Page 73 of Be Less Panda
‘You know how the press exaggerates things. It might even work out in our favour - if they keep on bigging it up like this, we might get some holiday bargains.’
‘And this is why I love you. You always look on the bright side.’
‘Every cloud and all that,’ she said, kissing him.
‘But I still think we should go home.’
Lucy’s phone buzzed again before she could tell him not to be so pessimistic. It was a call from Kizzy this time. ‘I don’t want to say I told you so, but I did warn you.’
‘About what?’
‘Making big decisions. Do you want me to see what flight I can get you on?’
‘Has my mother called you?’
‘No. I thought you must have seen the news. They reckon the Foreign Office will advise against travel to Northern Italy any minute now, so I’m being my usual efficient self and getting the two of you out of Venice ASAP.’
Mark raised his eyebrows at Lucy. She knew him well enough to realise that that was his ‘I told you so’ look.
‘Thank you,’ she sighed. ‘I guess that’s the sensible thing to do.’
34
Nancy and Olivia emerged from their hotel and got into the taxi the receptionist had ordered.
‘This traffic is horrendous,’ Olivia said as the driver made his way slowly through the rush hour. ‘It wasn’t like this when we lived here.’
‘That’s why I allowed plenty of time. We’ll arrive well before Hans, I’m sure,’ Nancy said, trying to hide any trace of the nervousness she was currently feeling. She’d woken at a ridiculously early hour this morning, convinced that Hans had turned into a miserable old man who was just after her money. Olivia’s negativity about the whole exercise had obviously seeped into her subconscious.
‘At least the weather is good,’ she added, looking up at the patches of blue sky between the fast-moving clouds.
‘I’m taking a detour to get you there faster,’ the driver told them in French as he turned down a narrow side street.
‘I recognise this road,’ Olivia said. ‘Can you turn left at the corner, please,’ she asked.
‘That’s in the wrong direction, madame,’ the driver said.
‘I know, but we used to live around here. I’d like to see a few familiar landmarks on the way.’
The driver shrugged and did as she asked.
‘The bookshop,’ Nancy said, recognising the steep steps up the front door of a shop. ‘What is it now? I can’t read that.’
‘A tattoo parlour,’ Olivia grinned. ‘Inflicting pain on its customers in a slightly different way to Madame Dubois. Rue de la Dordogne next, please.’
The driver took another couple of turns until they were climbing up the familiar steep, narrow street. Nancy’s shoulders started aching, remembering the heavy suitcase she’d carried up there that first day.
‘They’ve repainted number 27,’ she said as the driver pulled over to let another car pass. ‘That deep blue front door looks far more welcoming than that awful sludge brown colour.’
‘Shall we ask him to stop so we can see if anyone’s in?’
‘No, that’s enough reminiscing for one day.’ Nancy was impatient to get to the café just in case Hans had had a similar idea about arriving early.
Olivia raised her eyebrows. ‘I thought that was the whole point of this trip.’
‘In a way.’
‘Anywhere else?’ the driver asked.