Chapter 10
10
The boys are back outside, sitting around the firepit, huddled around one of their phones which means one of them must be on the wi-fi already. We, on the other hand, are not, so we’re being forced to call from the landline in the villa.
Nita is on the phone with the agency we booked the villa through. Lou, Willow and I are sitting next to her on the sofas in the living room, waiting to find out what’s going on.
I feel like I’m trapped in a pressure cooker – and not just because it’s boiling in here.
The room is pretty much silent other than the occasional sharp intake of breath (I think we’re all quite literally holding our breath for the most part) and Nita saying things like ‘right’ and ‘okay’ before listening to what the person on the line has to say.
Nita’s face is giving nothing away but I don’t think that’s good news. Nothing that is being said to her is making her smile, nor is it making her show any signs of relief. If anything, I can see her jaw getting tighter. I hope Lou hasn’t noticed.
‘So, what do you expect us to do?’ Nita asks, annoyed.
Yep, this isn’t going to be good news.
Lou is fiddling with a decorative tassel on one of the cushions. She always fidgets when she’s worried.
I’m trying my best to keep my cool. My tell, when I’m anxious, is to sort of jig my leg, bouncing one up and down on the spot – which Lou knows all too well, so I’m desperately, desperately trying to keep my legs still. I’m pressing down on my knees with my hands, but in a way that is hopefully subtle, and not at all like I’m wrestling an alligator.
‘Well, how is that fair?’ Nita continues, snapping, startling us a little. I want to say it’s her voice that made us jump but, to be honest, I think it’s her words. Those don’t sound like the words of someone who is happy with the response.
‘Right, well, we’ll have to consider that,’ Nita says. ‘But you’ll be hearing from our lawyer.’
She hangs up and folds her arms in a strop, flopping back against the sofa.
‘We have a lawyer?’ I ask.
‘We’ll get one,’ she replies. ‘There’s… been a mix-up.’
‘A mix-up sounds cute and zany,’ Lou replies hopefully.
‘Then there’s been a fuck-up,’ Nita corrects herself. ‘From what I can gather, this villa belonged to a man who recently passed away. He left it to his son and his daughter, who seem to be at odds over the running of the place, so they’ve somehow both let it out early, through the same agency, to two groups, at the same time. Us and the boys.’
‘What?’ Willow replies. ‘Can they do that?’
‘Obviously not,’ Nita says. ‘But they have. So we’re here and they’re here – and the sort of good news is that we’re all getting refunds, and that the villa is free for the next two weeks, but the bad news is that we’re going to have to decide who gets to stay here.’
‘Obviously we need this place,’ Lou says, clearly very, very anxious and feeling totally hopeless about it all now. ‘My wedding…’
‘We can figure it out,’ I tell her.
Nita chews her lip for a moment.
‘Are we going to address the elephant in the room?’ she says.
We all look to her.
‘More specifically, the trunks,’ she continues. ‘These boys – as much as I hate them – are unrealistically hot. All four of them. What’s with that?’
‘No comment, I’m getting married,’ Lou says with a laugh.
‘Yeah, I guess they are,’ I say, not wanting to give too much away.
‘Oh, God, don’t tell me you like one of them,’ Nita says, reading my mind.
‘No, no, no,’ I insist. ‘I just mean, you’re right, I feel like I’m on a reality TV show. Anyway, you started it, by saying they were hot.’
‘Yeah but, like, all of them, generally,’ she continues. ‘Yeah, they’re sexually attractive, but only until you hear them speak. Otherwise you’d be looking at one – maybe two – and thinking if you were to?—’
‘Okaaaay, I think Nita needs to cool down,’ I interrupt her.
‘Yeah, let’s take a breather, think things through, and come up with a plan,’ Nita suggests practically, laughing off her outburst of horniness. I’m sure she was joking… at least sort of.
‘I’m starving,’ Willow adds. ‘And I’m guessing all the food belongs to that lot?’
‘Why don’t we pop to the shop,’ Nita says. ‘We’ll get some food, we’ll come up with a plan, and then we can relax – this is just a stumbling block, just a delay on the road to paradise, but it will all be fine, right, everyone?’ Nita says, shooting me a look that implores me to agree with her.
‘Absolutely,’ Willow agrees.
‘What do you think, Molly?’ Lou asks me. ‘Is it really going to be okay?’
I can see her last bit of hope in her eyes as they stare at me, big and round, and ready to burst with tears at the drop of a hat.
‘It will be fine,’ I tell her. ‘Totally fine. Nothing to worry about.’
I say it with confidence, with a big smile, and big sparkling eyes of my own.
Well, I may as well say it with feeling, seeing as though it’s going to be the last time I can say it with a straight face.