‘I think we’re a bit full,’ I said. ‘The pastries are so nice.’
‘I can bring you just a little to try,’ he said encouragingly, ‘momentarily.’
* * *
After finishing our breakfast – and the shakshuka was delicious, if a bit unusual for breakfast – we made our way with several of our fellow sailors off the boat and into the little town. It was delightful with a row of restaurants, souvenir shops and cafés, where the owners were busy putting out parasols and tablecloths ready for the day’s trade. Everywhere was spotless, a thing that all of us remarked upon.
‘It’s not like this where we live,’ Belinda said. ‘Well, actually it is because we have a local community watch, a graffiti warden to report things to the council and a litter picking society.’
‘Belinda is president,’ Don said proudly. ‘Four purple bags full last time she went out. I’ve written to the council about it but you never get a sensible reply, do you? Especially when it comes to graffiti. The only time they washed anything off was when it said something libellous about the mayor’s parentage. I’m going to buy Belinda a new litter grabber for Christmas as a treat. One with an extra-long handle so she can get in the hedges?—’
‘Lucky Belinda,’ Evelyn murmured.
‘—and into the trees along our avenue. You would be astonished what people throw up there. Plastic dog bags filled with?—’
‘This is such a pretty place, isn’t it?’ Evelyn interrupted smoothly. ‘And lots of things to look at. The Greeks were here, and the Romans. I read there is Venetian architecture, beautiful beaches, masses of unspoiled countryside and a conservation centre for griffon vultures somewhere.’
‘You wouldn’t want to find one of those in a tree, Belinda,’ Eileen said with a chuckle.
‘I found a bag filled with spent fireworks once, which I couldn’t understand. I mean, why collect them in the first place, and then throw them into a tree?’ Belinda said, looking nonplussed.
‘I hate fireworks,’ Dawn said. ‘They bring on one of my attacks. I suppose you would call me sensitive. When I was a child I used to go and hide in the cupboard under the stairs until it was all over. I’d be shaking and trembling for hours. Almost whimpering with fear.’
‘My poor little chihuahua used to do that,’ Evelyn said. ‘Are you part Mexican do you think?’
Dawn looked worried. ‘I don’t think so, my mother was from Uxbridge.’
We strolled along the harbourside, looking at the various menus for later, resisting the temptation to go in despite the enthusiastic welcome from the waiters.
Gradually the group split up. Evelyn and Marjorie decided to have coffee even though it was barely half an hour since breakfast; they said the garlic from the shakshuka was repeating on them. Don and Craig wanted to see a Roman tower and were busy persuading their wives that it was barely a five-minute walk, which, looking at the street map we had been given on the boat, we could see was far from the truth.
We wandered along the harbour front, marvelling at the many flavours and colours of ice cream available in the little stands, enjoying the peaceful sight of the boats bobbing in the water.
Eventually we reached a little piazza where there were geometric shapes marked out in pebbles on the ground, and several smaller streets leading off further into the town. The beauty of it was there was little or no traffic and we strolled happily for an hour or so, looking at the shops, buying little bottles of olive oil for which the place was famous and trying to decide where to take a break.
‘Oh,’ Anna said suddenly, ‘look who I’ve spotted!’
It was Jack of course, sitting at one of the waterside cafés with coffee, a glass of iced water and his notebook.
‘Shall we join him?’ Harriet said.
‘Please, let’s not,’ I said.
Marjorie’s words of warning were still foremost in my memory.
Shipboard romances never come to anything.
I might have been enjoying his company, might have found him attractive, but I didn’t want to waste my time in silly, idle flirtation that would eventually lead nowhere. Was it possible to simply talk to a man, make friends with him, spend time in his company and know that neither of us wanted any more than that? And if that was how he felt too, how did that make me feel? Relieved or disappointed?
But he’d already kissed me; I gave a little smile.
And I rather hoped he would kiss me again. There were other things that went with new relationships too, weren’t there? I didn’t think I minded the thought of that either. And that was amazing as far as I was concerned.
After the first few years of being in love and then newly married, and I suppose being committed to each other, the cleaving only unto him part of it, marital affection with Fred had become both predictable and infrequent. I wasn’t entirely convinced it had been satisfactory for either of us.
Perhaps this holiday and this meeting had shown me that older people could be just as loving, equally as passionate as young people. That was interesting.
‘Ahoy there, shipmate,’ Anna called, waving at Jack.
