Page 91 of Good Sisters

‘Jesus, Louise, chill,’ Julie said, under her breath. To the group she said, ‘We are very happy to be here in your beautiful town.’

I noticed Marco studying Louise. A crease formed between his brows. He was staring at her intently. Slowly his eyes opened wider and then …

‘You!’ he said suddenly, pointing at her. ‘You … you are the woman … Rome … long times ago.’

‘Hold on a minute now, Mister.’ Dad jumped up, blocking Marco from Louise.

Louise flinched, then regained her composure and looked directly at him. ‘Yes, it’s me.’

We all gasped. Tommaso and Lorenzo looked from one face to the next, perplexed.

This was not going according to Louise’s plan, not at all, and I had no clue what to do next.

22. Julie

I thought I was going to have a heart attack. In all the scenarios we’d imagined, we hadn’t thought that Marco would recognize Louise. It was a decade ago and I suppose we’d presumed he’d been as blind drunk as her. We didn’t think for a moment that he’d suddenly cop on to who she was. The man must have a memory like an elephant – or maybe Louise was the night of his life.

I slipped my hand into Sophie’s and the two of us held our breath, while Dad eyeballed Marco, and Marco’s friends stood there looking the picture of confusion. Louise was perfectly still. Marco spoke in rapid-fire Italian to Lorenzo and Tommaso, clearly filling them in on his one-night stand and her sudden appearance ten years later. They looked as shocked as the rest of us.

‘Okay, that’s enough Italian. In English, please.’ Dad had found his voice and was trying to take charge of the crazy situation.

‘Perché è qui?’ Tommaso asked.

Marco shrugged and then asked Louise, ‘You come ’ere to find me?’

‘Yes, I did.’ Louise was calm now. Icy calm.

You could see Marco trying to work it all out. ‘So long ago. Why?’ he asked, suspiciously.

‘Are you a good person?’ Louise, queen of no small-talk, asked.

‘Am I good person?’ Marco was completely thrown.

I felt thrown too – I mean, how would anyone answer thatquestion? Of course you’re going to say you’re good. No one is going to say they’re awful. But Marco saying he was good meant nothing. It didn’t mean he was. I looked at Sophie and she gave a little shrug as if to say, I don’t know what she’s at either, but we’d better keep our mouths shut. I felt Louise was just rushing it, trying to tick boxes as fast as possible to give herself a sense of control. All I could do was pray she didn’t end up regretting it.

‘You heard my daughter. Answer the question,’ Dad said gruffly, trying to establish his position as head of the family, when we all knew Louise was.

‘I thinking so.’ Marco directed his answer to Louise.

‘Is he?’ Louise asked his friends. ‘Is Marco a good man?’

They looked completely confused again.

‘We want the truth now,’ Dad told them. Obviously, Dad had decided to row in with Louise’s strange approach. My sister and father were clearly at sea, just jumping in with random questions. Sophie gripped my hand. What was going on?

‘Yes, he is very good man.’

‘Best man,’ Tommaso added, nodding.

‘Is he kind?’ Louise asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Is he a solid man?’ Dad continued with the senseless questions.

‘What is solid?’ Lorenzo asked.

‘It means strong, reliable.’ Sophie was working hard as a live thesaurus.

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