One Step to You (The Rome Novels #1)(36)

“Excuse me, girls.” Pallina turned and reached in her pocket to pull out two hundred-lire coins and flipped them in the air. “I have a mission to perform…I have a phone call to make.” She snatched the coins out of the air and, with the attitude of a tough broad, strode into the bar. “Ah, if it wasn’t for me…”

She picked up the receiver. On the display at the top right appeared a number: ?100. Someone hadn’t used all their money. That small savings already struck her as a good sign. Cheerfully, she dialed the number. It rang. This mission was destined to be successful.

*



Babi parked Pallina’s Vespa in the family garage. It was perfect. Her father would never be able to see the difference. She pushed it even closer to the wall so he wouldn’t have anything to complain about.

She looked at her watch. A quarter to seven. Holy moly! She went galloping up the steps. “Ciao, Fiore.”

The doorman didn’t have time to return her greeting before Babi hastily opened the door. “Dani, is Mamma back?”

“No, not yet.”

“Well, that’s good.” Raffaella had grounded her. Babi wasn’t allowed to go out until next week, and it struck her as a bit much to violate parole on the very first day.

Daniela looked at her with annoyance. “So, still no news about our Vespa?”

“Nothing. The police must have it.”

“What? Oh great! What are they using it for, high-speed chases?”

“They tell me that, sooner or later, the police will call us to give it back. We just have to make sure we intercept the phone call before Mamma and Papà…”

“Easier said than done. What if they call in the morning?”

“Then we’re done for. But for now, Pallina gave us her Vespa. I put it in the garage, so when Papà comes home, maybe he won’t notice a thing.”

“Oh, speaking of which, Pallina called.”

“When?”

“Just a little while ago, when you were still out. She said to tell you that they’re going out and they’re going to Vetrine. That she’ll wait for you, not to act all difficult and just come. She said that she knows everything. And then she said something else, ummmm, it was like the name of an animal. Puppy, little mouse…Oh, right, she said, ‘Say hi to the little fish for me.’ Who’s the little fish?”

As Babi turned to look at Daniela, she felt wounded, found out, betrayed. So Pallina knew.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just a joke of ours.”

It was going to be too complicated to explain. Too humiliating. Rage swept over her for a second and followed her silently into her bedroom. In the sunset painted on the glass panes of her window, she glimpsed the arc of that story. Step’s mouth, his amused smile, the story, and Pollo next to him, his laughter and then Pallina and who knows who else.

She’d been stupid. She should have told her girlfriend. She would have understood her and consoled her. She would have been on her side, as always. Babi had no doubt about that. And this, at least, was nice.

Then she looked at the big photo on her armoire. And for a moment, she felt a stab of hatred. But only for a fleeting instant. Slowly, her arms dropped to her side, silently, weakly. Pride, dignity, fury, and indignation overcame her as she approached his image.

For a moment, they seemed to smile at each other. Arms wrapped around each other in the setting sun, close even if different. He was made of laminated paper; she was filled with clear-eyed emotions, finally lucid and sincere. They looked at each other.

Then she shyly lowered her eyes and, without wanting to, found herself facing the mirror. She looked at herself, and in that moment, she failed to recognize herself. Her eyes dancing, smiling, that luminous flesh…Even her face seemed different to her.

She pulled her hair back, and for an instant, she was someone else. She smiled happily at what she’d never been before. A woman in love, uncertain and worried about how to dress that evening.

*



Later, after her folks had given her yet another dressing-down and had then gone out for one of their usual dinners, Babi walked into Daniela’s bedroom. “Dani, I’m going out.”

“Where are you going?” Daniela asked.

“To Vetrine.” Babi pulled a few sweaters out of Daniela’s drawers and threw open the doors of her armoire. “Listen, where did you put the black skirt…the new one…”

“I’m not lending it to you! If I do, you’ll throw that one away too! No way.”

“Oh, come on. It was just bad luck that time, no?”

“Yes, but tonight you might have more bad luck. You might wind up in a mud puddle. No, I’m not lending you that skirt. It’s the only one that actually fits me. I really can’t let you have it, no kidding.”

“Right, but then when I race as a chamomile or get my picture in the newspaper, then you boast to all your friends and tell them that you’re my sister. But you don’t tell them that you refused to lend me your skirt!”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with it, believe me. You just need to ask me a favor.”

“All right, go ahead and take it.”

“No, now I don’t want it anymore…”

“No, now you have to take it…”