Wish You Were Here

Chapter 21



Alice spent a sleepless night tossing and turning in bed, her head full of the images that had assaulted her throughout the day: Wilfred’s pink face, Bruce’s haunting gaze and Larry’s grabbing hands. They couldn’t all be in love with her, could they? The idea was ludicrous. And then there’d been that strange incident as she’d walked past the playing fields on her way home from the village shop that evening. The local rugby team had been out practising and one of them had looked up and wolf-whistled at her. Alice had never been whistled at in her life and hadn’t been able to keep a smile from her face at the compliment whether it was politically correct or not. But then something strange had happened as, one by one, the other team members had stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her.

‘Hey!’ one of them had shouted. ‘Stop!’

‘It’s Alice,’ another one had said. She wasn’t sure who he was or how he knew her name but, as soon as the word had left his mouth, the whole field started chanting Alice, Alice, Alice until the air was quite full.

Alice had begun to run which had been a mistake because the rugby team had begun to run too and, if it hadn’t been for the clumsy guy who had fallen over, and the two men who had started a fight, Alice would probably have been in the centre of a rugby scrum right now.

She shook her head as she remembered fleeing from the scene with her carrier bag of potatoes. Never before had she witnessed anything as bizarre.

As she lay in the dark of her bedroom, the sound of a fox calling from across the fields, she tried desperately to come up with a logical explanation for the events of the day but her mind always circled back to the same thing – the wish. The wish to be noticed by men – really noticed.

It was then that something occurred to her. If this was all real then surely she couldn’t be the only one to have made a wish on the statue. Were there other people around the world who had made wishes that had come true?

She swung her legs out of bed and switched on the lamp, pulling on her dressing gown and running through to the spare bedroom where the computer was. She switched it on and waited for the screen to come to life. She wasn’t really sure what she was looking for or if she would find any answers at all but surely she couldn’t be the only one who had fallen under the strange spell of the Aphrodite statue.

Alice entered two things into the search engine: Aphrodite and Villa Argenti and, almost straightaway, discovered a forum that had been set up. She scrolled down the pages, reading the stories.

‘I wished for true love and met my husband a week later. We’ve been married for five years now and have twin girls!’

Another one read:

‘I asked the statue to help me win back my girlfriend and it worked! We’re getting married next year.’

There were so many. There were wishes for holiday romances, wishes for marriage proposals and wishes just to be noticed by someone, and each of the wishes had come true. But was it all to do with wishes or was it only coincidence? The sceptic in Alice told her that only the positive outcomes had been documented here and that there were probably hundreds or thousands of people whose wishes hadn’t been granted. How was she to know?

‘And does it really matter anyway?’ she said to herself.

The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t help wondering if she was completely mad for wanting to rid herself of all this male attention and for not taking full advantage of the situation she found herself in.

As she switched the computer off and saw her reflection in the dark screen, she smiled to herself. If she was going to be the centre of all this attention, shouldn’t she just go along with it and enjoy it whilst it lasted? Having Larry Baxter trap you in an interview room might not be a dream scenario, and a hairy postman declaring his undying love to you might be a situation best avoided, but the experience with the handsome rugby team had been rather good fun and what would it be like if she suddenly caught the attention of somebody she really liked? What would happen the next time Ben Alexander walked into her department?

Alice returned to bed and couldn’t help smiling at the thought of being able to seduce a handsome man. It was as if the spirit of Aphrodite was working its magic upon her.

* * *

When Alice walked into her department the next day, she caught Larry’s eyes and saw his face flood with colour and he promptly made a big fuss about moving his chair to the other side of the desk so that he’d have his back to her, which suited Alice perfectly. She didn’t want to be the constant recipient of his lustful looks all day. So, she was able to get on with things, only once having to ask his advice on something, which he managed to give without turning around.

It was just before one o’clock when Ben Alexander walked into the department. Alice was about to take her lunch break which consisted of a flat, homemade sandwich eaten on a lonely bench in the local park, so she was in no hurry whatsoever.

‘Hello, Ben,’ she said as he came level with her table. He was wearing a navy shirt which brought out the blue of his eyes and the dark red of his hair. ‘Is there something I can help you with?’

At first, he didn’t seem to notice her. There was nothing unusual in that, of course, and Alice tried not to take it personally but then he turned round and looked at her – really looked at her.

‘Have you done something to your hair, Anna?’ he asked, his head cocked to one side as he studied her.

‘No,’ she said, stroking it self-consciously. ‘And my name’s Alice,’ she said, feeling confident enough to tell him that now.

‘Pardon?’

‘My name’s Alice – not Anna,’ she said with a little smile as if she was the one with the apology to offer.

‘Really?’ he said.

‘I think so. At least it’s been Alice for the last twenty-odd years.’

Ben’s face seemed to fall. ‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’

She shrugged. ‘It’s not important,’ she said, straightening the files that were sitting on her desk.

‘Not important? But it’s the most important thing in the world!’ he said, moving towards her and instantly setting her pulse racing.

‘It is?’ she said.

‘Yes!’ he said earnestly, staring so deep into her eyes that she felt quite dizzy. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I was just heading out for some lunch. Perhaps you’d like to join me?’

Alice’s eyes doubled in size. ‘Me?’

‘Of course you!’ Ben said with a little laugh.

Alice smiled and pushed the dusty folders to the back of her desk, grabbed her handbag and nodded before Ben had a chance to change his mind.

It was the strangest feeling in the world leaving the office with Ben Alexander. Alice swore that both the receptionists did double takes as the two of them swiped their security cards one after the other and shared a compartment in the revolving door, and Sara Fitzgerald from the finance department, who’d once been caught in a compromising position with Ben behind a Swiss Cheese plant at the office Christmas party, looked particularly cross when she saw them walking down the street together.

So, this was what it felt like to be one of the beautiful people, Alice thought, as they walked through the crowded streets of Norwich together, although she guessed that it was Ben people were noticing and not her. It really was very amusing to see the looks the women were giving him – little nods and whispers to one another as they saw him.

But he’s with me, Alice thought to herself with a big smile.

‘Come on,’ he said, ‘I want to show you my favourite haunt.’

They walked into the centre of town until they reached the colourful canopied market where Alice loved to lose herself whenever she needed to top up her kitchen supplies. She adored the bright displays of fruit and flowers and could never resist a quick peep at the book stalls too but, today, they marched right past and turned right down a tiny alley.

Wheeler’s was a small establishment that sold very expensive health food and the tiniest cups of coffee Alice had ever seen, but it was a cut above your average eatery and had wonderful views across the deckchair-like canopies of the market. More importantly, she was there with Ben and he was paying her more attention than he’d ever put her way over the long years she’d been working under the same roof as him.

After ordering lunch, they chose a table by the window and sat down. Alice bit her lip and then smiled at him.

‘Wow!’ he said. ‘I do love the way you do that.’

She giggled. If that was the reaction a smile got then what would happen if she started to flirt with him for real she wondered? ‘You’re staring at me!’ she said.

‘I can’t help it,’ he said, tilting his head to one side. ‘Smile again.’

‘You’re making me feel self-conscious,’ she said.

‘Well, you should be – conscious of how beautiful you are.’ That made Alice smile and Ben laughed. ‘There it is!’ he said. ‘Men would pay good money for that smile. They’d sail ships across oceans to see it!’

Alice rolled her eyes in mock annoyance but she was really lapping up every minute of praise that he was lavishing upon her.

‘I bet you tell all the girls that,’ she said, knowing full well that he’d dated half of the building society whilst the other half were just biding their time.

He shook his head. ‘No,’ he said, ‘because they’re nothing compared to you. Nothing!’

Alice laughed again. She knew these were dreadful clichés tumbling out of his mouth but there was such conviction in the way he said them that it was hard not to believe him and she did so want to. How many years had she spent gazing at him as he walked into her department, wondering what it would be like if he turned to look at her one day and smile? Now, here he was paying her all the attention she’d ever wanted and she couldn’t believe it.

‘There’s something quite—’ Ben paused, a serious expression on his face, ‘quite radiant about you. It’s as if you’ve swallowed a rainbow or something.’

Alice buried her head in her hands. ‘Don’t say such things!’ she said.

‘Why not?’ he asked, crestfallen.

She looked up and saw how earnest he looked. ‘It just sounds so fake,’ she said.

‘But I’m being honest, Alice. I just want you to know how special you are.’

‘But I’m not.’

‘You are!’ he said, grabbing her hands across the table so that they were hovering precariously over her bowl of tomato and basil soup. ‘I don’t know what it is about you,’ he continued, ‘but you’re different from everyone else.’

Alice swallowed hard. She didn’t want to say that she was probably the only one woman in Norwich having had a wish granted from the goddess of love. ‘Let’s talk about something else,’ she said.

‘I can’t think of a single subject other than you when you’re sitting so close to me.’

‘Try, Ben,’ she said.

He took a deep breath and let go of her hands. ‘Okay, then,’ he said. ‘What do you want to talk about?’

‘Anything,’ she said. ‘I don’t know a thing about you other than your job, of course.’ That wasn’t strictly true, Alice admitted to herself. She’d once looked in his file and knew that he’d studied Maths and Statistics at St John’s College in Oxford and that he was a Cancer born on the cusp with Gemini which might account for his flirtatious nature.

‘What do you want to know?’ he asked, taking a bite out of his wholemeal roll.

‘Anything you want to tell me.’

He took a sip of his coffee. ‘I was born in London and moved to Norfolk when I was eight. I’ve got a younger brother called James. He works as a teacher in a school in Ely. He’s got three children and I adore them.’ He grinned and Alice’s heart warmed at the sight of it. ‘I’d love to have kids,’ he said. ‘Hey! Maybe we can have some!’

‘Ben!’ Alice exclaimed.

‘Yeah! I’ve always wanted a large family. Like The Waltons, you know?’

She laughed at his enthusiasm. ‘I think it’s a bit early to talk about children.’

‘Don’t you want children?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ Alice said, ‘only not before we’ve ordered coffee.’

He smiled. ‘Fair enough,’ he said.

‘Tell me about work,’ she asked. ‘Do you like it? You always seem happy at the office. Is it what you’ve always wanted to do?’

‘Is it ever what we really want to do?’ he said and he looked a little jaded. ‘I mean, I can’t remember thinking at school that I wanted to work in a building society. It’s not the stuff of daydreams, is it?’

‘No,’ Alice said. ‘It isn’t.’

‘I mean, don’t get me wrong – it isn’t as bad as some jobs. I know I bring in a pretty decent salary and there are plenty of perks and everything. I could be a lot worse off but—’ he paused and his blue eyes looked wistful.

‘What?’

‘I just get restless sometimes,’ he said.

Alice nodded in agreement.

‘And I have to get away.’

Alice remembered seeing the postcards Ben had sent his department over the years from different corners of the globe from India to Fiji, New Zealand to Brazil.

‘But I always end up coming back, don’t I?’ he said, popping a cherry tomato in his mouth. ‘I know! We should run away together,’ he suddenly said, his face lighting up with boyish enthusiasm. ‘Just take off and never come back. Wouldn’t that be brilliant? We could buy one of those old Volkswagen camper vans and drive and drive until the road runs out. What do you think?’

‘What do I think?’ Alice said, trying to look serious for a moment as she thought of taking off with Ben and spending whole days and nights with him, camping out under the stars and talking over baby names. ‘I think you’re completely mad – that’s what I think.’

‘Yeah!’ he said. ‘Mad about you.’

Alice blushed. She could have sat there all day listening to Ben but she caught sight of the clock above the till and realised that they were horribly late.

‘We’ve got to go,’ she said. ‘Larry will kill me.’

‘Not if I tell him you were with me doing some very important work.’ They stood up and Ben took her hand.

This isn’t real, Alice kept telling herself – the looks, the declarations and the hand-holding – they weren’t real. But, as they walked through the centre of Norwich, passing Jarrold’s on their way back to the office, Alice couldn’t help but pretend that it was and it felt wonderful.