‘If you’re sure. Okay. I promise I’ll do that.’
‘Well, I’d better leave you ladies to enjoy your champagne.’
‘Oh, no, we’re eating.’ I don’t want him thinking I am here to drink all day.
‘Well, I’d better leave you to enjoy your lunch then, ladies. I’m sure I’ll bump into you again around here.’ Elias looks into my eyes and smiles.
‘Ooh, I’m sure we will see you again,’ giggles Carol. A pang of jealousy hits me. Does Carol fancy him? I thought she said she wasn’t looking for anyone. Oh well, no man is worth fighting with your friends over. If she likes him, she can have him. Anyway, I am not here for romance. I am here to celebrate my friend and hopefully get some writing inspiration.
‘See you around then, Elias.’ I smile, and by the time I look around, he is nowhere to be seen.
‘Now he is some catch,’ says Carol.
Chapter Six
‘Well, you’re a dark horse. You didn’t tell us quite how gorgeous your saviour was,’ says Soraya, as she tucks into the lobster that has arrived on the table.
‘I didn’t notice, to be honest. I didn’t get a good look at him this morning. I was too flustered, and I hadn’t had my tea.’
‘You’re fibbing. I can tell. How can you not notice someone like that? Did you see that face? That body, that… everything. I wonder what he’s doing here?’ says Carol.
‘He’s probably on holiday with his wife – and before you ask where she is, she is probably just resting back at their accommodation,’ I say.
‘I didn’t notice a wedding ring,’ says Carol.
‘Trust you to look,’ laughs Soraya.
‘Well, if Lucy isn’t interested, then I definitely am.’
‘Will you behave, both of you. Just because he was kind to me this morning doesn’t mean he’s some sort of eligible bachelor hanging around Monaco looking for someone like me.’
‘Someone like you? What on earth does that mean?’ asks Soraya.
‘I don’t know. I’m in my fifties, unemployed, with a bum that’s never been so wobbly and thighs that seem to expand just by looking at a custard slice.’
‘Come on now. That’s no way to talk about your beautiful body. You have strong legs that carry you, and young girls pay good money for a booty like yours nowadays,’ says Carol.
‘She’s right. You’re gorgeous, and you need to know it. I bet he couldn’t believe he bumped into such a beauty first thing in the morning like that,’ says Soraya.
‘Right. Let’s change the subject. Enough about my bum and the Mysterious Mancunian of Monaco.’
‘Ooh, I quite like the sound of that. “The Mysterious Mancunian of Monaco”! Sounds a bit likeThe Count of Monte Cristo, don’t you think Soraya.’
Carol and Soraya both laugh at my expense. I begin to wish I hadn’t bumped into him now. I’ll never hear the end of it.
‘I’m sure we won’t see him again. We’re not here that long, and he’ll be off on some day trip with his wife toCap d’Antibes, or somewhere like that,’ I say in my best Welsh/French accent.
‘Yeah, but what if he’s a single man looking for love in Monaco,’ says Carol.
‘Look. Let’s just enjoy a girlie trip. No men allowed. I’m not looking for any relationship whatsoever, even if he is gorgeous,’ I say.
I lift my champagne glass up and repeat my mantra for this trip.
‘No men allowed!’ I remind Carol once again.
She scowls at me, but we somehow manage to agree on the pact.
‘Now, if he were a movie director with a million-pound budget to get the book I haven’t even written into Hollywood, I might bend the rules. Not in a funny way, you understand. Just, I mean… Oh no, that sounds awful, doesn’t it? Look, let’s change the subject. How’s the lobster?’
