With obvious caution, she took the forkful of food and he watched her, unaccountably pleased by her careful consideration and the sudden pop of her eyes.
‘I like it! That’s gorgeous.’
‘Told you.’
‘No, you didn’t.’
‘I intimated.’
‘Hmph,’ she agreed begrudgingly, not ready to concede. ‘Now, Mr Food Expert, I guess I’m going to have to try this pepper sauce.’
‘I guess you are.’
She cut a piece of steak and held the fork above the little sauceboat. ‘Here we go.’
With great ceremony, she dipped the meat into the sauce and then lifted it to her nose.
‘Smells… okay. Nice aroma.’ She grinned at him.
He propped his elbows on the table, amused by her willingness to address her fears.
‘Oh wow. Wow. Wow. That is… amazing. I love it.’ Without further ado, she picked up the sauceboat and poured the glossy sauce all over her steak.
He loved that she wasn’t too proud to admit to having been wrong.
‘Where has this been all my life?’
‘I’m proud of you,’ said Felipe. ‘What do you think of the wine?’
‘It’s white,’ said Rebecca, taking a sip and giving him a cheeky smile.
‘Very good.’
‘And it tastes nice.’
‘It’s from the Alentejo region, in the mid-east of Portugal.’
‘Right. I’ll remember that,’ she said with an earnest nod, as if she were tucking the information away like a squirrel with achoice nut. ‘And is it okay that I eat with you all every night? I’m not intruding, am I?’
‘Absolutely not. While you’re working at the hotel, you’re one of the family.Mãeloves to look after people. She gathers her chicks to her.’
‘Yes, but in that case I feel like I ought to join and help but she shoos me away and your cousins pitch in…’
‘Don’t worry about it. Besides, it’s good for Cristina and Katerina to do some work,’ said Felipe. ‘They are part of the family.’
‘Mmm,’ said Rebecca. ‘And you wouldn’t want your delicate hands to get dirty, would you?’
He shot her an amused glance. ‘Absolutely not. I have more important things to do. Like taking you out to dinner and showing you around.’
‘It must be tough being the only man among all these women,’ she teased. ‘With them all waiting on you, hand and foot.’
‘It’s something I have to bear,’ said Felipe with one of his cheerful smiles. ‘But I manage.’
‘Hmm, sure you do,’ said Rebecca. He could sense her disapproval but he wasn’t about to talk about things that were personal to the family. They stuck together. That’s how they’d managed to survive the last ten years. His cousins might bicker and complain but they were family and he’d do anything for them, and for his mother and sisters. Besides, the girls pulled their weight when he needed them to. It wasn’t so much the physical burden of running the hotel that weighed heavily on him, but the mental toll. Of always being in charge, always making all the decisions, of always having to be the strong one, the decisive one, the one to take action.
And listen to him. He was lucky. He had family and a thriving business, envied by many in the area. It had taken thema long time to achieve the current balance of profitability and popularity. They had money in the bank but that hadn’t always been the case. There was a time when the girls were tiny, when they could have lost everything. He hid the shudder and pushed away the fear. Everything was good now.
After dinner, he led her down the steep hill, known to the locals as Heart-attack Hill, and down to the promenade along the beach where there were lots of little bars and restaurants all doing a roaring trade with the tourists.
