I’m exhaling slowly again when I suddenly hear a shriek from one of the other rooms down the corridor.Shit. I knew it. I should have trusted my gut. I let this nice house get in the way of my instincts and now a woman is in danger. I move towards the door before Ben can, happy I kept my trainers on, and I jog with speed and purpose towards the sound of Zara’s voice.Please be OK. But as I open the door to the room where her voice is coming from, I see her bent over and shrieking with laughter, tears running down her face, gasping for air.Shit. Did she have an olive? Is she choking?
‘Zara?’ I ask. ‘Are you…?’
Ben joins us in the room, his face pale and confused, and I look around, on guard just in case there’s someone under the bed. Jess bursts in, grabbing her phone like she might use it as a weapon.
‘Look outside, into the pool,’ Zara points to the window.
We all look out of the window, and my eyes widen as I try and hold in a laugh. Jess, who still has her phone in her hand, starts to take pictures.
Ben goes out on to the small balcony, shouting. ‘Miguel!¿Quépasa?!The guests! The guests are here!’
Well, at least he knows the man in the pool. The naked man, wearing a snorkel, who I think might be cleaning it. I hope that’s what he’s doing anyway.
8
BEN
We were there, we were almost there, the women were finally starting to trust me, but it all unravelled when they saw Miguel’s wrinkled and surprisingly tanned arse floating in my pool. He had a snorkel and a brush in hand, he was ‘getting the last of the tiles’, he explained, like it was normal practice to be completely naked whilst cleaning a swimming pool. No, I lie. The man had flippers too.
Luckily, Zara thought it was all mildly hilarious, Jess took pictures, but Chloe visibly stepped back into the shadows of caution again.I thought we were the only ones here. Is this some sort of nudist retreat? Why the flippers?she had asked.
She had so many questions and so much doubt that when I suggested we have some wine and olives in the garden, she said she was going to have a nap and freshen up.
‘That’s quite an unorthodox type of groundsman,’ Jess says, laughing as we look at the pool area and see Zara chatting to Miguel, who is now dressed. Jess watches me as I hack at a watermelon. She bites into a piece of pineapple and sighs with happiness, wiping up juice as it drips down her chin.
‘Of sorts. He helped me get this place together when I inherited it. Again, I apologise for the lack of clothes,’ I say.
Jess seems less perturbed, more amused. She’s changed; now she has sunglasses on her head and wears a long teal kaftan. She’s poring over the different types of fruit I’ve cut up, sipping on a small glass of sangria. There is something about the way her face lights up at all these novel, different things that is endearing and sweet. ‘So, tell me about yourself, Jess,’ I say.
‘Oh…wow.’ She perches on a stool by the breakfast bar, her elbows on the counter as she bites into a slice of watermelon. ‘Yeah, so I’m twenty-five and married to Dean. I have two little girls, Ellie and Amber, and they are both nearly one.’
‘Twins! Do we have pictures?’ I ask.
Jess smiles, rolling her eyes incredulously. ‘Do I have pictures?’ She goes to her phone, scrolling through. A quick peek tells me that pictures and videos of her daughters take up most of her camera roll. She stops at a few, beaming to herself, and turns the screen towards me. ‘This is them on holiday in March.’
The photo is of two little girls with impossibly curly blonde hair, wearing matching sunsuits.
‘Well, they’re beautiful. They clearly take after their mum,’ I say. Her surprised reaction makes me worry. ‘God, sorry, was that creepy?’
She shakes her head. ‘No, that was…kind. Thank you.’
‘And how long have you and Dean been together?’
‘Married for three years, together since we were at school.’
I adore this story already. You can see the pride that Jess feels when she talks about her family, the love she obviously feels for all of them.
‘And where was the holiday?’ I ask her.
‘Tenerife. It was…Let’s just say it was less a holiday and more the same routine in a different place with more sun. Holidaying with babies is an experience.’
I decant some olives into a bowl, taking one and popping it into my mouth. ‘My two older sisters are mums, they say the same. Did you get any chance to relax?’
‘Not really. I went shopping one day. It was a bit of a disaster, but I guess…I mean…’ Jess takes another sip of sangria. ‘I never want to sound ungrateful to be a mum but since they were born, I’ve not really had a proper break. When this came up, I think Dean thought it would be nice for me.’
I smile but suddenly feel a responsibility to make this as peaceful and restorative for Jess as possible. ‘Well, is there anything you want to do in particular? Any dishes you would really like to eat?’ I ask.
She bites her lip, blushing slightly. ‘I mean, I was hoping to have a bit of a detox this holiday. I need to lose some baby weight.’ The light in her face seems to drain when she says this out loud.
