‘I’ll be off,’ he said, straightening. ‘I’d better let you have your swim.’
He gave Cleo one more lingering look. ‘I’ll call to arrange a time.’
‘Great,’ she repeated, scarcely able to believe what had just happened. ‘I look forward to it.’
The two women watched him walk up the beach and collect his towel and shoes from an empty sun lounger. He must have sensed their gaze, because he turned and gave one more cheery wave before disappearing into a crowd of shoppers.
‘Blimey!’ said Tash, spinning round to face her friend and winking. ‘Looks like you’ve scored.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ Cleo said with a huff. ‘He’s just being friendly.’
But she couldn’t help grinning and the smile didn’t leave her face, even when she entered the sea and dived beneath the ice-cold waves.
Afterwards, the two friends sat in a café overlooking the water, sipping white wine and nibbling onBaklava– little pastries with nuts and honey – andLoukoumades, which were like honey-drenched doughnuts.
Tash was telling Cleo about her time at drama school in London, when she briefly dated a well-known actor.
Normally, Cleo would have been all ears, but right now she was finding it hard to concentrate.
Her mind kept flitting back to Achilles and that body, that smile. It was so long since she’d desired anyone or felt desirable, she found it almost impossible to believe he was genuinely attracted to her. But she couldn’t deny the spark between them.
Easy, she told herself. He probably flirts with all the women. He’s only having a bit of fun.
Still, if she could just go careful and not do anything silly like fall in love, maybe it would be all right to allow herself to have a bit of fun, too.
‘He always knew he was going to make it big,’ Tash was saying about the actor. ‘He had so much confidence…’
She paused and waved a hand in front of Cleo’s face. ‘Cleo? Are you listening? You’re staring into space.’
Cleo came to. ‘Sorry. You were saying…’
Tash resumed her story and this time, Cleo did her best to focus, but whenever Tash mentioned the actor’s name, it was Achilles’s features that popped up. Cleo hoped he’d phone soon and put her out of her misery; she’d be on tenterhooks until then.
The waiter came to top up their glasses from the bottle in a wine cooler on the table. Cleo was about to take another sip when her phone rang, making her jump.
She glanced quickly at the screen, hoping it would be Achilles, but a deep frown spread across her features.
‘It’s my ex, Paul,’ she told Tash, pushing back her chair and rising. ‘He hardly ever rings. D’you mind if I take it?’
Tash nodded. ‘Of course.’
Cleo walked to the other side of the terrace and pressed the answer key.
‘Cleo, is that you?’ Paul’s voice was at once familiar and unknown.
‘I thought I’d better tell you, Erica ended up in hospital last night. She got stupidly drunk at a party and passed out. Her friends couldn’t rouse her and they were so worried, they called an ambulance.’
Cleo’s pulse was racing. ‘Oh my God. Is she all right?’
‘She’s finenow,’ Paul said, sounding slightly tetchy. ‘One of her mates rang to tell me what was going on. I drove straight to the hospital in Cardiff at one o’clock this morning. Obviously, I had to cancel two important work meetings. Erica was on a drip and a ventilator when I arrived, completely out of it. She looked terrible, as you can imagine, but the nurses were very kind and reassuring. I thought they’d be judgemental but they weren’t. I guess they’ve seen it all before. I sat with her till she came round. She was finally allowed to leave at about midday. I’ve just dropped her back at uni now. She’s a bit fragile, but she’s OK.’
Cleo took a deep breath, allowing the news to sink in. ‘Thank God. But what was she thinking? Why the hell did she drink so much?’
‘I don’t know.’ Paul’s voice had risen again in irritation. His anger was directed at Erica, not Cleo, but it put Cleo on edge nevertheless and made her teeth jangle. It took her right back to their divorce discussions, when he’d seemed to change character completely and turn into an ogre.
Before then, she’d have said her husband was pretty mild-mannered but having witnessed his dark side, she no longer really felt she knew the man she’d married.
‘She said she’d been drinking spirits, they all were,’ Paul went on. ‘She didn’t realise how drunk she was till it was too late.’
