They passed gift shops, wine bars, laundromats and tiny art galleries, all with their doors propped open in genial invitation. Chalkboard signs outside restaurants boasted of fresh fish caught that day, craft beers, and port sold by the glass. As well as the kaleidoscopic window displays, there was graffiti scrawled artfully across walls, and azulejos of all patterns and colours plastered up the facades of the buildings.
The rain had stripped the petals from a vibrant bougainvillea overhanging the entrance to their hotel, leaving them strewn like confetti amongst the cobbles. Bending over to pick one up, Pepper caught the sweet, unmistakable scent of just-baked bread drifting out from a patisserie and felt her stomach rumble with longing.
‘It’s every bit as beautiful as I remember,’ murmured Josephine, whose entire demeanour seemed to be softening by the second.
‘I love it,’ Pepper agreed, smiling across at her friend. ‘I can’t believe I’m actually here.’
Josephine clutched her arm, giving it a quick squeeze.
‘Darling, this is just the very beginning of our adventure.’
Half an hour later, having unpacked, showered and swapped her comfortable flight ensemble of leggings and oversized shirt for a lime-green playsuit covered in toucans, Pepper ventured back downstairs and found Josephine propped up at the hotel bar.
‘Nice hat,’ she appraised, taking in the UFO-sized adornment that her friend had balanced across her lap. She had changed, too, into a long flowing dress covered with flowers.
‘Feel free to shelter underneath it if it rains again,’ Josephine said, gesturing for Pepper to sit on the stool beside her. ‘Do you want anything to drink?’
‘No, thanks.’ Pepper frowned at the glass of what looked suspiciously like gin and tonic in her friend’s hand. ‘Bit early for me.’
‘It’s sparkling water, darling,’ Josephine lifted her drink so that Pepper could smell it. ‘I’m not half as much of an old lush as you think I am.’
‘I think you’re very lush,’ Pepper told her loyally.
She was remarkably serene, considering she was back in the place that meant so much to her, where so many memories were lurking around corners waiting to be rediscovered. Pepper was about to ask her how she was feeling, when Josephine disarmed her with one of her mischievous grins.
‘The fizz has done the trick,’ she announced. ‘I feel fit as a Cossack dancer, about ready to skip through the streets.’ Then, when Pepper gave her an incredulous look, ‘Come along, then – toodle-pip!’
Outside, a late-afternoon sun had broken through and ushered away any remaining rainclouds. The higher they climbed through the twisty, shaded streets of the Alfama district, the better the view across the city became. Lisbon’s famed terracotta rooftops glowed like embers against a periwinkle sky, the Rio Tejo sparkled sapphire blue below them, and tramlines slithered like silvery eels across the roads and up around corners.
Josephine seemed content to simply wander for the time being and reacquaint herself with the area, so she and Pepper followed what seemed to be the natural direction through the backstreets, eventually finding themselves at the edge of a wide, tiled viewing platform. There were tables and chairs arranged haphazardly around a small kiosk, but every single spot was occupied by a mixture of tourists and locals. Pepper could tell the latter from their deep tans and casual manner, while the pale-limbed British were all stiffness and sunburnt faces.
Around yet another corner, in the shadow of a vast white-stone church, they came across a quaint yet rather shabby courtyard. The flowerbeds were unkempt, and cracks crisscrossed the surrounding walls, but little could detract from the beauty of a large blue-and-white mural. Pepper ran her eye over every individual tile, absorbing each brush stroke with mounting pleasure. The city was steadily working its ambient magic on her – she already sensed that there was less noise inside her head, fewer drumbeats inside her heart.
There was a second courtyard below the one they were in now, and Pepper could see that it had a long shallow pool at its centre, as well as a tiled seating area overhung with yet more gaudy fronds of bougainvillea. As she followed Josephine down the steps, Pepper noticed a man walking up from the other direction. Tall and broad-shouldered, with a flop of golden hair hanging over his eyes, he was incongruous among all the small, dark Portuguese.
As they drew level with one another, Pepper sneaked a closer look, only to blush as she realised he was staring right back. As their eyes met, the man smiled at her with such warmth and familiarity, that for a moment, she was taken aback, wondering if she somehow knew him.
‘Hallo.’
Pepper felt her cheeks heat up all in a rush.
‘Er, hello.’
Grinning as she dropped her gaze, Pepper fixed her eyes firmly ahead and tried to resist the need to turn around. The urge to have another look at this handsome specimen was a strong one. Whoever this man was, he was easily one of the most attractive Pepper had ever seen. He might even be the most attractive.
She suppressed a ridiculous giggle and forced herself to keep walking, but the encounter had made her feel so skittish that she almost collided with Josephine at the bottom of the steps.
‘What’s the big hurry?’ she asked, looking over Pepper’s shoulder with intrigue.
‘Nobody. I mean nothing.’ Pepper cringed.
Josephine removed her sunglasses and squinted up the steps.
‘Hello. Yes, you there,’ she called. Then, to Pepper’s horror, began to beckon with her hand.
What on earth was she playing at?
To the blond man’s credit, he did look rather embarrassed to have been summoned, and the smile he offered Pepper looked a lot like one of defeat.
‘Hi.’ Pepper shifted from one sandalled foot to the other.
‘Hello, again.’ He didn’t offer either of them a hand to shake, but when Josephine extended one of her own, he took it.
‘Sorry,’ he said then, sounding amused. ‘How are you today?’
He had an accent, Pepper realised – Dutch perhaps, or maybe German.
‘We are extremely well, thank you,’ said Josephine, who was eyeing him in the same way Paddington Bear might a jar of marmalade. Pepper opened her mouth and shut it again. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling, but the ability to speak had apparently abandoned her completely
The man beamed at her.
‘I thought that–– That we . . .’ He looked helplessly at Pepper.
‘Liked the look of each other?’ suggested Josephine.
The man nodded, rubbing his hand across his jaw as he did so.
‘Perhaps, yes.’
‘How wonderful,’ she exclaimed.
Pepper was torn between wanting to laugh and wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. She had gone past standard humiliation and into a realm of mortification previously unknown. Was it possible to simply stop living because you were so embarrassed? Pepper felt sure she would soon find out.
Josephine was now busy introducing them.
‘And this is my very good friend, Philippa.’
‘Pepper.’ So, she could speak after all.
‘Finn.’
Another smile. He was grinning wider than the Tiger Who Came to Tea – after he’d emptied all the kitchen cupboards.
Pepper searched in vain for some more words – for any words. She was aware of Josephine looking back and forth between the two of them as if she was watching a tennis match, her unbridled delight at the situation threatening to bubble over like microwaved porridge.