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‘I thought I was the only one who was a little nervous,’ I said. ‘I was convinced everyone would be boring and we’d need to force the conversation, but I feel so relaxed. It’s as if we’ve known each other for years.’
‘Exactly!’ added Grace. ‘When I got to the airport, I was thinking, holy far out! What if they all think I’m too ancient and don’t want to speak to some strange old lady from Oz? But you’ve all been so welcoming,’ she said, resting a hand on each of our shoulders.
I chuckled again. ‘Holy far out?’ I asked. ‘I haven’t heard that before! I’m guessing that means something like wow? Sorry, my Aussie vocab is limited to what I picked up from watchingNeighboursandHome & Awayyears ago.’
‘That’d be right. Stick with me, Stella,’ she said, throwing her head backwards as she laughed. ‘I’ll teach you all the lingo!’
I didn’t worry about reminding her my name was Sophia. She’d already started calling Lorenzo ‘Luciano’ and Dan ‘Nathan’, so I figured she just had a thing for renaming everyone.
We headed back to the villa famished and ready to devour the dinner we’d spent ages slaving over. For the first time since we’d arrived, I was starting to dread seeing Lorenzo. What criticism was in store for me this evening? Would he say I wasn’t winding the tagliatelle around the fork properly? Or maybe not putting the correct ratio of ragu sauce on the spoon? Either way, I was sure to do something wrong.
What had I done to make him dislike me so much? And more to the point, should I graciously accept it (you can’t please all of the people, all of the time) or make an effort to change his mind?
