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Dark red rang along his cheekbones; his eyes flashed. ‘Don’t be absurd! Jealous of him? You’re crazy. Why on earth would I be jealous of him! Over Renata? I wouldn’t have Renata back at any price.’ His grey eyes focused on her angrily. ‘I just proposed to you—doesn’t that mean anything to you? All you do in reply is accuse me of being in love with my ex-wife! What do you think that tells me? That you don’t know me at all, and, frankly, that I obviously don’t know you either, or how could you leap to such an idiotic conclusion?’
He was furious with her; she was very shaken, biting her lip. He was right—how could she have leapt to that conclusion? She didn’t know him; she had no idea what made him tick. How could you love someone without knowing them?
‘She is very beautiful,’ she offered in apology, in feeble placation.
His mouth hardened in cynicism. ‘On the outside, maybe, but inside she is far from beautiful. She’s selfish, lazy, greedy, materialistic; she was a bad wife and a bad mother. And I wouldn’t have her back for a million dollars.’
At that second the swing doors into the foyer revolved to admit Renata, the tall, tanned golfer, and Johnny, who saw them immediately and came running towards them.
‘Daddy! I played golf! Alex taught me how to play golf. I hit the ball so hard it went for mile. Alex says I’m a natural. I should play as often as possible, practise every day.’
‘Don’t chatter on and on, darling,’ Renata said in a sort of groan. ‘My God, that child babbles. He never stops.’ She sank into a spare chair at the table. ‘I need a drink. Get a waiter, Alex. Randal, darling, I think Johnny should go to bed; he’s tired and so am I—worn out, honestly. I’d forgotten how much energy kids have, and how much of a nuisance they are.’
Randal glowered. ‘Not in front of him, please!’
‘I’ll take him upstairs,’ Pippa quickly said, getting up. ‘Come on, Johnny. I expect you’ll need a bath—is he coming down to dinner, Randal?’
‘Oh, please,’ Johnny said, ‘can’t I have Room Service and watch TV instead? I’m tired, and I saw they do a great cheeseburger and fries, and a triple flavour ice cream, and
Coke.’
Randal laughed. ‘Just as you like, Johnny. Room Service would be more fun, I expect. Say goodnight and thank you to your mother and Alex.’
‘Goodnight and thank you,’ Johnny gabbled towards them, then took Pippa’s hand and began dragging her towards the lift.
In the sitting room he at once grabbed the Room Service menu and sat down with it. ‘Can I order now? I’m starving.’
‘Why not? I’ll stay until the food arrives. Do you want me to order it for you?’
He gave her a scornful look. ‘I can do it!’ Picking up the phone, he began dialling. ‘Hello? Room Service?’
Pippa wandered away to the window, listening as he ordered exactly what he had said he would like. The daylight was fading a little, the spring sky coloured pink and gold. Shadows lay under the trees in the grounds of the hotel. It would be dark soon.
Johnny put down the phone. ‘They said it would be fifteen minutes.’
She walked back to sit down near him. ‘So you had a good time this afternoon.’
‘Yes, Alex is great; I like him. My friends all want to meet him. He’s a terrific golfer.’ He didn’t mention his mother, and went on to ask, ‘Am I going to be able to ride tomorrow? Dad said I could.’
‘Yes, he said he meant to go with you, but I don’t have any gear with me, so I think I’ll just stay here and rest.’
‘Okay,’ Johnny said without interest. ‘Alex and Mummy are leaving tomorrow, so I don’t suppose I’ll see them again.’ The thought did not seem to bother him. ‘She gets bored easily, Alex says. And she doesn’t like the country much; she prefers cities. She talked a lot about Sydney and New York and London, and shopping. She loves shopping. Alex says she has so many clothes they had to buy a new wardrobe. She doesn’t play golf, although she always goes with Alex when he’s playing in a tournament, but she stays in the bar, he said, and waits for him. And she doesn’t like kids much; she says she’d never have another one, not ever. Kids are boring.’
‘I’m sure she was joking,’ Pippa quickly said. How much had that hurt the boy’s feelings? Randal was obviously right when he said Renata was a bad mother; how could any mother say such things to her child?
‘She wasn’t,’ Johnny dispassionately said. ‘I could tell. She couldn’t be bothered. But Alex is okay; I like him.’ He found the TV zapper and flicked through the channels. Pippa’s heart sank as he settled on a noisy, blaring cartoon.
It was a relief to her when the Room Service waiter knocked on the door and wheeled in a table on which were spread a silver-covered plate of food, a bowl of ice cream nestling in crushed ice, to keep it cool, and several small bottles of cola.
She signed for the food and tipped the waiter, who left, while Johnny sat up to the table. Pippa tied his napkin round his neck, suspecting its protection for his clothes would be very necessary.
‘I’ll just go through to my own room,’ Pippa said as he picked up his burger and took a bite. ‘If you need me, give me a shout.’ She didn’t think she could stay to watch him eat; melted cheese and tomato ketchup had already spilled out of the burger bun and on to the napkin.
‘Uh-huh,’ Johnny said, turning up the TV and feeding chips into his chewing mouth.
Pippa left the connecting door open in case Johnny needed her, then settled down on her bed with a book she had brought with her: a paperback detective story by one of her favourite authors. It wasn’t easy to concentrate on the pages, though, with the boom of Johnny’s TV in her ears.
After a while she went back to see how he was doing and found him sprawled on the floor on his tummy. Pippa rearranged the table and wheeled it out of the suite, left it in the corridor, then rang Room Service to ask them to collect it.
