Christopher Lee - For The Love Of Sara

She was just feet away from the door, trembling in her short cotton nightie. Just as she was about to push open the door a voice called: “Sara, what are you doing?”

It was her mother coming out of the bathroom.

“Don’t go in there, dear. Alan is probably sleeping. I think he’s had a little too much to drink. Sara, are you ok?”

“Erh, yes, I guess so,” said Sara. “I guess I’m just a bit disorientated, being in a new place. You know?”

Her mother led her back to their bedroom and closed the door behind them. Sara climbed in to bed and her mother bent down and kissed her gently on the forehead. Then she climbed into her own bed.

“Goodnight, Sara,” she whispered.

“Goodnight mother,” she replied, then added; “you did love daddy, didn’t you?”

Her mother sat up. “Of course I did darling. Now get to sleep.” She couldn’t see her daughter’s face in the shadows. She couldn’t see the single tear that trickled down her cheek and onto the pillow.

CHAPTER 5

The sun streamed in through the patio doors. Grant opened his eyes and blinked in the bright sunlight. Jill was still asleep next to him. She lay face down, the white bra cutting in to her freckled back. She hadn’t bothered taking it off the night before – and neither had he.

He got out of bed and walked out onto the patio. The tiles were already hot. He was still naked, but the balcony was high enough to hide his modesty from any neighbours. It was just before six and not a soul was about. The pool below looked cold but inviting so he decided to go for an early morning swim to wake his body up.

He tiptoed into the bedroom where Tim and Sally were fast asleep, and rummaged through the wardrobe for a pair of swimming trunks. He slipped them on, found a towel and stopped only for a swig of mineral water before making his way downstairs.

The first decision of the day was which pool to use. The one nearest the apartment was large but shallow, whereas the diving pool near the hotel was smaller, deeper and therefor probably colder. He chose the latter. Dropping his towel by the side, he plunged headfirst into the deep end. The cold water was a shock to the system and he hit the surface gasping for air.

“What’s it like?” asked a female voice coming from behind. He swivelled to see where it was coming from. She was sitting on the spring board, her knees pulled up to her chest. She wore a plain black swimsuit with a Speedo logo on the hip. Her legs were very long and very white, her arms freckled. At first he didn’t recognise her as the girl from the disco.

“It’s cold, but once you’re in….”

“It’s not too bad,” she laughed at finishing his sentence.

“Is it deep?” she added.

Grant put his hands above his head and submerged so he was standing on the bottom before pushing back up to the surface.

“OK,” she said, and slipped off the board into the water like a seal. Grant waited for her to reappear, but she didn’t. He turned in the water to look around the pool. Nothing. Before his mind even began to think she might be drowning, the water directly in front of him erupted and she surfaced and burst out laughing.

“You are right, it is cold,” she gasped. “It’s a good job you’re not a brass monkey.” Then she sprinted off to the other end doing a racing crawl, tumble-turned and disappeared again. He turned trying to track her position under water. She was an excellent swimmer for sure. He floated on his back and looked up at the clear blue sky. Again she burst to the surface next to him, half submerging him with the wake.

“Hi, I’m Sara. You must be Grant, Emma’s dad. I saw you in the disco last night, eyeing up that Spanish woman.”

“I’ll have you know I am a happily married man,” he said, trying to sound affronted.

She laughed again and swam across on her back to the side of the pool, when there, she levered herself out of the pool leaving a trail of water behind her. She walked over to the springboard where she had left her towel, picked it up and wrapped it around her shoulders. She headed back past the sand pits to the apartments. He watched her go. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder.

“See you later,” she called, walking off.

What a precocious young lady, thought Grant.

CHAPTER 6

He swam fifty lengths of the pool before getting out to dry himself. By the time he got back to the apartment Jill was up and dressed in pink shorts and a pink and white striped t-shirt. The children were still asleep.

“Enjoy your swim?” asked Jill, milking two mugs for their tea.

“A bit cold, but yes, it was nice once you get in.” He thought of how Sara had finished that sentence for him. He was going to tell Jill about seeing her in the pool, but didn’t. Then he wondered why not.

“Can you pop to the shops to get some milk for breakfast if the children want cereal,” asked his wife. “We only have enough for our tea.”

“Sure,” said Grant. “I’ll check out that car hire place next to the hotel and see what vehicles they have available.”

The supermarket was almost empty. Grant bought a large container of milk, a loaf of bread and some butter and a box of cornflakes. The car hire shop was closed, but it had a large selection of cars on offer according to the photos in the window. He would return later when they opened.

By the time he got back to the apartment the children were up. Emma and Tim had gone down for a swim. Sally and Ben were playing cards.

“Did you check out the cars?” asked Jill.

“I did,” he said. “They have a six seater 4x4 that would do us if it’s available.”

Luckily it was, and within the hour Grant had collected the keys and parked it at the rear of the apartments. The children were so excited.

“Can we go to the beach?” pleaded Sally. “I want to go in the sea.”

“Me too,” echoed Ben. “Can we go out on a boat?”

Before leaving the apartment he picked up his wallet from the bedside table and asked Jill to put it in her shoulder bag. The pockets in his shorts were too shallow. There was no safe and he didn’t want to leave any cash in the apartment as the wallet contained all of their spending money – 1500euros.

They were all in high spirits when they set off. Grant swung the vehicle out of the slip road and headed for the old part of town. It was going to be a good day.

The land looked parched with only small oasis of vegetation in the small gardens of some of the houses which lined the road. Cascades of bougainvillea created colourful waterfalls on the whitewashed walls of the red-roofed villas. Soon after entering the old town, Ben spotted a bakery.

“Let’s stop and get some cakes,” he shouted. “I’m starving.”

“You’re always starving,” chided Emma.

“We could get some for later,” said Jill. “Pull over.”

Grant signalled and pulled into the car park of a small plaza near the shop.

“I’ll go, you lot stay in the car,” ordered Jill, got out the car and walked across to the bakery.

Grant kept the engine running and tried to tune the radio which was still refusing to work. Five minutes later, Jill returned empty-handed.

“No cakes,” she said, “only bread.”

“Not to worry,” said Grant. “I have to stop for petrol, so I’ll see if there are any in the garage.”

“At least we can get sweets,” said Ben. “They must have chocolate.”

After travelling a few miles, Grant spotted a Mobile sign. There were no cars waiting to fill up, so Grant hopped out and put 50litres of fuel in the tank.

Finished, he went to the passenger side.

“Can I have the wallet, Jill?” Grant asked. Jill reached for her bag on the floor, picked it up and put it on her lap and rummaged through it. Grant held out his hand in anticipation. She looked again, plucking out an assortment of female bric-a-brac.