Chapter 1
Nicola picked up her golden Tous briefcase. It had been leaning against the pine chest in the hall. The one she had bought with Luis just before they got married. It was still practically new, despite having undergone years of keys being left on top and even the careless hands of the moving guys who had transported it from their flat in Moratalaz to this new bigger one in Valdebernardo.
She then got her handbag from the wicker chair and holding her keys in her hand, looked around as she always did before she left for work. She walked into the kitchen briefly, to check that the electric burners were off and then looked down the corridor and sighed when she noticed the bathroom door was open as usual. She tiptoed towards the offending view, not wanting to leave any heel marks on the parquet floor and retraced her steps to the small hall.
Her eyes rested on the two dry flower pictures in their golden frames hanging from tiny ornate hooks and on the fairy heads that she had not dusted for around nine months.
Then, quite suddenly, she put her keys back on the chair, shook her red curls away from her face and went out. This was the only little detail that marked the day as special. It was November 4th. She always left for work in the same fashion, only her clothes changed, but she always made sure her keys were in her handbag before slamming the door shut.
There was a mirror on the landing and before getting into the elevator she looked at her reflection absent-mindedly. Some people said she was beautiful, probably because she looked so different. What with her freckled face and those hazel eyes that were always wide open, giving her the eternally surprised look of a child.
Once in the street, she did up the buttons at the front of her embroidered green coat and tied her silken scarf round her neck. The sky was bright blue, but a vengeful wind had been blowing all day. She shivered. She didn’t mind rain but hated blustery days because they made her living room windows shake and the clatter was poison to her already fragile nerves.
She hurried the usual way, along the boulevard, and called her Mum on the way. She seemed to be relatively happy and almost herself. It was a good thing she was being taken care of. And she had sounded eager to go back to her game of dominoes.
After returning her iPhone to the side pocket of her handbag, Nicola checked her watch and realized she was late. Without stopping, she put on her headphones and an Adele song started playing. Cause I have a fickle heart and a wandering eye and and a heaviness in my heart.
‘I wonder how many times I’ve listened to this already. And I still have not managed to memorize the lyrics. How Lola would laugh at me if I told her!’ she thought.
The dialogue inside her head was incessant and she made a conscious effort to stop it.
She noticed one of her ex-students walking towards her, his head down. What was his name?
‘Hello there!’
‘Hi, Teacher’
She repressed a flicker of transient irritation. Why could they never call her by her name? These damn Spaniards!
‘So, how are you?’
A genuine smile lifted the corners of her soft mouth. She loved all her students, but this guy in particular was one of her favourites. He was sweet in a weird kind of way. Longish hair and a lost-puppy look in his eyes as if he hadn’t noticed how sharp and clever he was.
‘Ok, going home for lunch. German is tough, you know. I even miss English now. Would you believe that?’
‘Coming to the book club next month?’
‘Not sure, Teacher. I haven’t finished the book yet’
But she knew he’d be there, unless... And what was his name again? G something... Gabriel. That was it.
She had already gone past the tallest building in Valdebernardo. She was used to it by now, but still thought it was an architectural disgrace. The patchwork quilt of the neighbourhood. With it’s yellow and pink facade and the oddly shaped windows, it stood by the bike lane as if making a statement. I am unique. And notorious. It was there that the princess’s sister had killed herself a few years before.
The tree branches fluttered in the wind and the yellow leaves sang a happy song that Nicola could not understand.
When she got to the concrete bridge that spanned the M40, she looked over the blue iron railing at the cars below. It always made her kind of dizzy to see the huge traffic signs suspended high above the motorway but so near her she would only have to lean to touch them.
She took off her designer sunglasses and a gritty speck of dust got into her eye. She blinked several times and then, putting her things down, rubbed at it. The street was almost deserted, it was a bit after half past three and most people were either working or finishing their lunches.
Despite the cold, or maybe because of it, she felt light-headed. She hadn’t eaten much, hadn’t had the time. Besides, she hadn’t been that hungry lately. Except for those times when she binged on Nutella and peanuts while crying in front of the TV, late at night when both Lola and Marcus were already asleep.
She swiftly lifted one of her legs over the metal fence and then the other one and felt incongruously glad just because she was wearing jeans and not one of her long dresses. And then she closed her eyes and let go.
‘I just need to see you one more time, Luis. I have to explain.’
Chapter 2
Hector was driving along the M40 and feeling happy. It was warm inside his car and the music was booming through the speakers. He felt young and free. The car in question wasn’t much to look at. Just a metallic blue Opel Corsa that his Dad had bought second-hand eleven years back. It only had two doors and was a bit girly to his taste, but it was his now.
‘But from the beast inside there’s nowhere we can hide’ he sang. Imagine Dragons reverberated off his windows, but he could still hear the gale-like wind pushing against his small car.
He was thinking of his boss’s latest whim and of how he would have to look over all the accounts in the coming week. Again.
‘Guy’s a bastard. Menudo gilipollas’ Ana, the head of the IT department, had told him while they were having lunch together in the Cañas y Tapas across the street. She was a pretty little thing, that girl. Pity she was dating a besuited guy who worked in Corte Ingles and sold... whatever.
And then he heard the thump and he braked. Or thought he did. And the car behind him crashed into him. He felt his head hit the windshield and for an instant thought he had seen a woman’s face and a blood-stained scarf. Green with a mauve pattern. Or was it the other way around?
When Hector fell forward, his horn went into intermittent action. Demons could be heard from the right lane next to the hard shoulder where a van driver was nervously fumbling with the keys of his mobile.
‘Era uno uno dos. La mujer siempre me dice que lo aprenda’
‘Emergency Services. State the nature of your call.’ The whole sentence uttered in a Spanish that was alien to him. William Ernesto had only been living in Madrid for two months and the nuances of life on the peninsula were still lost on him. Working around the clock to provide for his two small children and his pregnant wife took his all.
After the call, he stood around nervously, but very soon a couple more people joined him. They had emerged from their cars, shaken but unhurt, morbid curiosity and fear modelling their expressions.
From the relative safety of the hill, standing behind the metal guard, they stared in shocked silence at the three mangled cars and the slight figure on the asphalt. It was a woman.
‘Shouldn’t we be doing something?’ asked the middle-aged man with the beer belly. He was not addressing anyone in particular, just trying to muster the courage to do the right thing. Or to forgive himself for doing nothing.
‘The emergency services will be here in less than ten minutes’ answered a woman’s voice. The owner was tall and had wide hips. She looked harassed and unkempt.
William Ernesto could not stay still. He hesitated, then walked towards Hector’s car and kneeled on the ground beside it.
‘You shouldn’t be doing that. What if there’s a fire or an explosion or something. And how come your van isn’t wrecked?
He ignored both the warning and the poisonous remark and put his hand through the broken window. He didn’t bother to answer the man’s question.
‘Son, papi, are you ok?’
Hector groaned but did not move. At a loss, William Ernesto approached the body lying just a couple of metres from the car. It was strangely positioned and looked like a discarded mannequin, not a real living person.
Chapter 3
Nicola did not leave Moreton often. There were of course school trips to Stratford and Oxford and summer holidays in Weston. But her father had never let her go abroad. That changed when she passed her A-levels, though.
‘I’ll be safe, Daddy. I promise. We’ll be together at all times. Sue's already booked a room in this lovely hotel in Figueira da Fox. And Moira’s Dad promised he'd drive us to the airport.’
The Albergaria was all Nicola had dreamt and much more. Even if their shared room was basic, the town itself was quaint and welcoming. She had never seen a beach like that before, such a big expanse of sand, such blue water. The Portuguese turned out to be a friendly lot and the men shouted compliments when the three friends went past.
They had flown from London to Lisbon and then rented a car. Sue was two years older than her friends and had had a license for a while. The car trip was fun, despite the usual squabbles about where to stop for lunch.
‘It’s still too early. I’m not hungry’ Moira would complain.
‘You’re never hungry! That’s how you keep so thin!’
The girls could not believe the beautiful landscape and the colourful houses. Some of the facades were covered in mosaics.
‘Wow! You’d never see something like this in England. I say we’re boring!’
They could not believe how old the roads were either and how fast the Portuguese drove.
‘If one more guy honks at me and then overtakes me, I’ll...’ Sue stopped mid-sentence as a tiny car with French driving plates and a rack packed tight with cases, bikes and blankets did just that while the girls were going round a scarily sharp bend.
It was the most glorious week. A whole seven days without parents in a sunny country in June back in the 80s was a dream come true for a very young and naive Nicola.
And then it became life-changing as well. On their second day in Figueira, a group of Spanish youths put their towels next to Nicola’s, Sue’s and Moira’s.
Nicola was lying on her tummy, oblivious to the damage the eleven o’clock sun was inflicting on her pale skin. She was wearing a white bikini covered in multicoloured polka dots and her eyes where shut. She was trying not to dwell on why Pierce back home had broken up with her after six months of going steady. But she could not. Even this far away she kept on hoping he would eventually reconsider and want her back.
'So where are you from then?' She heard Moira say, her voice shriller than usual.
'Madrid. You?
'We live near Oxford'
They had tried explaining they were from a small village in the Cotswolds but had realized that did not mean much once one crossed the Channel.
'How long are you staying?'
'One week' answered Moira noncommittally and Nicola noticed she was already bored.
'Sue, do you feel like a swim? Nicks, you coming?
A few minutes later, Nicola sat up, safe in the knowledge that she would not have to explain her swollen eyes. She did not want to sound ungrateful but she did not feel like hearing her friends' views on the break-up. Sue was bound to tell her the guy was a loser and good riddance. And feisty Moira, who had never been dumped, would go on a tirade that included all the swear words ever used in English from Shakespeare's time onwards.
She often wished she was calm and dark like Sue or ravishingly beautiful and petite like Moira.
After a while she stood up and decided to read under the parasol. She took Camilla out of her blue straw bag and smiled happily at the thought of immersing herself in the story. She still had around 500 pages left, which was a mixed blessing. She was looking forward to finishing Burney’s novel to be able to start her new copy of Monsignor Quixote. However, she knew she would miss the characters, as they now felt like real acquaintances. More real than some of the people in her life, to tell the truth.
She had just pulled her Forever Friends bear-shaped bookmark out of the fat Oxford tome when she noticed someone was looking at her. Fleetingly, she thought of her grandfather who used to reprimand her gently if she bent the corner of a page to know where she had stopped reading. She knew it was him who had turned her into a bookmark collector of sorts.
'D’you like Burney?'
'You know Burney?
Nicola was surprised. The young man sitting on the sand opposite her was the owner of the voice Moira had been flirting with before.
'Yeah, I do. I study English at University back home. My Lit teacher made us read Evelina last term and I loved it but please don’t tell my friends when they come back or I'll never live it down.'
They exchanged pleasantries for a while and learnt each other’s names. There were silences, some of them uncomfortable, but they both tried to keep the conversation going. Luis wanted to speak English and thought the tiny redhead looked sweet. Nicola lapped up any kind of attention like a little puppy. She was cute-looking and likable but she did not know, so she thought she was indebted to anybody who deigned to pay her the slightest attention.
‘The water wasn’t cold, you sissy! Man up!’
‘It was frozen, you idiot.’
Luis laughed at this very intellectual exchange. He introduced Nicola to his friends.
‘This is Fran and this is Jose Luis’
‘Tough name. I did Spanish at school but I never managed jotas. Fran, I can say, though.’
It was lunch time and Fran said they had to go. Nicola smiled shyly and wished they would stay longer.
Luis was putting on his socks and trainers and lost in thought. He looked up at her and realized he had to act this once or would never see this girl again.
‘Listen. We’re going to eat dinner at a lovely restaurant up that mountain tonight. Around eight. Why don’t you bring your friends along? It’s called The Shelter. I don’t remember the Portuguese word...’
‘Great! Will tell them. See you later then?’
‘Later!’
He smiled and turned and Nicola kept on looking at his retreating back for a while, thinking how sweet a guy he was. Then she went back to the safety of her book and read for a half hour or so, while digging in the sand absent-mindedly with her left hand.
‘Did you miss us?’ It was Moira. Next to her, Sue was standing holding three gigantic ice-cones with both hands.
‘Wow! Which one is mine?’
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