When she stays over, he makes her coffee in the morning and, in the evenings, he cooks.
‘Linguine with clams,’ he’ll say when she arrives over for dinner, barefoot in shorts, with a linen shirt thrown over a T-shirt, holding a spoon out for her to taste.
Or ‘Tomato sauce with confit garlic,’ which will taste like some angel made it.
‘How did you learn to cook like this?’ she once asked, after moaning with pleasure as she ate.
‘Cooking is one of the great arts,’ Theo said. ‘Get peoplearound a dinner table talking and you have the perfect mix of family and friends.’
Rose loves this idea, loves the notion of them sharing this sort of life, the life that she and Adriana were denied as kids. She holds the preciousness of this deep in her heart, as if this wondrous new life with Theo is something she can see only from afar.
Most of all, she wants to tell him all about Adriana and their true story, but she keeps putting it off.Soon, she thinks.
If she tells him, he might leave and she can’t bear to think about that.
Spending time with Theo, curled up on his couch watching old movies or just staring into the ocean, cradling a glass of wine, talking about their days, is blissful.
Theo is a homebird. He likes sea swimming in the early morning before going to his office. In the evenings, he and Rose sit with their feet up on the deck rails, solving the problems of the world.
He massages her feet when she’s tired and then leads her to bed so she can sleep. Sometimes, Theo is so kind and loving that Rose thinks she doesn’t deserve him: she’s too flawed, reacts too quickly. None of this makes sense, she knows that, but feelings don’t always make sense. Every therapist knows that.
His parents, Susan and Henry, welcome Rose into the house which is just as pretty as Theo has said, with bookcases all over the place and art on the walls.
The house is like a Norman Rockwell illustration of a home: garden flowers on the table, a fluffy cat on the windowsill and a sense of warmth engrained in every inch.
‘We’ve heard so much about you, Rose,’ Susan says warmly when they sit down to dinner, second family animal,a rescue Heinz 57 dancing around excitedly and being told, gently, to sit in his basket by Henry.
‘I’ve heard so much about you too,’ beams Rose.
‘Are there going to be wedding bells, that’s what I want to know,’ says Henry, earning a ‘Dad!’ from Theo and a groan from his wife.
‘Forgive my husband,’ Susan begs. ‘We’re merely happy that you and Theo have found each other. Tell us about yourself …’
And Rose, smiling at lovely Theo whom she adores with all her heart, the man who has no idea what her actual real name is, does what she has to do. She lies.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Diana Ross’ disco classic ‘Love Hangover’ is belting out of the yoga studio as India and Keera approach.
The yoga studio is underneath the pool area, a vast glass door slightly open as Diana breathily purrs along to the pumping beat.
‘Love this,’ says India, shaking her hips as they slip past a trellis hanging with bougainvillea.
‘Hello ladies,’ says a polite voice as they enter.
India and Keera nearly collide.
‘Sorry—’
‘Uh, hello!’ says Keera.
Neither of them have met Alexei before but their eyes meet in astonishment as they settle down on the two pale-blue yoga mats laid out on the floor.
‘So lovely to meet you,’ says Alexei, turning off ‘Love Hangover’ with a click of a button. ‘Adriana tells me you both do yoga regularly?’
‘That’s not entirely true,’ admits Keera. She does not want to embarrass herself in front of this beautiful man.
Adriana or Rose should have warned us! He’s a Greek god!
