It took Kate a moment to realise that he wasn’t talking about the quality of the drugs you could score in Florence’s churches but had suddenly moved back to Italian art.
* * *
Later, Kate helped Louise set the long table under the pergola, opening bottles of wine and water, lighting candles and laying out the food when it arrived from the local restaurant. There were platters of antipasti, a huge tray of cannelloni stuffed with spinach and ricotta in a tomato sauce, another tray of chickencacciatore,a vast dish of cubed potatoes roasted with rosemary and garlic, a few plates of garlic bread and several pizzas. There was enough to feed an army, she thought, as they laid it on the table.
‘I’m afraid I took a bit of a scattergun approach to the ordering,’ Louise said.
‘I’m a firm believer in over-ordering,’ Kate said, popping a cube of roast potato in her mouth. ‘I always over-cater as a matter of principle.’
‘Well, I was trying to please everyone and account for all tastes, but I’m sure I was wasting my time.’
‘I can’t imagine anyone finding anything to complain about with all this.’
‘Can’t you? Just sit back and watch.’
Of course, she was right.
‘Oh my God, is this all there is?’ Fawn asked in dismay, scanning the table with real alarm on her face as they took their places. ‘I don’t think there’s anything I can eat. It’s like a total carb-fest.’
Kate was seated between Louise and Simon with Will and Tessa on the opposite side of the table.
As everyone passed dishes around, Rory held out a plate of garlic bread to Tessa.
‘You know I can’t eat that,’ she snapped. ‘I’m allergic to wheat.’
‘You can’t justdecideyou’re allergic to something,’ Rory said irritably.
‘I’m in tune with my body,’ Tessa told him tetchily. ‘I know what agrees with me and what doesn’t. If I eat wheat I blow up like a balloon.’
‘I’d be interested to see that,’ Owen muttered to Georgie. ‘Maybe if we stuck a pin in her she’d disappear.’
‘I can’t eat dairy,’ Fawn announced to the table at large.
‘Oh, me either. I can’t eat wheatordairy,’ Tessa trumped her. ‘I’ll just have some of that pasta.’
‘But—’ Kate began, as Tessa scooped one tube of cannelloni onto her plate.
‘Say nothing,’ Louise murmured. ‘She probably thinks pasta’s a vegetable.’
To her dismay, Kate noticed that hardly anyone was eating, despite the glorious feast laid out before them. The blonde clones – who had been introduced as Bonnie and Kim, though she still wasn’t sure which was which – were just smoking and drinking, intermittently pushing bits of food around their plates. At the far end of the table, Georgie was looking distressed as Summer tried to persuade her to eat.
‘Oh, she’s just attention-seeking!’ Tessa snapped irritably. ‘She’ll eat if she’s hungry.’ She knew that bitching up Georgie wasn’t going to endear her to anyone, but she couldn’t help it.
‘Lay off, Tessa,’ Rory said quietly.
‘Well, it’s not helping, the way you all fuss over her and pander to her foibles. You’re just feeding into her neuroses.’
‘Tessa.’ Rory’s voice was like thunder now.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kate saw Fawn waving frantically at her, trying to get her attention.
‘What’s her name?’ she asked one of the clones, who shrugged.
‘Excuse me, honey! Yes, you,’ she said, leaning over to catch Kate’s eye. ‘You’re the chef, right? Do you think you could make me a whites-only omelet?’ She smiled winningly.
‘Oh! Okay…’ Kate said uncertainly, taken aback. She made to get up, but Will put his hand over hers.
‘You’ll do no such thing,’ he said to her. ‘Kate isn’t starting work until tomorrow,’ he told Fawn.
