The Women Who Ran Away - Sheila O'Flanagan Page 0,76

had fallen asleep after talking to Aline and didn’t wake up until almost six thirty in the evening. She was shocked at having slept for so long but pleased that she was feeling refreshed and alert, with no trace of her earlier headache. She picked up her phone and saw that Deira had sent a message half an hour earlier asking if she wanted to join her on a walk around the town.

She responded by telling Deira about her unexpectedly deep sleep and asking what time she’d like to meet to chat about the clue. And have something to eat, she added.

Café Iruña at 7.30? replied Deira after a few minutes.

Grace sent a thumbs-up emoji in reply before heading for the shower and then changing into a pretty floral dress and a pair of flat sandals with multicoloured jewels on the straps. She tidied her hair and hung the blue pendant around her neck again. Then she took a map of the town from the information folder on the bureau and went outside.

The plaza was busy, with plenty of tourists sitting in the many cafés that surrounded it. Grace walked towards the famed Café Iruña, not because she expected to see Deira there, as it was far too early, but because she hoped to find a statue or plaque relating to Hemingway outside. Once the photograph was taken, she’d have all the elements of the clue. However, even though she walked the length of the small block, she didn’t see anything referring to the great writer.

She completed a circuit of the plaza, looking out for whatever might seem obvious, though given that the clue said ‘near a place he loved’, she was sure it was the café. Perhaps, she thought, the tribute was inside.

As it was still far too early for Deira to show up, and Grace didn’t want to sit there alone, she decided to continue her stroll by walking along the narrow street that ran alongside the hotel. At ground level, the shops were a mixture of old and new; above them were old apartments with wooden shutters and wrought-iron balconies. Grace liked how people on the Continent still lived in old buildings in the centre of the city, something that had become increasingly rare in Ireland. She’d grown too accustomed to her own house and garden to ever want to live in an apartment in the centre of town herself, but there was a part of her that loved the sheer vibrancy of city living. However, even though it made sense for her to downsize to a smaller home with a smaller garden, it was easier said than done. Homes weren’t only physical structures. They were everything that structure represented.

She thought of the kitchen wall where she’d carefully marked off the heights of the children on their birthdays, and the way the afternoon sun slanted through the Velux window in the kitchen, which always lifted her spirits. She thought of the garden that she’d tended so lovingly, and the organised chaos that was still Ken’s office because she hadn’t felt able yet to sort it.

When I get back, she promised herself. I’ll deal with everything when I get back.

She turned onto a street that she assumed would take her back to the Plaza del Castillo and her hotel, but realised she’d somehow lost her sense of direction and hadn’t a clue where she was. The plaza at the end, which she’d assumed was the main square, was actually much smaller, shaded with a few trees and with a water fountain in the centre. There was a bench near the fountain, where she sat down and consulted the tourist map, although as it only showed the main streets, it wasn’t much help. Nevertheless, the dappled sun, slanting through the leaves of the trees, was warm on her shoulders, and a soft breeze cooled the hot air. She folded the map again and closed her eyes, filled with a sense of tranquillity, a peace in both mind and body, that she hadn’t experienced since Ken’s diagnosis. She realised too that the burden of guilt, which had never left her, had eased a little too. She was in the moment, and the moment was perfect.

She released her breath in a long, heartfelt sigh and wished it could last forever.

Not having had an immediate response to her text, Deira had opted to go for her walk by herself. Her own ramble had taken in many of the same streets as Grace,