on the terrace, and after they’d all either had a read or a snooze, peeled off her shorts and T-shirt to reveal her bright-red cossie.

  ‘Last one in the pool is a loser!’ she yelled as she gracefully dived in and emerged gasping for breath, for as soon as she hit the water she realised the pool wasn’t heated.

  ‘Fuck, that’s cold!’ she squealed. The others laughed and Debs woke up with a start.

  ‘You coming in, Debs?’ Fiona yelled at her.

  ‘God, I need to wake up first. Anyone fancy a coffee?’

  There were oohs and aahs all round and Debs went into the kitchen to try to work out how to use the silver contraption that Mikey had pointed out as being the coffee machine. As she opened and shut cupboards trying to find cups and the instructions for the coffee machine, she mumbled under her breath, ‘What’s wrong with bloody instant anyway? You need a degree to work this bloody thing!’

  While she totally loved coffee, and needed it to get through each day, going into a coffee shop now, and queuing up for a latte or a cappuccino, took valuable minutes from her day. She wasn’t the most patient of people and always found herself drumming her fingers on the countertop or scrolling through her phone before she got annoyed with the waiting.

  Finally finding the instructions, she fathomed out how to make four coffees, which according to the machine were meant to be lattes but she wasn’t really sure. She hoped they tasted better than they looked. There was clearly an art to posh coffee making.

  Placing the tray on the table, along with a plate of Portuguese tarts she had found in the fridge, she sat back down on her sunbed carefully. She was always scared to death that one of those things would break under her weight.

  Fiona yelled, ‘Thanks, Debs. Come in and join us. It’s lovely and refreshing once you get over the initial shock.’ Liv and Samantha laughed and nodded in agreement.

  ‘I’ll come in later. I’m just going t
o sit and catch up on Facebook,’ she said as she thought that there was no way she was getting her dress off and letting people see her body. No bloody way at all.

  Eleven

  Fiona rose from the pool and draped a robe around her shoulders to keep her warm and dry. ‘Right, I’m off to get my book from upstairs. I bought the book that was number one in the charts at the airport bookshop. Hope it’s a good one. Can’t wait to try to get back into reading this week.’

  ‘Oh, I’ve brought tons of books with me if you run out, Fi.’ Samantha smiled. They had easily slipped back into the names they’d called each other when they were younger.

  Debs got up and said she was popping to the loo before she got comfy again and asked if anyone wanted anything. They all shook their heads and realised that they were all quite content just as they were at the moment.

  Liv grabbed the stripy beach towel from her sunbed and dried herself. Once again, Debs looked at her from under her sunglasses as she walked past, hoping that she couldn’t see her staring. How on earth can she look that fantastic at her age? Her stomach was flat, her boobs looked as magnificently perky as those of an eighteen-year-old, and she still managed to look stunning when she’d come out of a pool whereas Debs would have looked like a complete fright.

  ‘You’re still as gorgeous as you were when you were younger, you know, Liv. I don’t know how you do it.’

  Liv lay down on her sunbed gracefully. Debs noticed such a difference from when she had done it. She couldn’t work out if the creaking noises were coming from her body or the sunbed. And she seemed to have to make ooh and aah noises as she raised herself and headed off into the kitchen.

  ‘If you don’t mind me asking, how come your boobs don’t disappear under your armpits like mine do when I lie down?’ Samantha laughed as she looked down at her own chest.

  Liv looked over and winked at her. ‘Mmmm! Let’s just say it was more natural in the old days, shall we?’

  Samantha raised an eyebrow and decided she would try to find out over the course of the holiday. She wondered if Liv had had a boob job or something. She was dying to know, although it didn’t really matter anyway. She looked fabulous no matter what.

  ‘God, I adore the sun,’ Liv muttered. ‘I can literally feel it recharging my body and my soul. Or that might just be that I’ve not got two children fighting around me. I can’t remember the last time I lay around a pool like this and just had peace and quiet. It’s gorgeous. I don’t even want to read. I just want to lie here and appreciate it. I’m so glad you all agreed to come.’

  ‘Well, you did get a bargain price after all, didn’t you, Liv?’ Samantha said questioningly.

  Liv poked her tongue into her cheek. ‘Yes, it was such a great deal. Lucky, weren’t we?’

  ‘You can’t fool me, Liv. There’s no bloody way that you got this for the money that you told us. What’s really going on?’

  ‘Oh, please don’t say anything to the others. I’ve just become accustomed to luxury and, after all, when you go away, you should have somewhere better than where you live. Otherwise, what’s the point of going away? You may as well have stayed at home.’ She gave a high-pitched laugh. ‘George told me to spend what I wanted to, and I know that you guys wouldn’t have let me pay for the whole thing, so I thought that five hundred pounds sounded reasonable.’

  ‘Reasonable? It’s amazing. But I feel really guilty that you’ve paid for the majority of it. Can we maybe give you some more towards it?’

  ‘Honestly, no. It’s fine, but thank you so much for offering. George just had a big windfall, so gave me half. He’s very generous with his money. This is my gift to you guys. We all deserve a little treat from time to time. It’s just a shame that George can’t give up his time as easily as he gives up his money.’

  Her voice sounded wobbly and once again Samantha wondered whether Liv was experiencing serious problems in her marriage. She hoped that it was just a blip and that coming away would make her miss her family and become eager to get back. Liv touched her Tiffany necklace. Samantha had noticed her do this a few times, perhaps it was a comfort thing.

  ‘Don’t worry about me, Sam. Honestly.’ She drew her knees in close to her chest. ‘I just need to make a few changes. Then I’ll be fine.’

  Debs and Fiona walked back onto the terrace at the same time but from different directions. There were doors galore in this place. Debs realised that she’d probably have to check them all every night more than once before she could settle into bed. Since she’d lived alone, it was something that she found herself doing obsessively, even though she hadn’t opened some of them for weeks.

  ‘I’m looking forward to the barbecue tonight. Although after that huge lunch, I’m not sure I’ll need anything else.’ She giggled as she popped a Portuguese tart in her mouth. ‘What does everyone fancy doing while we’re out here? Anything in particular?’

  ‘Well, I’ve been doing a bit of reading about the area.’ Samantha thought she may as well mention what she’d discovered through her many evenings of internet research.

  The other girls all exchanged glances and grinned.

  ‘What?’ Samantha questioned.

  ‘You always were the swotty one who looked into everything. We knew you would, so we left all the research all up to you! Remember when we were in Corfu for our twenty-first birthday celebrations and we were all happy to go with the flow, but you had an itinerary for us?’ Fiona asked. They all giggled as memories of the holiday they’d had to celebrate the year of their twenty-first birthdays came flooding back, all thinking how very grateful they were that their friendship was still going twenty-nine years later.

  ‘You are awesome, Samantha. Saves the rest of us doing the groundwork.’ Fiona sniggered.

  ‘Well, there’s no point in going away and wasting time, so I wanted to check out what was in the area. I know I’m always the sensible one, but it’s a good job one of us is.’

  They all laughed again good-heartedly and Samantha continued.

  ‘I’d love to go into the marina one of the days or evenings. It looks gorgeous and there are some beautiful restaurants overlooking all the yachts that are moored up. And there’s a casino too. Perhaps we should try our luck one night.’

  ‘Ooh, that’s a fabulous idea. I’ve never been to a casino.’ Debs grinned widely and her eyes sparkled.

  ‘I’d love to have a go at playing golf. Perhaps Mikey could arrange lessons for us, if anyone else fancies it. George plays all the time and maybe he’d notice me a bit more if I could play golf.’ Liv tittered for what seemed longer than necessary, then went quiet and stared into space.

  ‘I’m up for anything and everything,’ Samantha announced. ‘This is the new me from now on!’

  ‘Right, well, it’s four o’clock and we apparently have a chef coming in at seven to start cooking dinner. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to make the most of being out in this lovely sunshine and my family being in a different country, and have a snooze. So you can all shut up talking now, thank you very much.’ Liv laughed.

  ‘Oh, how rude.’ Samantha laughed back. ‘Bloody good idea, though. I’m going to have a read.’

  A grunt came from the sunbed on the end of the row, and Debs was fast asleep, snoring her head off. Fiona stood and moved one of the sunshades above her. She’d noticed her friend was already going a bit pink. Despite Liv mentioning suntan lotion earlier, Debs hadn’t taken any notice.

  ‘I’m going to go up to my room and call the home again, just to make sure Mum’s OK, then have a proper sleep in my bed. It looks so comfy. Shall we meet down here around six thirty for pre-dinner drinks?’ Fiona suggested.

  ‘Mmmm!’ Liv and Samantha mumbled in unison.

  Debs farted loudly in her sleep and they all giggled like schoolgirls. Laughter with your friends is one of the best things you can ever have in life, Liv thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep. And it had been missing from her life for a long time.

&n
bsp; ‘Ladies, my name is Josep and I am at your service for this evening.’

  Debs raised her eyebrows and muttered, ‘Yum! He could definitely service me.’

  Samantha dug her in the ribs to shut her up.

  The chef ignored their tittering and continued. ‘I have prepared these cocktails for you.’

  He handed sugar-rimmed glasses to them all and received a chorus of oohs and aahs as the delicious gin-based drink hit the spot. ‘And now I will go into the barbecue area and your dinner will be served on the terrace in one hour.’

  ‘God, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven,’ Debs announced. ‘A man who makes you cocktails and cooks. Do you know, in eighteen years of being married to Dave, he only once cooked me a meal, and that was something he chucked in the microwave then waited for a ping.’

  ‘I’m the same, Debs,’ said Liv. ‘I don’t think George has even done that. He got his mother over when Seb and James were born, so he didn’t have to do anything even then. It’s her fault that he’s the way he is. If she hadn’t pandered to his every whim as a child, he’d be a bit more self-sufficient now. The trouble is, my sons are the same. I really need to do something about that before it’s too late and some poor unsuspecting woman has to live a life of slavery to either of them.’ Liv looked so sad and serious, but decided she was giving too much away and tried to lighten the mood. ‘It’s a good job Josep’s mother didn’t pander to him. He seems very capable, eh, Debs?’

  ‘He’s gorgeous. Did you see his backside? Phwoar. After Dave left, I never thought I’d want another man, but Josep has definitely stirred my loins.’

  They all laughed. Debs had always been the funniest in the group. The one who said out loud what everyone else was thinking – which had got her into trouble many a time. Liv wished she was more like Debs and that she wasn’t so serious all the time. Perhaps she needed to be more relaxed.

  ‘OMG, Debs, remember what happened on the beach in Corfu?’