‘You are fucking unbelievable,’ said Carlotta angrily.
At that moment, Simon opened the door. Dressed, thankfully, thought Violetta.
‘Sorry, ladies, I must interrupt. I have to press onto work,’ he said in his usual fawning matter.
Carlotta ignored him but Grace smiled, always her mother’s daughter.
‘Hello, Simon, lovely to see you again.’
Simon tried to kiss Violetta on the cheek but she pulled away. ‘Simon, please, as if,’ she said nastily.
Grace noticed how Simon’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he left Violetta’s apartment.
‘You’re a bitch,’ said Carlotta.
‘Thanks,’ said Violetta.
‘You are a bitch and selfish little brat who thinks that the best way to get ahead in life is to be famous and fuck everyone over to get somewhere.’
‘You don’t know me,’ said Violetta.
‘Yes I do, and you’re an embarrassment,’ snapped Carlotta.
‘You sound like Leon,’ said Violetta.
‘Really? Well, I guess someone has to tell you to stop. Stop the TV show, stop the bullshit and stop embarrassing yourself and your family.’
Grace sat wringing her hands as she watched her sisters fight.
‘I think we have to deal with the bigger issues at hand here. One is that Mom’s injury has got out into the public,’ said Grace.
‘That’s because Violetta wasn’t doing her duty on the roster with Mom last night,’ said Carlotta.
‘It had to come out eventually. Most of the staff at Pajaro know, the hospital, the police,’ said Grace, sticking up for Violetta who was looking stricken.
Violetta picked up the paper and looked closely at the picture of Leon. ‘Where the hell is he? Is that a camel in the background?’
Carlotta walked over and snatched the paper from her. ‘The police have already called me. They’re speaking to the photo agency to find out where and when this image was taken.’
‘So what shall we do?’ asked Grace.
‘About what?’ asked Violetta.
‘About Mummy,’ said Grace.
‘About you,’ said Carlotta.
Violetta gave Carlotta the death stare and then turned her attention onto her younger sister, albeit for a mere few minutes.
‘I think we should speak to Spencer and the hospital about how they were allowed into the room,’ she said, thinking of Jeff banning the TV crew. ‘And as for me, well you needn’t worry about that,’ she said pointedly to Carlotta.
‘Really? Because I’ve had a major potential sponsor for my horse show ring this morning to pull out, saying the de Santoval brand wasn’t something they want to be associated with.’
Carlotta was still shaking after the roasting from John that she had received over the phone at six that morning. No one would speak to her like that, she had decided. Well, maybe Chris at Pajaro, but he didn’t count, she figured. While she agreed with most of the things John had said about her sister, she didn’t want to hear them from someone else. Their conversation had escalated into a full blown argument, with Carlotta losing her temper by the end of it and launching into a poor me speech about the state of Pajaro, her mother, the lack of support from her sisters at work and how Chris was mean to her. And then she hung up. Now she was angry with John and was taking it out on Violetta.
‘Boo fucking hoo,’ said Violetta, walking into the kitchen and getting herself a drink of water. ‘I’m so sad about your poor little horse show.’
‘It may not be important to you but it is to me Violet, just like your stupid little TV show.’
