Read Online Body and Soul by Roberta Latow - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Roberta Latow
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another human being who loved in the same way in return, no matter the length or brevity of the affair.
That evening Eden dined alone in the port at a restaurant where she and Garfield had shared so many happy and loving meals. The owner Niko’s very first question was whether Garfieldwas about to reappear on the island. Had they made it up? Were they together again? It was from Niko that Eden learned Garfield had not been here for at least two years. Then there were interminable questions about why she had not been back for so long, where she was living, if she was going to stay on the island. News was out among the local residents, foreign and Greek, that she had returned and an endless stream of old acquaintances and friends appeared at her table.
Eden recognised Sebastian walking across the port when he was still a good distance from her, on his arm a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair. Eden was aware of the way the girl clung to him, the passion they obviously had for each other. She was not at all disturbed by having been replaced so quickly in Sebastian’s bed nor did she feel any sense of rejection.
On seeing Eden Sebastian went directly to her. Taking her by the hands, he raised her from her chair, enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. Then he introduced her to Janine. The young woman was obviously distressed at his attentions to someone else. Eden wanted to tell her, ‘We’ve all been there one way or another with Sebastian so don’t make the mistake of many before you and fall in love with him.’ But she said nothing.
The following morning she knew how right she had been to keep her silence. Sebastian climbed the wall surrounding her property, entered through an open window and woke Eden with his lust for her. Neither of them mentioned Janine. During their erotic morning of sex and passion Eden found no time to think or feel emotional about rekindling a sex life with Sebastian. Their relationship had been too long dead and forgotten for her not to realise that at this time of her life she was aware of being two people: the woman of her youth, the brilliant cellist who emanated all things erotic, and the invisible middle-aged woman that time and life had changed her into.
At lunchtime Eden and Sebastian drank a bottle of champagne in bed leisurely, the winter sun streaming in at the window and warming their naked flesh. They touched and caressed each other and each retreated into their own thoughts. Eden’s: that she must change, begin a new and different way of living. She must beginagain, give up her old self to save herself. Once more Sebastian spoke as if he was reading her mind.
‘You haven’t asked me what I’m doing here,’ he said.
‘That’s right, I haven’t. What are you doing here, Sebastian?’
‘Recovering from years of life and what it has done to me. I am setting aside years of solitude that never suited me, ego-driven successes that stole away the spontaneous joy I once lived by. Through all the shit that life threw at me, I was smart enough to have never given up the sexuality that has always been a driving force in my life. For that at least I am grateful.’
‘You must be reading my mind, speaking the very thoughts and emotions occupying me. Sebastian, something, someone, is looking after me to have brought us together. You and I are both here weighing up the years of our lives and what they have done to us. Or, more to the point, what we have allowed them to do to us.’
With that she leaned across and kissed him passionately. First in gratitude, then in love for the path to freedom he’d laid before her, and then in lust.
For a long time after he’d left she stared out of the window at her beloved Hydra across the jumble of white houses and then out to sea, so blue and mysterious, romantic, very often looking up at Garfield’s house. For a brief moment she imagined she loved him still. Once that moment had passed she understood that it was only the memory
That evening Eden dined alone in the port at a restaurant where she and Garfield had shared so many happy and loving meals. The owner Niko’s very first question was whether Garfieldwas about to reappear on the island. Had they made it up? Were they together again? It was from Niko that Eden learned Garfield had not been here for at least two years. Then there were interminable questions about why she had not been back for so long, where she was living, if she was going to stay on the island. News was out among the local residents, foreign and Greek, that she had returned and an endless stream of old acquaintances and friends appeared at her table.
Eden recognised Sebastian walking across the port when he was still a good distance from her, on his arm a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair. Eden was aware of the way the girl clung to him, the passion they obviously had for each other. She was not at all disturbed by having been replaced so quickly in Sebastian’s bed nor did she feel any sense of rejection.
On seeing Eden Sebastian went directly to her. Taking her by the hands, he raised her from her chair, enfolded her in his arms and kissed her. Then he introduced her to Janine. The young woman was obviously distressed at his attentions to someone else. Eden wanted to tell her, ‘We’ve all been there one way or another with Sebastian so don’t make the mistake of many before you and fall in love with him.’ But she said nothing.
The following morning she knew how right she had been to keep her silence. Sebastian climbed the wall surrounding her property, entered through an open window and woke Eden with his lust for her. Neither of them mentioned Janine. During their erotic morning of sex and passion Eden found no time to think or feel emotional about rekindling a sex life with Sebastian. Their relationship had been too long dead and forgotten for her not to realise that at this time of her life she was aware of being two people: the woman of her youth, the brilliant cellist who emanated all things erotic, and the invisible middle-aged woman that time and life had changed her into.
At lunchtime Eden and Sebastian drank a bottle of champagne in bed leisurely, the winter sun streaming in at the window and warming their naked flesh. They touched and caressed each other and each retreated into their own thoughts. Eden’s: that she must change, begin a new and different way of living. She must beginagain, give up her old self to save herself. Once more Sebastian spoke as if he was reading her mind.
‘You haven’t asked me what I’m doing here,’ he said.
‘That’s right, I haven’t. What are you doing here, Sebastian?’
‘Recovering from years of life and what it has done to me. I am setting aside years of solitude that never suited me, ego-driven successes that stole away the spontaneous joy I once lived by. Through all the shit that life threw at me, I was smart enough to have never given up the sexuality that has always been a driving force in my life. For that at least I am grateful.’
‘You must be reading my mind, speaking the very thoughts and emotions occupying me. Sebastian, something, someone, is looking after me to have brought us together. You and I are both here weighing up the years of our lives and what they have done to us. Or, more to the point, what we have allowed them to do to us.’
With that she leaned across and kissed him passionately. First in gratitude, then in love for the path to freedom he’d laid before her, and then in lust.
For a long time after he’d left she stared out of the window at her beloved Hydra across the jumble of white houses and then out to sea, so blue and mysterious, romantic, very often looking up at Garfield’s house. For a brief moment she imagined she loved him still. Once that moment had passed she understood that it was only the memory
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