Isabella brought a tray with her, laden with frothy coffees and biscuits. Gabi groaned at the sight of them, knowing they were homemade by Nonna, and therefore impossible to resist.
‘How do you stay so slim?’ she asked, reaching for one already. ‘With these to tempt you all the time?’
‘Let’s just say, I do a lot of a certain exercise. . .’ Isabella’s eyes twinkled, and Gabi shook her head with a laugh. There was no denying that Isabella and Etienne were mad about each other. Gabi saw the way they looked at each other, the way they could almost tell what the other was thinking. The little touches, reassurances, smiles. It was as though they were in their own little bubble, dependent only on each other. It might look idyllic, but Gabi didn’t ever want to depend on someone like that. They’d only let you down eventually.
Isabella was excited, telling her she was hoping to book a holiday in the summer with Etienne.
‘Just a week,’ she said. ‘It’s so difficult for us to both leave the restaurants.’
‘Where will you go?’ Gabi asked, blowing her steaming coffee.
‘Italy!’ Isabella said, as if there really was no other answer. ‘Nonna said we can use the house and that way I can show Etienne all of the old places. The lakes, the mountains– a real trip down memory lane.’
Gabi took a big gulp, and the coffee scorched her throat. She coughed.
‘Mamma and Papà might meet us there too for a few days, now that they are home from their travels.’
‘Amazing,’ Gabi managed, feeling a stab of jealousy which she tried to swallow alongside her coffee. She coughed again. Isabella reached a hand across the table suddenly and held hers.
‘You could come?’ Isabella said hopefully.
‘And crash your sex fest?’ Gabi tried to laugh it off. ‘No thanks!’ Isabella held on.
‘Have you heard anything from your papà?’ she asked quietly.
‘Just the usual,’ she said. Gabi forced a smile to make Isabella stop frowning. ‘You know he’s not much of a talker.’ Gabi shrugged.
She remembered the dip on her bed as a child as Papà sat, the weight of him being there dragging her down inside too. Knowing that he wanted to talk to her about her day– only to find out what her mamma had done. The furrow on his brow, the way he twisted his fingers together when she told him that Mamma had gone out in a new dress. She knew that what she told him was hurting him, but she couldn’t tell a lie. That was bad too, she knew that. He’d sigh and ruffle her hair or bend to kiss her cheek before he left, and she’d wish with all her might he would pull her to him and hold her tight. To stop the feeling that something was wrong. To show her she wasn’t alone.
‘Ancient history,’ she said now with a shrug. ‘I’m fine on my own, you know that.’
‘You’re not on your own, Gabi. You know that too.’ Gabi squeezed Isabella’s hand back. Isabella relaxed and then said, ‘The other thing I meant to ask you was whether you’d help out Rosie and Wren on Thursday evening?’
‘If I can. . .’ Gabi said, interested.
‘They need a reader for Story Stars– it’s an event where they have a different person reading the bedtime story for the kids each week. But this week was meant to be that famous actor who lives up the river– I forget his name– but he’s cancelled last minute. And they’ve sold tickets for charity– because it’s a special, celebrity one-off. So, they asked if you could do it instead?’
Gabi laughed. ‘Me? Why me?’
‘You’ve been in films!’ Isabella said.
‘But nobody knows who I am!’ Gabi laughed.
‘Doesn’t matter.’ Isabella flapped a hand, dismissing Gabi’s concerns. ‘Rosie said she’d put up movie posters and images showing you in action.’
Gabi hesitated.
‘It’s just a bit of fun, honestly. The kids love the books. The adults only come for the wine. All the yummy mummies turn out when Fox or Walker read.’
‘They do it too?’ Gabi said. Isabella nodded.
‘And let’s face it, you’re the closest thing to a famous person we’ve got,’ she said, serious again. ‘We need you.’
Gabi smiled at the unexpected surge of pleasure she felt.
‘Okay,’ she said with a rush of confidence. ‘I’ll do it.’
She noticed the clock on the wall behind Isabella’s head and downed the rest of her coffee.
