Page 34 of A Sky Painted Gold

For a second our eyes meet and I feel tingles spreading through my body. He really is impossibly good-looking, and that fantasy is hard to give up. I wonder briefly if the tingling feeling is the thing that crackles between Alice and Jack, but I don’t think it is … not precisely.

I sit back on the sand and lift the book Robert has given me, determined to appear absorbed and interested in that, rather than tingling feelings. I read the same sentence over and over again, letting the waves of conversation wash over me. Charlie and Jerry seem to be chatting about shooting again, and although I try to follow the conversation for a while, I have to give up because it really is unspeakably dull. Laurie, Patricia and Caitlin are perched on Caitlin’s sun lounger like a row of dazzling birds of paradise, gossiping about the people in Caitlin’s magazine. The conversation goes something like this:

CAITLIN:Well, I’m not surprised to see her in here.

PATRICIA:No, did you hear…?

LAURIE:Honey, everyone heard.

PATRICIA:So indiscreet.

CAITLIN:And that poor man.

LAURIE:Oh, I don’t think he’s too downhearted.

PATRICIA:No! You don’t mean…

LAURIE:Sure. It’s been going on for weeks.

CAITLIN:Well, that doesn’t surprise me, with what happened at the opera.

And on and on they speak in gleeful, urgent half sentences, never actually saying anything that I can follow.

I’m surprised to find that they read the same magazines that Alice and I do. I wonder again why Caitlin isn’t a fixture in them herself – she seems the perfect poster child for their glamorous world.

I am still trying to concentrate long enough to get started on my book when Robert reappears with Laurie’s sun lounger.

“Wonderful, thank you, sugar.” Laurie promptly moves to her new seat, tipping her head back and closing her eyes. Within moments she is asleep.

“Would you like me to fetch one for you, Lou?” Robert asks politely, and all eyes turn to me as though everyone is just remembering that I am here. I jump to my feet and brush the sand from my legs.

“No, thanks,” I say awkwardly, trying to cover my exposed body with my arms. “It’s so warm, and I just can’t seem to sit still. I think I’ll have a swim.”

“Hey, that’s a swell idea,” Charlie exclaims. “What about you, Caitlin? You want to swim with us?”

“Oh, no.” Caitlin waves a hand, not lifting her eyes from her magazine. “I’m perfectly happy as I am, thank you. Well, almost. Robert, do you think you could send someone down with some drinks? This heat is making me thirsty.”

There is a murmur of approval for this plan.

“Just me and you, then, I guess.” Charlie looks at me.

“Yes. I guess,” I echo. I think he sounds a little disappointed, and I try not to take it personally.

As I wade in, the initial bite of the cold water almost knocks the air out of me. At my side I hear Charlie mutter something rude below his breath.

“Are you OK?” I ask.

“It’s pretty cold,” he says, through gritted teeth.

“It’s worse if you take too long about it,” I explain. “The only way is to rush in all at once.”

Charlie inches forward. “I don’t know…” he says.

“Just do it!” I plunge in, throwing myself into the sea and feeling the shock of the cool water wrapping itself around me. “It’s not that bad!” I call back towards Charlie, who is still standing with the water around his knees. “It’s just because we’ve been sitting in the hot sun. It’s warmer out here.” I swim a few brisk strokes, the feeling returning to my legs. It really isn’t bad at all. Swimming in the winter, now that is the kind of cold that strips you of thought and words; this just makes me feel fresh and awake, all fizzy and alive inside.

Charlie doesn’t look convinced, but, taking a deep breath, he flings himself further into the water and swims towards me. “You English are crazy,” he says through chattering teeth. “This isn’t the kind of ocean that human beings should be swimming in. Leave it to the polar bears, I say.”

“Don’t be a baby!” I laugh, splashing him.