come to see, birthday girl.’ He leaned in and gave her a peck on the cheek. ‘It’s very hot outside. Can I have a cold drink?’
‘Yes. Sorry. Come into the kitchen.’
He stood behind her as she opened the fridge door. ‘I’ve got some Coke or orange juice … Milk?’
Laughing, he reached his hand in and pulled out a tin of shandy. ‘This is more like it. But I can’t drink alone – will you join me?’
Connie had tasted a sip of her father’s shandy and wasn’t keen on the flavour, but wanting to appear sophisticated she agreed and got out two glasses.
He took the tins and walked with them into the big drawing room. ‘Quite a house.’ He opened one tin with a hiss and offered it to Connie. She poured it into a glass and then did the same with the second tin. ‘Come and sit on the sofa next to me.’
Connie did as she was asked and he sat down next to her, very close.
‘Cheers.’
‘Cheers.’ They clinked glasses.
Connie wasn’t sure what to say next, but it didn’t seem to matter. Merlin started talking.
‘Like your sister you’re a very ’andsome woman. Different, mind, but I bet you’ve got plenty of admirers an’ all.’
‘Have I?’ She took a quick mouthful of the bittersweet shandy.
‘Don’t pretend you haven’t seen the boys lookin’ at you on the beach.’
Connie, who had hoped this was the case, shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Yeah, an’ some of them ’ave been asking me to put in a good word for them.’
‘Have they?’
‘Oh yeah.’
Connie took another sip and felt its unfamiliar alcohol warmth hit her tummy. ‘Who?’
Merlin laughed and drained his glass. ‘I’ll get us each another one of these, then I’ll tell you.’
When he came back, with two more tins, he sat down next to her and turned his sleepy, sexy blue-green eyes on her. ‘Where were we?’
‘You were going to tell me who had asked about me.’
‘Oh yes.’ He looked from her eyes to her lips and then seemed to shake himself and come back to the question. ‘Well now, there’s all the lifeguards for a start, and there’s … well … there’s someone else.’
Mesmerised by the thickening of the atmosphere between them, Connie murmured, ‘Who else?’
In answer he turned his head slowly to one side so that his nose wouldn’t squash hers and his lips kissed her mouth very gently. As he broke away, he said quietly, ‘Me.’
Connie had never been kissed by a boy before. This was unlike any practising she’d done on her hand or her mirror. This was warm and responsive and sensual and she wanted more.
After a while, Merlin lifted his hand and very gently cupped her breast. As his thumb stroked her nipple, she understood why girls at school were obsessed with discussing sex. She’d felt something similar reading the odd adult book borrowed from a friend, but this was real. A man was kissing her and touching her and wanting her. He took her hand and placed it on the zip of his trousers. He groaned as he pressed her hand down. She realised somehow that this was the point of no return. Either stop now or step into the unknown.
He lifted her hand and pulled her up. ‘How about we go upstairs?’
Her legs felt weak and her breathing was quickening. What should she say? She knew she shouldn’t be doing this. He kissed her again so that she couldn’t speak and when he stopped kissing her, she led him up to her bedroom. It wasn’t long before all thoughts of how wrong this was left her completely.
The memory had reawakened Connie’s libido and she turned in the bed to face her husband. ‘Darling, are you asleep?’
His eyes were closed but his mouth moved. ‘No.’
‘Would you like a cuddle?’
‘Don’t I always?’
*
Next door, Pru and Francis were in bed reading a Kindle and a pamphlet respectively. Francis turned to the back page of the pamphlet. ‘I think we should give Abi a cookery course at the Starfish. It’ll stand her in good stead at uni, when she goes.’
Pru, deep in her Kindle, didn’t reply. Francis tried again: ‘Darling, did you hear me?’
Pru laid her open Kindle on her lap and turned to look at him with rather dilated pupils. ‘Oh, yes, yes.’ She shifted her body to face his and touched his lips with her fingers. ‘It’s been a long time, Francis.’
‘Since what, Pru?’
‘Since I made love to you.’
‘Oh, er, yes. Must be … quite a long time now.’
‘Shut up and let me kiss you.’
‘Let me clean my teeth first.’
‘Don’t worry about that. Kiss me.’
‘I’m a bit tired, actually.’
Pru stopped advancing on him. ‘It’s Belinda, isn’t it?’
‘What?’ Terror gripped Francis.
‘You fancy Belinda. Are you having an affair with her?’
‘NO!’ he almost shouted.
‘Do you want to have an affair with her?’
‘NO.’
‘I’m not blind, Francis. I saw you in the kitchen with her that day, playing with the kids, chucking grapes at each other. And then that time you let her dress you up as a sea fairy.’
Pru moved to sit on the edge of the bed and hugged herself. For the first time, Francis saw her vulnerability. He moved towards her and put his arms round her shoulders.
‘I love you, Pru. I may not have said so often enough. But I do.’
She turned and looked at him, her eyes shining with tears. ‘I love you too. You’re not going to leave me for Belinda, are you?’
‘God, no!’
Then Pru’s mouth was on his. As she lifted herself on top of him, her Kindle slid to the floor. In the dying light of the screen a passing moth may have read the title: Fifty Shades of Grey.
*
Over in The Bungalow, Henry popped his head round Dorothy’s door to say good night and found her weeping.
‘What’s
