Her one close childhood friend was someone whom she never saw any more because she wasn’t in the same industry.
The endless regime of touring meant never sleeping in the same bed more than a few days. She’d been to Europeas a teenager, had seen nothing but the greatest hits of every capital city from the back of a people carrier or bus.
Her normal was taking pills to help her wake up, pills to calm her, alcohol to give her a buzz, cocaine to get her high.
It had left her feeling hollow and ashamed, and in rehab. She will drink and drug again if she goes back into that world and now that she’s clean, she truly wants to stay that way.
The peace of mind, the calmness – she can’t give that up. Even for Bobbi.
Keera slides under the water to escape the feelings, letting the pool close over her head, hiding her from the world.
She pushes up through the water, feeling it streaming off her shorn head, and swims to the pool edge like a seal.
What if …
She suddenly has a plan.
‘Rose!’
Adriana calls out when Rose comes back into their private quarters from her walk around the garden.
‘We’ve found Dan,’ she says. ‘He’s fine. He’s in Corfu, he’s been talking about taking the ferry to Igoumenitsa but he obviously doesn’t mean it: he’s missed all of today’s sailings so far.’
Rose almost can’t believe it. Relief floods through her.
‘Is he coming back?’
‘Yes, just not yet,’ Adriana says.
‘Pavel’s cousin found him. Now they’re in a restaurant waiting for dinner.’
Rose rolls her eyes. ‘Seriously?’
‘Pavel’s friend owns it and the friend’s grandmother cooks there and she has insisted they cannot leave until theyhave had her lamb souvlaki – her special marinade recipe – and her galaktoboureko.’
‘In other words, they may be hours while Yaya stuffs them with filo pastry and custard filling because they are too thin,’ says Rose.
‘Precisely.’
Somehow, this vision of a Greek grandmother fussing over Dan and Pavel’s cousin makes Rose laugh. The stress leaches out of her.
Half the island are looking for Dan for the second time and he’s dallying in a restaurant with Pavel’s cousin because a Greek yaya is determined they need to taste her souvlaki. Nobody can argue with a yaya.
The sisters begin to laugh and then Adriana is sitting beside Rose on the couch and they’re holding each other, convulsing with laughter.
‘I hope this isn’t the last retreat,’ says Adriana seriously.
‘It won’t be,’ says Rose.
India can’t help herself:
She needs to look at Julia up close.
See what makes her so special.
Brushing her curls till they’re glossy, she pulls her hair into an easy knot at the base of her neck. She applies a coat of mascara, a smear of cherry lip balm and a heady blast of Byredo perfume.
She’s clad in very cool mannish trousers in a khaki linen, worn with a light-weave cotton halter neck in rich copper that matches her hair tones. She looks businesslike, she thinks approvingly. A woman in control.
