As they drove into Palermo the scenery changed completely. The wide avenues were reduced to narrow cobbled streets which ascended a hill and opened into a small square around which little restaurants and cafés tumbled out onto the pavements next to the dark windows of antique shops, closed for the night. The car stopped and Louis told the driver to come back for them in a couple of hours. They walked around the square, happy to step out together in a place where no one knew who they were and no one cared. They kissed in the plaza then embraced to the music that seeped out from beneath the door of an old tavern. ‘Now, we’re going to learn how to dance tango,’ he said, leading her towards the music. Audrey held back.
‘Do you know this place?’ she asked apprehensively.
‘Yes, I’ve been here a few times already and Vicente is expecting us,’ he replied.
‘Vicente?’
‘You’ll love Vicente, he’s a character.’ He kissed her fingers. ‘Don’t be afraid, I’ve already compromised you by bringing you here, we might as well enjoy ourselves.’ He grinned at her and once again the charm of his smile disarmed her and she found herself following him willingly into the tavern.
Vicente recognized Louis immediately and shuffled over, weaving his way through the clutter of round wooden tables crammed with smoking guests. An old man with silver grey hair, small brown eyes and a nose that one could hook a fish on, Vicente revealed his eagerness to please and his sensibility in his jovial expression. Known in Palermo for his tango nights and good wines he beckoned them to follow him to the back of the house where he gave them a glass of his best vino tinto, complimented Audrey on her beauty and grace then indicated with an impatient nod that his wife should start the music again, from the beginning. ‘The steps aren’t so important at this level,’ he began, rolling up the sleeves of the white shirt that he wore beneath a black waistcoat. ‘You have to feel the music and let it lead you.’ He beat his chest with his fist to illustrate his point and emphasized the word ‘feel’ by closing his eyes. Audrey grinned up at Louis, who smiled back, understanding from her expression that they had mastered that step already. ‘Now hold each other close,’ he instructed as Louis pulled Audrey into his arms. ‘Closer, the tango is a dance of passion. It is like making love.’ Audrey blushed and tried to hide her face in Louis’ neck. ‘Don’t be bashful, Señorita, the tango is a sensual dance so release all those inhibitions and follow your heart.’ He pounded his chest again with his fist. Louis chuckled and kissed her temple reassuringly.
‘I’m following your heart, Audrey, because it’s ensnared mine,’ he whispered into her ear.
‘Then we have no choice but to dance together,’ she replied and began to move to the soul-stirring notes of the violin and accordion.
At first Audrey was nervous. Each time she felt herself pressed against Louis’ body she giggled and stiffened, aware that they were indeed experiencing a physical intimacy they hadn’t experienced before and they weren’t alone to taste it in private. But once the complicated steps had been repeated over and over and finally mastered she closed her eyes so that all she could feel was Louis and the music and the impassioned notes of her own internal melody.
For the next hour and a half Louis and Audrey learnt to tango under the guidance of the ebullient Vicente, who with great delight led them through each step with the passive assistance of his sullen wife, Margarita, who never once smiled but danced with the agility of a woman twenty years younger. Promising to return the following week they skipped out of the tavern and into the square where they fell on each other again and danced beneath the moon out of the shadows, eager to put into practice what they had just learned.
‘I’m so glad we came.’ Audrey sighed with happiness as they moved in time to the distant music from the tavern.
‘I dreamed of bringing you here,’ he replied, resting his cheek against her hair. ‘I knew you’d love it. You see, you’ve left the theatre by the back door and isn’t it fun?’
‘I love the sense of freedom. No one knows us here. No one judges us. We’re just two strangers like everyone else, dancing in our own secret world. When I’m close to you like this I feel that nothing else exists but us.’
‘You’ve made life beautiful for me, Audrey,’ he said, moved once again by that familiar sense of melancholy. ‘As a child I only felt secure when playing the piano. Without music the world was a grey and frightening place. No one understood me. It was as if I was living in a different dimension to everyone else. I felt like an outcast. So I retreated into my music and gave up trying to relate to my family and their friends. But you, Audrey, you’ve given me the courage to love. You’ve opened my heart and now I’ll never close it, ever. It will always be open and you’ll always be in it. There’s no turning back now. We belong together.’ He pulled away so that he could look down at her earnest face illuminated in the golden glow of the streetlights. Then he traced the line of her jaw with his fingers and kissed her on her lips. Aware that time was running out they clung to each other with the fierceness of two people destined to part for years. But Louis and Audrey were storing up their kisses in order to last only a day, for the following night they would meet again beneath the cherry tree in the orange orchard and they didn’t dare think further ahead than that.