‘Lakeside, what is this?’ Lucia broke off from glancing around the café, making sure neither they nor the crew had left anything lying around.
‘A shopping centre, a mall, I suppose you’d call it,’ Natalie explained. ‘I used to save up my birthday and Christmas money to go there. Those branches of Claire’s Accessories and Dotty Ps seemed the most thrilling places in the world.’
‘I got my ears pierced in that branch of Debenhams,’ Cate added.
Natalie remembered it well. ‘Are we okay to go, Lucia? Have we got everything?’
The young woman peered beneath their table. ‘Yes, I have checked everywhere but I must thank the owner… ahh, Bianca,grazie mille, thank you so much. I hope we were not too much trouble.’
‘Not at all.’ The woman patted a chair back as if assuring Lucia that everything was quite in order. ‘Arrivederci, Lucia, give my love to your mamma.’
‘Grazie, arrivederci.’ Lucia tucked her leather folder under her arm. ‘Allora, Cate, Natalie. The crew will meet us at the boutiques. They have a barge to transport their equipment most of the way. We three can walk, if you like.’
‘Sure. I need to keep up my steps,’ Cate said.
They set off along the canal front.
‘I do like this area; it’s got a different, quieter neighbourhood feel,’ Natalie said.
‘That will change as soon as we get to the Strada Nova. We will meet the crowds going to and from the railway station. Tourists everywhere.’ Lucia shrugged.
‘The lady who owned the café where we had breakfast, was she a friend of yours?’ Cate asked.
‘Yes, I know Bianca well; she is a family friend.’ Lucia’s face brightened. ‘Perhaps it was wrong of me to choose her café for the filming this morning, but it is a nice place.’
‘Don’t worry, it was perfect,’ Natalie said. ‘Now, which street do we need to take?’
‘Follow me. Be careful of the suitcases.’ Lucia cut a path through the wheelie-case-wielding groups across the wide Strada Nova into a shadycallewhich brought them out right by the vaporetto stop.
‘We have private water taxis booked for most of your stay, but we will take the vaporetto today. We need the Number One. It is a fun way to travel the Grand Canal, zigzagging – I think you say – between a stop on one bank and then the other.’
‘Of course, that does sound fun… You have the tickets already, Lucia?’ Natalie asked.
‘Yes,certo.’ Lucia opened her enviably organised folder. ‘You must validate them by tapping here and that will open the gate.’
‘The vaporetto is coming, that’s Number One, isn’t it? And look! There’s some outside seats free!’ Cate sounded more like a child queuing up for a Florida theme park ride than a designer-clad grown-up with a goodness-knows-how-much-that-cost bag and a swishy blow-dry. Natalie couldn’t help smiling.
The three of them squeezed their way through the inside cabin and out of the rear door to the open-air deck. Lucia managed to grab three spare seats all squashed up together, so close Natalie caught a waft of Cate’s warm, floral fragrance.
The vaporetto pulled away from the mooring, moving slowly through the green water. A sleek, black gondola with cherry leather seats glided past carrying a Chinese couple cuddled up together, its gondolier’s traditional straw hat and striped polo shirt a far cry from the baggy shorts and logoed T-shirts of the crew of the workaday barge piled high with reels of electrical cable heading in the opposite direction.
Neither Cate nor Natalie spoke, content to listen as Lucia pointed out the baroque façade of the Ca’ Pesaro, the gothic Ca’ d’Oro and the bustling fish market. Cate took photo after photo on her phone. Perhaps she was planning to send them to the absent Phil.
The canal swung to the right, bringing the elegant arch of the Rialto Bridge into view. A couple were leaning against the white, stone balustrade, kissing, wrapped in each other’s arms. A little girl in a floppy, yellow sun hat, held high in her daddy’s arms, waved as they passed underneath. Cate waved back enthusiastically, ponytail bobbing. She’d had the sense to tie back her hair as soon as they’d sat down on the exposed deck. Natalie pushed her fringe out of her eyes, hoping Lucia had a hair stylist on standby for when filming recommenced.
‘Simona Rinaldi is one of the most exclusive boutiques in the city,’ Lucia explained as their vaporetto continued its journey along the winding canal. ‘The collection she has is incredible! The cuts are exquisite, the fabrics of the highest quality. And she is renowned for her expert eye. The way she puts an outfit together has her customers walking out feeling several centimetres taller.’
‘Really? I never seem to know what suits me.’ Cate glanced down at her narrow-legged trousers.
‘I would not say that; your style is quite chic.’ Lucia smiled.
The vaporetto slowed to a halt on a sharp bend, waiting as vessels criss-crossed this way and that. A few moments later, they were on the move again.
‘There’s the Palazzo Grassi, now used for art exhibitions.’ Lucia pointed. ‘And on the other side, Ca’ Rezzonico, once the home of the poet Robert Browning.’
Natalie knew what was coming next. She didn’t need Lucia’s help to identify the wooden bridge curving over the canal in front of them, and neither – by her sharp intake of breath – did Cate.
The vaporetto passed under the Accademia Bridge.
