‘And maybe my name is Steve.’ Her response dripped with sarcasm as she stood up and wrapped a sarong around her waist, her boobs bursting out of the skimpy bikini she wore. Kim knew they were completely natural, too, not bought and paid for like so many of her friends back home.
Annie really was the living, breathing definition of voluptuous, though Kim knew the Irish girl had major insecurities about her looks, always referring to herself as a ‘heifer’ and ‘massive’.
Despite Kim and Colette’s protests, the other girl just couldn’t seem to admit that she had a body most girls would die for. But those assets and, no doubt, Annie’s sparkly wit, throaty laugh, and infectious sense of humour attracted plenty of male attention, especially here.
Whenever they went out, their Irish friend was the radiant flame who attracted all of the moths nearby, and since Colette was a little too shy to head off the obvious players – groups of locals or other holidaymakers out for a good time – Kim pretty much played bodyguard on their nights out. She wasn’t a complete bore and enjoyed the attention and odd flirtation, too, for sure, but she was determined not to fall back into her old party girl ways.
‘I’m going to head in for a while, before I start getting ready to go out later. Like you said, I have a hot date tonight and I want to straighten my hair and do a bit of a defuzz. See ya.’
‘Have fun,’ Kim called after her.
Annie winked mischievously. ‘Don’t worry. I will.’
She smiled and shook her head. Between Colette and Annie, she wasn’t sure who was the more smitten.
Annie definitely had some mystery man on the go downtown that she seemed especially keen on, given her insistence on taking so much time in getting ready for tonight’s outing when it was only early evening and still hours away till dinner.
Colette, on the other hand, seemed completely mortified by Luca’s visits.
Kim watched as the guy in question now emerged from the kitchen with a tray of freshly prepared treats. ‘I leave the food on the kitchen table. Help yourself,’ he informed her.
She sighed inwardly. You could get lost in the guy’s accent, never mind his arms. It was like condensed milk – thick and sweet. Lucky old Colette.
‘Thanks.’
She lingered for a few moments as she contemplated food or reading.It had been a long time since lunch, but she was so comfortable here. The intense heat of the afternoon sun was starting to dissipate now, enabling her to move out of the shade and bask in the late-evening glow. This was her favourite time of the day to sunbathe and the only time she exposed her skin to the sun’s direct rays. Not like Annie, who was only too happy to forgo the parasol and lay out cooking like a weiner on a barbecue all day long.
On the other hand, poor Colette could barely glance at the sun without reddening up like a tomato, and like the doctor had pointed out, it was probably no bad thing that she needed to rest up inside for a while.
Kim’s stomach finally won out, and she reluctantly pushed herself up from the comfortable sun lounger and walked back into the cool of the villa. She plated some chicken and pulled a slice of crusty garlic bread from the white paper it was wrapped in, then drifted back out and down to the terrace before curling back into her poolside sun lounger.
Opening the book, she began to once more skim through the words written on the page, as she nibbled on her bread.
Happiness is like the ocean. It comes and goes. You need to be able to ride the waves of the tide if you’re going to stay happy. It means you have to be light enough to float and strong enough to stand up the to the breaking on the shore.
Was she light enough to the ride waves? Kim knew she definitely wasn’t strong enough for the breaking on the shore. How often had she tried to stand up and found herself conforming to what her parents wanted?
Back home, she hadn’t been able to ride the waves.Instead she’d drowned in them, and every day sank lower as the waves got higher.
But since she’d come to Italy, the waves had subsided a little.
Maybe little by little she could start to overcome them and perhaps, given enough time here in Villa Dolce Vita, Kim might eventually be light enough to float.
Chapter 22
Then
Annie had always found it easy to make friends, but what she’d experienced since she’d arrived in Italy was something unexpected. She, Colette and Kim had become almost inseparable in such a short space of time.
She’d already shared with them the story of how she’d come to be there thanks to Felicity Finch.
‘It was like something from a movie,’ she told them over one of their late-night chats on the terrace beneath the stars. ‘All this time, I was doing this woman’s hair, making idle chit-chat and thinking I knew her, when I had no idea.’
‘Such a wonderful gift,’ Colette sighed dreamily. ‘Not so much the money, but the freedom, and the opportunity to come here while you figure out what to do with your life.’
‘What will you do?’ Kim asked. ‘If the old woman meant for this trip to be life-changing, you’ve gotta honour that, don’t you?’
‘And I will,’ Annie enthused. ‘I’m going to enjoy myself first and foremost, but when I get back, I’m going to look into opening my own salon.’ She frowned. ‘Problem is, while I know hair, I know sweet FA about money or how to manage it.’
