“And then in a week I am going to be furious about it.”
“Also fair.”
She squeezes my hand. Her eyes have gone very bright. “All right.” She lifts her spritz. “Drink. Sun. Tits out. Recovery.”
We get into the pool eventually. The sun has moved an inch. The Aperol is doing what Aperol does. Becks is in a super skimpy black bikini that she bought specifically to make Dr. McFilthy stupid and which is achieving its purpose on at least three of the men currently pretending not to look in our direction.
“They arestaring, Becks.”
“They arewelcome to.”
I laugh.
“This is a bacchanalia,” she insists. “People stare at bacchanalias. It would be insulting if they didn’t. Worse, it would mean we are doing it wrong.”
She floats on her back. I float on mine. The water is warm. London sits around us like a painted backdrop. I can see the tip of the Shard from this angle. “Tell me about McFilthy.”
“Oh, Ivy. My very favorite subject. But where do I begin?”
“Begin anywhere.”
“He came back from Yemen on Tuesday. He has not slept properly in days. He arrived at my flat at one in the morning with a duffel bag and a stubble situation and the look in his eye of a man who has not had sex since approximately the Crimean War.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh,yes.”
“How are you walking?”
“With difficulty.”
I guffaw.
“He had me up against the front door before I had taken my coat off, Ivy. The coat wasstill on. He had his hand under it inside ten seconds. I had not even put my keys down.”
“Becks.”
“My keys, Ivy. My keys were still in the door.”
“Where did you?—”
“Floor. Sofa. Floor again. I tried to get up to go to the bedroom. Poor man hadn’t laid eyes on a proper bed in days, and he said no.”
“He does this thing. And he watches my face the whole time. It is the most—Ivy.Ivy. I think about it in queues at Pret.”
“Becks.”
“InPret. On aTuesday. Looking at the chicken caesar wraps.”
I am laughing so hard I have to grab the edge of the pool.
“And he calls me ma'am, Ivy. He calls mema'am. Like a soldier. In bed. The first time he did it I laughed at him and he just looked at me like he was very, very disappointed in my failure to take this seriously. So now I take it seriously.”
“You take it seriously.”
“I take itseriously.”
I roll onto my front in the water and my forehead nearly hits the pool edge and Becks pulls me back by the elbow without breaking pace.
