“Wow, that’s like the real deal.” I knew Rona was talented and successful, but it was fast dawning on me just how talented and successful she really was.
Rona gave me a small and humble smile to acknowledge my statement. “I’m very privileged to be a music producer.I love it. I mean, I didn’t dream of it when I was a kid but it’s good, you know.”
“What did you dream of?”
“I guess I wanted to have my own music career. I wanted to be a big star like Pink or something. I know, right? Can you imagine? I couldn’t be any different to her.” Rona laughed. “Zero stage presence. Zero self-confidence. Hearing my stuff on the radio being performed by someone else though never feels quite right. But then I found out what being in the limelight was actually like so, I have it this way instead. It’s the best option I think.”
I nodded, trying to work out if what Rona was saying was making her happy or not. I sensed it wasn’t but didn’t feel like I knew her well enough yet to probe too much further. “You’re obviously super talented. I feel like I’m in the presence of a musical genius here. And you absolutely have stage presence.”
“Do you want to take a swim?” Rona said, after a while of sitting on our towels.
“Yeah!” I said this way too eagerly, even for me. I cleared my throat. “I mean, if you do?”
Rona laughed, gently, while getting to her feet. “I love your enthusiasm.”
She took her sunglasses off and put them in her bag before removing her top. Next came sliding her shorts down. Her army green bikini was exceedingly skimpy. I felt a pulsing between my legs.
“Are you coming in?” She looked down at me.
“Yep.” I threw my clothes off and stood, feeling good in myself even though it had been a late one last night full of endless food and drink. As an athlete, I spent my life looking after my body and pushing it to its limits. People often ogled me when I showed a lot of skin. I was never thatcomfortable with it, but I had come to expect a highly positive reaction, in a way. I folded my clothes and kicked my sandals off, tensing my abs, which was so silly.
Rona was already walking off towards the shoreline. “Come on, hot stuff.”
At that, I paused, kind of impressed. I liked a woman who wasn’t intimidated by me.
I followed her into the water, easily swimming out to where she was in the calm sea. I’d spent a lot of time in pools doing physiotherapy over the years with my many injuries, and I had been fortunate enough to spend time at beaches like this since I went professional and could afford holidays. The water gently lapped at my chin as I kicked my legs, enjoying the chance to be physical again for a moment.
I could still just about stand up. We floated and swam around for a while, staying close together. I felt very present.
“Do you hear that?” Rona said, floating on her back now.
“Hear what?”
“The sound of water. It’s almost rhythmic.”
I listened. All I could hear was normal seawater noises.
“I wish I had my phone to record it with.”
I looked over at our bags on the towels, considering going to get it for her.
“I left it at the villa. I’ll come back another time when it’s quiet like this.”
“Do you always think in musical terms like that?” I joined her floating on my back. Our fingers brushed under the water, causing a warm buzz to spread through me.
“I do, yes. You’d be amazed how many sounds from everyday life make it into my productions. I once put a sound of a car door being slammed shut into one of my tracks.”
“What was the song about?”
“It was about going on a long drive with all the different parts of yourself to process your emotions and make sense of things.”
“That’s so creative. I’d love to hear it, one day.”
“Sure.”
“Is that something you do often then? Going on long drives to work things out?”
She shifted upright. The look she gave me was thoughtful. “I wouldn’t say often but I do find it to be a useful tool. The first thing I would normally do would be to write what I’m feeling into song lyrics. If that doesn’t work, I might jump in the car.”
