فاصله زیاد از حقیقت

CHAPTER EIGHT

A long way from the truth

Max woke in the night feeling sick. In the morning he felt so sick he couldn’t get out of bed.

‘Wouldn’t you feel better if you got up and came for a swim?’

Stephany asked. She felt a little angry that Max was sick. It was so English to be sick in a foreign country.

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ said Max, who just wanted to sleep.

‘Well, I’m going to have breakfast in the bar, then I may go and swim,’ said Stephany

‘You’re not a very good nurse,’ Max said, weakly.

‘That’s because I’m not a nurse,’ said Stephany. This was not what she had come on holiday for. She wanted to have some fun.

But on this holiday she had only discovered Max’s weaknesses: he couldn’t speak any Italian, he couldn’t Water-ski or dive or do any of the things the local Italian men enjoyed doing.

Now he was sick, and she had to spend the day alone.

She left Max in the dark room and went along to the bar. The waiter brought her a cappuccino.

‘Aren’t you Carlo’s friend?’ the waiter asked, giving her the coffee. Stephany looked at him. She remembered him from last night. Then she thought she had met him the last time she had been here.

‘Yes, I am,’ she said. ‘Sorry, but I don’t remember your name.’

‘I’m Luigi,’ said the waiter. ‘Carlo’s one of my oldest friends. We all went out together one night, about two years ago. Remember?’

Stephany felt her face go red. That night two years ago She remembered clearly, but she didn’t think anyone else would.

‘Carlo liked you very much,’ said Luigi. ‘We thought he would leave his wife and marry you!’

Stephany looked at Luigi. She didn’t know if he was being friendly or not. What did he know? And what did he really think?

‘And his mother liked you too,’ he said. He smiled, and put his hand into his pocket to find change for the money she had given him for the coffee.

‘And now you’ve got a free holiday flat. People pay a lot of money to stay here for just one week,’ he said.

What was he saying? Stephany felt herself go hot. Was he saying she had made love with Carlo so that he would let her stay in the flat for nothing? It wasn’t true.

She had just had a very short affair with Carlo last time she was here. He had already offered her the use of his flat a long time before they ever had that little affair.

She had hoped no-one knew and that it would be forgotten by everyone except Carlo. Discovering that Luigi knew made her feel very uncomfortable. She left the bar and walked along the beach, deep in thought.

She found a quiet place and went and sat in the sun. After a while she dived into the water and swam. But she couldn’t relax. She felt bad because some of the things that Luigi had said were half true.

She thought about the things that had happened two years ago.

She remembered seeing how happy Carlo and Ruth were together, and feeling afraid that she was going to lose Carlo as a friend. Surely, she had thought, she was more interesting to him than Ruth.

Although she had never found Carlo attractive before, she suddenly wanted him now he was married.

She remembered how she had gone out one evening with some of Carlo’s friends, including Luigi. They had gone to a beach called Bianca Beach. Ruth had stayed at home.

She remembered how they had dived off the rocks and swam in the night water.

She remembered the moment she and Carlo had found themselves alone, or so they thought. She remembered how they had kissed, with the dark water around them.

Afterwards, Carlo had said they must never let it happen again, because he loved Ruth. He would always be Stephany’s friend, he said, but he didn’t want to lose Ruth.

‘We’ll continue as if nothing happened,’ said Carlo. And Stephany, pleased that he found her attractive, agreed.

It’s simple, she had told herself. But that was a long way from the truth.