hair, the same height and build, but he was darker skinned with blue eyes, while Julio’s skin was more olive and his eyes were brown. But dressed identically as they were, they could have passed as brothers.
‘I can see your legs,’ Liv whispered, with a blush.
‘Do you like them?’ he asked with a grin.
She blinked a few times in astonishment at such a question, and then nodded her head shyly.
‘Good. What about my hair? We all wear it this way. I’m not sure…’
‘I like it. Very different, but I like it,’ she broke in quickly, looking down at the floor.
‘Good. You look incredible. It was sacrilege to cover these delicious curves with all that fabric.’
‘Hey Frenchie, the woman’s embarrassed enough, quit the discussion of her figure. I see you guys have got the table set. Where’d you find the table cloth? Have we got a table cloth?’ Jane looked at Julio.
‘No, we haven’t. Do you want one? I ordered in this one this morning when it was decided Liv was staying here for a while. I thought it would make it feel a little bit more like home,’ Julio said, with pride at his own ingenuity.
The tablecloth in question was made of the same fabric as their clothing and was white, of course. The silverware looked attractive set out on it. They had even put bread and butter plates and wine glasses out, too. A vase of flowers formed the centrepiece and two long, white candles sat on either side of it. Serviettes were folded at each place setting.
The lights were dimmed. In the background, the soft orchestral melodies of Brahms played on the entertainment system, as the wild rain and thunderstorm played out beyond the huge window. Rene led Liv to the table, and held her chair while she sat. Julio, deciding not to be outdone, did the same for Jane, who giggled.
‘That’s the first time he’s ever done that,’ she said as an aside to Liv. ‘This equality of the sexes does lose us some things. I rather like being treated like a lady.’
‘Querida, if you stopped acting like a tomboy, I might treat you like a lady more often,’ Julio said, as he poured chilled, white wine into her glass.
‘I do ballet as well as martial arts. That’s hardly the activity of a tom boy.’
‘You don’t mark your body with bruises doing ballet.’
‘Oh, for goodness sake! So Luke got in a lucky kick. It will be gone by tomorrow. Stop fussing.’
Liv looked across at Rene, and grimaced slightly at the banter between the other couple.
‘They’re always like this. You get used to it,’ he told her loud enough for the other two to hear.
That made them all laugh.
‘Do you know, Liv, when I first met Julio I could barely put two words together, I was so shy. And he used to interrogate me, as if I was sitting for an exam or something.’
‘My little mouse,’ Julio said with a sad, affectionate smile. ‘All those awful cigarettes I had to buy so I could spend a few minutes a day in your company, with that witch, Maude, looking on.’
Jane blushed prettily, and looked momentarily shy. It seemed so out of character for the girl he had come to know in the last year, that Rene was entranced. ‘Jane a mouse? I cannot imagine it.’
Jane blushed deeper, and her eyes became filled with pain. ‘Hasn’t anyone ever told you that this princess body isn’t me?’ She let her elegant hands flow down her body to indicate the body she was referring to.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Liv said, frowning.
Rene glanced over at Julio, who now looked deeply concerned. What long-buried wounds were they inadvertently digging up?
‘Rene has told you that people here change into younger bodies when their current one gets old.’ Jane started to explain with enforced perkiness. ‘Well, I was in a bad accident. That’s why Julio rescued me. I wasn’t supposed to be Retrieved. I didn’t fit the guidelines.
‘I was so badly damaged that they had to give me another body – this one. It wasn’t mine. It belonged to some other girl who had died. I never found out who she was. So, you see, this body isn’t actually me. I was not pretty before. And I worked in a dead-end job supporting my alcoholic mother, and couldn’t believe a handsome guy like Julio would show an interest in me. I was painfully shy. Short, fat and ugly girls usually are.’
‘We are far more than our