‘Ah, there you are, did you have a good walk?’ someone called out as we passed.
It was Evelyn, accompanied by Marjorie, sitting at one of the shaded tables next to the water. They had coffee and some enormous squares of cake in front of them.
‘We are having such a nice time. We have discovered Kremšnita – custard slice. It’s really delicious. You must try some,’ Evelyn said, ‘probably a million calories.’
‘I had a moment of sublime clarity this morning. I decided that today I was going to eat sensibly, drink less and exercise more,’ Marjorie said.
‘Oh yes? So how does this fit into your plan?’ Evelyn said disbelievingly, pointing at the cake in front of her.
‘Well, that was a couple of hours ago and I hadn’t woken up properly. Anyway at this point in our lives, why not?’ Marjorie said, stabbing a fork into her cake.
Evelyn chuckled. ‘And what point would that be? I’m not sure and I bet you don’t either. By the way, Lizzie, your young man is on board on a sun lounger. If you were looking for him?’
‘No, I wasn’t,’ I said.
‘I would if I were twenty years younger. I’d be after him with a butterfly net and a Taser.’
‘Marjorie!’ Evelyn exclaimed in mock horror. ‘What would Henry say?’
‘What he always says. Yes, dear.’
‘By the way, Don is still looking for bridge players,’ I said, eager to change the subject. ‘He’s very keen on having a tournament, so beware.’
‘I have no intention of spending my time playing bridge with him,’ Evelyn said. ‘I have the feeling he might turn out to be very tedious. And hard to get rid of if he sensed a weakness. My mother’s advice when it came to difficult people was be yourself and just say something nice.’
Marjorie tutted. ‘Make your mind up, I can’t do both.’
‘I read a splendid thing the other day – how to stop people talking,’ Evelyn said, ‘and I can’t wait to try it. Take off one of your socks mid-sentence and hand it to the other person without a word.’
‘Please let me know when you are going to do that,’ I said, ‘I’d love to watch.’
Evelyn smiled. ‘I will, dear. Never fear.’
* * *
Anna was very insistent that as it was only half past twelve and lunch on board didn’t start until one o’clock, we needed to go back to the dress shop she had found, and so we followed her. It was a sparkly looking place with a few elongated mannequins in the window and a svelte young assistant inside, who was arranging some necklaces on a white plastic branch.
‘Ah! You are back!’ she said with delight when she spotted Anna. ‘I knew you would be, I have put that dress aside for you.’
Anna gave me her handbag to hold and was whisked away behind a white curtain to change. Harriet and I looked around at the dresses, which were bright and colourful and garnished with a lot of gold, the very essence of cruise wear. And yet today, with the sun shining down and the prospect of a holiday ahead of us, it seemed entirely appropriate to be seriously coveting a purple shift dress with a jewelled collar as well as a swirling turquoise caftan with a tasselled tie belt.
‘That would be a nice cover up after a dip in the pool,’ Harriet said encouragingly, ‘and that’s definitely your colour.’
‘I suppose so,’ I said, liking the silky feel of the material.
‘And you know it couldn’t possibly be tight; we could both get in there if the need arose. It would hide a multitude of sins.’
‘And this necklace,’ the young assistant said, sashaying over to us, ‘would make it even more elegant. It is made by a local craftsman. He is very sought after.Vrlo šik– very chic.’
She draped a length of jangling metal around my neck that looked as if it had been made from bits of bicycle chain and glass beads.
‘Or this perhaps?’
She added a gold rope with silver tassels on both ends and then frowned charmingly.
‘No, then you would be over-tasselled.’
‘That would never do,’ Harriet said, obviously trying not to laugh.
