Rachel has almost talked herself into believing it by the time she reaches the kitchen.
“Jeez, that dress is gorgeous!” Will whistles through his teeth as he picks Ali up and kisses her. “Is it new?”
Rachel doesn’t want to look, but her brain already knows what’s there and is battling to backtrack against itself; as if trying to convince her that what she knows is there, isn’t, and what she knows she saw, she didn’t.
“It’s a caftan,” says Ali, her eyes like saucers as she looks at Will. “And yes, I bought it in Selfridges last week.”
“Not many people can get away with that color,” says Paige, leaving the words hanging there, so nobody’s quite sure whether it’s an insult or a backhanded compliment.
“Thanks,” gushes Ali, opting to go with the latter.
“Most women end up looking like an escaped convict,” Paige goes on, hammering the point home even further.
“It’s always been my favorite color,” Ali enthuses. “I would have worn an orange wedding dress if I could.”
And just like that, Rachel knows that she can no longer pretend to see what she wants to see. She’d wanted to allow her eyes to trick her into believing that Ali’s dress, or caftan, is a shade of pink, or even red. She would let her eyes convince her it was green if it meant that it didn’t match the flash of orange that she saw leaving her and Jack’s room just now. But more than that, she wishes that the diamantés hanging off it weren’t the very same as the one that’s in her pocket.
5
“Ah, here he is!” says Will, as Jack walks out onto the terrace where they’re all sitting around a table laden with Mediterranean fare. Sliced salami, serrano ham, French cheese and olives are laid on platters. The only Portuguese produce is the sardine paste that Will has lined up in the tiny foil pots it comes in, alongside great hunks of freshly baked bread.
“Good morning,” coos Ali. “Or should I say, good afternoon.”
Jack ruffles his still-wet hair. “Just in time for a hair-of-the-dog,” he says, looking past her to Will.
“No alcohol until after we’ve been in the water,” says Will, smiling and holding up a can of Diet Coke.
Jack groans like a child who’s been told he can’t have an ice cream until after dinner.
“How you feeling?” asks Noah, pouring a puddle of olive oil onto his plate. “You were putting in some serious dance moves last night.”
Rachel smiles as she pictures Jack twirling her around, the pair of them lost in the moment. But then she remembers what she’s just seen and is hit by a sudden image of his head between Ali’s legs.
The very thought of it makes her take a sudden intake of breath and she gasps, and everyone’s heads turn toward her.
“You okay?” asks Ali.
Rachel can’t look at her for fear of seeing her lying on their bed, with her eyes closed and her hands on the back of Jack’s head.
“Fine,” she says tightly, picking up her glass of water.
“Well, this looks amazing,” says Jack, blithely unaware of the all-too-vivid images flashing in front of Rachel’s eyes.
“Don’t eat too much,” says Will.
“Blimey, you sound like Mum when we were kids. ‘Wait for your food to go down before you get back in that water,’” Jack mimics in a high-pitched voice.
“You just don’t want to be going in after you’ve eaten a big meal,” says Will.
“Isn’t that a myth?” asks Noah to no one in particular. “Am I honestly going to drown if I eat all that bread?”
“You’ll have to be quick,” says Paige, nodding her head in the direction of Ali’s full plate.
“Hey, don’t knock a girl for her appetite,” says Ali, with an edge.
“All power to you,” says Paige, retrieving an olive stone from her mouth. “I just don’t know where you put it.”
Ali smiles sweetly. “I guess I’m one of the lucky ones,” she says.
“So, you can eat whatever you like and don’t ever put on an ounce?” asks Paige incredulously.
Ali nods. “Pretty much.”
“But you must exercise, surely?”
“When I feel like it,” says Ali, laughing. “Which isn’t very often.”
“Oh, to be born with a body like this,” says Will, giving Ali’s pert behind a squeeze.
Ali smiles awkwardly, pretending to be embarrassed.
“Well, I can assure you that I will need to hit the tarmac at some point,” says Paige. “Especially after all this.”