Foreign Affairs (89 page)

Paula took a deep breath. ‘Drive on, Macduff,’ she ordered.

Minutes later, Kieran pulled up outside the set-down area.

‘Are you not coming in for a drink?’ Paula asked in surprise.

‘No. Long goodbyes aren’t good for my arthritis,’ he said flippantly. He got out of the car, got a trolley and unloaded her case onto it.

‘Thanks, Kieran,’ she said gratefully.

‘Take care, Paula,’ he said quietly.

She put her arms around him and he hugged her tightly.

‘Go on,’ he said. ‘The girls are waiting. Tell Jenny to take things easy.’

‘I will. Thanks for everything.’ She waved until the car was out of sight and went to join the girls.

Brenda felt a pang of envy when she saw Paula swanning up to the check-in desk in a pair of tight-fitting 501s and a white T-shirt that showed off her tan to perfection and
clung to every curve. A pink Lacoste sweater that looked as if it had cost a fortune was casually draped over her shoulders. She looked superb. Brenda pulled her stomach muscles in tight.
She’d felt quite satisfied with her appearance until she saw Paula.

Brenda was wearing floral leggings and a loose white cotton jumper. She’d thought she looked casually elegant until she saw Paula. It was a pity Paula was coming on the holiday, she
thought crossly. She was a real fly in the ointment. It would have been perfect otherwise.

‘Hi, Brenda,’ Paula greeted her. ‘Where are the others?’

‘They’ve gone to the loo. Rachel has the runs, she’s nervous about flying.’

‘She’ll be fine once she gets a brandy inside her.’ Paula manoeuvred her trolley beside Brenda’s. Shay and Ronan were standing guard beside Jennifer and
Rachel’s.

‘Hi, Paula. You look terrific,’ Ronan greeted her.

Ronan hadn’t said that about her and he was her brother-in-law, Brenda thought in annoyance.

‘Hiya.’ Jennifer and Rachel arrived. ‘Are we all set to go?’

‘Sure thing.’ Paula made a determined effort to get in the holiday mood.

After a few drinks up in the bar it wasn’t hard to pretend she was looking forward to the holiday.

Jennifer sat holding Ronan’s hand. She wished they were on their way. She felt a bit mean leaving him on his own. Paula sensed what her friend was feeling and suggested casually,
‘Maybe we should go, I want to have a browse around the duty-free.’

‘Good idea,’ Jennifer agreed. Rachel, who had drunk two brandies, was smiling happily and amenable to anything.

Jennifer hugged Ronan at the departure gate. ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

‘I love you too, now relax and enjoy it,’ he said firmly. Then he turned and hugged Rachel. ‘Have a ball.’ He grinned.

‘I will.’ Rachel gave a little giggle.

‘See you, Brenda, enjoy yourself.’ Shay kissed Brenda. He was dying to get home to watch the snooker.

‘Would the lot of you come on? We’re only going for ten days, not ten years!’ Paula mocked.

‘Husbands are hard to leave,’ Brenda said smugly.

Oh piss off, Brenda, you couldn’t leave yours fast enough, Paula was sorely tempted to retort. But she restrained herself. They hadn’t even got on the plane yet. The last thing
everyone needed was a tiff.

The flight was delayed by two hours. Brenda was driving Paula mad. Rachel was pissed after another brandy and Jennifer was wondering if this holiday was such a good idea after all.

‘It will all seem better in the morning,’ Paula muttered wryly as Brenda moaned and Rachel snored.

‘That’s my friend Paula, the eternal optimist.’ Jennifer smiled as the boarding crew arrived and the passengers began to embark.

Twenty minutes later they were airborne. Jennifer looked at Rachel, who was drowsy-eyed beside her.

‘Are you OK?’ she asked.

‘Jenny, this is the most exciting moment of my life,’ Rachel slurred. ‘I know this is going to be the holiday of a lifetime.’

‘Amen to that,’ grinned Paula as Rachel passed out in a stupor. Jennifer giggled at the absurdity of it. Brenda fumed because she was sitting on her own on the edge of the opposite
aisle.
She
, and not Paula, should be sitting beside her sister.

The 737 roared along the runway and lifted its bulk into the air and flew south-eastwards towards England and the continent.

‘Corfu, here we come,’ Paula murmured, giving a wide yawn. ‘Wake me up when we get there.’

Chapter Ninety

Rachel stretched, yawned and wondered why her head felt woozy. She lay in bed listening to peculiar chirruping noises and suddenly realized she was in a strange bedroom. Memory
returned. She was in Corfu. She had a vague recollection of walking down the steps of a plane and feeling a hot breeze blowing. And then queueing for luggage. After that a journey in a car along
winding roads that made her feel queasy. She didn’t remember going to bed. She wondered if Jennifer was annoyed with her for getting pissed. It was the third brandy that had done it. She
wasn’t used to brandy.

Rachel eased herself gingerly out of the bed. To her surprise, she didn’t have a headache. She walked over to the french windows, which were shaded by blue shutters, and opened both of
them. Her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. Just below her, a large rectangular swimming-pool, set in a terracotta-tiled terrace, glittered in the morning sun. Sun-loungers with thick
luxurious cushions lay awaiting them. Great urns of exotic flowering shrubs were dotted around the terrace. A small white balustrade encircled it. Steps led down to an olive grove full of
blossoming trees and beyond that was a golden sandy beach that stretched between two headlands dotted with pine and cypress trees. The sea was a sparkling turquoise, the sky the bluest Rachel had
ever seen. The colours were vivid and bright, like something out of a Technicolor film. Rachel gazed about her in awe.

This was unbelievable. She turned to survey her room. It was painted all in white with simple, deep blue furniture and fittings. The double bed had a blue headboard and great fluffy white
pillows and a blue and white patterned cover that matched the curtains. The small
en suite
bathroom was tiled in white and blue. It was a restful room. Excitement surged through her. What
time was it? Clearly she was the first up, maybe she should go back to bed for a while. But she was far too excited to go back to bed. She decided to shower and dress and then explore her new
surroundings.

Fifteen minutes later, Rachel, wearing one of her new halter-neck tops and pastel pink shorts, slipped out of her room and walked down a tiled corridor that had doors at each side. There
wasn’t a sound from behind any one of them. The girls were still dead to the world obviously. She walked down highly polished wooden stairs which led to a bright tiled foyer. Huge vases of
flowers stood on small blue tables. An archway opened out onto a large lounge which had several plush sofas arranged around the room. Big windows opened out to the terrace.

‘Good morning.’ Rachel turned to find a small dark-haired middle-aged woman smiling at her.

‘Your friend is having breakfast on the terrace, would you like to join her?’

‘Yes, please.’ Rachel was delighted one of the girls was up. She stepped out into the sun and felt immensely happy. She couldn’t wait to start sunbathing.

Jennifer was sitting under a huge fringed sun umbrella drinking coffee.

‘Morning.’ Rachel beamed.

‘Well I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you out and about so early.’ Jennifer smiled at her.

‘Sorry about last night,’ Rachel said ruefully.

‘Don’t be.’ Jennifer laughed. ‘I wouldn’t have minded going to sleep on that flight. It was very turbulent.’

‘Was it? I’m just as glad I knew nothing about it.’ She sat down and helped herself to one of the soft white rolls. Jennifer poured her coffee.

‘Try the honey, it’s out of this world, and pour some yoghurt on your muesli, it’s delicious,’ she advised. Rachel didn’t need to be told twice. They ate a
leisurely breakfast and then fetched their books and suntan creams and got down to the serious business of sunbathing.

Jennifer lay on her lounger, gazing at the blue sky. It was very peaceful on the terrace. The lovely scent of flowering jasmine wafted along on the breeze. The shushing of the
trees in the olive grove as the leaves rustled in the wind was very soothing. In the distance, the sea lapped lazily against the shore. Jennifer wished Ronan was here to enjoy it. She knew she
should be making the most of her unexpected holiday, but she missed him. She’d phoned him first thing that morning. She hadn’t slept very well and had woken early. She’d dreamed
about the baby again.

Jennifer gave a deep sigh, she was going to have to try and accept what had happened. There was a reason for it. She’d raged at God for taking her baby from her. It was her first real
trauma. She’d gone to pieces and it frightened her. For the first time in her life, Jennifer realized that no matter what she thought, God, a higher being, fate, karma, whatever-its-name,
controlled her life. If her baby could be taken from her, other awful things could happen. She wished she could erase the sense of dread and betrayal that ached inside her. More than anything,
Jennifer wished she didn’t feel so scared.

Brenda woke and knew something was different. She couldn’t hear children playing or squabbling. Shay wasn’t in bed beside her. Brenda gave a long luxurious stretch.
What bliss it was to have a double bed all to herself. She turned on her stomach and spread her limbs to the four corners of the bed. Maybe the sun was shining outside, there was a pool to swim in,
a Jacuzzi to relax in, a sauna to make her feel like a million dollars, but it all paled into insignificance compared to the luxury of an undisturbed lie-in. Brenda yawned, stretched and was asleep
again in seconds.

‘Nick, Nick,’ Paula breathed, and gave a long shuddering sigh. She could almost feel him, so realistic was the fantasy. She sighed deeply. Just hours in Corfu and
already she’d broken her firm resolution not to think about Nick.

But how could she not think about him, she thought wildly. When he said yesterday that it wasn’t her he was worried about, should they be alone, Paula had been utterly shocked. That meant
that he didn’t want to be alone with her because he was afraid they’d end up making love. If he’d said that to her the night of the party it would have been her dream come true.
But yesterday in the cold, sober light of day when she saw how harassed and troubled Nick was, Paula had gained no satisfaction from his words. Yet, her first waking thoughts had been of Nick and
she’d found herself slipping into an erotic sexual fantasy and imagined them making passionate love. Knowing that Nick wanted her added greatly to her pleasure. It was pathetic, Paula thought
in disgust. She was behaving like a schoolgirl. She sat up and scowled. Her life was a complete and utter mess. One stupid, selfish moment had ruined it. She couldn’t stay in Dublin, no
matter what Kieran said. She had ten days to decide what she was going to do with her life. She’d better make up her mind, she thought grimly.

Paula flung back the green and white covers of her bed, strode over to the french doors and opened the shutters. Below her, she could see Jennifer and Rachel stretched out on their loungers.
Paula had to smile. They hadn’t lost much time. To hell with it, she’d postpone thoughts of her future. Right now she was going to join the girls and catch a few rays.

The sound of the bouzouki floated across the beach. Rachel gazed across at the fairy lights outlining the taverna and felt a tingle of excitement. They’d all decided to
dine at the taverna across the beach and the music of Mikis Theodorakis vibrated through the pine-scented night, sending her adrenalin racing. It had been the most glorious day.

They’d lazed around the pool in the morning. After lunch they went down to the beach and swam in the Ionian Sea.

Through the trees, she could see the moon shimmering on the sea. A ferry sailed down along the Albanian coast, its lights twinkling like tiny stars pinpricking the dark. Real stars, so close she
felt she could reach up and touch them, sprinkled the sky. Rachel had never seen such beauty.

‘It’s nice, isn’t it?’ Paula came and stood beside her on the terrace.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Rachel enthused.

‘Come on, you guys, get a move on,’ Paula yelled. ‘I’m starving.’

Upstairs, Brenda scowled. ‘Shut your yap,’ she muttered. She stood in front of the mirror and stared at herself. The sundress definitely made her look fat,
and
her shoulders
were red. Roaring red, actually. She’d have to put natural yoghurt on before she went to bed, to cool them down. She pulled off the sundress. She’d seen Paula walking along the landing
wearing a simple but divinely elegant white silk sundress.

Her tan was golden, unlike Brenda’s scorch marks. Brenda had an immediate rethink about her outfit. It had been hard not to compare herself to Paula down by the pool today. The other girl
hadn’t an ounce of flab on her. Of course she worked out in a gym three times a week, Brenda thought sourly as she stepped into a pair of red Bermudas. Brenda spent half her time trying to
hold her stomach in as she lay on the lounger and the other half feeling sorry that she hadn’t had the chance to take some sunbeds. She was pasty white and flabby compared to Paula and
Jennifer. Even Rachel was starting to get a nice tan and she had quite a good figure for such a frump. Not that she looked much of a frump now in her new clothes and with that sharp new hairstyle.
Brenda had reassured herself that Rachel was no Cindy Crawford, and that in the glamour stakes, she’d be bottom of the pile. It hadn’t worked out like that. Rachel was looking very
with-it and presentable. It was she who was lagging behind compared to the other three.

She looked positively obese in the red Bermudas. Brenda groaned at her reflection in the mirror, her face red from all the dressing and undressing.

‘Are you ready, Brenda, Jennifer?’ Paula called again.

‘Oh shut fucking up, you,’ Brenda gritted as she pulled off the Bermudas and hauled on the ever reliable floral leggings and a long white T-shirt. It hid a multitude, she decided. It
would have to do.