Bernard is reddening and, this time, Grazia is back holding his hand.
‘They’re good people,’ he bleats desperately.
‘Really?’ Keera says, joining in. ‘I’ve met lots of people in my business who glue themselves to famous people for a piece of the pie. It’s gross. Blood-suckers. Some people go totally cray-cray over money. It’s all they think about.’
Rose watches Bernard’s face tighten with anger.
When Keera, a woman almost young enough to be his granddaughter, tells him that his adult children’s actions are cruel and money-grabbing, he can’t ignore that.
He might ignore Grazia or try to numb out her words, but when the whole group is looking at him with pity mixed in with faint disgust, that’s another story.
‘You’re lucky you’ve had a decent marriage, Grazia.’
Dianne surprises them all by talking.
‘You didn’t, then?’ asks Rose quickly.
‘This isn’t about me,’ replies Dianne. ‘Just that Grazia has plenty of power. Lucky her. She got her man to come here. I salute you, Grazia. Those kids sound like entitled brats. You’re lucky old Bernard there didn’t flip his lid when you told him you wanted to come to a Rose Talisman retreat.’
Everyone stares at Dianne.
‘All I’m saying is that Bernard gets a few points for that.’
‘What are you feeling now, Grazia?’ Rose asks.
Grazia angles her elegant head. She’s wearing different gold jewellery, beautiful museum-quality pieces today,along with another fitted outfit: slim cream trousers and a silk shirt that never sticks to her skin with sweat.
Rose, who is feeling the heat despite the sea breeze, wonders what Grazia does to avoid sweating in the sun. This isn’t the time to ask.
‘I feel glad I have said it, and glad you all heard,’ Grazia says. ‘Bernard does not like to air his private life in public. But …’ She shrugs elegantly. ‘I cannot go on the way I used to.’
Bernard is now looking at his toes in his sandals.
‘That is why we are here. Isn’t it, Bernard?’ asks Rose.
Bernard doesn’t reply.
Instead, he glares at Rose.
‘No comment,’ he snaps.
He shoves his chair back from the table and stumbles off.
Grazia doesn’t follow him the way she usually does.
She sits in her chair, watching, fingers still playing with her cigarette lighter.
‘A break till half six?’ Rose suggests. ‘I want everyone to write a few lines to encapsulate what we talked about today.
‘Family jealousy, perhaps. Stepfamilies. What it’s like to feel unheard. Then we have meditation on the beach tonight when it’s cooler, and then the beach barbecue.’
Chapter Twenty-Five
‘Meditation on the beach sounds fabulous,’ says Keera to India when the group splits up. By unspoken agreement, the two women head for the infinity pool where the little jewelled bar will be open and they can order juices or iced tea.
India wants more than iced tea but won’t ask for it when she’s with Keera. Drinking wine would seem insulting to her new friend.
‘Me and Dianne are the only ones who haven’t talked,’ she says in worried tones to Keera.
