Page 77 of The Dolce Vita Divas
‘Good, I know we are dear friends, but I don’t really want to hoist you into your knickers. By the way, Paulo wanted to know if he could pop in later. He said he would quite understand if you didn’t want visitors.’
I had mixed feelings about this. Yes, of course, I desperately wanted to see him, but I knew I looked terrible. Perhaps I should see him after I’d had the chance to sort myself out.
‘By the way, Ceci has asked if you want Gina to come in and do your hair,’ Susie said. ‘It’s almost impossible to use a hairdryer with a sore shoulder.’
I agreed that would be a great idea.
‘I’ve already turned Sylvia away from your door. She wanted to come and see you before she left to catch the ferry back to Naples. I’m sure she meant well, but she was going on about pulmonary embolisms and facial paralysis in a way that I am sure you would not have found reassuring.’
‘I’m very grateful,’ I said, ‘and no, I wouldn’t.’
‘So, Paulo?’
I ran my hands gently over my face, realising I needed a shower, and there was probably still some blood and grit in my hair.
‘Tell him to come a bit later,’ I said. ‘I need to freshen up, and I really don’t want to stay in bed any longer than I have to.’
Susie laughed. ‘Gosh, remember when we were kids, it was my idea of heaven to stay in bed all day. When I had a cold, my mother used to bring me comics and cardboard dolls with clothes to cut out, with little paper tabs over the shoulders. Would you like me to find you some of those?’
I shook my head. ‘No, not really. Look, go and find something else to do and I’ll sort myself out. I’m sure Raimondo must be wondering where you are, isn’t he?’
Susie blushed. ‘He’s downstairs reading the newspapers. Oooh, which reminds me…’
She hurried off again back to her room, returning with a massive wicker basket of pink and white flowers.
‘I’ve been keeping these in my bathroom. They are from him, and he says he hopes you will feel better soon.’
‘How lovely,’ I said. ‘What a kind thought.’
Susie fussed about with the flowers, putting them by my bedside, and then moving them to a table in the window.
‘He is, really thoughtful, and very generous and kind. I can’t think why he has been single for all these years.’
‘Perhaps he was waiting for you,’ I said, and Susie blushed even pinker.
‘Don’t be daft.’
‘Now go away and find him, and I’ll get myself into the shower.’
Twenty minutes later, a timid tap on my door announced the arrival of Gina, who scurried in with her canvas holdall full of brushes and combs.
She took her scissors out and clicked them open and closed a few times with an enquiring look. I shook my head and she put them away.
It was quite nice that we couldn’t communicate very easily, because it meant I could spend a restful hour with my eyes closed, while she tweaked and dried my hair. Occasionally she would mutter something.Mio Dio.Orassolutamente no, which showed me she was having some problems. Eventually she took her scissors out and with a lot of gesturing to assure me she wasn’t going to do too much, she did a bit of snipping and shaping while I held my breath and hoped she knew what she was doing.
Then she took out a massive hairdryer, which seemed too heavy for a woman her size to wield, and blasted hot air into my ears.
When I opened my eyes, there seemed to be a lot of my hair on the floor, far more than I had expected, and my hair had been dried into a wide bouffant style reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore in the 1980s.
I stared at my reflection for a moment while Gina got out her hand-held vacuum cleaner and hoovered the carpet and me.
I tried to think what to say while Gina watched anxiously for my reaction, but the only thing I could remember wasEccelente.
So I said that.
20
I stayed in my room, just venturing onto the terrace outside my window where I sat in a chair and Susie fussed about, asking me if I wanted a rug over my knees. Which I didn’t because it was still quite warm.
