I nodded. ‘Enjoy your breakfast and eat it slowly – you’ll give yourself indigestion.’
‘It’s not like you to languish over food.’ She eyed me with suspicion. ‘What’s up with you, anyway? You seem… different.’
‘Do I? How?’
‘I don’t know, you’re glowing and happy, like there’s a secret joke I’m missing.’
‘Am I?’ I couldn’t help a goofy smile.
‘You’re doing it again,’ she said, pointing at my mouth.
I felt myself blush under the interrogation. ‘Wellll… I did kind of meet a guy in San Gimignano.’
‘A guy?! As in a man? When? Who? Show me his photo immediately.’
‘It’s nothing really, and it might never be, in fact I’m kind of waiting to hear from him, hopefully today.’
‘Take a breath, love.’
Still no new messages as I swiped my phone to bring up Tony’s photo.
‘Ve-ry niceeeee. Hot, hot, hot! He looks familiar in that American swoon-fest type of way. Well, that explains why your face is permanently lit up. You look great, Abi, despite your, er… check-in outfit yesterday. It’s been a while since there was a guy. I’m delighted for you.’
‘As I said, it’s nothing really. Not yet, at least.’
‘Nothing reallyis better than the kind of nothing there’s been for the past few years. I’ll see you in reception in ten, yeah?’ She was already up and making her way to the door.
‘Lovely to have breakfast together,’ I called after her.
This was it. It was really happening. I ran upstairs and brushed my teeth, gathered up my make-up bags and had a final check in the mirror. Tanned, smiling and happy. My brown hair now streaked with blonde, and a few new freckles, but the same me underneath. I’d be fine.
‘You’ve got this,’ I said to my reflection and blew myself a kiss. Time to go.
*
‘When you said, “water taxi” I kind of assumed we’d be getting a gondola,’ I said, nonplussed as I followed Phoebe onto the speedboat.
‘A gondola?! Across open waters? Don’t be ridiculous, Abs, we’d capsize in a second. Those sticks the gondoliers use don’t stretch down to the bottom of the ocean, you know.’
‘I haven’t ever been on one, so I…’
‘Obviously,’ Phoebe snorted. ‘They are playboats for the canals. You wouldn’t hop on one of those things to get anywhere fast.’
The speedboat was an entirely different matter. That got us somewhere plenty fast. Halfway across the river, I wished I’d put a life jacket on, as the driver bounced us across the water, through the wake of theVaporettoand over to the Island of the Lido on the Venice Lagoon. It was traumatic.
‘Grazie mille,’ Phoebe whispered, her gills green as the driver helped her off the boat, a mischievous look on his face. I silently followed, scared I might throw up. Not a great start to the working day, but the beauty of the venue made up for it. ThePalazzo del Cinemawas a phenomenal building. Decorated with the flags of every country, the red carpet rolled out ready to welcome the great and good of the film world. Sadly, that wasn’t my entrance, and I could see a separate desk to the left at the back that looked more like my kind of place.
‘We need to go to gate three,’ Phoebe said, looking around earnestly.
‘I bet it’s this one,’ I said, walking straight over to the stern-looking lady behind the lectern, holding a clipboard full of names.
‘Ahbuongiorno, signorina,’ Phoebe started. Oh no. It was going to be impossible to disassociate myself from her in this scenario. The lady had just watched us both stagger off the same boat and walk the long way round.
‘Good morning,’ she said, in perfect English. A tiny badge with ‘Chiara’ etched into the brass was pinned to her lapel. ‘How can I help you ladies?’
‘Abigail Mason,’ Phoebe said, clear as a bell. She had some front – I’d give her that. Chiara waited patiently for the second name, looking between the two of us. ‘She’s with me,’ Phoebe said eventually, when the silence got too awkward.
‘Well, I can only allow the names that are authorised, for security reasons of course,’ Chiara said, checking through her list. She eventually got to my name and typed a series of numbers into her laptop. A photo must have popped up as she immediately turned to me.
