Rebeca sneaked a glance at Felipe and caught him doing the same. They gave each other uncertain smiles– they’d been discreet about what had happened in Lisbon.
Felipe suddenly blurted, ‘Rebecca is in love with someone.’
She didn’t know how she felt about being outed like this. One, it was private, and two, very surprisingly, she was a little hurt by his quick denial that there could possibly be anything between them.
‘Yes,’ she said, narrowing her eyes defiantly at Felipe. ‘I am, and I’m going out for a drink with him before dinner this evening.’
‘Who? Who?’ asked Cristina with childish enthusiasm, her voice pitching with excitement. ‘The man on the terrace?’
‘Who?’ asked Ana.
Rebecca sighed, wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. Katerina had now joined the table along with Maria and they were all studying her with the sort of amazed incredulity of a scientist making a major breakthrough.
‘It’s a friend from home. Will. He arrived at the weekend.’
‘Oh, the boring English man in room three,’ said Katerina, pulling a face. ‘He just sits in his room all the time.’
‘He’s a writer. He’s writing a book,’ said Rebecca, compelled to defend him, although she had no idea why. Sitting inside in this glorious weather when you didn’t have to made no sense to her. ‘I didn’t know he was coming.’
Ana clasped her hands in front of her and leaned forward. ‘Did he follow you out here?’
‘Yes,’ said Rebecca, now wishing she hadn’t said anything.
‘That’s so romantic!’ declared Katerina.
‘It would be, except he doesn’t know.’ She gave them all a stern stare. ‘So you are not to say anything.’
‘Oh no,’ said Cristina, clutching her heart. ‘But you love him.’
Rebecca nodded.
‘You must tell him.’
Felipe gave her a ‘told you so’ nod.
‘It’s not that simple,’ said Rebecca with a sigh.
‘He would be a fool not to have you,’ said Maria firmly, surprising everyone at the table with her sudden pronouncement.
Rebecca felt her eyes fill with unaccountable tears at the older woman’s absolute certainty. She couldn’t remember her own mother ever being so supportive. She winced, remembering overhearing her mother laughing the morning after the ball.She’s so silly, mooning after him. Everyone knows he’s not interested in someone like her. Look at who he went off with.
Ana gave Felipe a thoughtful stare and nodded before saying, ‘Back to clothes– which is way more interesting. Why don’t we get together on Friday evening, have a makeover session, and we could plan a shopping trip?’
‘Yasss!’ said Cristina, grabbing her schoolbag and hustling out of the door. ‘Shopping. Yeeha! See you guys later.’
‘Bye,’ called Katerina, hurrying after her sister. They departed like a pair of whirlwinds, leaving peace in their wake along with the detritus of breakfast, which Ana automatically began tidying.
‘Are you sure?’ asked Rebecca, knowing that the other woman worked long hours and always seemed to be on the go.She picked up a couple of empty coffee cups and dirty plates and carried them over to the dishwasher.
‘Positive.’ Ana’s face lit up with an uncharacteristic cheeky grin. ‘There’s no way I can leave you to the mercies of those two. Felipe is right, you would look like Barbie.’
‘Thank you, although I think Inês is already halfway there. You should have seen my first uniform tunic.’
Felipe smirked. ‘I thought it was cute.’
Rebecca rolled her eyes and poured herself a cup of coffee then sat down at the table opposite him. ‘And when are you coming to my Pilates class?’
‘Who said I was?’ he asked, sipping at his own coffee.
