Chapter 19
19
The San Marco vaporetto stop was swarming with tourists heading towards the great basilica. Natalie already missed the wide-open space of the Arsenale, the feeling of insignificance as they’d looked up at the soaring towers.
‘I’m really not sure we’ll have time to go to Eraldo’s workshop,’ she said.
Cate peered at the app on her phone. ‘We’ve only got to hop across to the San Salute stop and take a short walk. Come on! I really want to talk to him about creating something for Phil. Look, there’s a Number One coming now.’
‘Okay.’ Natalie sighed. She tapped her pass on the reader and waited whilst the passengers emptied out. A young woman ushered them on.
Cate leant against the side of the vessel. ‘Let’s stand here; it’s fun to look out.’
‘Sure.’ Natalie squeezed past a huge, yellow suitcase into a neat gap. Across the water loomed the great dome of Santa Maria della Salute, familiar from every website she’d skimmed on the journey over.
‘Beautiful.’ Cate’s elbow brushed Natalie’s as she raised her phone to take another photo.
Natalie tried to focus on the waterfront, pushing down the nerves she felt at returning to the mask maker’s shop she’d so hurriedly exited just days before. It would be so much easier to take herself off for a tour of Santa Maria della Salute and leave Cate to make her way to the workshop. She took a deep breath. ‘We’ll be getting off in a minute. Have you worked out the route? I took the traghetto over last time.’
‘Yes, it’s easy. Don’t look so nervous, Nat!’
‘I’m not nervous,’ Natalie lied.
‘When you like someone, it’s only natural.’
‘I’m not interested in Eraldo. He’s just a nice guy; he’s a friend of Floella, that’s all.’
Cate raised her eyebrows.
The vaporetto inched towards its floating dock. A young woman began untying the rope. They squeezed their way off. Cate marched confidently ahead, across a square, over a bridge and down a calle lined with craft shops and small galleries and over another bridge, Natalie trailing behind her. The scent of rose and patchouli wafting from the perfumery confirmed Cate had led her to the right place.
‘What a gorgeous shop!’ Cate exclaimed, coming to a halt. ‘Look at the quaint glass bottles; they’ve even got a gentleman’s range! Now, where exactly is this watch place? Oh, there it is: just on the other side of that cute little bridge above that mask shop. Do you remember that mask making? What a mess we made! Glitter everywhere and no one was brave enough to tell Mrs Nickson she had a great lump of glue stuck in her hair.’
‘Complete chaos.’ Natalie had to laugh.
She turned away from the perfumery towards Pietro’s window. And stopped. The harlequin costumes and carnival masks had been joined by rows and rows of white bauta masks like an installation at a trendy Shoreditch gallery. But that wasn’t what was making her palms sweat. It was the unmistakable cloaked figure of the Plague doctor, hat pulled low over hollows for eyes, a curved beak protruding from its sinister mask.
Natalie swallowed. She took a step back. Come on, Nat. It’s only a mannequin. There’s no one behind it.
‘Natalie? Nat, are you okay?’ Cate’s voice was soft.
‘Yeah…’ She would be all right in a minute; she just needed a moment to bring her heart rate back down. She swiped the beads of sweat from her upper lip, glad that the pattern on her dress would hide the damp patches spreading beneath her arms.
‘You poor thing; does that monstrous costume bring it all back?’
‘Yes,’ she croaked.
‘Look at me.’ Cate’s eyes were sincere. ‘You’ve got this, Nat. There’s nothing to be scared of. That creepy guy’s long gone. You’re not in a deserted alleyway; you’re not alone any more.’
‘I know. Thanks for trying to make me feel better.’
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you that night. I’m going to do everything I can to make it up to you. I’m your friend, whether you like it or not.’
‘Thanks,’ Natalie mumbled. She pushed open the door. The bell tinkled.
‘ Buonasera ! Good afternoon!’ Pietro wiped his hands on his brown apron and polished his glasses on a purple handkerchief before popping them back on his nose. ‘So nice to see you both again. Have you come to purchase traditional Venetian masks? Or perhaps you are here to see my younger and more handsome friend?’ He chortled.
‘I am hoping to commission a watch for my husband’s birthday.’
‘Eraldo!’ Pietro boomed. The pink feathers quivered on a mask hanging on the wall just behind his head. ‘Two ladies to see you!’
‘ Avanti !’ Eraldo called from above.
‘After you.’ Natalie followed Cate up the spiral staircase, trying not to dwell on the strange thrill she got from the sound of Eraldo’s voice, deep and warm as a sheepskin rug.
Eraldo emerged from behind his workbench. ‘Natalie, Cate, so nice to see you. I am glad you have found the time to come by. Please, take a seat over there.’ He waved a hand towards the couch where Natalie had previously sat. Her cheeks heated at the memory of her untimely departure.
Cate popped her handbag on the seat beside her. Eraldo cleared a space on the table with a sweep of his hand.
Natalie sat down gingerly.
‘I tidied earlier. I can assure you there will be no unwelcome surprises under the cushions.’ Eraldo smiled.
‘Sounds intriguing.’ Cate crossed her slender ankles.
‘Pietro has a habit of leaving things lying around when he comes up here. Last time, poor Natalie was almost sitting on the mask of the Plague doctor. It was not such a warm welcome.’
‘She must have been terrified!’ Cate exclaimed.
Natalie shot her a look.
‘Terrified? That would be a rather extreme reaction, though they are a little creepy and…’ Eraldo stopped mid-sentence, frowning as though something was beginning to make a little more sense. He stroked his hand across his dark stubble. ‘ Allora , you have come to discuss a possible commission.’
His question was addressed to Cate but his eyes swept Natalie’s face. She glanced at the floor.
‘Yes, I have come to discuss a watch, something special.’
‘Of course. You have a strong idea? Or perhaps a theme, a mood we can explore.’
Cate twisted her diamond-studded wedding ring. ‘Something traditional. Roman numerals, a second hand of course, perhaps the date. Understated but different, unique.’
Eraldo removed the lid from his fountain pen and jotted a few words in a leather-bound notebook. ‘Traditional but different. You are looking for – how we say – classic with a twist.’
‘Exactly.’ Cate smiled expectantly.
‘I will show you something I have recently completed. I am just waiting for the customer to come and pick it up.’ He rose from the couch. Natalie couldn’t help noticing the snug fit of his dark jeans as he crossed the room, his muscular arms, the way the sun from the small attic windows picked out silver streaks in his black, curly hair.
Cate nudged her gently. ‘Like what you see?’ she mouthed. Natalie tried to look cross but judging by Cate’s wry smile, she hadn’t succeeded.
‘Here.’ Eraldo returned holding out a small, velvet-lined tray. ‘I make this for a well-known actor – I cannot say who – created from an old watch he remembers his nonno wearing when he was a small boy. I have restored it, identical in every way except this blue face.’
‘It’s gorgeous.’ Natalie admired the contrast of the steel numerals against the rich blue.
‘I am pleased with it. The depth of colour, it really is something and of course, if I tried to reproduce this exactly – which I assure you I would not – it would never be exactly the same.’
‘It’s stunning,’ Cate said.
‘Yet I feel that you hesitate. This shade is particularly bold but a coloured dial need not be quite such a statement. A softer tone would work as well: a pearl grey, lavender, perhaps. And we would personalise it further, engraving a name, perhaps a special date upon the back… I can work up a few sketches, email you some costings.’
Cate fished a Duty-Free leaflet out of her handbag and jotted her email address on the back of it. ‘Thank you, that would be perfect. I am so glad we could come to see you today before my husband arrives. I can’t wait to show him the palazzo where we’re staying, and we’re off to the opera tonight.’
‘ La Traviata at La Fenice?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
‘That should be marvellous. I hope you enjoy it very much, and you too, Natalie.’
‘Oh, Natalie isn’t coming; it’s just my husband and me – well, apart from the camera crew.’ Cate laughed. ‘I’m afraid Natalie is spending the evening alone.’
‘Ah.’ He placed the watch back on the velvet tray, fiddled with the end of his pen.
Natalie made to pick up her bag.
Eraldo cleared his throat. ‘If you have no particular plans tonight, Natalie, perhaps you might allow me to introduce you to a rather charming bacaro . They serve the finest cicchetti in Venice, at least in my opinion. And the wine, too, is very good.’
Natalie felt Cate’s eyes boring into her. ‘Yes, thank you, that would be lovely.’
‘I look forward to it. I hope it will make up just a little for missing the opera.’
‘I’m sure it will.’
‘Thank you, Eraldo. I do look forward to receiving your ideas.’ Cate hitched her bag on her shoulder and stood up.
Natalie followed her down the spiral staircase, keeping her eyes firmly on Cate’s back as they made their way out through Pietro’s shop.
Natalie waited until they’d crossed the mini bridge to the perfumery. ‘That wasn’t very subtle.’
‘No, the blue was a bit bright, but a pearl grey would be perfect.’
‘I wasn’t referring to that watch and you know it.’
‘Don’t get cross with me.’ Cate pulled a comically sad face Natalie recognised from long ago.
‘I suppose I should be thanking you.’
‘No problem.’ Cate flipped her hair over one shoulder. ‘That’s what friends are for.’
‘Hmm,’ Natalie said. ‘I expect you’ll want to get back to the palazzo now, have a chance to relax before your husband arrives.’
Cate gasped. ‘I was so caught up with planning his present, I quite forgot to check his plane did take off on time.’
‘Hold on a moment, Cate.’ Natalie could feel her phone vibrating. ‘It’s Lucia calling… Hi, Lucia, what is it? Slow down!’
Natalie could hardly believe what Lucia was saying. She took a deep breath. She had to channel that inner Mandy Miller; she couldn’t let herself panic. ‘No, no, don’t worry, we’ll work around it somehow. We’ll pick up again tomorrow. Ciao, ciao !’
‘What is it? You look so worried.’
‘It’s Phil. I hate to break this to you, Cate, but he won’t be arriving in Venice tonight.’
Cate grabbed her phone from her bag. ‘I’ve got a missed call. I can’t believe it! How could he do this to me?’ She sounded so angry, a woman peering in the perfumery’s window picked up her little boy and gave him a comforting cuddle.
‘What do you mean?’ Natalie couldn’t believe Cate was losing her cool like this. ‘Phil can’t help it, it’s?—’
‘Work, I suppose he says,’ Cate cut in. ‘Oh, I am a fool; maybe Lucy was right.’
‘Who’s Lucy? You’re not making any sense.’
‘The wife of Phil’s best friend. She tried to warn me but I wouldn’t believe her. But now he’s left me here alone, humiliated me like this.’ She yanked at her hair.
‘Cate!’ Natalie gently held her wrists. ‘I don’t know what you think is going on but Phil couldn’t board the plane. Nobody could. There won’t be any planes leaving London tonight nor from Paris, Frankfurt or Rome. It’s environmental protestors, hundreds of them all over Europe; they’ve chained themselves to the control towers and glued themselves to the runways.’
Cate clapped her hands to her face. ‘Oh, I’m so relieved!’ She laughed. ‘To think for a moment I believed that gossipy Lucy! Oh, it was awful; she told me she thought Phil was having an affair. I knew he wasn’t the type but when he didn’t get on the flight out with me, acting all weird and when you said he wasn’t on the plane… oh, I just couldn’t bear it if she’d turned out to be right.’
‘I’m so glad it’s nothing like that.’ Not just for Cate’s sake: Floella would go spare if she thought one of her perfect couples was on the verge of divorce.
‘Is Phil not getting here going to make things really difficult?’ Cate asked.
‘A little but we’ll do tomorrow’s filming on the Rialto Bridge as planned even though there aren’t two of you. Then I guess we’ll keep the afternoon free, get Lucia to sweet-talk the crew into doing a few extra hours on the days after Phil arrives. Everything will work out.’
It was a pity ‘everything’ didn’t include her date with Eraldo. She couldn’t leave Cate to go alone to the opera tonight; she’d have to go back to the shop or call him. Either way, she’d be letting him down. She couldn’t understand why the thought made her feel so wretched. His smile made her heart leap, but starting a new relationship was the furthest thing from her mind.
Reluctantly, she turned around.
‘You’re going to go the wrong way again, Nat!’
‘I have to go back to see Eraldo, tell him in person I can’t see him tonight.’
‘Not so fast, hang on a mo! Let me check this message first; looks like it’s from Lucia.’
‘Probably telling you everything she told me just now.’
‘Not quite,’ Cate said. ‘She’s just confirming the arrangements for the opera tonight.’
‘Better tell her I’m going with you.’ Natalie tried not to sound as though it were the last thing she wanted to do.
‘No, you’re not.’
‘Okay, go by yourself if that’s what you want.’ It seemed Cate’s commitment to rebuilding their friendship was over already.
‘I decided my Dior handbag deserves its own seat.’
Natalie stared at her.
‘I’m kidding you; I’m not that precious! I’d love you to come with me but the moment you told me Phil was stranded, I texted Lucia to check she was free. She’s so happy; she’s been desperate to see La Traviata . Now I get someone to go with and you’ll still have your hot date.’
‘Hot date? What a lot of rubbish you talk!’
‘Whatever!’ Cate grinned.
‘Lucia works so hard, it’s nice she’s getting the chance to dress up and go out tonight.’
‘Even nicer, you get to see Eraldo and have a few glasses of wine and make eyes over a bowl of spaghetti.’
‘I don’t think bacari serve pasta,’ Natalie said primly.
‘Well, whatever you do eat, I can’t wait to hear about it. Now let’s get a move on. I want to call Phil before I sink into that ridiculously over-the-top bath in my en suite.’
‘I’ll let you know how it goes with Eraldo,’ Natalie said, surprising herself. She had plenty of people in her life: her lovely parents – but they were so far away – people she knew in the TV business, acquaintances and neighbours. But she hadn’t had a real, close, gossipy girlfriend in years. She’d never been as close to anyone as she’d been to Cathy. She hadn’t realised how much she’d missed her.