I almost overslept and probably would have if it weren’t for Tía Isabela. She came bursting into my room, carrying a large shopping bag.
“Why are you still sleeping? You didn’t come home very late,” she cried angrily. “Get up, get up, get up!”
I ground the sleep out of my eyes and sat up.
“I know they didn’t serve you anything alcoholic at the restaurant. You’re underage, and if there’s one thing Adan Bovio has to avoid, it’s corrupting the morals of a minor, or at least being caught doing so. Well?”
“No, I was just—”
“Just get out of bed,” she said. “I want you to put this on today.”
I watched her dig into the bag and pull out what she called a sailing outfit. First, there was a beaded screen-print tank top. The print was of a small island with palm trees. Then she pulled out a hooded light green jacket and a pair of light green elastic-waist pants with front pockets.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed that green is Adan’s favorite color,” she remarked, and set the clothing on my bed. She pulled out a matching green sailing cap from the bag and reached in again to produce a pair of what she called women’s navigator shoes. “They’re made to walk on slippery decks. Well,” she said, “why are you still sitting there gaping at me?”
I got up quickly and headed for the bathroom.
“Get into these clothes, and come down for a light breakfast. We don’t want you getting seasick,” she called after me.
If I ever felt I had pressure on me to perform and make her happy before, I had twice as much now. I was surprised at how well the outfit she had bought fit me, including the shoes. When I went down to breakfast, I discovered she had already dictated to Señora Rosario what I would eat. It was to be merely one poached egg on a single slice of toast.
“No, no, no,” she said, coming into the dining room while I was eating. “Don’t pin your hair up like that. It makes you look too severe. I want it loose. Let it blow in the wind. Men like to see that.”
She didn’t wait for me to take out the pins. She went ahead and did it herself, fluffing my hair the way she wanted it to set.
“Has Sophia risen and eaten her breakfast already?” I asked. I didn’t think Tía Isabela had relented to let her be served in bed again.
“Sophia? She’s probably competing with you. I relented a little on her punishment and said she could go out if she kept decent hours and behaved. We’re better off keeping her from being too idle around here. She’ll only get into more mischief by pouting. I know her too well.”
“What do you mean, she’s competing with me?”
“She went with Christian Taylor an hour or so ago, supposedly to a picnic up in the mountains in Idyll-wild. I can’t imagine her settling for a picnic. Frankly, I’m disappointed in Christian. I thought he had better taste.”
How could a mother speak so about her own daughter?
“I’m going to lend you this bag,” she continued, and showed me a green bag that looked as if it had been purchased to match my outfit. “You can carry your change of clothes in it. I just decided you should put on your new bathing suit now and wear it under your outfit.”
“Bathing suit?”
“I expect you’ll do some swimming, but even if you don’t, you’ll probably do some sunbathing with Adan.”
She took the bathing suit out of the bag to show me. It looked like something a stripper would wear. She glanced at her watch. “Hurry and finish. I’d like to see how you look in this.”
She stood over me to encourage me to gobble down my last two bites.
“Come into my room,” she ordered. “You don’t have to go back upstairs.”
I followed her out and down the corridor. She tossed the bathing suit at me and stood back.
“Well, put it on,” she ordered.
“It looks too tiny.”
“Nonsense. It’s very becoming. You have a great body, perfect for such a suit. There are literally thousands of girls your age who would kill to have your figure and be able to wear a suit like that. Put it on. We don’t have time for false modesty.”
“It is not false, Tía Isabela.”
“Whatever. Just put it on.”