Sicilian Dreams (24 page)

He drove into the courtyard of Villa Tramonte and got out to open her door for her. She reached up to kiss him on the lips and earned herself a huge bear hug and another kiss from him.

‘Wear a swimsuit not a bikini,’ he said, ‘Better still, wear a wet suit with a divers helmet. I don’t want the beach boys hanging off you like flies.’ Grinning at her he leapt back into the car and drove off.

The French doors were open to the terrace and Cassie strolled through to where Kat and Liz sat at the big outdoor table, nursing coffees.

‘I guess he’s pulling some all
-nighters in his ‘studio’ at the moment’ teased Liz. ‘Learn the finer points of architecture, did we?’

‘Morning girls’ she cooed, well aware that her hair was a tangled mess, her face, probably a little red, and her dress, well, one strap remained undone and it was badly creased. ‘Give me five minutes and I’ll be right back out.’ She scooted off to her bedroom and flung her dress into the corner with her other pile of washing, scooping up her black bikini and donning it quickly. Teeth brushed, hair tied up in a knot, sun cream on, ready to go, she announced to her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

‘Right Kat, I hope you haven’t already told Liz everything that happened last night. I’m all ears.’ she said, plopping herself down onto the soft lounger with a sigh of comfort.

‘Glad you could join us’ said Kat, laughing. She had on her big white Jackie O sunglasses and she had pulled her hair back into a ponytail with a red polka dot scarf. ‘Liz wouldn’t let me start until you returned to villa T,’ she added.

‘Despite dying to know all the details, I selflessly held off until you were here,’ said Liz.

‘Proceed Kat, spare us nothing.’

‘I did see the lime green socks, so don’t get started,’ she said, holding a finger up to them. ‘And yes, I admit, at that point I seriously considered leaping off the bike and pleading an instant migraine or something. But I had gone to all that trouble to get ready and he was so nice, that I thought, why not, go with it girl, you might just have fun, and of course, I did. End of story.’

‘No way, you are not getting off that easily,’ screeched Liz.

‘Yes, nice try’ said Cassie, ‘especially when I have had to go through hoops with you two every time I go out with Marco.’

‘Okay, okay,’ laughed Kat. ‘ He took me over to his cousins trattoria in Castelbuono which is a beautiful little town in the Madonie Mountains.’

‘What did you eat?’ said Liz, eagerly.

‘Pizza’ said Kat.

‘Pizza?’ said Liz.

‘Yes, p
izza. It is really a glorified Pizzeria. That, and a few pasta dishes, but he, that is, the cousin Franco, suggested we have a pizza so we did.’

‘To drink?’ said Cassie, hoping there was more.

‘Beer.’ said Kat, laughing again at their disbelieving faces. ‘Look, it was a rustic trattoria and pizza and beer just seemed like the right combination at the time.’

‘It’s just hard to imagine you Kat, of all people, being happy munching on a plain old pizza and guzzling a beer or two.’ said Liz, surprised.

‘I guess it depends on the company I keep, doesn’t it? I’m not just a material girl as it turns out. But when you finish with a hefty scoop of gelato, it kind of takes any possibility of romance out of the equation. I mean picture this, I’ve stuffed down a pizza, two beers and my palazzo pants, which are high waisted, are feeling uncomfortably tight. In fact, I’m sure I can see my stomach bulging out below the waistband I’m feeling so bloated, and then Davide suggests we finish with a gelato just down the street from the trattoria. By this time I feel like I am going to explode so as I waddle down the street trying to adjust my trousers so that they don’t keep hiking up my crotch; I knew I should have bought a bigger size; I said I would share his, to be polite, and then afterwards we jumped back on the bike and he said we would go back to Cefalu to go dancing. Which was the last thing I felt like doing. I had real indigestion. On the way back, he stopped at some look out point above Cefalu and I knew the big park up scene was coming.

‘At the look out?’ said Liz. ‘That’s a bit cheesy.’

‘Actually, it is a really beautiful spot and under normal circumstances, I would have been quite happy to lock lips with him, but to tell you the truth, all I felt like doing at that point was doing a huge fart.’ They all burst out laughing, and Kat continued. ‘You know how when you get really bloated sometimes and your stomach starts to cramp and you just know you’ve got to let one rip.’ Cassie rolled around laughing on the lounger and Liz said, ‘That’s the worst, it always seems to happen in company, never alone.’

‘So true. So, he goes to put his arm around me and I double over, clutching my stomach, claiming sudden illness, which in some ways was not feigned. The poor man, he was so nice, he drove me back here so slowly. Now I feel really bad for him.’

‘What, bad you messed up his seduction scene, or bad that you missed out?’ said Liz.

‘No, don’t tell me, is that pity I hear in your voice? The green socks did get to you after
all, didn’t they?’ said Liz, triumphantly.

‘And the tight pants and the pointy shoes.’ added Cassie, helpfully.

‘And the curls slicked down with Vaseline.’ threw in Liz.

‘Stop it, stop it.’ Kat put her hands over
her ears, laughing. ‘It wasn’t Vaseline, I’m sure of it, just too much of some hair product. You’re making me feel really shallow,’ she said. ‘He really is such a nice, kind guy and funny in his own way too.’

‘Kind of like ‘he’s got a great personality’ type?’ said Cassie, teasingly. ‘Shame about the looks? But in this case, that is not really true is it? I mean, he looked quite the part on the boat, and right at home.’

‘I know, I know,’ said Kat, ruefully shaking her head. ‘But the chemistry just wasn’t there last night. You can’t fake that. He looked just perfect on the boat maybe I should have left it like that. A lovely memory with Captain Fantastic on the high seas.’

‘Do you think he will ask you out again?’ said Liz.

‘I don’t know. I think he kind of got the message when I doubled over at the look out, although that was for real, but we did have fun together. He’s got a great sense of humor, and clothes aren’t everything. I mean, he could have a makeover.’

‘Ke
ep him on ice then’ said Liz. ‘It sounds like you haven’t quite finished with him after all. Maybe you just turn out to be good friends, which would be amazing, because how many good male friends do any of us really have? I mean, Doug is my best friend, but he is my husband too, so that’s friends with benefits.’ she laughed.

‘Are we beaching today?’ asked Kat. ‘I feel like swimming in the sea and maybe doing a little shopping later on when the shops reopen.’

‘Sounds great,’ said Cassie. ‘Why don’t we eat in town? No pizza Kat, I swear.’

‘That would be good’ said Kat. ‘I just won’t wear anything constricting this evening. I feel a kaftan moment coming on.’

They spent the rest of the morning catching up on emails and reading beside the pool, Liz happily trolling the Internet for more authentic Sicilian recipes to try out. After a light lunch of toasted Panini with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, rocket and tomatoes, with some slices of cool, juicy watermelon to finish, they packed a couple of carry bags and headed down the hill and into town. The estate house looked deserted as they drove past and a gardener was slowly raking the gravel of the circular driveway in front of the main villa as they drove past, the big house seeming to shimmer in the sun, the air quiet and heavy in the somnolent, afternoon heat.

There were plenty of
day-trippers already on the beach in Cefalu when they arrived. Liz managed to find a tiny parking space on a narrow cobblestone street two back from the beach. The buildings were stacked side by side casting long shadows in the sleepy afternoon light. Reaching the promenade, Cassie walked over to the wide steps leading down to the beach and recognized the beach club Marco must have meant. It had a long wooden ramp running from the stairs to an open sided restaurant and bar area, and beyond that, rows of changing cubicles, loungers for hire, and outdoor showers.

‘This must be the one,’ she said, leading the way. She was glad they were going to be under cover and wondered how the sunbathers stretched out everywhere on the public area of the beach, could stand the heat. There was soft music playing, and an older man polishing glasses at the bar. When the girls walked up to him and said, ‘Buon giorno’ he immediately replied, ‘Ah, you must be the friends of Marco? He called me this morning and told me three beautiful young ladies would be coming to my beach club today.’ He smiled at them. ‘I am Martino, welcome. Which loungers would you like? Marco has already taken care of it, so tell me where you would like to be and I will put up the umbrellas for you.’

‘Thank you, that’s very kind’ said Cassie. ‘Where do you want to be?’ she asked Liz and Kat.

‘Right by the sea’ said Liz, ‘I want the water lapping my toes,’ and she followed the proprietor as he lead them to three loungers just two meters from the water. He set up the umbrellas for them and told them to come up to the bar if they would like refreshments.

‘Now this is a truly different experience’ sat Kat, settling herself down and gazing around at the rows and rows of loungers that lined the beach. ‘I mean there are people everywhere and that could be a turn off, but, on the other hand, nobody is actually in our space and the loungers are comfortable and I can have a glass of champagne while I read my book. Very civilized.’ she said firmly, casting off yet another diaphanous kaftan and revealing a lemon yellow bikini with a bandeau top.

There was a gentle breeze coming off the water, which alleviated the intense heat somewhat, and Liz lay back, wriggling her toes in delight.

‘Oh, this is lovely. What did you say about champagne Kat? I fancy one of those soon.’ she said, hinting.

‘After my swim.’ said Kat, eyes closed.

‘It’s my shout anyway,’ said Cassie, ‘let’s swim out to the marina first and back.’

‘Why don’t we just lie here and soak up the atmosphere for a while,’ quipped Liz.

‘There are some very curvy women here and they all seem to be wearing tiny bikinis. I feel positively slim compared to some of them.’

‘You are positively slim,’ said Cassie. ‘I don’t think the Sicilians seem to be as self-conscious about their bods as we are.

‘How could you be with all this glorious food around you everyday. It would take supreme willpower to pass on the breakfast pastries alone,’ said Liz. ‘The Cannoli begs to be lovingly consumed with an espresso, ditto for the little donuts, the Crespedi.’

The sea looked so inviting and after only 10 minutes, they abandoned their loungers and waded into the clear, warm water.

‘Heaven’ said Cassie, dipping her head back and soaking her scalp. ‘It’s unbelievably warm.’ They swam further out from the beach and were amazed at and how clear the water was, even at depth. The salty buoyancy of the water made it effortless to float for ages and indeed, it seemed that was what most people were doing, chatting in floating groups, bobbing around quite happily in the salty sea. Cassie looked back at the shore and couldn’t believe how pretty the little town looked tucked in under the huge, rocky bluff, aptly named La Rocca. What a perfect day it was.

‘We must climb La Rocca one day,’ she said. ‘Apparently the climb is worth the view from the top and there is the remains of an old castle from the twelfth or thirteenth century.’

‘Go on then, you can wave to us from the top.’ said Kat. ‘I’m really quite happy with the view from here.’ She was watching a group of muscly, young guys throwing a soccer ball in the water.

Heading back into shore, they decided it was time for champagne so Cassie rinsed herself off at the outdoors showers and wandered up to the bar. The barman insisted that Marco had taken care of everything and sent her away saying he would be over shortly with their drinks.

‘We have to give Marco some money for this,’ said Liz, after Cassie explained what the barman had said. ‘Otherwise I will feel beholden to him,’ she added.

‘Nonsense’ said Kat, chiming in. ‘He obviously wanted to do it and I have a feeling you will offend him if you offer him money.’

‘I agree,’ said Cassie. ‘He seemed to enjoy having lunch with us yesterday, we could invite him for another meal at Villa Tramonte.’

‘Great idea’ said Liz. ‘I want to try baking a whole fish in sea salt, and trying my hand at making cassata. I found a great recipe on the net.’

The barman arrived with their champagne and carefully placed the flutes on a side table with a bowl of big, green olives, and a smaller one of thin crisps. As they thanked him and tried to give him a tip, he put up his hand to stop them, before turning and walking back to the bar.

‘No, no, signorine
, it is on the house, please.’

‘Salute’ they said together, clinking glasses and pushing down their sunglasses so they could stare at each other as Marco had told them to, then laughing as Kat pulled a face.

‘I don’t know if this is going to catch on anywhere else.’ she exclaimed, pushing back up her sunglasses and taking a healthy sip. ‘Hmmm, this is the life.’ She lay back and stretched like a cat. ‘Oh, straight ahead girls, I think it’s Daniel Craig.’ She sat up and peered at the bronzed hunk emerging from the water.