The Perpetual Lover

By Alvaro Marin

Carlos is a lover of women. He loves them passionately, intensely, and deeply, and he tries to be sincere and tender. He is sensual and caring, generous in his affection and attention, and prone to fall ardently in love.
His sensual adventures, filled with the pursuit of beauty and every possible hedonistic pleasure, take him to three different countries. In each country, he loses his heart on the perpetual quest for the elusive love of his life. He knows that each woman he romances is ready to be loved, and its up to him to unlock the mystery of her inner heart if he desires access to more.
But on his lust-fueled quest, he finds an unexpected surprise in an older woman. Has he finally found the one woman he could love forever in this sophisticated and beautiful woman he meets? Is she the woman of his dreams, his fantasies, his hearts desire? Only time will tell.
The heart wants what the heart wants, and Carlos knows just how far he will go to see his most fervent dreams come true.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abbott Press
• Release date: Jun 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781458209726

Alvaro Marin

Alvaro Marin has written numerous short stories and essays and collaborates occasionally in Majorcan newspapers. He has a degree in hotel business from Madrid University and a degree in economics from Majorca University. The Perpetual Lover is his first novel. He and his wife, Ann, live in Majorca.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Carlos Cruz was an only child, he used to say that was his curse and blessing but his friends who all had siblings, assured him it was definitely a blessing. Tom, his best friend, who had a fifteen year old sister and a twelve year old brother, was particularly adamant.

They steal your socks, T-shirts, CD’s, whatever. They also squeal about the time you came in the night before and your state of intoxication, always grossly exaggerating, for the benefit of your parents. On top of all this, my sister intrudes on my private life and whenever she has a chance introduces me to some immature plain girls, no doubt with the hope I will eventually like one and go to live with her and leave the house. Something, I don’t plan on doing. I could never live better than at home but she doesn’t give up. Believe me my dear friend, being an only child is the best thing that has ever happened to you.

Carlos wasn’t so sure, but as so many other things he knew couldn’t be changed, he seldom worried about it. His mother Carol was American, from New York and his father Toni from Majorca. They had met in Madrid thirty years ago where they were both studying, fell in love and got married.

Carol was an English teacher in a high school and Toni a math professor at the Majorcan University. Carlos never knew, never was told and he never asked why they didn’t have any more children.

His mother had two brothers and a sister scattered all over the States, who came to visit every five years or so, in turn Carlos and his parents had been a few times to the States. They had also traveled through Europe and Carlos loved it as a child and teenager, but as he grew older the trips with his parents were less and less frequent. He, naturally, preferred traveling with his friends, especially with Tom and Alberto. Jaime wasn’t much of a traveler; he said there was no place like Mallorca, so why bother?

Toni, Carlos’s father, had a younger brother living in Madrid, the famous financial lawyer, Paul Cruz. He was married to a beautiful woman, also a lawyer, her name was Micky, short for Micaela a name she refused to be called, because she thought it was ugly. She also forbade Carlos to call her aunt because she thought it made her old, so she was simply Micky to the whole family.

They had three children, Liz, father unknown, who was one year old when Micky married Paul and the twins, James and David, were born two years later. They were a very happy family and Carlos loved them all, specially Liz who he played with whenever they came to Majorca, usually in July or August and every other Christmas. The Christmases they didn’t come, Carlos and his parents went to Madrid to spend it with them. The fact that Liz was almost six years younger and a girl didn’t lessen his affection for her. They played all the time and at night he put her to bed by telling or reading her fantastic stories.

The twins were something else, when they were small children they were a real terror, broke everything which had the slightest possibility of being broken and as they grew older, Carlos had to constantly watch out that they didn’t drown in the pool or save them from some other mischief. They never wanted to be told stories; that were girl’s stuff. With time they became very independent and played their own games, mostly on the computer.

At thirteen Carlos earned his first money babysitting for his cousins, Liz, then eight years old, helped him to keep the twins at bay, and together they were good at it, the little five year old monsters, respected them much more than they did their own parents.

Usually, when the adults came back from dinner, Uncle Paul was very generous paying for the babysitting, and next morning Carlos in turn gave some of the money to Liz who didn’t know what to do with it. Micky found out and reprimanded him, but softened when he answered:

‘But Micky, I could never do it without her. She is a big help.’

She laughed and asked him how they did it.

‘We pretend we are the parents, one is the nice one, that’s me, and the other the tough cookie, that’s Liz. They know when the small needle of the clock in the living room is on nine and the big one on twelve, they must be in bed. Then two hours later, at eleven, we go back to being cousins, and I put Liz to bed after reading her a story’, he explained.

‘I wish I had your talents, many nights Paul and I can’t handle those kids. But don’t give her money, buy her a toy or something.’

‘How about if I buy her flowers?, she likes them.’

‘Young man’, Micky said with a smile, ‘you are going to be very successful with girls, you are always considerate and gentle and if on top of that you bring them flowers, it will be the icing on the cake.’

Carlos never forgot those words and the advice did work. Of course he learned new techniques on his own. He wasn’t handsome and knew it so he highlighted other features. His eyes were dark and deep, his manner intense and when he talked to a girl, he made her feel the most desired and important among all the others.

He usually had success, was popular and girls loved to be with him. As he grew older, women did also. And there was another feature of his character, different from other guys, because when he approached a woman he had the confidence of knowing she would be attracted to him. If he failed he was very surprised but never upset. He figured philosophically that one hundred per cent doesn’t exist in a relation with women. He walked away gracefully, and never thought that the woman was frigid or a lesbian, like some friends did. If the girl said no the logical conclusion was that she simply didn’t like him. Nothing he could do about that.

He was also very discreet, not only had he never bragged, but he didn’t even mention names or happenings to anyone. He developed a reputation for this. Girls felt sure he wouldn’t kiss and tell and this was especially true if they made love. Once when he was in bed with a girl, she said:

My parents would kill me if they knew.

‘They don’t have to know" he assured her. ‘It’s easy, don’t tell them.’

Of course I won’t, but sometimes people talk to others and word gets around. Ends up at the wrong place and the parents find out.

‘As I said before, don’t tell them, look love, there are only the two of us here, so if anything leaks, you know where it came from: you’ he said firmly. She looked into his eyes and felt reassured.

He was also tender, soft and caressing; sure some girls wanted the rough macho type, who was prone to rip off their panties and then make love to them against the wall, but Carlos didn’t care for this kind of love making. He wanted to be comfortable, a couch would do but a bed was better. He also discovered most girls liked the pleasure of him being calm and careful, the slower you were the desire became stronger, sometimes to the point of being almost unbearable, when that point finally came, invariably climax followed.

Carlos considered himself a faithful man or that’s what he felt in a very lax way. He always said he was monogamous, because he normally dated one woman at a time. He would also never look for a woman, until his last relation had ended, something that had often happened in his life but always quite amiable. He just didn’t want to be committed, ‘I’m too young for that’ he told himself. Now he was free and between girls but he wasn’t looking; he knew a new one would come along. That could take a couple of weeks or a couple of months but he was never in a rush. All in all, Carlos was a happy man.

Chapter 2

Carlos and his friends: Alberto, tall and nice looking, Jaime, chubby and bizarre to say the least and Tom, intelligent and ironical, were sitting in a café, planning the farewell of the summer holidays before the school year started at university in barely ten days.

‘Look, Carlos said, this camping trip to Aucanada you people propose, was absolutely great when we were twelve, but we’re twenty four now and it doesn’t sound the same. Let’s face it, we have changed.’

‘I am sure the ants are different too, stronger and more vicious than twelve years ago, considering how little it has rained this summer,’ Tom pointed out.

‘Nonsense,’ Alberto said, ‘we won’t be in sleeping bags, we won’t eat horrible stale sandwiches and above all there will be unmonitored girls staying with us, of course in separate rooms, this is like a rustic hotel but cheaper.’

‘That’s the word I fear,’ said Carlos.

‘What? Girls?’ Said Jaime, always ready to find the woman of his life, so far, quite unsuccessfully.

‘No, idiot’, Carlos answered, the word I fear is cheap, cheap lodgings, cheap food, cheap fans, maybe even cheap girls’, he added with a shudder.

‘What’s wrong with cheap girls’, Jaime answered back, ‘they are usually more generous, more giving, more…’

‘Ugly?’ That was Tom.

‘Not necessarily’, Jaime answered back, ‘I remember I once met a lovely cashier at a supermarket and our relation, well, I can only describe it as torrid, we…’

‘Please Jaime’, Tom said, ‘spare us the details, we know your tastes are a bit peculiar, to put it nicely.’

‘Listen you guys’, Alberto insisted, ‘this is a small hostel run by the local council. They do a good job, a lady sleeps in and takes care of things, cleaning, housekeeping, whatever. I’ve seen it, it has six rooms, with two beds each. The rooms for males and females are separated and there is some kind of curfew, basically because the lady can’t be up all night watching who comes and goes but otherwise everything is going to be fine and dandy.’

‘I am a little old for curfews,’ Carlos said.

‘Look Carlos,’ Alberto answered, ‘there is a lot of land, the sea is only five minutes away and there are a plenty of beautiful woods where one can get lost if you know what I mean, and …’

‘I’m also a little old for a roll in the hay, I…’

‘You are just getting old period. It’s going to be romantic, exhilarating, open air, healthy, what else do you want?’

‘Just comfort, not luxury but plain and simple comfort. And as for getting old we are all the same age, so it is not a question of age but a question of maturity.’

There was a silence which everyone used to have a chance to think at the pros and cons of the idea. They all knew Carlos was the most experienced on the subject of women, as he was the only one who had lived with a few of them. Basically weekends at hotels and more often, weekends at the girl’s apartment. Secretly they all envied him for his facility to find single girls who either had their own place or shared it with a roommate who usually had her own plans.

‘OK, who are the guys and the girls that may be coming to this charming retreat?’ Carlos asked.

‘Well the guys are the four of us and the group from the Basque country: Maite, her cousin Arantxa, a girl friend of theirs and a guy whose name is unpronounceable but at least here he goes by Ari, nice chap, drinks like a fish, you met him last summer. I remember you all liked him,’ Alberto said hurriedly.

‘His name was Arigoicoechea’, Tom, who had an excellent memory said accusingly, ‘and that was his last name, nobody in his right mind would name his son that.’

‘Well, names are different in the Basque Country, come to that they probably think Tomeu is also a funny name, yet we are used to it, aren’t we?’ Alberto could be sarcastic at times.

‘Maybe so’, said Tom, ‘but at least mine is short and pronounceable, even you’ve been able to do so for the last fifteen years.’

‘That’s because it has been shortened from Bartomeu, to Tomeu and finally to Tom by us’ Alberto retorted.

‘OK, OK,’ Carlos interrupted, ‘the name is immaterial, we need three more girls, so far we have Maite and her sister Arantxa for sure’ he said looking pointedly at Alberto ‘and who else?’

Alberto seemed slightly uncomfortable ‘well it is not a secret that Maite and I have been close since she came here last summer. I’ve already told you a friend of them is coming too.’

‘Does she have a name?’ Jaime asked.

‘Estitxu’, Alberto answered reluctantly.

‘Oh my God!, poor thing!’ Jaime said.

Carlos was getting impatient, ‘will everybody stop this name business?’

‘Sure’ Tom answered ‘but I still think some parents should be forbidden to choose a name for the poor, defenseless, little infant who will have to carry the burden for the rest of his/her life. Mine for example’. He was never happy with Bartomeu which was given to him in memory of his defunct grandfather.

‘So what do you say guys? Are we all in?’ Alberto said.

‘We are still a couple of girls short,’ Jaime pointed out.

‘Jaime your math is impeccable, didn’t know you had it in you’ Tom said laughing.

‘Bea, (which was short for Beatriz) is sending two more, Cati which you all know and a Swedish born girl whose name I don’t recall. Bea assures me she is a lovely girl and I trust her judgment’ Alberto said solemnly.

‘Why isn’t Bea coming? ‘Jaime asked.

‘She is going to Rome with her parents’ Carlos answered.

‘Tough luck Carlos you and her are close, aren’t you? Jaime said cunningly.

‘Not the way you think. We are very good friends that’s all. The problem is I don’t know whether or not to trust Bea’s judgment, she tends to be overly optimistic.’

Tom decided it was time to change the subject and get down to business. ‘Listen, we could go on talking for hours about people we don’t know, this is what modern journalism is all about. So and since we are not journalists, let’s make it simple and take a vote.’

‘It could be a tie, we are four’ Jaime said practically.

‘There won’t be a tie’ Carlos said ‘if you are in, so am I. Tom? Jaime?’

‘Sure I’m in, now that we know we will have five girls’ Jaime said.

‘Me too’ said Tom, ‘before starting again the slings and arrows of the outrageous University nothing appeals to me more than a stay in a ramshackle house reliving my early youth.’ The truth was he was going because he had nothing better to do.

‘You think you are so smart, that was a quote from Hamlet, changing the word University instead of fortune which is what the original says,’ Alberto laughed.

‘I am impressed, never thought you had heard of the guy.’

But Alberto didn’t want to have an argument. He was so happy that things had run smoothly, that he even called the waiter and paid the bill.

‘What literature does for you!’ Tom said surprised, ‘we let you pay without complaints’ he added magnanimously.

‘Well, see you all on Wednesday because we are leaving on Thursday and must ultimate all the details, such as provisions, the cars we need and who is going with whom.’

‘You may also call, this so called hostel’ Tom said ‘I would hate to arrive there and end up sleeping on the grass.’

‘I already did’ Alberto smiled at him a bit haughtily ‘We are all booked.’

Chapter 3

Carlos drove Tom home, because it was near his house. They were talking about the meeting they just have had.

‘Do you think Alberto is getting too arrogant? Tom asked Carlos, still a little sore at his superior smile saying the place had been booked which meant he had already, no matter they decided, predicted the outcome.

‘I don’t think so, Tom. He is in love, seriously in love with Maite and I am sure he has been preparing this weekend thoroughly for a long time. He only had to convince me and that was easy. I really wanted to help him from the beginning.’

‘You are too nice, Carlos. True you never stop talking, nobody is perfect, but I know I could trust you in anything’. He sounded so solemn that Carlos looked at him alarmed.

‘You have something sordid to confess? Like you’ve got a girl pregnant?’

‘Of course not.’

‘That’s a relief, and as for talking too much, it’s true. And yet I don’t think I did tonight, I left the floor to Alberto. After all it was his show.’

‘I also think’ Tom proceeded ‘that the secret of your success with women is your talking, it’s a plus. Someone said you could pick up girls like you would pick up rabbits, ‘by the ears, softly and relaxed. The poor things fall at your feet before they know what hit them.’

Carlos laughed, ‘I’ve never picked up a rabbit in my life and no woman has fallen at my feet. My batting average is fifty-fifty which is excellent for baseball, but very poor when fifty per cent of the girls I approach, shun me.’

‘I don’t believe you. Just two days ago a lovely blonde, probably a bleached one, asked me for your telephone.’

‘You’re kidding’ Carlos said amused.

‘It’s true, I was having a drink with her and I mentioned I was your best friend; big mistake, because only then she took some interest in me. One thing led to another and before I knew it she wanted your phone.’

‘No blonde, bleached or not has called me yet.’

‘Maybe because instead of yours I gave her Jaime’s’ Tom said immutable. ‘Put the frustration back on her.’

Carlos laughed heartily. ‘Well let me tell you another funny story which will back up my fifty-fifty theory. Two days ago I was sizing up my chances with a gorgeous brunette I saw at a bar, she looked perfect from top to bottom. So, finally I decided to approach her, tonic in hand, you know I don’t usually drink and said: Hi!

She stared at me coldly and answered, ‘Don’t even think of it.’

‘Of what’? I said puzzled.

‘Of picking me up buster. I’ve seen you staring at me for the last five minutes.’

‘So did you say anything?’ Tom asked.

‘Indeed. Looking all of a sudden meek and shy I told her Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I didn’t know how to approach you because I feared it would come to this but the fact is you have a loose heel on your shoe and if you come down from the stool you are sitting on, you may fall on your face. Good night miss.

‘And was it true?’

‘Not at all, but when I walked away and was near the exit, I turned around and had the satisfaction of seeing her standing barefoot, examining both her shoes closely. I had my little retribution but obviously I didn’t get the girl. The thing is I never get upset at rejections, they are part of life. But she was really nasty, more than her words, what really bothered me was the ice cold tone, a real witch.’

‘Maybe she had hemorrhoids or something.’

‘Maybe’ Carlos laughed, ‘but I am more inclined to think she knew she was a looker and deserved better than plain me. I wasn’t harassing her, I had just said Hi! for God’s sake.’

‘Whatever you think’ Carlos continued ‘I’ve been given the cold shoulder many times, sometimes the girl says I’m waiting for someone, or My boyfriend should be here any minute and once a very cute girl said to me:

Get lost ‘she was tough, no words to soften the blow, but then suddenly she smiled and added, But not too lost, I may want to find you sometime.

‘And’?

‘Never seen her since. She is the one who got lost and I have been back to the place many times.’

They arrived at Tom’s house and he asked Carlos if he wanted to have a drink or a soda.

‘Thanks Tom but I must get going.’

‘My parents will be crushed not to see you and my sister devastated. You know how much she likes you, but of course they all do, women I mean’ and he smiled.

‘Get out Tom.’

‘Seriously she speaks wonders of you, you are the man of her life, her words, not mine.’

‘Good bye, Tom.’

‘Don’t be nasty, I know, I know, next you’re going to ask me which part of the good bye I don’t understand.’

‘Precisely. You’ve got the idea I am a ladies man and you stick to it, when you get an idea it’s impossible to change your mind.’

‘True, but then nobody changes their mind. The tragedy of life.’

‘Right’ Carlos waved at him and then went off.

Chapter 4

On Thursday Carlos told his parents he was going away for a long weekend with his friends and would be back sometime Sunday night. He promised to call, something he always did. Then he got his backpack and went to pick up Tom, who of course wasn’t ready. He sat waiting on Tom’s bed and finally said:

‘This is not a world cruise. Just get a pair of swimming trunks, a couple of shorts and two or three shirts.’

‘This is easily said than done. One must choose carefully. Sometimes situations could change dramatically depending on your attire.’

‘I can’t say that has ever happened to me. To be honest I can’t even remember what I actually put in my backpack.’

‘Backpack? You appall me. I’m taking my suitcase on wheels. Nothing fancy, don’t want to look too posh, but a backpack! We are not going mountain climbing, are we?’ He asked rhetorically.

Carlos laughed and said: ‘Know the difference between a pretentious man and a snob? The pretentious one goes to a youth hostel with an expensive suitcase and the snob goes to the Ritz with a backpack.’

‘That’s pretty good, though I don’t know how it applies here. Don’t distract me and let me see if I’ve got everything.’

He was cross checking a list and he seemed satisfied with the results. Then to Carlos’s astonishment, he locked everything which had a keyhole, like different drawers and closets and pocketed all the keys.

‘See, it is a norm in this house, probably inspired on voyeurs, that you are not supposed to lock any room, in fact you won’t see any locks on any door, the fine print of this norm, at least my fine print doesn’t say anything about drawers and closets. This, I can tell you by experience, is very dangerous when you have two younger siblings, hence all these keys.’

As on cue John and Alice, Tom’s brother and sister, came in without knocking. John said Hi peremptorily but Alice walked to where Carlos was and gave him two kisses.

‘Carlos! Good to see you again, haven’t seen you in weeks. I’ve missed you. I always tell Tom to give you my love’ She added coquettishly. ‘But I’m sure he hasn’t. He is such a brute.’

‘He has told me you say Hi, but hasn’t elaborated’. And then smiling he added ‘he never tells me you are looking prettier every day, please wait a few years, so I can see for myself without the need of a go between.’

‘How many years? I’m already fifteen’ and she gave a whole turn so he could see her back and front. She was a flirt and a cute one at that, but Carlos knew better and didn’t respond. He just kept on smiling.

Tom meanwhile, and totally oblivious to their conversation said to her roughly ‘I’ve also locked all my CDs, so don’t even think of getting near them.’

‘See what I mean? He’s absolutely horrendous.’

‘No he isn’t’, Carlos said ‘he is very protective of you. Also he is worried I will eventually come to see you instead of him.’

‘Is that a promise?’ she asked eagerly.

‘No, but it sounds nice.’

‘You men are all the same, always protecting each other’ but she smiled also and winked at him. ‘Where are you guys going anyway?’

‘Don’t tell her’ Tom said quickly ‘She and that’ he pointed at John ‘may think of something to spoil our weekend’ Alice gave him the finger.

‘Alice!’ Carlos said, ‘I want my future dates to be charming, not rude.’

‘I was practicing, there are so many things you can do with your finger.’ She raised her eyes provocatively.

‘That’s all, I think’, said Tom, who wasn’t paying any attention and closed his suitcase. He took a last look round to see if he had missed anything, then pushed Alice and John unceremoniously out of his room and stepped aside to let Carlos out.

‘Listen you guys, just keep in mind this is forbidden territory for both of you. I’ll know if you have been snooping in my absence, I have my ways’ he added mysteriously.

‘Bye man’ John said to Carlos, and then to Tom sarcastically ‘we’ll miss you.’

‘Goodbye darling Carlos’ Alice gave him a hug, ‘think of me once in a while.’

‘Everyday Alice.’

‘Don’t’ Tom said. ‘You don’t want to have nightmares.’

‘You’re a liar, but an adorable one’ Alice said without paying any attention to Tom.

‘Well’ Carlos answered her ‘how about every other day?’

‘I’ll settle for that. Have a good time you both’ she added generously, considering Tom’s abruptness.

They left at last and when they were in Carlos’s car Tom said: ‘Those two have delayed us; I told you they are pests.’

Carlos tactfully didn’t mention his slow packing, list checking and the drawer locking, instead he said:

‘Tom be honest, you like bullying them a little, they are both nice. John is pretty quiet relaxed guy and as for Alice she is funny and friendly, she even wished you a happy weekend, after you had been quite nasty to her.’

‘That’s because you were included in the package, she said you both I may look absentminded, but I hear everything, I just don’t listen.’

‘She looks older’ he added, ‘because she dresses provocatively and wears too much makeup. But has the brain of an ant, no bigger.’

They drove in silence for a while and then Tom kept on the subject of his sister. ‘Listen, don’t think for a moment I am upset she flirts with you, in fact I encourage it.’

‘How so?’

‘Well I can be very cunning. Truth is she is too brazen for her age. And by the way, if you seduce her…No I take that back, most likely it will be the other way round, if she seduces you, you both elope or whatever, don’t expect me to run after the two of you to avenge the family honor and all that nonsense. On the contrary you’ll both have my blessing and you, as my best friend, my sympathy.’

Carlos was laughing, ‘You are incorrigible. I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am not the type to assault cribs with Lolitas in them.’

‘Pity.’

‘Yeah. Look, give Alberto a call and tell him we are running a little late.’

Tom did so. Carlos could only hear his end of the conversation, but it didn’t seem, by the sound of it, that Alberto was upset at all. He was probably relieved they hadn’t given up at the last minute. Tom confirmed:

‘He says everyone is there, we’ll be only half an hour late at the most. They are already having lunch, but he promises they’ll leave us some sandwiches. He also told me to be nice to a Mrs. Consuelo, she is the housekeeper at the hostel, sort of a sergeant major, his words.’

When they finally got there, they had to park about one hundred yards south of the house and walk all the way up. Carlos do this his backpack on his back but Tom was cursing his four wheeled suitcase on the unpaved road.

Mrs. Consuelo greeted them without enthusiasm so Carlos decided to use his charm:

‘You must be Mrs. Consuelo, it is so nice of you to have everything so neat for us all. My name is Carlos and this is, Tom.’

She smiled briefly to both, told them where their rooms were, upstairs, she emphasized the word, and the girls downstairs. They could have lunch in the entrance, which was also the dining room with three tables in it and four chairs at each table. She pointed at one with sandwiches and sodas which they were welcome to eat.

Carlos asked where everybody was and she answered that they had all left after eating but didn’t know their whereabouts, probably sightseeing, except for one girl, room number four and she pointed in the general direction, who was resting because she hadn’t felt too well after the trip.

Carlos approached the table with the food and sat down to eat. He could see Tom’s back, whispering something to Mrs. Consuelo and then heard her say:

‘Well thank you very much, sir" and went to the kitchen.

‘What did you tell her? She seemed very pleased.’

‘You do the charm and she smiled a little but I gave her twenty Euros and she smiled much more’ and saying that he also sat down to eat with Carlos. They were hungry and finished the sandwiches fast Mrs. Consuelo was fussing around and offered them some fruit in a basket. When she had left, Tom said:

‘Carlos my friend, this is the world we live in, twenty lousy Euros will get you farther than warmth and politeness.’

Carlos laughed, ‘well one way or another we have a new friend’. They had finished and Tom said:

‘I am going to take a nap, provided you don’t talk.’

‘Me too, provided you don’t snore.’

Chapter 5

When Carlos got up around five o’clock from his siesta, he was alone in the room, so he figured Tom would be outside somewhere. Everything was silent, the rest of the people were either resting or scattered around. The sun was bright, but it wasn’t particularly hot outside, if anything it was warm and pleasant.

Carlos decided to go out for a walk, left the hostel and when he arrived at the main trail saw a girl staring at the sea far below. She was absorbed, immobile, like waiting for something to happen. She turned round when she heard his steps and looked at him. Carlos just stood there fascinated, she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. It must be explained that Carlos had often thought the same of several girls before, but in this case, as in the others, he was positive.

She was about an inch or two shorter than he was, slim, perfect figure, a pale face, almost translucent, her hair light blonde, almost white. But her eyes were shinning blue, soft, deep, warm; the kind of eyes you could look at for hours.

She was dressed all in white, a blouse with the two top buttons opened, very tight short pants, with a white belt and a pair of the most inadequate white leather sandals, for walking in these woods.

She looked lost, but not in the geographical sense, after all the hostel was less than half a mile behind her, but lost in the sense of doubt, of not knowing what to do next.

Embarrassed at staring for so long, he decided to take the initiative.

‘Hi! I’m Carlos.’

She smiled like she was happy to see someone and simply said:

‘Selma.’

‘Selma?, as in Selma Lagerlöf?’

‘You mean you’ve heard of her?’

‘Sure, in fact when I was a young boy I read The wonderful trip of Nils Holgerson throughout Sweden.

‘My God you said the title as it is in Swedish, normally it is translated simply as The trip of Nils Holgerson or The wonderful trip of Nils, she seemed very pleased.

Carlos changed the subject, ‘listen do you want to go for a walk?’

‘I’d love to’ and then she added shyly, ‘Can I hold your hand? My sandals are very slippery on this path, I should have brought trainers’ she shrugged, ‘but I forgot them.’

So they walked hand in hand for a while which didn’t feel self conscious or strange. It was as if they had known each other for a long time.

They walked slowly and then Carlos stopped and said:

‘You know, you have made my day. You appeared out of the blue, like a beautiful vision, a princess in the woods’ Bit corny he thought, but kept on talking, ‘like those fairy tales you read when you were a child.’

She laughed, ‘You are a dangerous man with your words Carlos, because you say things like you really mean them.’

‘That’s because I do.’

‘Come on, don’t push your luck’ but she was smiling happily. He could see she was pleased.

‘Listen, do you think we could rest and sit for a while? I still feel a little dizzy.’

‘Of course, I’m sorry; it was very thoughtless of me not to ask you if you were feeling better. You’re the girl in room four, Mrs. Consuelo said you were resting, but you looked so good when I saw you now that I didn’t think it was the same person.’

‘Oh it was nothing serious, just got kind of queasy on the road.’

‘Well when you arrive to the turn getting to the hostel, the road gets bad, maybe Cati was driving too fast.’

‘No, it wasn’t her fault, I think I had too much to eat last night. I am not used to it because I normally don’t.’

Carlos wasn’t sure whether she ate little at night or if she didn’t eat at all. But he didn’t ask. Selma continued:

‘It was a little embarrassing, I threw up twice and had to ask Cati to stop by the side of the road’ and then to Carlos astonishment she said, ‘she asked me if I was pregnant’ she smiled remembering, ‘In fact I can’t be, I’m still a virgin although I am twenty one.’

Carlos was speechless, something which rarely happened. He had just met this girl ten minutes ago, and here she was telling him intimate things in the most casual manner. Finally he decided to answer with the same lightness.

‘Well, since we have just met, I will tell you all my secrets too’, in saying so he was smiling, trying to be casual, ‘I am pushing twenty five, which will be at the end of this month, I am not a virgin, but like you I’m also not pregnant.’

She laughed and squeezed his hand, ‘but of course you can’t be, you’re so funny, but you do look older than twenty five.’

‘That hurt, do I really look that old?’

‘No, no, I didn’t express myself well, you look very mature! The sort of man who can handle any situation, like you are doing just now.’

‘How so’? Carlos didn’t know what she was talking about.

‘Well to start with, you have been given me confidence, so I can talk to you as if I had known you for a long time and then you haven’t said anything about the fact that I am still a virgin at my age. I would like you to comment on that, don’t be prudish.’

Carlos wasn’t in the least used to talking about the subject of virginity because none of the girls he had slept with had been virgins. He felt compelled to say something; after all he had become all of a sudden Selma’s hero.

‘This thing of virginity was important some time ago, nowadays it’s different, the fact that you are a virgin at your age, is in my opinion neither good nor bad. It’s just a biological fact that some people mix up erroneously with feelings. In your case it is simply the case of finding the right man at the right time, and’, here he smiled, ‘it should happen soon enough, because you are beautiful and lovely and I can tell you that whoever this man is, he will be very lucky, just because you have chosen him.’

He said all this intensely because he loved her proximity, her soft caressing voice, her fair gentle face. He slowly raised her hand to his lips and kissed it, ‘I’ve never been so infatuated in such a short time before’ he told her sincerely.

She took her hand from his lips and caressed his cheek briefly, then she held his hand again and said in a whisper, ‘I’m so glad you’ve come.’

They remained silent sitting next to each other and then she continued: ‘I’ve come to this hostel for the weekend because Bea and Cati told me I needed to get away, to clear my mind. See, I’ve had a boyfriend for the last two years, he is handsome, pleasant and polite. But in these two years all we’ve done is go to the movies, concerts and sometimes to dinner. After he would take me home, kiss me goodnight and until next time. I finally got tired and we broke up. He was upset, or at least he said so but I was relieved. My friends say he is probably gay. I don’t know and I don’t care anymore.’

Carlos didn’t say anything.

‘I thought there was something wrong with me. That I was unable to raise passion in a man. It is not that I am sexually wound up or that I look for sex. I don’t want you to think that of me’ she added anxiously.

‘Of course not, look Selma, when you don’t find an answer to a problem, usually the most obvious one is the right one. He is probably gay and has been using you as a decoy. God knows what his reasons were, I mean, today people say they’re gay, it’s normal, nothing happens, they even get married to each other. Did he take you to meet his parents?’

‘Yes, I had lunch with the whole family a couple of Sundays. They looked at me a bit over the shoulder, like I wasn’t good enough for Pedro, that’s his name. In all fairness I must say he did his best to help me. I was too shy and in some sly way they took advantage of my shyness, in fact that was the only time he was affectionate in a manly way, more than when we were alone.’

‘Maybe he wanted to keep them from suspecting his real sexual inclination. I don’t know, but you shouldn’t worry, any man would be happy to be near you. I am’. And he smiled.

‘Are you really’? Or are you saying this to make me feel better?’

‘Selma, not only am I sure, but I honestly think you are not just a pretty face’ and looking at her he said mischievously, ‘and so is the rest of you, but you are also sensitive and intelligent.’

‘Carlos, please don’t flatter me.’

‘It’s not flattery’ he sounded a bit annoyed ‘you are sensitive because you care and you are intelligent because you knew that in your relation with Pedro there was something strange when normal things that should’ve happened, didn’t. And that is one of the many definitions of intelligence, to know what you haven’t learned. Some call it intuition, feeling, whatever. I call it intelligence.’

She smiled at him. ‘You’re so nice. Where were you these past two years?’

‘Probably with other girls’ he said honestly. ‘And that is the other thing I wanted to say, every woman in a relationship wants to be desired, if that doesn’t happen, sooner or later the relation breaks. So don’t feel bad you broke yours with this guy.’

‘I’ve never met someone who has explained things to me so well and easily. You’re very smart, I could listen to you for hours.’

‘I don’t think I am so smart’ Carlos said modestly ‘all I said is basically common sense and as for listening to me for hours, you are in trouble here, I don’t need much encouragement to keep on talking, my best friend Tom has said that if you let me talk freely you’d better call home and tell your folks, you’re not coming to dinner and Alberto has suggested bringing a timer when we are all together, so everybody has a fair chance to talk because I don’t ever stop. It’s all a gross exaggeration but the truth is I do talk a lot’. And he laughed.

‘But your conversation is so interesting.’

‘Now you are flattering me. I must warn you, flattery will get you everywhere.’

It was her turn to laugh. ‘You know we have been here for a long time. Maybe your friends are right but I love it. It has been great’. And bending over she gave him a light kiss on the cheek. He was going to return it when voices were heard coming down the hill and practically at the same time, the rest of the gang appeared at the end of the road. They separated abruptly and she let go of his hand.

Alberto and Maite were walking with their arms round each other, Tom was listening to Arantxa; Cati and Ari were talking animatedly and Jaime and Estitxu were walking way behind holding hands.

‘Jaime doesn’t loose any time’ Carlos thought amused.

Selma and Carlos greeted the group. Everybody asked how she was feeling, she said much better and someone mentioned they should all get together for dinner. Tom gave them a perfunctory look and kept on walking, but a few paces later, he turned around and winked at Carlos. It was some kind of message which Carlos ignored, but that was typical of Tom, always alert and mischievous, like he knew what was going on.

When they had all passed by, Selma took Carlos’s hand again and the two of them remained seated in silence for a long time. They were content, relaxed and happy to be sitting there together, the silence was light and pleasant, like bliss.

‘Carlos, would you mind if I sit next to you at dinner? I feel so …so’ she hesitated, ‘comfortable near you.’

‘I’d love you to sit next to me, in fact you beat me at asking if I could sit next to you.’

He was silent for a while and then he decided to change the subject:

‘By your name I know you are Swedish, the name is on all the twenty kronor bills. There are millions of them, you must be proud. What part of Sweden do you come from?’

She hit him playfully with her free hand and laughed: ‘You know it’s not for me, but for our famous writer. Yes, I was born in Stockholm where my family comes from, then we moved to Majorca when I was five, so I’m half Swedish and half Spanish, more Spanish really because I live most of the year here.’

‘How often do you go to Stockholm?’

‘Twice a year, in the summer normally in July and for Christmas. I love to go to see Mor that’s short for mormor, which means grandmother in Swedish, she is the nicest, loveliest person you could meet. Have you ever been to Stockholm?’

‘Unfortunately no, but I understand it’s a beautiful city.’

‘It is. Then of course I am not what you can call an impartial judge in the matter’ she smiled.

‘Listen’, Carlos said after another silence, ‘I was thinking, would you like to go for a walk after dinner? It’s going to be a cloudless night so you can see the stars and also how the sea looks when it is dark.’

‘I’d love to, sounds romantic and I am a very romantic person.’

‘Are you? I thought I was the only one left.’

‘Well, now you know there are two of us’ and she looked intensely into his eyes. Then they both got up