Second chances in teneri.., p.1
Second Chances in Tenerife, page 1
Ian Wilfred
Second Chances in Tenerife
Copyright © 2023 by Ian Wilfred
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously and any resemblance to persons living or dead, business establishments, events, locations or areas, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except for brief quotations and segments used for promotion or in reviews.
Cover Design: Avalon Graphics
Editing: Laura McCallen
Proofreading: Maureen Vincent-Northam
Formatting: Rebecca Emin
All rights reserved.
For Ron
Acknowledgements
There are a few people I'd like to thank for getting Second Chances in Tenerife out into the world.
The fabulous Rebecca Emin at Gingersnap Books for organising everything for me and who also produced both kindle and paperback books. Laura McCallen for all the time and effort she spent editing the book, Maureen Vincent-Northam for proofreading, and the very talented Cathy Helms at Avalon Graphics for producing the terrific cover.
Finally for my late mum who is always with me in everything I do.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 1
March
As Jill walked into the airport departures lounge, it hit her: this time she had a one way ticket. She was leaving England for the final time for a new start in Tenerife. After just over four hours on the plane, and then the short taxi ride to her little house, her new life would begin. Actually, perhaps a bit longer than that, she thought, noticing that the departures board said her flight was delayed. This was not what she needed, especially as the lounge was packed and she couldn’t see a seat anywhere. As she glanced around, she was relieved to see that there was one spare seat. Oh, she hoped that the woman sat next to it wouldn’t be too much of a chatterbox. In her head Jill was saying, please don’t talk to me, I just want to be left alone.
‘Hi, excuse me, sorry to disturb you, but is anyone sitting here?’
‘No, it’s free,’ the woman said, smiling at Jill.
Jill smiled back and sat down, turning slightly away from her seat companion and busying herself organising the contents of her bag. This was going to be okay. There was no indication the other woman was planning to initiate a conversation, which was perfect as Jill didn’t know if she was ready to talk to anyone. Making herself comfortable, she readied for the long wait just as an announcement was made to say that the Tenerife flight would be delayed for at least three hours.
‘It looks like I’ll be sat here a while,’ Jill found herself saying aloud, suddenly realising that with so much time to spare she’d need to break her one flight rule: don’t start a conversation with the passenger next to you. Now, she wasn’t completely anti-social, she could cope with a ‘hello’, but that was about it, really, because from her past experiences she knew if someone spoke to her the first thing they would ask is why she was travelling alone and she just didn’t like talking about her life to complete strangers.
The woman looked at her, a bit confused, so Jill explained, ‘That’s my flight that they’ve just said is delayed.’
‘Oh, me too, that’s my flight as well. I’m Karen. I’m off on holiday for a couple of weeks and I’ve never been to Tenerife before. Come to that, I’ve never been on holiday by myself before. I’m really nervous – not about the flight but, well … about not being with anyone. Sorry, that must sound silly to you. Look, I’ll stop talking. I know there’s nothing worse than a stranger starting a conversation when you just want to be left alone.’
Jill found she felt guilty. Was it that obvious that she wanted to be left alone? Looking at Karen she could see the other woman clearly didn’t want to be by herself and Jill found herself wanting to make her feel better, to reassure her that she would have a lovely time. But how could she do it without getting in too deep and potentially having to listen to Karen’s life story? She had enough of her own life to figure out at the moment without hearing about someone else’s…
‘I’m sure you will have a lovely time, Karen. Are you staying somewhere nice? By the way, I’m Jill. I’m by myself as well, and to tell you the truth, I’m really happy about it.’
‘I only booked this holiday yesterday – it was a spur of the moment thing – and I’m staying at one of those big hotels in Costa Adeje. I just needed to get away from everyone. You see, me and my other half just split up and everyone was feeling sorry for me and I just couldn’t cope with all the questions and sympathy. Being honest, the last thing I need is a holiday in a busy hotel. In fact, I don’t need a holiday at all… What I really need is to sort my life out and get on with things. Too much thinking is not good for me.’
‘I know what you mean. I’m off to a little house I own in Los Kalanchoe – it’s quiet and very close to the hotels in Adeje just around the coast – and a little like you, I’m escaping lots of friends feeling sorry for me. Nothing to do with a man in my case, but rather a business, which, sadly, is no longer there. I swore that once I was on the plane and it took off any thoughts of that would go out of my mind, but we aren’t in the air yet and with the way things are going at the moment it could be a while still. I’m sorry about your relationship. Mine ended years ago and though I can tell you time is a good healer, I know that if anyone had said that to me at the time, I would have wanted to hit them. But it is true and is worth saying – things do get better as the months and years pass.’
‘Thank you, Jill, for the kind words. Honestly? I should never have stayed with him as long as I did. We were together for eight years but I should have seen that the relationship was doomed from the start. Still, after just a few weeks of seeing him, I had planned our whole life together in my head and though he tried everything possible to break it off, I wouldn’t listen and just ploughed on regardless, promising him the world and telling him what a wonderful future we would have together. I’m sorry. I can’t help but start to spiral when I think about it. I need to be like you and put all of it behind me once the plane takes off. I’m so mad at myself though. Eight wasted years of nothing but working every hour god sent to make the perfect life for him.’
‘For you both, surely, not just him?’
It suddenly hit Karen. Jill was right. It had all been for Jeff. She had never thought of it like that but from day one she had just wanted to make him happy and so she’d stopped taking herself into consideration. What a fool she had been. She could feel tears welling up. Oh, why was she going away? How was a holiday ever going to solve anything? Wrapped up in regret, she suddenly realised they were making another announcement but she had missed the message.
‘I’m sorry, I missed what she was saying. Did you catch it?’ she asked Jill.
‘Apparently, we’ll only have to wait another half an hour before we can board and not the three hours they suggested before. That’s good news, isn’t it, Karen? We’ll be able to leave everything behind us sooner than we’d thought! Even though it might be just for a few weeks that you’ll be away, I’m sure it will help you to see things a little clearer.’
Karen smiled and they both settled in to pass the time until their flight was called. Jill hoped she had made Karen feel better and that she would be able to switch off from all her problems and have a lovely holiday. As for herself, it wasn’t a holiday but rather a new start. Okay, she’d had her little house for years, but she had never lived there full-time and there was a lot to sort with the property as it had been used as a holiday let for quite a while and had endured a lot of wear and tear over the years. But Jill welcomed the challenge, knowing it would occupy her time and attention for a while, and she had to admit that she was excited to get rid of all the things the holiday makers used and instead fill the cupboards with all the nice china and glasses she had collected over the years. She was also planning on installing new curtains and of course adding a lovely fresh coat of paint. No, it wasn’t turning her Tenerife house into a home that would be stressful, it would be all the other stuff she wasn’t looking forward to – all the things that needed sorting from her old life here in the UK. That would involve solicitors and accountants, and she suspected that none of it would be pleasant, but she would find a way to cope with it. She had no other choice.
And the worst and most difficult – thing would be rebuilding the relationship with her daughter, Amanda. Given everything that had been said between them, that was something Jill wasn’t sure would ever happen, and even if it did, the relationship would never be the same. What they had once had together was gone forever and impossible to put right.
Jill forced a smile when she realised Karen was looking at her with concern.
‘It will soon be, “goodbye, England and goodbye, problems”, isn’t that right, Karen? Though I do wonder if we might just be kidding ourselves really. We can’t just run away from everything and starting a new life at the age of fifty for me won’t be easy. Sitting here, waiting for the plane, I have to admit that I’m a little scared.’
‘Come on, Jill, you were the one building up my confidence! I was starting to believe I could leave everything behind,’ Karen said hopefully.
‘I’m sorry, Karen, of course we can. Farewell, problems, hello, sunny Tenerife!’
Chapter 2
The following morning, Jill walked down the stairs and stopped part way at the little window, through which the sun was already shining, even though it was still early.
She was feeling a little numb, still unsure if she had done the right thing in coming here. Okay, she’d had to find somewhere to live after giving back the lease to her shop and the flat that came with it, but being here she would now lose the holiday rental income that came with this little house. Trying to distract herself from her increasingly worried thoughts, she spoke aloud to herself.
‘Good morning, Tenerife! Good morning, little house!’
And it really was a little house but the size wasn’t a problem as Jill didn’t need anything bigger. There were two good sized double bedrooms and an okay sized bathroom upstairs with a lovely walk-in shower, but it was the ground floor area she loved the most. The open plan kitchen, dining, and living area was bordered by big patio doors leading out to the garden … well, not so much a garden yet, but that was a project Jill was looking forward to. She knew she had a lot to get sorted but before anything else she would treat herself to a coffee on the terrace.
Coffee poured, Jill grabbed two blank pieces of paper, ready to put a plan of action together once she’d had her first cup. One she headed ‘Tenerife’ and the other she headed ‘UK’.
Jill knew exactly which piece of paper she wanted to concentrate on but she also knew she couldn’t ignore the other one – she had to take the good with the bad. There was also something she had been putting off since the minute she stepped off the plane – she needed to switch her phone back on and face the texts and voice messages, and of course the dreaded emails. But none of that was going to happen for at least an hour. First, she was going to drink her coffee in the lovely Tenerife morning sunshine and imagine herself here in twelve months’ time, by which point she would have finished sorting out her life and moved on from her past.
****
The hour had turned into nearly two and Jill was finishing her third cup of coffee, resolving to face the fact that it was time to get into action. But before she could start, there was a knock at the door. Probably one of my lovely neighbours, she thought, suspecting it was most likely Betty from next door. She had known she would have to share the news she would now be living full-time here in Tenerife, and planned to tell Betty that it was because she had voluntarily retired. It was a version of the truth and all Jill was prepared to share for now because although Betty was a good friend, she did have a tendency to gossip and the one thing Jill didn’t want was for the whole of Los Kalanchoe to know that she’d had to close the business because she couldn’t financially afford to keep it going. It had been bad enough in England with people feeling sorry for her; she didn’t want that here on Tenerife as well.
Thankfully, she was spared having to say anything as it wasn’t Betty at the door.
‘Hello, Miguel, come in! It’s so lovely to see you and we have so much to catch up on. And your timing couldn’t be better as speaking to you was one of the first things on my to-do list.’
‘I’m so excited you’re here, and not just for a couple of weeks but forever! Now, give me a hug and then let’s brew some fresh coffee. I want to know all your news and especially what prompted the sudden decision to move here.’
Jill knew Miguel was the one person she could tell the truth to. They had been friends for so many years and he was the one who looked after her little Tenerife house, doing the cleaning in between all the holiday makers who rented it out and helping to organise bookings. Miguel was a Los Kalanchoe native and he and his two brothers owned a local restaurant, a place she had been eating in for too many years to remember. Miguel had once worked in the restaurant himself, but after meeting his now ex-partner, Cameron, he had gone to work in Playa Tillandsia and still did.
‘I promise to fill you in on all my news. By the way, thank you for the food you left for me in the fridge – and the wine, which I need to pay you for. It was such a relief to arrive to an already stocked fridge and pantry.’
‘Forget that for now. Make the coffee and tell me everything – no doubt there is more drama from that daughter of yours and putting two and two together I suspect she is the most likely reason you’re here.’
Jill went in to make them a drink, already dreading what her friend might say about her current predicament. She knew she would have to bring Amanda into the conversation and she also knew Miguel would say I told you so. For years he’d been telling Jill she’d always been too soft on her daughter and let her get away with everything, which was true, but that was because she wanted her daughter to have a good start in life and not have to struggle. But that would have to stop now, for obvious reasons, and so it would be best to get that conversation over with so Miguel could have his say and they could move on, focusing on her new life here in Tenerife.
‘Here you go, Miguel, one pot of coffee and an awfully long story to go with it. I hope you haven’t got anything planned for the next few hours. And yes, before you ask,’ she said, seeing the question in his eyes, ‘Amanda is involved. Oh… I think that someone’s at the door. Just a moment,’ she said, hurrying off to answer it and laughing to herself because Miguel’s face was a picture. There he was, perched on the end of his seat, waiting to hear the ins and outs of everything, and now he was being forced to wait.
Opening the door she was greeted by the sight of another welcome visitor – her next door neighbour, Betty.
‘Oh, Betty, I was going to come and tell you I’m here but you’ve beat me to it! And you have cake! What perfect timing as Miguel is out on the terrace and I’ve just made a pot of coffee. Go through and I’ll grab another mug.’
As she went to get the mug Jill couldn’t stop herself from smiling. Miguel would be fuming! There he was waiting to hear all about the drama back in England and now he would realise that none of it would get talked about in front of Betty. No, for now she’d stick to the simple explanation that she had retired and decided to relocate to Tenerife full-time. The story had been rehearsed to within an inch of its life in her head and she wished it was true because that would mean she wouldn’t have gone through all the upset she had in the last year.
‘The cake looks gorgeous, Betty, thank you. Here, let me pour you a coffee and cut us each a slice. Now, you must fill me in on what’s been happening here in Los Kalanchoe since I was here last. Any weddings, deaths, births? And more importantly, any gossip? And how’s Bob and the family? Have your son and his wife been over to visit?’ Jill knew she sounded slightly manic – reinforced by the alarmed and questioning look on Miguel’s face – but experience had taught her that if she asked enough questions, she could successfully divert Betty’s attention from the things she’d rather not discuss.
‘Just the usual. Oh, actually, Bob and I celebrated out fortieth wedding anniversary and also our ten years living in Tenerife! I can’t believe it’s that long since we left England but the marriage … let’s just say that it feels like one hundred years rather than forty! No, no, of course it doesn’t, I’m only joking. We’ve also both had big birthdays – we are officially old, both seventy now! – though of course you know that, Jill, as you sent us those lovely birthday cards; thank you again. And no, Danny and that wife of his haven’t been to Kalanchoe recently. Apparently, it isn’t good enough for her, not glamorous enough. What was it she said? Oh yes, “It’s just too plain and simple.” Danny, of course, loves it here, but what the wife wants, she gets… But enough of me and my family, tell me your news! How long are you staying this time? And how is Amanda? Is she with you? Oh, of course not, she’ll be busy running the shop for you while you’re here.’
