Page 16 of Under A Sicilian Sky
She glanced sideways and could see the security guard pacing in front of the gates as he smoked a cigarette and talked on his phone. She couldn’t make out words, not that she would’ve understood what he was saying anyway.
A small dog, possibly a Yorkshire Terrier, appeared from inside the gatehouse and followed the guard as he paced. Every so often, the man stopped and bent to scratch the creature behind its ears, and Ruby giggled at the contrast in size between the dog and his burly owner. Eventually, the dog seemed to tire of following his master and flopped down in the shade of one of the olive trees. She made a mental note to introduce herself as soon as possible – to the dog, not the guard. She’d always been a sucker for a wet nose and a pair of big brown eyes.
She picked up her mobile phone and stared at the screen. No notifications. But then she remembered she had deactivated all her accounts. The stress of the vibrations and pings every second had been too much, and anyway, it would mean no more hacking. Although she could see there was no Wi-Fi, and the phone signal was on minimal bars. Perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing. She could always enquire with the guards as she was sure they would need internet access, but then thought better of it. The peace and quiet was welcome.
She made her way down to the kitchen and found bread, cheese, fruit juice and all manner of other foodstuffs to tantalise her taste buds. She broke off a chunk of fresh bread and poured a glass of orange juice, then made her way back upstairs to explore a little more. At the end of the corridor, she discovered a covered terrace. It was open to the elements at one end and overlooked a swimming pool in the centre of a courtyard at the rear corner of the property. There was hardly any water in the pool and what was there was dirty and full of leaves; the one sunlounger situated beside it had seen better days too. It was strangely derelict in appearance and Ruby wondered why. The balcony, however, was the perfect shady retreat to eat breakfast and enjoy the fresh air. The furniture was surprisingly modern and comfortable.
She tapped at the screen of her phone and confirmed that the signal was sketchy at best. There was absolutely no public Wi-Fi that she could access, meaning video calls were out of the question. She hit dial on Kitty’s number and willed the call to connect.
‘Hey! You didn’t call me when you arrived, you bugger,’ Kitty said as soon as the call connected.
‘Yes, but it was a reeeally long flight, and I was absolutely knackered. Anyway, at least we’re in a similar time zone now. You’ll get sick of hearing from me.’
‘Never. So… what’s it like? Are you surrounded by hunky guards and shirtless builders?’
Ruby laughed. ‘Erm… not exactly. The security guard looks like something from a Russian spy movie and the builders aren’t here until tomorrow. I’m not too bad just now, but I can see the loneliness getting to me.’
‘Aw, honey. It must all be very strange for you. I’ve been watching the news, but they’ve been on about the Royals visiting America, so you’re old news for now, at least.’
‘That’s a relief. Anyway, I wish I could video-call you and give you a tour of the house, but the signal is awful. There’s no Wi-Fi that’s immediately obvious either, which is absolutely pants. The house isn’t as bad as I expected so that’s good, and the location is stunning but talk about isolated. It looks like some kind of millionaire’s row along the road.’
‘No pool?’
‘Oh yes, there’s a pool, but I won’t be swimming in it. It’s filthy. Goodness knows what creatures might be living in there.’ She shivered at the thought.
‘Have you heard anything from Tyler?’ Kitty asked with a certain amount of hesitancy audible in her voice.
‘Nope. Not a damn thing. I left his ring with Valerie. I’m surprised he didn’t ask for it on the night we broke up, to be honest.’
Kitty sighed. ‘I must say, I’m in awe at how well you’re handling the break-up. Unless it hasn’t hit you yet?’
Ruby thought about it for a moment. ‘In all honesty, I think I was relieved in the end. Looking back, it never really felt like love. It was all about press photos and publicity. Even the proposal felt like a popularity stunt. Okay, the sex was good, but the affection was seriously lacking now I think back on it. I was genuinely fond of him, but he was more bothered with how many followers he had than spending quality time with me. I think I was kind of… blind to his real personality, you know?’
‘I can understand that, honey, for sure.’
‘And he didn’t stand up for me. How can that be love? I want to be important enough to someone that they will stand up for me, put me first. Like Gerry does with you.’ Kitty and Gerry had met at sixth form college and had started off as friends. They had the kind of complete compatibility in their relationship that people aspired to achieve. Ruby especially.
‘And that’s what you deserve, chick. There’s someone out there for you, I just know there is. Maybe you’ll fall in love with Vlad the security guy?’ She giggled.
‘I wish I’d never said that about him now. He’s probably a very nice man. He’s just rather large and scary-looking. All that bulk is intimidating. Although, in complete contrast to his demeanour, he appears to bring his dog to work. A little Yorkshire Terrier, of all things!’
Kitty gasped. ‘Really? Not a bull mastiff or an Alsatian?’
Ruby grinned. ‘Nope, a dog like the one my gran used to have. Hers was called Sprinkles… I wonder if he puts little bows in its hair like she used to?’ She chuckled at the thought.
‘Try to snap a pic and send it,’ Kitty whispered.
Ruby frowned. ‘Of the dog?’
Kitty guffawed. ‘Theguard, you daft sod.’
‘I will not!’ Ruby laughed.
‘Spoilsport.’ Kitty sighed deeply. ‘Ugh, I wish I could fly out to visit you. Although, even if I was allowed to fly, I’m so fat at the moment I think they’d have to put me in the hold.’
‘I wish you could visit too, honey. And you’re not fat, you’repregnant. There’s a massive difference. Right, I’m off to make some tea and wander around the rest of the house. Maybe I’ll go for a cuddle with Sprinkles mark two. Speak tomorrow. Love you.’
‘Love you too, daaahling,’ Kitty replied in a ridiculously bad, mock Russian accent.
