Page 47 of The Dolce Vita Divas
‘Thank you so much. Next time I find you in an intimate situation with Raimondo, I shall burst in and sing ‘O Solé Mio’ to you.’
‘Very funny. Now then, which dress are you going to wear?’
‘The long, pale lavender-coloured one with the embroidery. It fits better than the others. I’ll have to wear the only smart shoes I’ve got which are black, which is a pity.’
‘Or those very pale blue trainers you bought? That would be chic.’
‘I’ll see,’ I said, testing out my eyelashes again. It felt very weird. As though I had, well, false eyelashes on. I would have to concentrate on blinking normally and not like one of those wooden puppets that had been popular on children’s television programmes when I was small. ‘You need to shoehorn yourself into that red dress. Go away and let me get ready.’
I spent the next half hour being a bit more creative with my makeup, trying with the eyeliner and wondering how on earth people did it right. Perhaps I should have sharpened the pencil first?
I used some of the different eyeshadows, and put on some blusher, which was so old it was cracking in the pot. And then a darker lipstick.
I took another look at myself. Well, I looked a bit more exciting anyway.
At two o’clock I was ready. The dress had a hand-embroidered label in the neckline from some designer I had never heard of. I ditched the smart black heels and put on the pale blue trainers. And then another layer of lipstick. Did I look chic? Or like an older woman playing dress up? Would I be better off ditching the lot and going back to my safe black outfit? I wasn’t sure. No, I looked fine. And really, as long as I didn’t do something foolish or say something controversial, what did it matter?
As I stood there dithering, there was a knock on my door and Susie was there looking radiant in her scarlet dress and some borrowed stilettos.
‘You look fantastic,’ I said, ‘and more than slightly pleased with yourself. What have you been doing?’
Susie giggled. ‘Nothing I want to tell you about. Although Raimondo has just sent up some flowers and a rather cheeky note. Are you ready? You look lovely. I went and leaned over the bannisters, and I can see people are arriving. It’s time we went downstairs.’
12
Both of us felt very self-conscious and a bit tense as we walked carefully down the staircase. Susie in her unfamiliar heels, and me concentrating on my posture and not tripping over the hem of my dress, keeping my head up, my chin out and not slouching.
‘We look great,’ I said as we turned the last corner, ‘it will be fine.’
‘I don’t know why I’m so twitchy,’ Susie said.
‘I could suggest a reason – the lovely Raimondo has got you all fired up.’
Susie tugged at her dress. ‘Could be.’
‘So have you…?’ I asked.
‘Have I what? Oh, you mean… No, of course I haven’t! What do you take me for?’
‘I expect he will be waiting for you, desire in his eyes, love on his mind,’ I teased.
‘Shut up! I’m nervous enough as it is,’ Susie said, ‘although he is very attractive. And what about you and Paulo, before you start poking fun at me.’
I stopped and turned round, causing Susie to bang into me and nearly knock me flying down the last four steps. That would have been a great way to make my entrance.
We grabbed at each other to stop from falling and I dropped my bag on the floor where everything spilled out.
‘This is all about Ceci and Ellen,’ I said, cramming things back into my bag and catching one foot in the folds of my dress. ‘Anything between me and Paulo would be in very bad taste indeed.’
‘Will we know anyone?’ Susie said, resting a hand on my shoulder and adjusting one shoe which had nearly come off. ‘I hate going into places where everyone knows everyone else but me. And then I end up standing at the side, nursing a drink with a weak smile on my face.’
‘Nonsense, we are strong confident women of a certain age,’ I said, ‘allegedly. We can go and introduce ourselves to people. But what if they only speak Italian?’
‘Just saymeravigliosoto everything, which means marvellous. Orinterassante,which means interesting. Orbene, which means good.’
I took a deep breath. ‘Well, I’ll try.’
By then we had reached the reception area, and we could hear the noise of the party coming from the open doors of the ballroom.
