‘You!’ says Bobbi, looking Julia up and down as if she’s something unsavoury Bobbi has found stuck to her shoe.
‘Oh no,’ breathes Keera to India, who is doing her best to hide behind her much shorter friend. ‘Mom can go extra when she’s mad. I mean, totally extra. I don’t want to be here—’
‘You can’t go!’ hisses India, not watching Keera’s mother but staring at Julia, who is every bit as glamorous as Dan had implied. She’s less fairy child than Dan described and while not beautiful, she’ssomething,India thinks.
Julia’s quirky with those very long legs shown off in small white shorts like she’s in a tampon commercial and just needs to get her roller-skates on.
She looks like the woman everyone wants to party with: wild, fun and ready for absolutely anything. No wonder Dan’s been in love with her for ever. India feels jealousy stab her with its green, poisoned dagger.
‘You!’ says Dr Bobbi to Julia again, more loudly this time.
‘You!’ snarls Julia. ‘You stole my taxi at the airport.’
‘You stole my seat on the plane,’ hisses Bobbi.
Keera looks at India with horror.
The women have met before? Help!
At least they’re not on to rude words yet, Keera thinks. Her mother has a vocabulary that can raze paint off a door.
‘They only give people seat numbers so they know who you are if you crash,’ snaps Julia dismissively. ‘Who cares about the damn seats?’
‘I care,’ says Bobbi, fingers jabbing in Julia’s direction.
‘Is that why you’re here, then? Coming to get fixed because you worry about aeroplane seats!’ Julia is scathing.
Her accent is a weird combo of a cut-glass accent with hints ofsomethinga bit off, India thinks.
‘I don’t need to be fixed, lady,’ growls Bobbi.
Keera winces. When her mother sayslady,which sounds polite, she’s actually only one step away fromLook here, you dumb bitch, have you got any idea who you’re talking to!
‘You Americans are very wearing. Always taking things so seriously …’ Julia’s saying.
‘She’s not the emotionally fragile person I was expecting,’ India mutters to Keera.
‘I think Dan has an idealised vision of her from years ago,’ Keera says thoughtfully. ‘You know: when he met her, she was the perfect fantasy woman and that’s what she still is to him. Even if the real Julia has changed.
‘I’ve seen my mother in arguments before: she gets very angry, very quickly,’ whispers Keera.
‘You can’t deal with your mother if she goes postal,’ says India. ‘I won’t let you. She pushes all your buttons.’
‘I won’t let you deal with Julia,’ promises Keera. ‘I’d say she could push buttons very easily too.’
Still in the private part of the hotel, Adriana has stopped her sister from rushing into the reception.
‘Hold on,’ she says.
Adriana opens the door and listens.
Definitely a fight brewing. What iswrongwith people?
Holding on to her sister’s arm, Rose knows it’s all her fault.
‘I can’t believe I tried to do this again, Adriana. I musthave been mad. Everything’s going to explode. Julia’s unstable; we are not insured to deal with someone who’s been through so much! We have to get her under psychiatric care in case she needs help. Keera’s mother is obviously a total nightmare. Dan’s AWOL! It’s all falling apart.’
Adriana and Christos look at each other instead of concentrating on the catastrophe Rose is demanding they pay attention to.
