The ice cream was served in glass bowls and decorated with sprigs of mint. It was sublime. Possibly the best I’d ever had.
‘Fabulous,’ I said after a couple of spoonfuls, ‘I hope yours is too.’
‘Try it,’ he said, holding his dish out towards me.
Was this a bit too friendly when we had only known each other for such a short time?
I took a little taste. It was lovely. I reciprocated the offer but he shook his head.
‘I’m not too keen on walnuts.’
‘More for me then,’ I said and he laughed.
‘Tell me about your friends,’ he said after a while. ‘Have you known them long?’
I nodded, scraping up another spoonful of ice cream. ‘We were at school together. Then we lost touch for years, and then we found each other again. The marvels of Facebook. Of course we are all retired now. Anna was a doctor, Harriet an English professor.’
‘It must have been strange to meet up again after so long.’
‘It was, they were the same but different.’
‘And were you?’
‘No, I think I was just different,’ I said. ‘I’ll be honest, my marriage was not a happy one. It’s taking me some time to find myself again.’
‘I’m glad you are,’ he said, ‘you should be happy. I feel you deserve it.’
‘You don’t know me,’ I said, faintly puzzled.
‘You’re kind, I can tell that by the way you look after the older ladies you were with last night. Kindness is something much talked about and hardly ever encountered these days.’
‘Someone writes something horrible on social media, and then adds #BeKind?’
‘Exactly.’
We exchanged a look at that point and both of us laughed.
‘So there you are,’ a voice said, ‘we’ve been wondering where you had got to.’
It was Anna looking very elegant in cream linen trousers and a white T-shirt and carrying some impressive-looking carrier bags with coloured rope handles. I noticed Fancy Watch woman give her a sweeping, rather resentful glance too. And her shopping. Evidently she didn’t approve of competition. Harriet was a little way behind her in a flowery sundress but apparently didn’t warrant a look.
‘Ice cream! What a great idea,’ Harriet said. ‘Do you mind if we join you?’
‘Unless we are interrupting something?’ Anna added.
‘Not a bit,’ Jack said, pulling a couple of chairs over.
‘We have been exploring the road behind this one,’ Anna said. ‘We found some wonderful shops and I have been splurging a bit. Heaven knows how I will get everything in my suitcase.’
‘Perhaps you will have to buy a bigger one?’ Jack said, raising his hand to attract the waiter’s attention.
‘Great idea,’ Anna beamed.
‘I thought you were going to find something for Rupert,’ I said.
‘Oh, I will, when I see something. He’s impossible.’
I was a tiny bit disappointed if I was honest. I’d been enjoying a lovely, quiet chat with Jack, and now that Anna and Harriet were here everything got rather noisy. Anna wanted to tell us all about her shopping expedition and how she needed to go back later to a boutique because there was a divine blue dress she wanted to try on.
