She sat on, sipping the rich, black brew that she probably shouldn’t drink so close to bedtime, head and heart warring, emotions yanked this way and that – guilt that she was being prickly; resentment and curiosity about Rosalie and Erin. Dismay and hurt at Gran, and apprehension about her future at Pensione Three Sisters.
And if being left with the tab at restaurants proved to be the preserve of the eldest sister, Erin and Rosalie could eat without her in future.
Chapter Seven
For much of the night, Jade tossed and turned, her mind too crowded to let sleep in. Would Rosalie and Erin let her buy them out of the pensione?
If so, with Pensione Three Sisters secure... would she want her half-sisters in her life? Would they want her?
Remembering Gran saying, ‘Make plans for your future in pencil,’ Jade snorted into the darkness.
‘It was easy for you to be wise, Gran. You knew what was coming at me.’ But if only she could have Gran back for even an hour... not to blame her for her silence, but for a hug. Those last few days in hospital, they’d hugged a lot. It was a damned shame that nobody had invented celestial text, to get messages between this world and the next.
As sleep continued to feel as far away as the moon, she began rehearsing how things would go when she approached Erin and Rosalie to ask if they would let her buy them out. She formulated Plan A. She formulated Plan B. Reluctantly, she came up with Plan C, for if the first two failed.
When her phone’s alarm sounded at 5.45 a.m., unfairly, after so many wakeful hours, Jade was in the depths of slumber. Tapping the stop button, she closed her eyes again and toyed with slithering back into the inviting arms of sleep.
But as it wasn’t a realistic option, she forced herself awake and stumbled from her bed. Showering and dressing, she mentally reviewed yesterday’s interactions with Erin and Rosalie, and, in the light of a new day, told herself she must improve. Today, she would be friendlier. Today, she would lead the conversation. Today, she’d focus on her goal of making Pensione Three Sisters her own rather than indulge in pointless emotional moments.
Once downstairs in the catering kitchen, she took in the bakery delivery at the back door, enveloping her in a fresh-baked, sweet aroma. Swiftly, she transferred sugar-dusted cornetti, golden biscotti and warm rolls from flat cardboard trays to the tiered stands on the carved-wood buffet in the breakfast room. Beside the breads and pastries, she placed salami, ham and pecorino cheese, apricots and apples, walnuts, wraps of butter and miniature jars ofconfettura– jams and preserves – the tiny red or yellow jars providing a splash of colour. It was usually the Brits who ordered eggs or avocados on toast from the small hot-food menu, but guests of any nationality were delighted with the limitless supply of espresso, cappuccino and a variety of teas.
Carlotta arrived, as wiry as Vittoria was voluptuous, her hair and eyes about as dark as hair and eyes could be. ‘Ciao, ciao.’ She began chattering in rapid Italian about her girlfriend, Ludovica, whose mother wasn’t well. It hadn’t been long after Carlotta’s divorce from Simone, the father of her children, that she’d come out as preferring women. ‘Shall I fill up?’ She indicated the row of coolers ready for water bottles, to be set out beside fruit-juice dispensers.
‘Sì. Grazie.’ Jade carried out a stack of white plates to the buffet and checked each table had its proper complement of cutlery.
Just after eight, Rosalie and Erin strolled into the breakfast room, Erin in smart, tailored blue shorts and Rosalie the same ripped, two-tone, cut-off denims as yesterday, teamed with aturquoise vest embroidered with the wordssummer bunnyand exhibiting a butterfly tattoo on her upper arm.
‘Buongiorno,’ said Erin, evidently having made an early start on her Italian lessons.
‘Buongiorno,’ Rosalie echoed.
Jade smiled. ‘Buongiorno.Choose a table. Cappuccino, espresso? Tea?’ And, remembering Rosalie’s comment about caffeine the evening before, ‘We have mint or lemon, as well as breakfast and Earl Grey.’
A crease formed between Erin’s eyebrows. ‘I’d love a cappuccino. But I feel awkward about you waiting on us.’
At least she was direct. Jade shrugged. ‘For now, at least, you’re guests and it’s my job. There are a few hot things available from the menu card. Or please help yourself from the buffet.’
Eyes widening as she surveyed the beautifully arranged food, Rosalie sniffed the air like a dog. ‘Mm. What are the pastries?’
‘I suppose they’re not called croissants in Italy.’ Erin looked thoughtful.
‘People do, because tourists understand it,’ Jade answered. ‘Or cornetti or brioche. Today we have cornettoalla marmellata, which is with jam or marmalade,alla crema, which is custard, andal cioccolato.’
‘Ooh,cioccolato.’ Rosalie obviously needed no translation of that word.
When Jade returned with a steaming cappuccino for Erin, they’d already helped themselves to sharp-smelling apple juice and pastries that left flakes on their fingers.
Erin thanked Jade. ‘I don’t suppose you can join us?’ She gestured to one of the empty chairs at the table.
Jade shook her head. ‘I am hoping we could talk again now we’ve all slept on things, though. I have both Carlotta and Vittoria today, so I’m not needed to service rooms. Could wemeet at about eleven in the apartment, when the after-breakfast clearing and relaying is out of the way?’
‘Of course,’ Rosalie said.
‘You’ve got it,’ Erin added.
Later, after the last guest had departed breakfast, Jade and Carlotta worked quickly to clear, floating laundry-fresh white cloths over the tables before setting a pink one diagonally on top. Carlotta, though aware of Erin and Rosalie’s relationship to Jade, asked no questions. She seemed to understand the keeping of one’s business to oneself, perhaps because she’d hidden her sexuality from her conservative family for years. Instead, she rolled her eyes and told Jade a story about how her two teenage sons had embarked on an enterprise accompanying tourists on hikes, and yesterday had lost one. ‘Not for ever,’ Carlotta clarified. ‘Luckily.’
After giggling at Carlotta’s wry exasperation, Jade sent her to join Vittoria in cleaning rooms and making beds while she did the final sanitising of the kitchen.
