I catch my breath and glance at Luke. I can’t quite believe I’m hearing the words “draw a line” and “begin again.” They’re making up! Finally! Hopefully they’ll have a lovely long bonding dinner and talk it through and everything will be different from now on.
“Wonderful!” Luke’s face breaks into a relieved smile. “I can’t think of anything I’d like better. Why don’t I book us a table, we’ll have dinner, maybe talk about that holiday in the Hamptons we were planning—”
“I haven’t finished,” Elinor interrupts. “I appreciate your words, Luke, and I would like to put our past difficulties behind us. But I have decided that tonight…” She pauses. “I will go out with Jane and Janice.”
My jaw actually drops. Elinor and Mum? Out together? In Las Vegas?
“That’s right.” Mum pats Elinor’s shoulder. “You come and have fun with us.”
“Girl power!” exclaims Janice again. Her cheeks are pink, and I wonder how many mini-bottles of wine she’s had.
“You want to go out with them? Not me?” asks Luke, as though he can’t believe it.
To be fair, it is quite unbelievable. When Elinor first met my family, she was so snobby, she behaved as though all the Bloomwoods had some sort of plague.
“Jane has some photographs of Minnie she has promised to show me,” says Elinor. “I should like to see her babyhood. I missed so much of it.”
Her eyes flicker as though with some distant emotion, and I feel an uncomfortable twinge. Poor Elinor has been on the outskirts of this family for too long.
“Quite right, Elinor! You have a look through my iPhone and I’ll send you any piccies you like,” says Mum, pulling on her jacket and standing up. “You could make a collage for your kitchen. Or…I know! You like jigsaws, don’t you? Well, then, have a jigsaw made of a picture of Minnie! They’ll do it at Snappy Snaps.”
“A jigsaw?” Elinor frowns thoughtfully. “A jigsaw of Minnie’s likeness. What a good idea.”
“Oh, I’m full of good ideas.” Mum starts bustling her to the door. “Come on! Ready, Janice? Elinor, have you ever gambled before?”
“I play baccarat in Monte Carlo from time to time,” says Elinor stiffly. “With the de Broisiers. An old Monaco family.”
“Good! Then you can show us how it’s done. I need to let off some steam, Elinor, I don’t mind telling you. Bye, Becky love. I’ll see you at the Bellagio tomorrow morning, nine sharp. Your father had better be ready for some home truths. Now, Elinor, do you enjoy a cocktail?”
As the door closes, Mum is still talking. And Luke and I just gape at each other.
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EIGHT
It’s the morning after. Whoever invented mornings after should basically be shot.
It’s quarter to nine and I’m sitting at a large circular table in the Bellagio restaurant, waiting for the others. My head is throbbing gently along with the background Muzak, and I feel a bit green. Which goes to show that room-service wine is just as potent as restaurant wine.
And so are room-service cocktails.
OK, OK. And room-service nightcaps.
It also didn’t help that Minnie woke us up at about three A.M., shrieking that her bed was “in the water.” It’s all the fault of those stupid gondolas. They should have health warnings.
I look up to see Luke returning to the table from the buffet, along with Minnie, who is clutching a bowl of cornflakes.
“Mummy, flakes!” she says, as though she’s discovered some rare delicacy. “I got flakes!”
“Amazing, darling! Yummy!” I turn to Luke. “She has the whole of the Bellagio buffet to choose from and she goes for cornflakes?”
“I tried to get her interested in the fresh shrimp-and-lobster platter,” says Luke with a grin. “Not so much.”
My stomach turns over at the sound of fresh shrimp and lobster. I mean, honestly, lobster for breakfast. What kind of madness is that?
“They have truffle omelets,” says Luke, as Minnie starts to munch her cornflakes.
“Great,” I say without enthusiasm.
“And there’s a chocolate fountain, and French toast, and—”
“Luke, stop,” I moan. “Don’t talk about food.”
“Are you suffering?” Luke grins.
“No,” I say with dignity. “I’m simply not very hungry.”
Maybe I should start the 5:2 diet, it occurs to me. Yes. And today could be the eat-nothing day.
A waiter comes to refresh my coffee cup, and I sip from it gingerly. A moment later a familiar sound catches my ear and I look up. Is that Mum’s voice? Oh my God, is that apparition Mum?
She’s standing at the greeter’s desk, her hair all messed up, her eyes smudged, and with some kind of glittery flower behind her ear.
“My daughter,” she’s saying. “My daughter, Becky. Can you find her, please? I really need a cup of coffee….” She clutches her disheveled hair. “Oh, my head…”
“Mum!” I wave frantically. “Over here!”
As Mum looks up, I can see that she’s wearing the same dress as last night. Has she not been to bed?
“Mum!” I exclaim again as I head across the restaurant to her. “Are you OK? Where have you been?”
“Wait,” she says. “Let me get the others. Girls! Here!”
She beckons to the restaurant entrance, and to my astonishment I see the figures of Elinor and Janice approaching. They’re walking arm in arm. No, they’re staggering.
Both look dreadful. Both are in the same clothes as last night. Janice is wearing a shiny sash which reads KARAOKE QUEEN, and Elinor has what look like burnt-out sparklers stuck into her hair.
Oh my God. I give a sudden snort of laughter and clap a hand over my mouth.
“So, it was a good night out?” I ask as they reach us. Janice looks up and murmurs weakly, “Oh, Becky love. Never let me drink Tia Maria again.”
“I am not well,” announces Elinor, who is white as a sheet. “My head…these symptoms…they are most alarming….” She closes her eyes, and I grab on to her to steady her.
“Did you get any sleep?” I look from face to face, feeling like I’m the parent. “Did you drink any water? Did you eat anything?”
“We dozed,” says Mum, after a moment’s thought. “At the Wynn, was it?”
“I am not at all well,” says Elinor again, her head drooping like a swan’s.
“You’ve got a hangover,” I say sympathetically. “Come and sit down. I’ll order some tea….”
As we move toward the table, Luke glances up from Minnie’s cornflakes and starts in horror. “Mother!” He leaps up. “Oh my God! Are you all right?”
“Don’t worry. She’s just got a hangover,” I say. “They all have. Elinor, have you ever had a hangover before?”