“Well, I’m just happy that you’re happy,” James says.

Nadia checks her watch. “Why don’t you check in and then meet the rest of us on the lawn for drinks. Say six?”

“Sounds great.”

“Wonderful.” She looks at me. “Are you up for drinks, Ava? I understand if you’d rather just rest in your room. Big day tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Splendid.” She air-kisses me on both cheeks and heads toward the staircase.

“Need help with your bags?” I ask James.

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t ask you.”

“I’m stronger than I look.”

He smiles. “The answer is still no.”

“Suit yourself.”

He looks around the foyer and then at me. “No entourage this time?”

“Entoura—Oh, you mean my mother and Amanda?”

He nods.

“No. Not this time. I mean, my mother wanted to come but she’s in rehearsals for her latest play and I didn’t want her to miss out on my account.”

“Your mother’s an actress?” He picks up his bags and starts walking across to the staircase.

I follow him, pulling a face. “In a loose manner of speaking. She’s part of an amateur dramatic club at the local theater behind the supermarket.”

“Oh, I see.”

“They put on shows two or three times a year, depending on how much sponsorship they can get. Right now they’re rehearsing The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“I’ll have to get along one night and check it out.”

“You really shouldn’t.”

“Why not? Which part is your mother playing? The young, naive Janet Weiss?”

“I wish. No, she’s Dr. Frank-N-Furter.”

“Isn’t that normally played by a guy?”

“Normally, yes. But they have more women than men in the group and as Fred Burrows broke his hip gardening, my mother is taking his place.”

“So she’s a—” He squints as he tries to work it out.

“A woman playing the part of a man, pretending to be a woman. Yes. In fishnet stockings, no less.”

He tries hard to stifle his smile. “Sounds…interesting.”

“Interesting is one word for it,” I concede.

We reach the bottom of the stairs and turn to face each other.

“So.”

“So.”

“I guess I’ll see you on the lawn at six?”

“You will.”

“Excellent.”

He steps up. So do I. We climb to the top of the stairs together. At the top, he looks at me and does a fake double take.

“Fancy seeing you here.”

“My room is that way.” I point over his right shoulder.

He checks his key and compares it to the sign in front of us.

“I’m the other direction.”

“Pity.”

“Sorry?”

“Nothing.”

When I walk out onto the beautifully manicured lawn a little after six, I don’t see James at first. Nadia and the girls are standing over by the bar, and Sophie waves when she sees me. I head their way and am presented with a pale green cocktail.

“Cheers,” they giggle in unison, clearly on their way to being three sheets to the wind.