Saturday 12:30 pm

After giving it some thought, I decided to ask Loretta out to lunch. It was the day she was to pose for me and, later in the evening, I also wanted her to sit in on a session with my regular model Ulrich. As an aspiring artist herself, I thought that this would be valuable experience for Loretta as she had no formal training in art.

“Hi Jade, is Loretta ready?”

As always, Jade smiled when she saw me at her front door but at the mention of Loretta’s name her face darkened slightly. I still had no idea what the problem between these two cousins was, but I could tell that it had worsened in the weeks since Loretta had come to stay. Jade shook her head vaguely and said,

“I’ll tell her you’re here.”

A moment later Loretta appeared, looking as though she had just stepped from between the covers of Vogue. She grinned confidently then gave me a covert look of grateful relief; she was clearly glad to be out of Jade’s house for a while.

I took her to a quiet little Italian place a few kilometers down the coast road. Enzo’s overlooked the ocean and since it was such a glorious day, we sat outside where the sea breezes played with Loretta’s hair. She didn’t seem to mind but I could tell that she was unused to the stylish surroundings. I ordered us a bottle of lambrusco dolce rosso and had to smile at the wide-eyed face of Enzo, the owner, as he came over to greet us. I had been a regular at his establishment for years but I was usually accompanied only by a novel or by my sketchbook.

Loretta tried her best to look cool but I could detect that she was very excited and a little out of her depth. That was ok – she was human after all. During lunch she was very talkative and upbeat – surprisingly so, but she steered clear of any mention of her cousin Jade and quickly changed the subject when I asked her about her parents and the farm.

“They’re religious and so fucking moralistic and prudish they make me sick,” was about all I could get out of her about them after several attempts.

We enjoyed a typically delicious lunch and ordered coffee. After the waiter had left I took time to admire Loretta’s face and her fine clothes.

“You look fantastic by the way – you dress beautifully.” I always compliment beauty when I see it – it is my duty as an artist to do so. She looked at me in silence and I thought that she was going to blush then, half reluctantly, she said,

“Aw, they’re all charity-shop clothes.”

“Well, you’re very beautiful in them, aristocratic.”

“Yeah right!” she laughed.

“No, I mean it. You have what Preston Sturges called ‘the aristocracy of beauty.’

“Thank you,” her voice was so quiet that it was almost lost in the noise of the waves breaking down at the base of the cliff.

I paid the bill and we drove to a secluded, sandy beach where I often went fishing. Silver Sands was aptly named; apart from its colour, the sand here has a marvelous silky texture that is sensuous to the touch. We took off our shoes and strolled along the water’s edge for about half an hour. I felt very relaxed as I always do by the ocean but I could see that Loretta was a little preoccupied. She picked up a few interesting shells but she kept on looking around – for what I could not guess. Soon we reached a natural outcrop of black basalt that had been weathered over the millennia into boulders and hollows.

Loretta’s pace quickened slightly as she saw this place and, when she got there, she spent a little time exploring it. Soon she found a fair sized hollow that looked out to sea. Leaning against the flat black rock face she smiled and as I stood next to her, she gripped my shoulder and looked me in the eye. Her eyes were beautiful, alluring and very tastefully made up. She wore a sweet perfume that mixed with the sea air to make a unique aroma that I always associate with that blissful day.

“You lied for me,” she said gravely, her eyes piercing my soul.

“What do you mean?”

“At your house, you told Jade that you hadn’t seen me that day.”

“Oh that.”

“Yes that!” she smiled.

“It was nothing,” I lied again.

“Well, I’m grateful and now you and I have some unfinished business.”

She kissed me with genuine tenderness and soon my hands had found her shoulders, her trim waist and shapely ass.