We look over at our gorgeous baby girl, noticing the straining sinews in her forehead as she does indeed fill her pants. Tweed lady really isn’t very happy now.
‘Rock, paper, scissors. You ready?’
I laugh, watching as both twins giggle at us at the same time. ‘Deal.’
ZARA
Mike steps out of the car and looks over at Ben, who is waiting at the gate of the villa. Bella is the first to run up to him and hug him while the boys sit back, stretching, looking up to the sky and their new surroundings. Mike comes round to my side of the car, leaning into me and whispering into my ear. ‘Zara, seriously. You spent a week with that Adonis there? That’s how it is, is it?’ I see him suck in his gut slightly and stride over to shake Ben’s hand. I bite my lip, trying not to laugh. ‘Hi, I’m Mike Solomon.’
‘Ben Allbright, a pleasure.’
Ben sees me and smiles broadly.
‘Oh come here, you donkey,’ I say and I embrace him in my arms tightly. The boys watch, curious. ‘You look amazing, look at that ruddy tan on you. You look like?—’
‘The new Ibiza Jesus resurrected, according to Miguel,’ he replies, deadpan.
‘Oh my, is Miguel here? Is he in the pool?’ I cackle. ‘Ben, headphones over there is Jay and baseball cap is Louis. You’ve met Magic Mike,’ I say, clinging onto my husband so he knows where my loyalties lie. The boys wave to acknowledge him. ‘And you know this little reprobate here,’ I say, pointing to Bella. She poses, sticking out her tongue and making a peace sign.
‘Well, welcome, you are all very welcome. Come in,’ Ben says.
We all lug our bags out of the four-by-four we’ve hired for the week and walk through the gates towards Casa de Lorenzo. It’s just how I remember it. I often dream about it actually. During a stressful day at work or when I’m sitting in a car park waiting for Louis to finish basketball practice or on a train that’s delayed because there are leaves on the line, I close my eyes and think of this place. I think of drunken nights bombing into the pool. I dream of big beds where I slept in a star shape and, I can’t lie, I dream of dildos in the bath. And although this is a place of peace and solitude for me, I also couldn’t wait to bring my family here, to show them the place that restored me. I hope that it can restore us too, as a family.
‘So, what do you think, Jay?’ I ask, draping an arm around my son’s shoulder.
He looks up at the stone as we walk through the courtyard, his head peering around to the pool. ‘It’s alright,’ I guess.
‘Just alright?’
‘Does it have?—’
‘Scenic views, a pool, and history dating back to the eighteenth century? Yes. It also has Wi-Fi,’ I say, knowing my son a little too well.
‘I’m glad you asked about the Wi-Fi actually. Every day the password changes,’ Ben says, piping in.
We’re all poolside now and I look down at the floor, smiling to myself. ‘It wasn’t like that last time I was here,’ Bella says.
‘Oh, it’s new. I won’t tell you what to do with your phones but I give you the password every morning, after everyone’s had some breakfast. I serve it from nine to ten.’
Mike looks over to me, realising the rigid tech rules may have been more my doing. I might have paid Ben a hundred pounds to do this but they’ll never know. It’s a better solution than phones in pools. The looks on the kids’ faces tell me everything I need to know. Louis goes straight to Jay to complain about this becauseI pay for their data and given how hard they went at the airport, I know they do not have enough to sustain the week.
‘Seriously, Mum!’ Bella says. She knows because she’s basically a smaller version of me.
‘Look, I’m here because I want to spend time with you all. I’ve got Ben cooking all your favourite dishes, he’s planned a few hikes, he’s told me where the cool beaches are, the ones with your youth music, and he’s even showing a film tonight in the garden,’ I say, pointing to the gazebo. Ben has put the screen back up, and bean bags and throws line the floor. Mike comes over and puts a hand into mine. ‘Every holiday, I just feel that we all get further and further away from each other. You crawl out of bed, ignore me and laugh over TikToks I don’t understand. We spend ages arguing over what to eat and it all feels…ungrateful.’
‘“Youth music”,’ Louis repeats my words, smirking.
‘Oh, piss off, Louis,’ I say laughing. ‘Despite my better and saner instincts, I want to see more of you this holiday. At the risk of sounding clingy, I want to bond with you because, funny thing this, I love you all madly.’
The boys stand there listening. ‘Which film?’ Jay asks.
‘What else?The Karate Kid,’ I tell them.
‘Not the Jackie Chan version?’ Mike asks.
‘It’s like you think your wife is an amateur.’
And there’s a moment of silence. A moment dating back to maybe five years ago when we first watched it together as a family and the kids went nutso at the end and did that crane move on each other for weeks. Louis got a black eye which was fun to explain to his school. We all flash back to that memory. There is collective smiling (a rare phenomenon in teenagers) and they all nod their heads. I’m mildly surprised that they have agreed that spending time with me isn’t completely abhorrent.
