Keera looks at what she’s written in her notebook.
It’s not much. Just random thoughts as they occur to her.
Want a new life.
Friends.
I have no friends.
And then the shadow of her mother appears.
Dr Bobbi …? What the hell can she be thinking about merchandising Keera’s rehab?
Keera doesn’t want to even think about this.
Her mother never stops, does she?
Then one more idea occurs to her: such a huge idea that Keera’s stunned to find herself writing it down.
I don’t want to perform any more.
That would certainly break her mother’s heart. Dr Bobbi has put her whole life into Keera’s career so how can Keera tear that bandage off without ripping her mother to shreds?
Even at a low ebb in Las Vegas, Bobbi’s first thought is about how they can get Keera’s career back on track.
Keera scratches out the last point in her notebook, almost making a hole in the page.
If she can’t perform, what does she do? And how to make a living out of it?
Touring is where the actual money is made now: as her mother knows, merchandising is where the cash is.
Keera closes the notebook. Figuring this stuff out is too much for her right now.
Perhaps by the end of the retreat she’ll know what to do.
At ten to ten on Tuesday morning, with an eye on the time, Rose takes her coffee into the airy cream-and-blue dining room with its walls covered with exquisite watercolours of Corfu’s beaches and cultural sites.
Delicately delineated and painted beautifully, there’s the Monastery of Paleokastritsa, the Temple of Artemis, the Old Fortress and Mouse Island.
‘Rose,’ Adriana greets her with a hug.
She is the only person in there; it’s used more for cooler days and some of the evening meals. ‘Did you sleep? After the Instagram thing?’
‘Yes,’ says Rose. ‘We are not worrying about that, OK? I’ve been thinking that there’s no way it was anyone who knows what happened. Why would they wait so long to threaten me?’
‘You think?’ asks Adriana.
‘Absolutely,’ says Rose firmly.
Through the dining room’s big windows, the sisters watch India and Keera arrive on the terrace together, both flushed from what has obviously been an early morning walk on the beach. Keera’s in flowy trousers and another white shirt but India looks spectacular. She’s wearing a scarf plaited into her fabulous hair, all colours of gold and honey. Her dress today is pure 1940s, white, nippedin at the waist and with blue piped around the collar, and cap sleeves.
Rose thinks that India’s quite the artist but doesn’t appear aware that this is a skill.
Dianne follows – she’s another one who’s clearly been getting her steps in: there’s a faint breeze today and Dianne’s hair is a little bit windswept.
She looks less frozen today, Rose thinks.
Bernard’s sitting at a table on his own while Dan has stopped on his way out to chat to the older man.
