‘So how did the bridge go?’ I asked.
‘Jack and I had enormous fun,’ she replied with a wicked grin. ‘Don Marshall won’t make that mistake another time. I would be very surprised if he asks us to play again. In fact, I would be even more surprised if he ever talks to either of us.’
‘Did you win?’ Anna said.
Evelyn chuckled. ‘You could say that, and Don and Craig are fifty-three euros down to prove it. I told you the Redditch Bridge Club had nothing on Omar Shariff. Never judge an old woman by the wrinkles on her face.’
‘Did you say double or quits?’ Harriet said. ‘It worked for me when we were playing poker.’
Evelyn smiled enigmatically and stirred the foam into her coffee.
‘Well done,’ I said. ‘And Jack? How did he get on?’
‘An awfully good player, very intuitive. I enjoyed his company very much. We had a brandy together after Don and Craig had slunk off to bed. Did you know he used to be editor of a broadsheet newspaper? He met all sorts of very interesting people. Politicians, royalty, all sorts of celebrities.’
‘He did mention it,’ I said.
‘Any good gossip?’ Anna asked.
‘Sadly no, he was very discreet, except he said one British politician he met was probably certifiable, but he didn’t say which one and there have been so many to choose from. I am sure I will get something out of him eventually. Such a nice man, and there aren’t many left in my experience.’
‘Yes, Jack is a nice man. And he’s kind and thoughtful.’
Evelyn gave me a knowing look.
‘My dear, sometimes one meets the wrong person at the right moment, and occasionally the right person at the wrong moment, but just occasionally one meets the right person at the right moment, and when that happens you need to grab it with both hands. Now, I think I’d like another coffee if you can catch someone’s eye, I’m not used to such late nights. Oh look, that must be Susak over there. We’ll be there before you know it.’
24
‘There is nothing to do on Susak,’ Rocco said a few minutes later, ‘and they are proud of that. It’s why it is such a nice place to visit. It is gentle. Carefree. We are all too busy these days, too noisy, too worried about silly things. People come here to de-stress and think. It is like medicine for the soul. A man can breathe here and?—’
We never did find out what else a man could do on Susak, because at that moment Anjelica came into the dining room with a tray of fried eggs and crashed it down on the table next to him. She then fixed him for a moment with a fierce look that would have felled a lesser man and stalked out again, muttering.
‘She’s awfully tense,’ Evelyn said thoughtfully. ‘Something tells me the other replacement crew member didn’t turn up and she is still working in the kitchens.’
‘No wonder all her songs are so miserable,’ Marjorie said. ‘Perhaps she was hoping Jolene would actually take her man the other night?’
* * *
Susak was without doubt one of the loveliest places I had even seen. Rocco was right. There was an air of peace and calm about it that I’d never really experienced anywhere else. There were only a few people around, just a couple of families on the beach, a café where the proprietor stood polishing glasses while watching the sea and us streaming off theAtalantato spoil the tranquillity. It seemed almost like stepping back in time.
The streets were narrow and well maintained, and there were decorative stone mosaics in the walls, not just house numbers. And everywhere was so quiet.
‘New Jersey must have been a bit of a shock to people after living here,’ Harriet said.
We were sitting on a stone bench with a lovely view of the bay. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny.
‘A lot of them come back in the summer, and then the place fills up. A lot of these houses that look deserted are their holiday homes, and I expect they are glorious inside,’ Evelyn said.
‘This is a nice beach,’ I said, ‘and by the looks of it, very shallow. Those children are a long way out and only up to their knees in the water.’
‘Perhaps Rocco was right. It’s a place to really relax. I can feel it, can’t you?’ Marjorie added.
‘A bit too quiet for me,’ Anna said. ‘What on earth would Rupert and I do if we came here?’
‘Talk to each other?’ I suggested.
‘Maybe. Once he had finished his book of sudoku.’ Anna looked thoughtful for a moment and then rather sad. ‘Rupert and I don’t talk much actually, not these days. It’s more an exchange of requests. What’s for lunch? Where are my clean socks? Will you push the recycling bin out? And we used to talk all the time, about everything. I can remember in the early days sitting up late into the night with him discussing things. Politics and where to go on holiday and bucket list things. We don’t do that any more.’
