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It was all making sense now…
‘There is something else I must tell you.’ He stepped back and took a deep breath. ‘Sophia and I have decided to move away...’
Uh-oh.
Any minute now, I was expecting Marta’s smile to fall and switch to a thunderous expression.
Instead, the grin stayed plastered to her face. It was so rigid, so definite, that I wondered if a mysterious gust of wind had blown in her direction and set it like that when I wasn’t looking. Apart from when Leo was here, in all the time I had been in Chiorno, I’d never seen Marta look that happy around me. Did miracles really happen?
‘Yes, son. You must go live your life.’
Lorenzo’s eyes popped out of his head again. At least I wasn’t the only one wondering if I was suddenly living in a parallel universe.
‘It may not be in Italy, Mamma. Is possible we will go to live in another country. Me, Sophia and Leo.’ Clearly he thought Marta didn’t understand what he’d said and that was why she was being so cool about it.
‘Sì, sì. Capisco. I understand.’
‘Could be France, Spain or London... I will see where I find a job and then Sophia and me decide together.’
‘Sì.’ She patted his shoulder, reached for my hand, then took it in hers.
Enough now!I honestly needed to know what the hell was going on. Not so long ago, Marta was calling me a raggedy old whore and boasting that Lorenzo would stay with her forever. Now she’d apologised, hugged me and wanted to hold my hand?
I was tempted to slap my face with my other hand to wake myself up because this couldn’t be real. All of the stress from the last few months must have finally gotten to me. I’d officially gone mad. It was the only explanation.
‘Will be good for you. I hope you will allow me to visit Sophia?’ she said, with her Joker-sized grin still plastered over her face.
Lorenzo turned to me, still beaming.
Come on, Sophia!shouted Reasanna.Say something.
Oh, oh, right. Yes.
‘Sì!’ I said, my voice so high-pitched that all of the cats in the neighbourhood probably heard. ‘Yes, Marta. You can visit.’
I couldn’t say no, could I, when she was being so nice. But I woulddefinitelyneed to find out what was happening before we moved and before she actuallydid.
‘Perfetto!I am so happy everything is okay with you. The two most important women in my life. Iknewyou would understand, Mamma! That you are good mother!’
If only you knew the truth, I thought to myself. Then again, whatwasthe truth? I still had no idea what was up with her tonight.
As far as I knew personality transplants hadn’t been invented yet, so it couldn’t be that.Maybe she fell, hit her head and saw the errors of her ways?
So strange.
The night got weirder still as, rather than accepting Lorenzo’s offer to stay the night and go to her place in the morning, Marta said she’d leave straight away. She even had her suitcases packed.
Whaaat?
To be honest I was relieved, because by now, all sorts of crazy things were running through my head. That she was pretending to be nice now so I’d let my guard down but would sneak into our room in the middle of the night and murder me. I hadn’t quite worked out how she’d do it with Lorenzo lying beside me, but after what I’d seen tonight, anything was possible.
Or perhaps Marta would go along with the charade and then, just before we were leaving to start a new life, she’d send a hitman to take me out, so that she could have Lorenzo and Leo all to herself. Maybe a tad far-fetched, but like I said, anything was possible.
After once again insisting that Lorenzo take her home so that we’d have more time alone in the house together (wtf?), Lorenzo started loading her cases in the car. We’d decided that he would drop me to Geli’s on the way so I could get Leo and his things and then, after he’d got Marta settled, Lorenzo would come back to pick us up and we’d all finally go home together. I couldn’t wait.
I was about to text Geli to tell her the plan when my phone pinged.
What a coincidence. It was her.
