Page 68 of The Dolce Vita Divas
‘It’s been a lovely visit,’she’d said one time as she was leaving,‘and Greg is so unlike all your other boyfriends. I do hope you’re just as happy as Paulo and I are.’
My mouth was suddenly dry, and the pasta salad which I had enjoyed for my lunch now sat like a rock in my stomach.
I took a sip of water.
‘I never did or said anything about it,’ I said.
‘Nor did I,’ he replied, ‘but she knew. We never discussed it, but she always knew.’
‘Knew what?’
Behind us there was a sudden clatter as Eric came back into the room, still clutching the remains of an ice cream cone. He came across to lean his surprisingly sharp elbows heavily on my knee.
‘Can we go and buy some jeans now, please? So I can really be a cowboy?’
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment.
I felt Paulo’s hand on my shoulder and we stood up together.
We exchanged a long look, while Andrea on the other side of the room cleared up all the debris into Eric’s backpack and wiped his hands with a wet wipe.
‘We must talk about this later,’ Paulo murmured, and my heart gave a little leap of anticipation.
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I think we must.’
17
Well, we found some jeans for Eric in one of the very upmarket designer shops, where Paulo was greeted as a valued customer by the young assistants, and Prosecco was offered before we were led to a chaise longue, waiting for Andrea to wrestle Eric into some new trousers behind some tasteful linen drapery.
My mind was spinning with all sorts of thoughts. Paulo had broached the subject of our feelings for each other. All those years ago. All that time, when it seemed he had felt something for me too. Was it even possible?
I used to feel different, as though I had the power to go anywhere, do anything I wanted to. You made me feel like that.
I felt a little twinge of pride then, as though I had done something very clever. Something that Ellen, for all her charm and ability, had not done. She had been a woman regarded by everyone who knew her as a delight. Who, with her undoubted artistic flair, had transformed the hotel into somewhere elegant and successful.
But I had made Paulo feel powerful.
Meanwhile, there was a lot of struggling and complaints and banging about behind the curtain for a while, until at last Eric emerged looking very pleased with himself, wearing a pair of little trousers that probably cost more than my weekly shop.
‘Are you sure Raleigh will approve?’ I said, rather unsure about what we are doing.
Andrea shrugged but her expression spoke volumes. Mostly of the ‘negatory’ variety.
‘If I cannot spoil my grandson when I see him, then too bad,’ Paulo said, chuckling. ‘A boy his age should not be worrying about his clothes. He should be climbing trees and getting muddy.’
Trying and failing to imagine such a scenario, I looked at Eric, who was admiring himself in the mirrors.
‘I look cool. Like the other boys when they go out playing cowboys,’ Eric said at last, ‘and please can I have a T-shirt too? The one with the dinosaur.’
He kicked a contemptuous foot at his shorts and shirt discarded on the dressing room floor, and I foresaw trouble ahead.
Andrea bit her lip and looked agonised.
‘I think you should pick those up properly, don’t you, Eric?’ I said.
He looked puzzled. ‘Why?’
‘Because someone has to, and you are the one who dropped them there.’
