‘Of course I am,’ said Cristina with all the scorn a twelve-year-old could muster, which Felipe had to concede was considerable. ‘What colour would you like?’ She began to lay the little bottles out in a rainbow line.
He saw the bemusement on her face.
‘I don’t know. What do you think?’
‘The green is cool,’ said Cristina, picking up a neon-lime colour.
Rebecca shook her head. ‘No, not that one.’
‘Blue?’
Rebecca scrunched up her nose. ‘Something a bit more subtle, maybe?’
Cristina frowned at the unfamiliar word and shrugged. ‘Boring, you mean.’
‘I guess so,’ said Rebecca. ‘Ease me in gently. I’m not used to this girly stuff. I have brothers.’
‘What, no sisters?’ asked Cristina, her words incredulous as if such a thing wasn’t possible.
‘None.’ Then Rebecca looked a little shamefaced. ‘Well, I had a cousin, Anna… but she… she never really fitted in. And my brothers teased us about things like that, so nails weren’t really a thing in our house.’
‘Well, now they can be,’ said Cristina. ‘But I’ll go slow with you.’ She picked up a pale pink and shook it. ‘How about this one?’
‘Perfect.’ She glanced at Felipe again and he nodded.
‘Good choice,’ he said. ‘Last time I had a different colour on every nail– green, blue, brown, white and yellow.’
‘Interesting,’ said Rebecca, lifting one brow. ‘How long did you wear that for?’
‘He took it off after one day,’ complained Cristina. ‘It’s one of my colour palettes onAnimal Crossing. You can choose?—’
‘Do not get her started onAnimal Crossing,’ said Katerina. ‘It’s sooo dull.’
‘It is not. It’s better than all those stupid TikToks with the pouty girls doing stupid make-up or silly dances that you’re always looking at.’
‘That’s a pretty colour,’ said Ana, coming in and to the rescue as usual. Felipe shot her a grateful look. He didn’t have the energy to break up the bickering between his younger cousins.
‘What’s for dinner?’ he asked.
‘Bacalhau,’ said Ana.
‘My favourite!’ yelled Cristina, brandishing a nail file as she started on Rebecca’s nails.
‘What is it?’ asked Rebecca, understandably nervous as Cristina began.
‘It’s yummy,’ said Katerina, ‘and Tia Maria makes the bestbacalhauin the world.’
‘It’s a very traditional Portuguese dish. Very popular. Made with layers of potato and salted cod with lots of onion, garlic and olive oil.’ He saw Rebecca’s face tighten just a tiny bit.
‘Interesting,’ she said manfully, but doubt belied her words.
‘Do you not like cod?’ he asked.
She lifted her shoulders almost defensively. ‘I’m not a big fan.’
‘Even though you live on an island surrounded by cod-fishing waters?’ he teased. ‘Our cod is salted because sailors would bring it back and that was the best way of preserving it. You know, of course, that the Portuguese were great explorers. Vasco de Gama, Bartolomeu Dias and Ferdinand Magellan and Cabral who first claimed Brazil for Portugal.’
‘And we are famous for football,’ piped up Cristina, who was leaning over Rebecca’s left hand and painting her nails with a clear base coat of varnish.
