Girl Next Door - Alyssa Brugman [39]
More laughter.
'She says, "Jenna Belle has hairy breasts,"' Will blurts, although he has better manners than to say it too loudly.
'No, technically it was nipples,' Bryce Cole corrects.
'I did not!' I protest.
Mum turns to me. 'Say it again.'
'Jenna-Belle a les mamelons velus.'
Her mouth twitches.
'Jasmina Fitzgibbon taught me to say it,' I tell them. 'At Finsbury the French class always goes to Paris, and Jasmina said that you should say it when you meet the family you're staying with. It's tradition.'
'What did she tell you you were saying?' Mum asks.
'"Jenna-Belle shares her mother's values,"' I answer.
The three of them roar with laughter. After the giggling has died down, Mum wipes tears from her cheeks. 'You know, that Penelope Sullivan woman had hairy nipples,' she says.
17
COCKFIGHT
'What are we going to do today?' I grin at Mum and Bryce Cole.
I've ordered a big stack of pancakes for breakfast. It comes with berries and ice-cream, which is melting into the dough.
Willem is at the bistro. When he lifts up one of the lids I see ramekin dishes of coddled eggs. The next one is eggs Benedict, which you can assemble yourself with smoked salmon or ham or wilted spinach, or all three. Or if you hesitate for two seconds a waiter will rush to your aid.
You can order fruit juices. A girl in the corner in a perfectly white smock will juice it for you, and not in a noisy juicer either. She does it with a manual stainless steel juicer that looks like a rocket ship. I've ordered strawberry and guava. She brings it over on a tray with a wedge of lime, and a tiny bowl of freshly torn mint leaves.
The sun is shining on my back through an enormous glass dome in the ceiling. My hair's still wet from the long shower I had with the rose on massage. Out the window I can see ferries chugging across the harbour. I haven't felt this fresh and relaxed for ages. It's going to be a beautiful day.
I'm thinking about suggesting the zoo, or maybe the aquarium. We can have yum cha for lunch and then catch a movie. There were also lots of great-looking restaurants on the waterfront that we walked past last night – that's if we don't stop at a Spanish place on Liverpool Street for tapas. We could even order room service. Our room has a view that's almost as good as that place we went last night, anyway.
'We have to check out before ten.' Bryce Cole consults his watch. 'It's nine now.'
'Check out? I'd thought . . .' I trail off.
'You thought what?' He crunches on a strip of bacon.
And then I realise that last night was a bender. My stomach lurches.
A series of questions form in my mind.
Wouldn't it have been sensible to find somewhere cheaper and stay for a week or so while we figure out what to do next?
Wouldn't it have been wiser to use the money to pay back the gum-chewing frogman? Or at least make an instalment?
If you wanted to splash out, wouldn't it have been a better decision to spend the money on something solid? Something real that you could hold in your hands? Like maybe some groceries?
But I don't voice any of these, because there's no point. If Bryce Cole was going to start being sensible and making better decisions he would have done that after he lost his house.
He's a roll-with-the-punches kind of guy.
Instead I ask, 'Where are we going to sleep tonight?'
No one says anything.
After we check out, Bryce Cole takes us to the track.
He passes me the form guide and asks who I like. I don't even look at it. Will picks it up. Bryce Cole puts money on a horse for Will. It loses.
Will loses three times in a row and then Bryce Cole tells him about the jockey, the conditions and the prize money. Next time Will gets a place. He's all excited.
Mum doesn't say anything. She just drinks another wine.
Bryce Cole buys three plates of chips for the table. He buys me a shandy, but Will drinks it.
My green shopping bag is between my ankles under the chair. I shift it with my foot, and then I shove my chair back, looking inside.
'I've left Albert Bear behind!' I tell Mum. 'At the hotel. We can go