Immersed in memories of a malnourished twelve-year-old girl, Rob fails to hear the hall door open. Ivy enters the room first, quickly followed by Luigi carrying two cushions, his face crumpled from sleep. Murmuring apologies, he places the cushions on a chair, then moves over to the sofa, sits down heavily.
‘I heard him snoring in the room next to the bathroom,’ Ivy says, slipping into her seat. ‘Hope I didn’t wake him when I walked past.’
‘If you did, I’m sure he’ll be relieved Susanna didn’t find him there when she went to wake her father. I wonder what’s keeping them?’
‘Nothing is keeping me,’ a gruff voice says from the doorway. ‘I am pensionato but I move quick for il mio amico.’
Twisting around, Rob watches a frail old man shuffle into the room, Susanna’s arm firmly around his wa
