Foreign Affairs (90 page)

‘I’d better go, Ronan, we’re just heading out to dinner. I’ll phone you tomorrow.’

‘Your phone bill is going to be enormous,’ Ronan laughed.

‘I don’t care. It’s lovely to talk to you.’ Jennifer smiled.

‘Are you enjoying yourself?’ Ronan asked anxiously.

‘Today was glorious,’ Jennifer said truthfully. ‘It was very relaxing.’

‘Good, now go and enjoy your meal and have fun.’

‘I will,’ Jennifer assured him. ‘I’m looking forward to it. I love you.’

‘I love you, too,’ Ronan echoed.

‘Bye.’

‘Bye.’

‘You hang up.’

‘No, you hang up.’

‘We’ll hang up together on the count of three,’ Ronan instructed.

‘OK,’ Jennifer agreed. ‘One, two—’

‘Two and a half.’ Ronan laughed.

‘Three.’ Jennifer chuckled and hung up. She felt much better after talking to Ronan. The thousands of miles separating them didn’t seem so many when she could lift up the phone
and dial home direct. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror, she was wearing a long flowing aquamarine skirt and a black off-the-shoulder lycra top. She looked fine. In response to
Paula’s impatient bellow, Jennifer made haste down the stairs.

Brenda was exhilarated, she’d just finished doing a Greek dance and she would have put Zorba himself to shame. The music was very evocative. The sound of the bouzouki
sweet and haunting. Her feet itched to dance and Yiannis, the owner of the restaurant, noticed her tapping feet and clapping hands and pulled her to her feet and invited her to join the dancers.
Several of the other guests joined in as well, including Rachel. They were having great fun.

Paula hid a yawn and caught Jennifer’s eye.

‘I’m whacked,’ she murmured. ‘I just want to go and sleep my brains out.’

‘Me too.’ Jennifer grinned. ‘It must be the sea air.’ They were sitting outdoors under vine-leaved, illuminated wooden beams watching the dancing and listening to the
music. A balmy breeze cooled them. The melody of the sea and trees was very soothing. Jennifer felt much more relaxed.

‘Brenda looks as if she’s ready for an all-night session.’ Paula grinned.

‘She can if she wants. To each his own.’ Jennifer yawned and nearly gave herself lockjaw.

‘Come on, you pair, get up and dance,’ Brenda urged, waltzing over to their table.

‘Yeah, come on,’ Rachel appealed. ‘It’s great fun.’

‘Sorry, girls, I’ve had it. I can’t stay awake.’ Jennifer stood up to go.

‘But it’s only gone midnight,’ Brenda protested. ‘And we’ve been invited to a party in the apartments across the road.’

‘Off you go and have fun, Bren. I’m going to bed,’ Jennifer said firmly.

‘Me too,’ Paula said.

‘For God’s sake!’ Brenda exclaimed. ‘You’re not serious. We’re on holidays.’

‘Exactly,’ Paula murmured.

‘You’re acting like two old grannies. Who wants to go to bed early on holiday?’

Paula shot her a cold look. ‘You stay up all night if you want to, Brenda, that’s fine with us. We want you to enjoy your holiday.’ The implication was unmistakable.
Brenda’s lips tightened at Paula’s tone. Sarcastic cow, she fumed. How she’d like to tell her exactly what she thought of her, standing there oozing self-confidence. Looking down
her superior nose at Brenda just because she wanted to stay dancing. She supposed such simple pleasures were far too unsophisticated for La Matthews’s taste.

‘Are you going or staying, Rachel?’ Brenda demanded.

Rachel looked from Brenda to Jennifer. ‘If it’s all right with you, Jenny, I’ll stay,’ she said hesitantly.

‘Of course it’s all right with me,’ Jennifer declared in amusement. ‘For heaven’s sake, Rachel, if you want to dance a tango on the table and stay up until daybreak
it’s up to you. You’re on holiday. Do what you want. That’s what it’s all about. Come on, Paula.’ She yawned again. ‘Let’s leave these energetic young ones
to their fun, I’m past it.’

‘Party-poopers,’ Brenda taunted, after their retreating backs. ‘Come on, Rachel, we’re going to have fun.’

Chapter Ninety-One

‘Does anyone want to come to Ipsos?’ Brenda asked. It was the fourth day of their holiday. It was very hot and she couldn’t face lying in the sun. She wanted
to be out and about.

‘No thanks,’ Jennifer murmured. She was deeply engrossed in Maeve Binchy’s latest novel.

Paula, who was racing through Deirdre Purcell’s blockbuster, didn’t respond, she was far too interested in finding out how the heroine was going to resolve her complicated love
life.

Rachel was reading
The Rose Tree
by Mary Walkin Keane. She didn’t feel like getting up, she was far too comfortable on her lounger.

‘Come on, Jenny, put that book down. That’s all you’ve done since you came on holidays. Read and sleep,’ moaned Brenda. She had got out of the habit of reading and
watching the other three with their noses stuck in novels was driving her mad.

‘
Brenda!
’ Paula lifted her head from her book and glared at the other girl. ‘Would you give Jenny a break? She’s on her holidays. You haven’t stopped
annoying her since we arrived.’

Brenda was furious. How dare Paula Matthews talk to her like that?

‘Do you mind? I’m talking to my sister. It’s none of your business.’

‘Bren, I’m not in the humour for shopping now. I will later on,’ Jennifer said firmly.

‘Such company to come on holidays with,’ Brenda scowled.

‘You should have thought of that when you decided you were going to come with us,’ Paula retorted angrily. She was fed up to the back teeth with Brenda’s whingeing and moaning.
Jennifer and she had come on holidays to relax and flop and get away from it all. Brenda was raring to go and ready for anything and couldn’t understand the attitude of the other pair. If she
didn’t quit making a fuss and annoying people, Paula was going to blow a fuse.

‘I’ll come to Ipsos,’ Rachel offered, laying aside her book. If someone didn’t get Brenda and Paula away from each other they were going to come to blows. They’d
been sniping at each other all day. It was Brenda’s fault, she had a way of going on and on that was very irritating. It was odd, she only did it when Paula was around, thought Rachel as she
slipped her shorts on. Brenda was like a spoilt little child looking for Jennifer’s attention. When she was on her own, she was fine, and great company. Rachel went dancing with Brenda until
the early hours every morning and it was enormous fun. But it was obvious Paula and Brenda rubbed each other up the wrong way.

‘The car keys are on the small table by the front door,’ Jennifer said coolly, glaring at Brenda. Trust her to make scenes and start arguments. Paula was going to go for Brenda
baldheaded if she didn’t stop her carry-on. It was very annoying, especially as Brenda had gatecrashed the holiday.

‘Come on, Rachel.’ Brenda ignored the other two.

‘See you later,’ Rachel murmured. This tension wasn’t conducive to a relaxing holiday. Maybe when Brenda had done some shopping, she might relax a bit. She was an awful fidget.
She couldn’t sit down for ten minutes. She always wanted to be up and about.

‘That pair are as dull as dishwater,’ Brenda said crossly as she drove the small hire car down the curving drive of the villa and turned left towards Ipsos. ‘They sit there
with their noses stuck in books day in, day out. They go home to bed when the fun’s just starting. Career women my hat! They haven’t a bit of get-up-and-go in them.’

‘Maybe it’s because they have to work so hard, that just to laze around is a treat for them,’ Rachel said diplomatically as she opened her window to allow a cooling breeze to
circulate. The seat of the car was hot beneath her legs.

‘I have to work hard,’ snorted Brenda. ‘I have a job and I have three children to rear. And you know yourself, Rachel, being a teacher, that rearing children is not easy. But
I’m damned if I’m going to visit a foreign country and sit on my ass with my nose stuck in a book all the time. It’s ridiculous!’

‘Yeah, well I understand that too. I like going around sightseeing. I think it’s because it’s something different for us. We’re not used to being abroad. Paula and Jenny
take it for granted. They have foreign holidays every year. Paula spends half her life abroad. But it’s not like that for you and me. It’s a big treat for us.’

‘
Exactly
,’ Brenda agreed. ‘That’s why they should take the trouble to make sure we enjoy ourselves.’

I didn’t mean that, Rachel thought to herself. She certainly didn’t feel it was up to Jenny and Paula to entertain her. But she said nothing. Let Brenda get it out of her system, she
thought. There’d be less chance of arguments.

‘Let’s go to Corfu town,’ Brenda announced. ‘Imagine. We’ve been here four days and the only places we’ve been to are Ipsos and Barbati. There was feck-all in
Barbati, and Ipsos was like Bray on a bad day.’

What’s wrong with Bray? Rachel wanted to say. Brenda had obviously forgotten that she lived and worked there.

‘Maybe you don’t want to go,’ Brenda said glumly, mistaking the reason for her silence.

‘I’d like to see Corfu, the shopping is supposed to be good,’ Rachel said brightly. The thing was not to let Brenda get to you. She spoke without thinking half the time.

‘Great.’ Brenda was delighted. ‘It’s just as well you’re here too, Rachel, or I’d have no company and I’d be bored out of my mind. I don’t know
how anyone can lie in the sun doing nothing for hours.’

‘It’s very pleasant, I lie out every chance I get at home,’ Rachel said.

‘Oh, so do I.’ Brenda scorched around a bend and Rachel gripped the edge of her seat nervously.

‘Don’t forget to stay on the opposite side of the road,’ Rachel murmured.

‘Mmm.’ Brenda swerved to avoid two mopeds. ‘Idiots,’ she bellowed. ‘Look at them. They think they own the road. As I was saying,’ she continued, ‘I lie
out at home, and I enjoy it. But that’s my point. You can do that at home anytime. When am I going to get a chance to see Corfu again if I don’t do it now?’

‘You’ve a point there,’ Rachel agreed. Now that she was on her way she was looking forward to exploring the capital. She admired Brenda for having the nerve to drive in a
strange country. On the opposite side of the road and everything. There was no way she’d get behind the wheel of a car here. The local drivers drove like lunatics. But they held no fear for
Brenda, who tooted her horn and gesticulated with the best of them. The town was only ten miles from Ipsos. Rachel did her best to take her mind off Brenda’s adventurous driving by admiring
the scenery and villas that flashed by. There was something Italian about many of the terracotta-coloured homes, but then Corfu was close to the east coast of Italy. The winding roads overlooked
lush green valleys and ravines and the deep indigo of the Ionian Sea.

Corfu was a shopper’s paradise. The winding cobble-stoned streets housed shops to tempt the meanest miser. The jewellery shops were breathtaking but Rachel loved the pottery shops and she
treated herself to a beautiful blue and white platter which, she promised herself, was going to take pride of place in the kitchen of her new home, wherever it happened to be.

Brenda treated herself to a leather bag and bought T-shirts and toys for the children. Later, weary but satisfied, they sat in a cool taverna and treated themselves to coffee and baklava.

‘This is the life.’ Brenda smiled, licking fingers that were sticky from the honey and nut treat. ‘I’ve really enjoyed this afternoon.’

‘Me too,’ Rachel said happily. It had been fun and there’d still be time to sit out and catch the dying rays of the sun back at the villa.

‘Have another Malibu?’ Paula raised a quizzical eyebrow.

‘Why not?’ Jennifer agreed. She’d just got out of the pool after a cooling swim that had refreshed her enormously. She was going to lie on her lounger and snooze for the rest
of the afternoon.

‘It’s peaceful here, isn’t it?’ Paula handed her an ice-cold glass of Malibu and pineapple.

‘You mean with Brenda gone?’ Jennifer said wickedly.

Paula laughed. ‘Well that too. We’d better put our dancing shoes on tonight and go out on the town. I’ve never been called an old granny before. I suppose it’s no novelty
to us, but it is to her and Rachel.’

‘I know.’ Jennifer sipped her drink. ‘It’s just that I’ve done all that. I’m enjoying myself catching up on my reading. Ronan’s like Brenda when
he’s on holidays. He wants to go out and about and do things. This is a treat for me. I’m a lazy slob at heart. I like flopping,’ she confessed.

‘Me too,’ Paula agreed. ‘I’ve been to Corfu half a dozen times. I just want to tune out.’

‘Rachel’s enjoying herself.’ Jennifer poured some Delial into her palm and began to rub it over her body.

‘She’s good fun. I like the way she threw caution to the winds after the second day and went topless. And roared laughing when I took the photo of her and threatened to send it to
the
News of the World
.’ Paula unwrapped a bar of chocolate and took a bite out of it. ‘If it wasn’t for her, Brenda might very well be lying at the bottom of the
swimming-pool.’

‘Try and ignore her, she doesn’t mean it,’ Jennifer said.

Huh! Paula gave a mental snort. Brenda was thoroughly selfish no matter what Jenny said. Jenny was far too soft with Brenda and always had been. Brenda walked all over her. Paula had no
intention of letting her get away with it. Kieran had offered Jennifer this holiday to help her recuperate after her accident and get over her miscarriage. Brenda wasn’t one bit sensitive to
what Jennifer was going through. All she cared about was herself. Paula wouldn’t stand for any of her nonsense, that was for sure. Jennifer was going to relax on this holiday. Paula would see
to that.

‘Would you like a slice of watermelon?’ she asked.

‘I’ll get it, you’ve been running around after me all day.’ Jennifer made to get up.

‘Stay where you are,’ Paula ordered. ‘You can run around after me tomorrow.’

Jennifer lay back against her cushions. Paula was very kind to her. She, more than anyone, seemed to understand what Jennifer had been through. They talked for ages at night about their
troubles. It was lovely to have this time to be close again. It was like when they were young and every secret was shared. Marriage and careers had imposed on their friendship a little. It was nice
to be able to pick up the threads and weave the tapestry of their friendship tight again.