Things You’d Wished You’d Done

As you get older, you realise there are things you wished you had done and worst of all, r it’s too late now.

When I was seventeen I wanted to jump from a plane with a parachute. It wasn’t widely available as it is now, and I thought, one day, maybe. Then I became a mum, and it seemed too much of a risk.

Horse riding was something I’d done since I was eight years old. One of my ambitions was to go riding on a beach. Sadly, it was something I never did. These days I write it into stories instead. There is a short story called Déjà vu where she rides across the sand, and another in my novel Joanna’s Destiny.

The other thing I wanted to do was be aboard a boat and jump into the warm sea. What makes this worse is that I had the opportunity back in the nineties, but wasn’t able to as it was the wrong time of the month.

Once more I wrote that into Joanna’s Destiny, where she swims in the sea from a boat that her boyfriend Niko has hired off the coast of Montreux.

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As they lay in the sun, they talked about the merits of being a millionaire and living in the public spotlight all the time. After a while, they fell silent, and Joanna dozed. When she awoke, she found Niko had put the parasol over her.

“How about a swim?” he asked. “That is, if you’re awake?”

“In the sea?” she asked, looking up at him. He was now wearing a pair of blue board shorts with a drawstring tied waist.

“No, honey, in the tub,” he said grinning and holding out his hand

She laughed., grabbed his hand and rose to her feet. “No, I mean, is it safe?”

“Sure it’s safe. Can you swim?”

“Yes.” She wandered to the railings and gazed at the twinkling water. “I could do with a bit of cooling off. You go first.”

“Huh-huh,” he said, shaking his head scooping her up pulling her into the water with him. They made a huge splash as the sea rose around them.

“You ratbag!” she shouted when he surfaced.

He laughed. “Cooler now?”

She swam away from him, and he caught her feet. She turned, splashing him until he finally released her. “Come on, I’ll race you around the boat,” he said, setting off briskly. Treading water, she waited, laughing when she saw him come around the hull of the boat.

“You cheated!” he said, wiping his face with the palm of his hand.

“Course I did,” she laughed and smoothed back her wet hair. “I’m not stupid enough to go chasing you around a boat!”

He swam towards her and put his hands around her waist. She licked the wetness from his face and giggled.

“Have you ever made out in the water before?” he asked.

“If you’re talking about sex, then no,” she said haughtily.

“Oh, I’m talking about sex,” he said, rubbing himself against her. “I mean, I could have your bikini off without too much trouble.”

“Had lots of practice then, have you?”

“That would be telling,” he said, trying to nibble her neck as she pushed away from him.

“What if someone comes?”

He looked around. “Who’s coming?” There was not a boat for miles. Joanna pushed him and swam away so there was a small distance between them.

“What kind of girl do you take me for? I’m not cheap, you know,” she told him sternly as she fiddled with her bikini top.

“You think this is cheap?” he said, waving his arm to the boat.

“Compared to me, it is!” And she threw her top at him. He caught it and threw it on deck. Joanna slipped out of her bottoms and dived into the water, coming out at his legs. Tossing them on the deck, she put her arms around his neck as his mouth came down on hers.