‘She did, Anna, but you didn’t want to listen!’ I said, exasperated. ‘Sometimes you can be very tactless. And unkind. You’re the one who had cosmetic surgery because you didn’t like something about yourself; well, no amount of surgery is going to change being sixty-four.’
I was momentarily shocked at myself. Perhaps it was the effect of the Cointreau; it always did tend to make me a bit prickly.
Anna looked down, bit her lip and sighed.
‘I just wanted everything to be like it was. Just one more time. To feel excited by life and positive and stuff. I know I’m lucky, I have Rupert and I have an easy life compared to some people, but I’m so bored, Lizzie. Rupert never wants to do anything different. I sometimes think he would just like to sit around doing sudoku and reading obscure books and watching re-runs ofThe Sainton television. The one with Roger Moore and the cardboard scenery that shakes when people bang into it, not even the Ian Ogilvy version. And he never seems to see me any more, not really.’
During our school years, Anna had always been the unelected leader of our pack, the cool girl. The beautiful one who sailed through life on a cloud of approval, the one the boys saw first, the one who always charmed her way out of trouble, the one who never got caught. I had the feeling that it had made her rather insensitive to other people but no one had ever told her to her face.
‘He’s in his seventies, Anna. Isn’t he allowed to take things easy?’
‘Of course he is, but I’m not and I don’t want to. I don’t want to give up having fun.’
‘You don’t have to, but it can never be the same as it was when we were eighteen. We can still have a lot of fun, just a bit more carefully.’
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ she said at last, and she looked a bit glum.
We sat in silence for a while and then Anna stood up, took our karaoke award out of her case and put it on Harriet’s bedside table. Then she went out of the room without a word, leaving me wondering what to do for the best.
I was glad I had said something, that I had stuck up for Harriet, but I didn’t want this holiday that we had planned and looked forward to so much to end in disappointment and failure. And listening to the other two sniping was exhausting.
At last Anna returned and a few minutes later Harriet came back out of the bathroom. It looked as though she had been crying. Then she saw the award by the side of the bed and gave a shaky laugh.
‘You daft mare,’ she said, ‘that belongs to all of us.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Anna said, ‘I want you to have it. I’ve been a cow, haven’t I?’
‘You can say that, I can’t possibly comment,’ Harriet said, wiping her eyes with a tissue, and then she laughed and we had a group hug and it seemed everything was going to be okay after all.
‘I bet Joan Collins hasn’t got one of those,’ I said, ‘and I bet she’d like one.’
‘Sorry,’ Harriet said at last. ‘Sorry for being so weedy.’
‘You’re not,’ I said. ‘I’ve been worried too about being able to cope with all this travelling. I think we are all doing very well.’
‘You’ll be glad to hear I’ve just had another of my excellent ideas,’ Anna said proudly, and Harriet and I groaned. ‘No, listen, I can see I’ve been thoughtless and I apologise, really, I do. Rupert says I can be like a cow in a china shop sometimes when I get an idea in my head. I’ve been thinking about making life a bit easier from now on, and I’ve just booked a car to drive us from here to Ventimiglia train station, so that avoids hauling our luggage on and off at least one train. The train doesn’t go from there until ten past nine, so we will have a more leisurely start.’
‘And when we get to Venice, my godmother is going to sort out our transfer to the boat,’ Harriet said, her voice still a bit shaky. ‘I’ve just had a text from her. She says it’s hardly any distance.’
Anna smiled. ‘There you are then. Everything will be fine, you’ll see. And I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay,’ Harriet said straightening her shoulders. And the two of them had another hug which was lovely to see. My phone buzzed just as I was getting a bit teary-eyed.
Ben
Darth has got out of the box and is following me around *smiley face emoji*
Mrs Fluffy went out and caught a mouse *sad face emoji*
Buster and Buzz are asleep.
Me
Now you’re getting far too attached to them!
We won the karaoke and a trophy!!
* * *
