Chapter 7

“Hey!” It was so good to see Sarah’s face. It had only been a few days since we’d chatted but so much had happened.

“Hi! How are you? Where are you?”

“We’re in Antibes now.” I said it the proper French way, Onh-teeb.

She laughed. “Oh, yeah, that place is … uh … pretty crappy.”

“That is an accurate description.”

“Not quite the garden sheds, though. A bit of a step up.” She was right. The campsite was nothing special, but we were in actual cabins and the four of us got to room together again. We still had to walk across the campsite to have a wee or to shower, but at least there was room for our luggage, and there were windows on opposite sides of the cabin, so we had a cross breeze.

“Want to meet my lovelies?”

“Yes!” she clapped her hands together a few times. The girls were in various stages of settling in. Jaelee was sorting through her bikinis—I’d lost count at four. Lou was scrolling her phone, and Dani was lying prone on her bed.

I started with my bus bestie. “This is Lou,” I said, sitting down next to her so Sarah could see us both.

“Hi, Sarah. Your sister’s awesome.”

Sarah laughed. “I completely agree.” I beamed, enjoying the adoration from two of my favourite people. “How are you enjoying the tour so far?”

“It’s awesome. Sorry, I need another word, but it is. Mostly because of the girls.” Dani interjected with her signature, “Aww.” “Your tips have been good too.”

“Oh yeah? That’s great. It’s been a while—about a decade, now—but a lot of it will still apply.”

“Hey, Sez? What about the excursion to Monaco? It’s tonight.”

“That’s a must. Definitely. It’s just beautiful there.”

“We’re supposed to go to a casino?” added Lou.

“Uh, yeah, if it’s the same one we used to go to, you could probably skip it. It’s not like it’s super nice or anything. Then again, it is kind of cool to say you’ve gambled in Monaco. The walking tour should be good, though. How’s your TM?”

Lou looked at me quizzically. “She means Georgina.”

“Oh, she’s great,” Lou said at the same time I said, “She’s a bit schoolmarmish.”

Lou’s brow furrowed. “You don’t like Georgina?”

“I’ll tell you later.” It was a good time to introduce the others, so I switched to the back camera. “This is Jaelee.” Jae was kneeling next to her case and lifted her hand. “She’s from Miami. And this is Dani from Montreal”

“Hi, Sarah,” drawled Dani, as she waved with a slight flick of her fingers.

“Hiya.”

I switched back to the front camera and headed outside. “I’m just going to catch up on Sarah’s news. I’ll be outside.”

“Don’t forget to catch her up on your news, Cat,” called Jaelee to my back.

Thanks, Jae. I wasn’t going to tell Sarah about Jean-Luc until after our date. Maybe by then I’d have something more interesting to say than, “He grew up ridiculously hot.”

“What news?” asked Sarah as I perched on the wooden step outside our cabin.

“Nope, you first.” I could see she was bursting with whatever it was.

“Okay. But although it’s kind of great, I’m also really confused about everything.”

“Oh, my God, Sarah. Just say it.”

“I’m going to Hawaii with Josh—for New Year’s.”

“Right.” Why did she think this was news? She’d told me all about Josh, the American guy she met in Greece, when she got back to London—including their plan to meet up in Hawaii.

“As in, I’ve booked the flights and he’s got us accommodation, and it’s happening.”

“Ohhh.” The penny dropped. It had been tentative—and now it was official. “Well, that’s amazing, Sarah.” I was happy for my sis. After Neil the dickhead, Josh sounded like a much better match for her—even though I was only going from what Sarah had said about him.

“Yeah, I think so too. But there’s more.” She bit her lip and a frown scuttered across her face. “Um, James is coming to Sydney in January.”

“Ohhh,” I said, the second penny dropping. James was the other man she’d met in Greece—the one she’d seen in London while she was staying with me, the one I’d met, the rich, handsome silver fox.

“So, you’re seeing both of them again? And soon.”

Her head bobbed up and down. “Yep.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“That’s what I was saying. I’m all over the place—excited—confused—nervous. Mostly excited—I think.”

“Good!” God, she really got stuck in her head sometimes.

“Um, Cat?

“Yes.”

“Do you think …?” She trailed off.

“What?” I asked gently. I could tell she was really stewing on something.

“Am I a bad person?”

“What? No, why? Because you’re seeing two men?” A nod. “No, I don’t think that. Have you committed to either of them?” A shaken head. “No, you haven’t. You have to see, Sarah. How else will you know which one is right for you?” She nodded along with my brilliant logic.

“And maybe neither of them is.” I am not sure why I added that last part, but I immediately regretted it. My sister would be a terrible poker player and I could tell my remark had stung. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’re right. I need to be honest with myself—especially after the Neil debacle, the fuckhead. And, you know, maybe I will end up alone—”

“On your own. Not alone.”

“Right. On my own.” She shrugged. “Anyway, for now I just want to be excited.”

“And you should be. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.” She grinned. “So, now, your news. Jaelee, is it? She said you had news.”

“I do, sort of.” She looked at me, her large eyes unblinking. “Do you remember that French exchange student—”

“Jean-Luc? Of course. He practically lived at our house. He walked in on me on the toilet once. It was mortifying.” Of course she remembered that. Sarah’s life could easily be defined as a series of embarrassing moments. “Although I think he was more embarrassed than I was. Anyway, sorry. It’s him, right, Jean-Luc?”

“Yes, it’s Jean-Luc. Anyway …” I gave her a look to tell her to let me finish uninterrupted. She pressed her lips together, then mumbled, “Sorry,” making me laugh. I do adore my sister.

“Anyway, so, the other night when we were in Paris, Jaelee literally stopped some random man in the street to ask him something, aaand it turned out to be Jean-Luc.” Her eyes widened. “You can say something now.”

“So, wow. Oh, my God. Did he recognise you? What does he look like? Did you get to talk to him?”

I answered each question in turn, “Yes, gorgeous—like, ridiculously gorgeous—and yes. He invited us to this pub, and we talked, and then he took me up to Sacré-Cœur, and we went to this bar, and we talked some more, and we’re meeting up in Rome on Thursday. For dinner.”

“That’s. Wow—it’s like something out of a movie.”

“Hah! Coming from you, that’s hilarious. But yes, it was kind of surreal. And, I forgot to tell you. I didn’t recognise him at first, on the street. He was just this random hot guy. I mean, Sez, he’s so incredibly handsome. He’s like six-one or six-two and has this sort of longish hair and his smile is so sexy, and his eyes!

“You probably don’t remember, but his eyes are this intense green and anyway, I didn’t even know it was him until we got to the bar—an Irish pub of all places—in Paris, mad. So, we get there—me and the girls and this guy, Craig. I’ll tell you about him later, and Jean-Luc is already there, and he walks over and looks at me and says, ‘Hello, Cat-er-in.’ Just like that, all sexy and French. I nearly died. In fact, I nearly fainted. Oh, I just remembered that. He caught me. I mean, literally. So …”

“Wow. You are a smitten kitten.”

I sighed. “Yes, rather.” It was my sister. I had no need to play coy. “I’m desperate to go to bed with him.”

“Right.” She cleared her throat—was that her being prudish? She with the two international lovers? “So,” she continued, “did anything happen that night?”

“No—nothing happened in Paris. We just talked. I mean, he held my hand a couple of times, but not like fingers laced, more like you’d hold Mum’s hand. But he did kiss my forehead, really soft and slow.”

“He kissed you on your forehead?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, that’s …”

“I know, right. That’s like …?”

“Yeah, that’s definitely …” Sister shorthand is the best. “So, you’re seeing him in Rome?”

“Right. He’s got this interview thing down in Naples tomorrow—he’s a writer, for magazines—and he’s going to meet me in Rome on Thursday for dinner.”

“Sounds divine. Oh, Cat, you’re gonna love Rome. It’s … you know, some people get all mushy about Paris, but I preferred Rome. It’s just so chic, and it’s this incredible combination of modern and ancient. I mean, people are on their way to work and there are these ruins, like, right there. The whole city is steeped in this incredible history. It’ll be amazing.”

“Well, we’re supposed to have this tour when we first get there, but I was going to skip it to meet up with Jean-Luc. But maybe I should go?”

“On the tour? Yeah, you should definitely do that. It’s only a couple of hours and you’ll get to see the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. I’d say go.”

“Thanks for that. I’ll think about it.”

“Cat?” Lou was standing on the other side of the screen door looking down at me.

“Oh, did you want to come out?” I said, standing.

“Yeah, in a minute. Sorry to interrupt, but we’re going down to the beach soon. Did you want to come?”

“Go!” said Sarah. “It’s the Côte d’Azur!”

“Yes, definitely,” I said to both of them. Lou disappeared. “So, I’ll let you know how Thursday goes.”

“You better. Okay, I love you.”

“Love you, too. And I’m really happy for you, Sez.”

“Thanks.” The grin was back, but I knew my sister. She’d be beating herself up for the next few months over the whole “love triangle” thing. “Bye.”

“Bye.” I ended the call, then went inside to dig out my bikini. It was time to go swimming on the French Riviera!

***

“Huh,” said Dani, summing up what I was thinking.

We’d changed into our swimsuits and cover-ups, packed up beachy things—towels, sunscreen, hats, reading materials—and had left the campsite for the one-mile walk to the beach. It was completely unremarkable, a straight road with nothing of interest on either side, meeting the coastal highway perpendicularly. We crossed the highway, then a train track and when we got to the beach, we stood stock-still side by side, somewhat in shock.

What we’d expected—what I’d expected—was rows of sun loungers, white sand, blue water, and beautiful people milling about drinking cocktails and laughing at witty repartee.

What we got was grey stones all the way down to grey water and not a person in sight.

“Where are the people?” asked Dani.

“Where’s the beach?” asked Jaelee.

“Didn’t Georgina say we should catch the train to either Nice or Cannes, because the beaches are better than Antibes?” asked Lou. I had no idea. I’d been dead asleep, drooling on the coach window.

“I vaguely remember her saying something like that,” said Dani.

“I’m not swimming in that,” said Jae. “I’m from Miami—”

“We know,” replied Dani, cutting her off.

“Okay. So, this isn’t what we’d hoped for. I say we get on the next train to Cannes and go to the beach there. What do you think?” Thank God for Lou taking charge—and for listening to our tour manager.

“I’m up for it,” I said.

“Me too,” added Dani. “Jaelee?”

“Well, I’m not staying here,” she scoffed.

It was decided, and less than an hour later we approached a completely different kind of beach, Plage Zamenhoff. It was the kind with soft white sand and sun loungers you could rent for ten euros a pop. Dani found it online while we were on the train. It was a public beach, so about half the price of the more exclusive beach clubs, and for four tourists (let’s be honest, we were far from travellers that day), it was ideal.

We paid a short French guy and he led the way through rows of sun loungers to four sitting side by side. “Merci,” said Dani, giving her approval. We could see the sea from our vantage point and there were a few empty loungers between us and the nearest people.

I was settling onto mine when I turned around and was met by the surprising sight of Jaelee’s breasts. “Oh, wow …” I didn’t really care—there were bare breasts everywhere on the beach. I’d thought of going topless myself. I just hadn’t expected to get a face full of boob.

“Jaelee,” said Dani. “Do we need to see your boobs?” Apparently, Dani did care.

“We’ve shared a room since we started this trip. You’ve seen my boobs before.” Jaelee lay down on her lounger and placed a large straw sunhat on her head.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“It just is.”

I noticed that Lou was silent. She didn’t swear, so maybe public nudity wasn’t her thing either. Jae ignored Dani, who tutted loudly as she set up on her own lounger.

I got out my sunhat, put it on and pulled the brim low over my face, then made sure my cover-up covered my arms and chest. I’d slathered on sunscreen before we left the campsite, but I was feeling the slight sting of the previous day’s sunburn and I didn’t want to take any chances.

“I’m going for a swim,” said Lou. And if I hadn’t seen it myself, I would never have believed what she did next. She whipped off her bikini top, dropped it on her lounger, and marched towards the water.

“Woo hoo, go Louise!” called out Jaelee.

“Oh, brother,” said Dani, nestling further into her lounger.

I sat upright and watched as Lou walked into the water. She waved to us and called, “Come in. It’s great!”

“What the hell,” said Jae, standing. She headed off.

“Dani? Are you going in?” I asked.

“Not if I have to go topless.”

“You don’t.”

Dani didn’t look convinced. “What if I just stay here and watch our stuff?” She had a point. It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave everything unattended.

“If you’re sure.”

“Go!” she ordered.

I stood and slipped off my cover-up, then looked out at Jae and Lou, both standing waist-deep in the blue water, boobs out, no qualms. The hell with it, I thought. I undid my bikini top and put it on my lounger. I heard another, “Oh brother,” from Dani but I ignored her. I held my head high and, for the first time in my thirty-five years, walked half-naked through a throng of strangers. No one stared. No one cared.

I got to the water’s edge and walked in. Then walked straight back out again. Holy crap, that’s cold.

“You coming in?” asked Lou.

“It’s freezing.” My teeth started to chatter despite the sunny afternoon.

“Like hell, it’s great,” chided Jaelee.

“I thought you were from Miami, Jae. Isn’t the ocean hot there?”

“You’re a lightweight, Cat.”

Jaelee had found my weakness—I, bold, gutsy, do-not-mess-with-me Cat Parsons, was absolutely not a lightweight. I lifted my chin, stuck out my boobs, and strode purposefully into the water, the iciness biting into my legs, then my lady parts. That was the most shocking part. The poor things nearly crawled up inside me as I waded over to Lou and Jae.

“Isn’t this awesome?” asked Lou.

It most definitely was not awesome. I may have been an Aussie girl deep down, but I’d also acclimated to the land after ten years in England. I tried to remember the last time I’d been in the sea. I couldn’t.

Lou submerged herself up to her shoulders, then swam off with a few strokes of breaststroke. Jae followed, and I was left standing by myself in the gently undulating swell. Bollocks, I thought before taking off after them. Maybe swimming would warm me up.

I’m doing it. I am a wild, sexy, sophisticated woman and I’m swimming on the Riviera. I’m … Let’s be honest, I’m freezing my tits off.

I tried to touch the bottom, but I was in over my head, so I swam a few strong strokes towards the shore. Jae and Lou were treading water a little way off, and Lou called to me, but I was single-minded. I wanted to be on dry land, tout de suite.

When I could finally touch the sandy bottom, I did that weird “walk out of the sea” thing where it’s like walking through quicksand and the water’s pulling against you and you’re leaning forward struggling to get to shore while still looking cool. I got to the shallows and straightened up then, boobs out, walked back towards Dani and our stuff.

French Riviera

“How was it?” She peered at me above her sunglasses.

“Amazing. You should go in.” Sometimes I am a sadist.

“Meh, maybe later.” She rolled over and let the sun hit her back. I dried off and was just shimmying into my bikini top (note: this is very difficult when you’re wet and it’s dry) when I heard a man’s voice say, “Oh, hey, guys.”

Before I could register whose voice it was, I clutched the bikini top to my chest.

“Oh, hi, Craig,” said Dani. What?! Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks. Wonderful. It was Craig, his man-boy mountain frame towering over us as I tried to retain my dignity. It was all well and good sharing my breastage with hundreds of beach strangers, but Craig? Little bro’ Craig? Just, no.

“Hey, Dani. I thought it was you coming out of the water, Cat.” Great. So, he’d seen me without my top on. “I’m here with some of the guys.” He pointed in the opposite direction from the water—bollocks, maybe the other guys had too. “Oh, Dani. Jason’s here. Should I go get him?”

“Sure. Yeah.”

“Be right back.” The whole time I was standing there with my bikini top in hand and covering my boobs as best I could considering I have C-cup boobs and A-cup hands. It was one thing for Craig to have seen me half-naked from a distance, I didn’t need to scare the poor boy. As soon as he left, I turned towards the sea and put the top on as quickly as I could before he came back with Jason in tow.

I stretched out on my lounger and waited for the sun to warm me up, and Lou and Jae arrived shortly after. “God, I love swimming in saltwater,” said Lou as she grabbed her towel to dry off.

“Reminds me of Cabo,” said Jae. “Without all the trash in the water.” Yuk. I’d never been to Mexico and if it had been on my travel list, that one comment would have made it plummet to the bottom.

“You may want to cover up, you two. Craig’s here and he’s just gone to get Jason.” They shared a panicked look and hustled to get fully dressed—well, as fully dressed as both halves of a bikini.

“Shit,” said Jae and she fumbled with one of her clasps.

“Here.” I signalled I would help, and she turned her back to me and perched on the edge of my lounger. I did up the fastener.

Just as Lou pulled on a T-shirt over her swimsuit, the guys showed up. Jason made a beeline for Dani, who perked right up, smiling at him as he leant down to give her a quick kiss. The Dani-Jason thing seemed to be progressing rather nicely. Craig gestured to ask if he could sit with me and I pulled my knees up to my chest, so he could sit down.

“So, what have you guys been up to?” asked Jae.

“Same as you. Hanging out here,” said Jason. “I wish we’d found you sooner.”

“Yeah, ’cause we should probably head back soon,” said Mama Lou. “We’ve got Monaco tonight and I’ll be darned if I’m going looking like this.” Sorry, make that, Glamma Lou.

“There’s a train back to Antibes at five-twenty,” said Craig, reading from his phone. “It’s five now.” He looked at the group.

Jason stood. “I’ll go get the boys. Meet you at the train station,” he said to Dani, giving her another quick kiss. Craig had to get his stuff and left with him.

“That was fun,” said Dani, as we picked our way through the streets of sun loungers.

“You’re only saying that because Craig showed up,” teased Jaelee.

“Hey! Not true.”

“You didn’t even go in the water.”

“Hey, in my mind beaches are for looking at, not swimming in. He is cute, though, don’t you think?” she cooed.

We cleared the loungers and emerged onto the boardwalk. Lou put her arm around Dani’s shoulder. “He’s adorable. You’re both adorable.” Dani beamed.

“Yeah, yeah, adorable,” said Jaelee, a bite in her tone.

“Hey! Glass houses, Jaelee. Remember where you spent last night?” Dani’s not takin’ any yo’ crap, Jaelee. I liked seeing Dani stand up for herself.

***

“… And it’s said that Prince Rainier placed a rose on her tomb every day until his death in 2005.”

“Pretty hard to do after he died,” said Jaelee in a low voice. I stifled a giggle and Lou dug an elbow into my side.

“Hey,” I whispered at her.

“Shh,” she whispered back, her attention focused on Georgina.

I had to admit, it had been a pretty good tour. Georgina knew her stuff and Monaco was, as Sarah had promised, beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere as perfect and pristine, before or since.

It was like one of the worlds in Disneyland—Monacoland, where every streetlamp, every building, every staircase and footpath was designed to bring the greatest joy to adult children everywhere—and the views! If Paris was the city of lights, then Monaco was the principality of lights. And with it perched on—or it was clinging to?—a mountainside, that meant spectacular views and very sore calf muscles by the end of the tour.

“I’m dying,” said Dani as we crested another hill. Georgina was fit, that was for sure. Her walking tour could have been rescheduled, relabelled and added to the itinerary as a fitness excursion.

“Wanna piggyback?” Jason asked. I figured he was kidding. Dani didn’t.

“Yes. Please!” He stopped, crouched down, and she climbed on.

I decided they needed a couple name. “I’m calling you two “Jasni’” from now,” I said, a little out of breath myself.

“Ewww, that’s awful,” laughed Dani.

“Danson?”

“Worse,” replied Jason.

“How about—”

“How about nothing?” Dani cut me off playfully, then giggled as he trotted ahead with her bouncing on his back.

“The Love Bus …” sang Lou beside me, quietly.

“… Soon will be making another run …” I joined in.

My phone beeped in my clutch. “Oh, hang on.” I stopped walking and took it out, tapping the screen until I could see the message from Jean-Luc. I’d texted earlier to say I could meet him at 5:00pm on Thursday. I was taking Sarah’s advice about the Roman city tour.

“Is it him?” Lou peered over my shoulder.

“Yep.”

“And?”

I grinned at her. “He’s sent the name of a bar so we can meet for drinks. He says it’s near Piazza Navona.” I had no idea what that meant, but I’d look it up.

“Just remember to invite me to the wedding,” she joked.

I looked up at her through my lashes. “Hilarious.”

She shrugged. “You never know.”

But I did know—I didn’t do marriage. I sent a quick reply.

Sounds good. See you there. Can’t wait. Cat x

I’d tapped “send” before I could rethink the “can’t wait” part. I showed Lou and she nodded with approval. “C’mon, we need to catch up.”

Georgina released us around ten, dropping us at the entrance of a casino. She made sure we had the pick-up location pinned in our phones and told us to meet her and Tom there at 12:30am. I stifled a yawn and Lou nudged me again with her elbow.

“Stop doing that,” I chided.

“Sorry.”

“You must know you have at least eight inches on me. I’m going to have a permanent bruise on my shoulder.”

“I’m sorry.” Her Canadian accent asserted itself as she dragged out “sawwreee”.

“I forgive you, but remember, I’m just little.” It’s what I’d always said to Sarah when we were growing up. She’s around five inches taller and, though I am not proud, I definitely played the “little sister” card more than a few times—being younger and smaller. A shout of, “Muuu-uuummm,” and she’d get told to leave me alone. I was cheeky like that sometimes—I still am.

***

Somehow, we ended up at the Grand Casino.

And by “we” I mean, the four of us, Craig and the Kiwi four-pack. And by “ended up” I mean we completely ditched our tour group and made our way to the Grand Casino on purpose.

It was both sublime and surreal.

The architecture was incredible, keeping right in with the adult Disneyland theme. It looked like the palace Belle and the Beast moved into right after he transformed back into the prince—lots of ornate flourishes—and for some reason, there were palm trees in the forecourt.

But the real attraction was the cars parked out front. Name a super car and it was there. My dad loves cars, and Sarah and I were brought up to love them too. Consequently, we are total rev-heads. I’ve watched Top Gear since it began and when it became Grand Tour, I switched allegiance and followed Clarkson and the boys. I still have a mad crush on Richard Hammond, and my dream car is a Bugatti Chiron. You can Google it. It’s gorgeous. Lego even made one—that drives! Sorry, I digress …

That night, the boys and I did walk-arounds of all the cars. We weren’t the only ones, and I suspect if you park your car out front of the Grand Casino, you’re fine with people gawking. We did this under the watchful eyes of two security guards—looking, but not touching, guys. No Chirons, but still …

“So, are we going in?” asked Jae, loudly. Her impatience was obvious, but I could have happily spent the whole evening in the parking lot.

“In there?” asked Dani. She looked dubious.

I made my way over to the girls. “Uh, Jae, we can’t get in there.”

She looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, there’s no way we meet the dress code.” We were all dressed in the nicest things we had in our luggage, but dress jeans and wrinkled button-down shirts and equally wrinkled dresses weren’t going to cut it.

Jae looked down at her outfit. She looked great in her tiny black skin-tight sheath, but that wouldn’t cut it either. The Grand Casino was strictly black-tie. “But—”

“Jae, look.” Mama Lou pointed to the men and women who were ascending the staircase. Tuxes and gowns abounded.

“Oh. I … in Miami …” She stopped before she finished the thought.

“You look great, Jae, really,” I said. “Beautiful, but this isn’t Miami.”

She nodded, clearly baffled. I doubted Jaelee had ever been refused entry anywhere. With her looks and her wardrobe, she’d probably never paid a cover charge either.

“It’s cool,” she said, shrugging it off. “But I’ll be damned if I’m not placing a bet at a table in Monte Carlo,” she added.

And that is how we ended right back where we’d started in a lesser-known and kinda-seedy casino well off the main drag. Right back with our tour group.

“Hi, guys!” Georgina locked onto us as soon as we walked in, far more effusive than usual. My eyes zeroed in on the glass in her hand. Ahh, that explained it.

“Georgina!” Oh, darling Lou.

“Where have you guys been?”

Walk away. Walk away.

Lou started in on a newsy report of where we’d been and what we’d seen. Jae sidled up to me and nodded towards a blackjack table. It seemed far more interesting than a tipsy Georgina. The rest of our little group had dispersed, Dani tucked under Jason’s arm as they both watched one of the Kiwi guys—Paul?—throw dice onto a craps table.

I followed Jae. We took side-by-side seats and she laid a fifty-euro note on the table. The dealer took it and signalled a guy who replaced it with a stack of chips. She halved the stack and gave me twenty-five euros worth of chips. I started to protest and she shushed me.

I’d played pontoon when I was at uni in Australia, but I’d never played blackjack and I’d certainly never sat at a casino table. Excitement revved inside me. I threw Jae a smile and she shut it down with a look that said, “Cool it.” I cooled it.

On the dealer’s signal, she placed a five-euro chip on the table; I did the same. He dealt and when I peeked at my cards, I saw two tens. Holy crap! I’d seen enough films to know I needed to split the pair and up the ante. I did both. My next cards were a seven and a nine. I sat on those. The dealer was on fifteen, so he had to turn over another card. It was another seven. He was bust, and I won both hands. On my first ever time playing blackjack. In a casino. In Monte Carlo. I won!

My mouth formed an O and when I looked at Jae, she was smiling at me, her cool façade gone. “Nicely done. First time?” Was it that obvious? I nodded. “Nicely done, rookie.”

I pushed twenty-five euros in chips over to Jae. “No—”

“Yes. I’ll play with my winnings.”

“Okay,” she acquiesced.

We stayed at the same table—my lucky table—until Georgina rounded us all up. Beginner’s luck accounted for an extra one hundred and twenty euros of spending money.

Hello, Italy!