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Authors: Sabine Durrant
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realised then who she reminded me of.
‘Gosh, you look like Florrie,’ I said. She could have been Andrew’s sister right there in front of me.
She looked up, still licking her finger again. ‘People say that, yes.’
Everyone else had gone quiet. Had I been indelicate, interrupting Andrew?
‘Sorry,’ I said, and made a gesture for him to continue.
Alice looked at me and then back to him. ‘Perhaps your mother’d like to come out this summer?’ she said. ‘Yvonne and Karl are insisting on staying at the hotel, so we’ve got room. Would that do her good?’
Her tone was cool – it was obviously not a proper offer – but it did its job, from my point of view, by turning the conversation to Greece.
‘Do Yvonne and Karl come every year?’ I asked.
‘No. They came once or twice at the beginning. But this year it’s the tenth anniversary of Jasmine’s disappearance so they’re making a special trip.’
‘As a sort of pilgrimage?’
‘Kind of.’
She was looking at me, and I smiled back expectantly. ‘How nice,’ I said. I’d finished my plate of lamb saag and had polished off a couple of Beck’s. I leant back in my chair. This is my moment, I thought. She will invite me again – publicly. It was the logical conclusion to the evening. Maybe she had even asked the others over this evening for that reason. Whether I accepted, of course, was still up to me. But the offer, and all that it promised, was about to be laid open for my consideration.
‘This year,’ Phoebe said, ‘I’m getting a proper tan.’
‘If it’s our last time ever we must hire kayaks!’ Frank said.
‘Too right!’ Tina laughed.
‘Unless we have another invasion of the jellyfish,’ Phoebe added.
‘Oh gawd,’ Andrew yelped. ‘I’m not peeing on anyone’s sting no matter how much they beg me.’
‘I can’t wait for that delicious baklava they served last year at Giorgio’s,’ Tina said.
‘Nico’s,’ Alice said.
‘Was it?’
‘No, Giorgio’s,’ Andrew said. ‘You were too pissed to notice.’
They all laughed.
‘This year,’ someone said, ‘we must swim out to Serena’s rock.’ Whether this was the rock’s real name, or a reference to a funny story involving a person called Serena, I didn’t know because nobody filled me in. I sat there, like a lemon from the tree in the Pyros house garden, like a ‘saganaki prawn’ (Tina: ‘I can’t wait – washed down with a carafe of that delicious local rosé’).
‘It all sounds wonderful,’ I said, in the next lull.
Andrew looked at me, a smirk on his face. Alice laid her arm along the back of his chair.
‘Coffee?’ she said, after a few minutes.
‘How about you boys go to the park for a kickabout?’ Tina said then.
The boys pushed their chairs back and stood up.
Phoebe said loudly, her tone unreadable: ‘Paul – what about you? You fancy a kickabout?’
I was taken aback. What was she suggesting? That I was on a level with the teenage louts rather than the adults?
Alice said, ‘I’m not sure Paul is a kickabout kind of a man.’
Louis said: ‘He’s more of a layabout kind of a man.’
I noticed Andrew laugh. I had the ingenuity to leap up and lunge at Louis. ‘Ha ha, very funny,’ I said, getting his Neanderthal head in a head-lock, and jabbing at him, as if we were the greatest of friends, as if it were a tease between chums. He pulled away and, as he climbed the stairs, I saw him rub his lower arm. Dickhead.
I waited a few moments until I heard the front door close, and then I went upstairs to use the bathroom.
There was a bottle of wine on the table in the hall, which I felt like smashing, there, on the chequerboard Victorian tiles. Instead, I picked up a small package that sat next to it – a gift wrapped in tissue paper. It felt like a bar of soap. My tweed coat was hanging, among a lot of other coats, on a row of over-laden hooks and I slipped it into the inside pocket. I doubted Alice had even registered its
‘Gosh, you look like Florrie,’ I said. She could have been Andrew’s sister right there in front of me.
She looked up, still licking her finger again. ‘People say that, yes.’
Everyone else had gone quiet. Had I been indelicate, interrupting Andrew?
‘Sorry,’ I said, and made a gesture for him to continue.
Alice looked at me and then back to him. ‘Perhaps your mother’d like to come out this summer?’ she said. ‘Yvonne and Karl are insisting on staying at the hotel, so we’ve got room. Would that do her good?’
Her tone was cool – it was obviously not a proper offer – but it did its job, from my point of view, by turning the conversation to Greece.
‘Do Yvonne and Karl come every year?’ I asked.
‘No. They came once or twice at the beginning. But this year it’s the tenth anniversary of Jasmine’s disappearance so they’re making a special trip.’
‘As a sort of pilgrimage?’
‘Kind of.’
She was looking at me, and I smiled back expectantly. ‘How nice,’ I said. I’d finished my plate of lamb saag and had polished off a couple of Beck’s. I leant back in my chair. This is my moment, I thought. She will invite me again – publicly. It was the logical conclusion to the evening. Maybe she had even asked the others over this evening for that reason. Whether I accepted, of course, was still up to me. But the offer, and all that it promised, was about to be laid open for my consideration.
‘This year,’ Phoebe said, ‘I’m getting a proper tan.’
‘If it’s our last time ever we must hire kayaks!’ Frank said.
‘Too right!’ Tina laughed.
‘Unless we have another invasion of the jellyfish,’ Phoebe added.
‘Oh gawd,’ Andrew yelped. ‘I’m not peeing on anyone’s sting no matter how much they beg me.’
‘I can’t wait for that delicious baklava they served last year at Giorgio’s,’ Tina said.
‘Nico’s,’ Alice said.
‘Was it?’
‘No, Giorgio’s,’ Andrew said. ‘You were too pissed to notice.’
They all laughed.
‘This year,’ someone said, ‘we must swim out to Serena’s rock.’ Whether this was the rock’s real name, or a reference to a funny story involving a person called Serena, I didn’t know because nobody filled me in. I sat there, like a lemon from the tree in the Pyros house garden, like a ‘saganaki prawn’ (Tina: ‘I can’t wait – washed down with a carafe of that delicious local rosé’).
‘It all sounds wonderful,’ I said, in the next lull.
Andrew looked at me, a smirk on his face. Alice laid her arm along the back of his chair.
‘Coffee?’ she said, after a few minutes.
‘How about you boys go to the park for a kickabout?’ Tina said then.
The boys pushed their chairs back and stood up.
Phoebe said loudly, her tone unreadable: ‘Paul – what about you? You fancy a kickabout?’
I was taken aback. What was she suggesting? That I was on a level with the teenage louts rather than the adults?
Alice said, ‘I’m not sure Paul is a kickabout kind of a man.’
Louis said: ‘He’s more of a layabout kind of a man.’
I noticed Andrew laugh. I had the ingenuity to leap up and lunge at Louis. ‘Ha ha, very funny,’ I said, getting his Neanderthal head in a head-lock, and jabbing at him, as if we were the greatest of friends, as if it were a tease between chums. He pulled away and, as he climbed the stairs, I saw him rub his lower arm. Dickhead.
I waited a few moments until I heard the front door close, and then I went upstairs to use the bathroom.
There was a bottle of wine on the table in the hall, which I felt like smashing, there, on the chequerboard Victorian tiles. Instead, I picked up a small package that sat next to it – a gift wrapped in tissue paper. It felt like a bar of soap. My tweed coat was hanging, among a lot of other coats, on a row of over-laden hooks and I slipped it into the inside pocket. I doubted Alice had even registered its
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