Page 27 of The Dolce Vita Divas
Leonardo began to elaborate on a brief earlier conversation regarding oil reserves in Arizona while Raleigh went back to more salacious gossip now Eric was out of the way. Someone called Kitten and a black-tie event where the waiters were topless and ‘ver’, ver’, accommodatin’ indeed.’
‘It did cause quite a fluster, but they raised ninety thousand dollars for St Xavier’s,’ Raleigh said. ‘It’s the pre-school where Eric has been going. I’ve been helping with a lot of fundraising. It takes up a lot of my time.’
My mouth dropped open. When I’d been a headteacher we had thought ourselves lucky to raise a few hundred pounds for the school every year. What on earth did they need that for, and how on earth did they prise ninety thousand dollars from the parents?
‘Ninety thousand dollars? What does his pre-school need? A private jet?’
Raleigh looked blank and then twirled the stem of her water glass rather pointedly.
‘We want them to become the well-rounded citizens of tomorrow.’
‘Yes, I’m sure they will be.’
I thought back again, remembering the stationery and little extras our fundraising had bought. What sort of life did they live? I couldn’t imagine it.
Eric’s return at speed to the dining room at that point, was followed a few seconds later by some shrieks of anger and a torrent of Spanish from his nanny.
‘What on earth is the matter?’ Paulo said.
Raleigh flapped a casual hand. ‘Oh, he’s just over excited.’
‘In that case he’s been over excited for about two years,’ Leonardo said waspishly.
‘Now, honey, you know what we said.’
Eric deposited a handful of rather sticky M&Ms in front of me across the table. He’d obviously got some from somewhere.
‘They are for you,’ he said. ‘You said you liked them.’
‘How very kind,’ I said, scooping them up. ‘I’ll have them later.’
Eric beamed at me and banged his hands down on the table, leaving smudges of chocolate and food colouring.
‘Don’t react,’ Raleigh hissed.
So much to my disappointment, no one did.
Andrea let loose another anguished flood of Spanish.
‘Lo siento mucho, el esta peor que nunca, nose que le esta pasando y me tiene muy afligida. Ya he tratado pero el no lo nota. Que debo hacer? Soy una mujer.’
And then she took Eric away. He turned at the door and waved at me and I waved back.
‘What did she say?’ I said.
Raleigh flapped a hand.
‘Oh, nothing important. Something to do with it getting late. She’s Spanish. She gets emotional over the smallest things.’
‘Actually, she’s from Venezuela. And she said she doesn’t know what to do with him. So how long is this No No stuff going on?’ Leonardo said, reaching for the wine. ‘And why?’
Raleigh gave a patient sigh. ‘No is a negatory word and we want Eric to be positive, don’t we? I’m going to say yes as much as possible to him.’
‘I don’t mind trying that too, honey,’ Leonardo muttered and took a bite of his cheese.
Raleigh didn’t respond. Irony, sarcasm and humour seemed to pass her by unobserved.
She smiled, showing perfect teeth. ‘I keep meaning to ask. I love the idea of spending one Christmas in Englandland? What’s it like?’
