‘I thought I would find you here,’ Pepper said, putting her bag down on the ground and unfolding the canvas camping chair she had brought from the flat.
Josephine’s smile was faint.
‘I wanted one last look at the view,’ she said.
‘I can’t believe you fly tomorrow,’ Pepper said forlornly, and Josephine sighed.
‘Yes, it has come around far too speedily, hasn’t it? It’s a funny thing, you know. When I was in my twenties, it felt as if life was one endless gallivant, but I also thought that by the time I reached this ripe old age, I would be ready to stop. Fact is, I am nowhere near ready – I want nothing more than to keep going, but my body’ – she held up a tremoring hand as proof – ‘clearly had other ideas.’
‘Not your body,’ corrected Pepper. ‘A horrible, unforgivable and cruel disease.’
‘The doctors keep reminding me that Parkinson’s is not fatal.’ Josephine scoffed. ‘But it is a death sentence to spontaneity, and independence.’
‘Don’t let it be!’ Pepper insisted. ‘Don’t allow it to crush your spirit.’
‘My darling girl.’ Josephine shifted on her deckchair and winced as if in pain. ‘You know as well as I do that it would take more than a spot of Parkinson’s to knock this old bird down. But let’s not talk about things that are guaranteed to put a dampener on the day. Tell me about Hamburg – was the party a big success?’
‘In a moment.’ Pepper reached down for her bag and extracted two cans of pre-mixed gin and tonic. ‘First, I thought we should have a toast.’
‘Oh, goody!’
Pepper cracked open both drinks and handed one across.
‘To Josephine Hurley,’ she said solemnly. ‘The funniest, most fabulous and sneakiest woman I have ever met.’
Josephine tittered with amusement as she took a sip.
‘Sneakiest? I must say, I have no idea what you’re getting at.’
Pepper lowered her can.
‘The tiles!’ she exclaimed. ‘My collection of work that you stole and gave to Finn!’
‘Ah.’ Josephine chuckled. ‘That.’
‘I still don’t understand how you did it – or when?’
Josephine looked out towards the water for a moment, her gaze drawn by the gentle swish of the waves. Pepper wondered if like her, Josephine found the repetitive nature of the sea a comfort – a force of nature that you could always rely upon to follow the same pattern.
‘It all started one evening, when I received a rather interesting phone call from your mother.’
Pepper almost choked on her gin.
‘As it turns out,’ Josephine went on, clearly enjoying herself, ‘she spied on you.’
‘What? Spied on me how? Why? When?’
‘She told me that she’d headed over to your house one night, because she wanted to talk to you about something. She arrived at the front door and knocked, but you never came, and so she tried the handle, and it was open. Then she made it as far as the garden path before she saw you, so intent on what you were doing that you didn’t even see her standing there. She explained that it was the first time she had seen you painting in years, and that you looked so enraptured. She was mesmerised, I suppose. And she didn’t want to break the wonderful spell you were under, so she waited. But then you did the most extraordinary thing.’
Pepper looked down at her shoes, shame casting flames across her cheeks.
‘You smashed the tile you had just painted – and your mother told me that it was so beautiful. She could not understand why you would do such a thing, and neither could I, at first, but then, as I got to know you better, I guessed what it was that drove you. It was guilt, seeping in and infecting your self-confidence. God knows, I can recognise that. I spent years crippled by it myself, of course.’
‘Why didn’t she say anything at the time?’ Pepper asked. ‘Why didn’t you?’
‘I can’t speak for Trinity, but I remained quiet because I didn’t want to embarrass you, darling. Besides, telling a person never has as much impact as showing them. Your mother thought, and I agreed, that if we could find a way to show you how good you were, then you might just believe it. After you and I went away together that first time and you met Finn, I could see that he had effected a change in you, and I hoped – correctly, as it transpired – that his positive influence would lead you to create something beautiful. I tipped off your mother when we returned, told her to keep an eye out, and soon she was pinching a few pieces every few days.’
‘How did she?’ Pepper began, but then she realised. Of course, her mother would have a spare set of keys – it had been Trinity’s parents’ cottage once upon a time. As for the studio, Pepper was forever tossing her set of keys for that down on the kitchen worktop whenever she went out – that’s if she even remembered to lock it.
‘We both agreed that you were selling yourself far too short, young lady. And I was only too eager to be of service. In fact, it was often I who tipped her off when you were out of the house. After the fire, I know she wanted to tell you, but by that time I had already been in touch with Finn and he was adamant that it remain a secret. He assumed, rightly I imagine, that you would not have allowed him to buy them if you had known.’
‘Finn didn’t buy them,’ she said. ‘He sold them to some mystery person.’
Josephine looked as if she was going to laugh.
‘What?’ Pepper persisted. ‘Do you know who it is?’
‘Naturally.’ She smiled. ‘As do you.’
Pepper was confused, but then it dawned on her. There was only one person it could be.
‘Finn. Finn is my mystery buyer? But that makes no sense.’
‘He loves you, darling,’ Josephine reminded her. ‘So it makes perfect sense.’
For a second, Pepper was stilled by an image of him. Saying goodbye to Finn was one of the hardest things she had ever had to do – and now she had to bid farewell to Josephine, too.
‘I half hoped that he would be here today,’ Josephine confided, but Pepper shook her head.
‘Oh – so not the romantic reunion I was wishing for, then?’
‘Finn is exactly where he belongs,’ Pepper said firmly. ‘As am I.’
Disappointment flashed briefly across Josephine’s face, but then she shrugged.
‘Sometimes people come into our lives right at the time when we need them the most, to help us transition or to realise what it is we need. Perhaps Finn was that person for you?’
‘Just like Jorge was for you,’ said Pepper, and the older woman’s eyes became watery.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘But there is something I must tell you about Jorge.’
There was a wistfulness to her now that made Pepper lean forwards in her chair. She took another sip of her drink, trying to read her friend’s expression.
‘That evening in Lisbon, when I went off for a wander by myself,’ she began, and Pepper nodded. ‘Well, I found the restaurant that his family used to own.’
‘You told me,’ Pepper interrupted. ‘You said there was nobody there who knew him?’
‘Yes, well.’ Josephine gave her a shifty look. ‘I may have . . . Well, let’s just say, there might have been a bit of fibbing on my part. His family were still there. I met his daughter, in fact – she was so beautiful, had his eyes. She told me that Jorge, bless his heart, had passed away a few years previously.’