From Barcelona, with Love by Elizabeth Adler

with.”
    â€œ What ‘over with’?” Flora took another biscuit. Lorenza moved the plate away from her, though why she bothered she did not know, after all Flora was a chef and consumed food all day long.
    â€œYou’ll see,” she said, just as the door opened and Jassy breezed in.

 
    Chapter 7
    Jazmin de Ravel, known as Jassy, brimmed with energy and a sheer pleasure in life that drew everyone who ever met her, into her orbit. She was a force field, Lorenza thought, a magnet; always on the move, always seeking someplace new, some one new. Tall, with the wide shoulders of an athlete—she had been a champion swimmer at school—narrow hipped with racehorse legs, a rounded behind set like twin small melons on her slinky frame, with breasts that almost matched, and, in the towering heels she always wore, Jassy was a cross between Playboy and an haute couture model.
    Today, her blond hair swung smoothly over her shoulders and down her back, a river of gold. Other days she wore it softly curled, framing her face in twists and strands, sweet as an angel. And sometimes she piled it up on top and put on her pointed horn-rimmed glasses—she was terribly shortsighted—looking like a fifties vixen secretary, the kind always out to get the boss.
    Jassy had been baptized Concepçion Eldorado Mercedes Jazmin, which, when added to de Ravel, was quite a mouthful. The “Eldorado” was because she had been conceived after an epic “battle” between her parents, which one of them had obviously scaled the heights and won, hence the baby daughter. Mercedes was a traditional Spanish family name, though most of the world thought it was a German car. In fact Mr. Benz had named his car for his Spanish wife whose name was Mercedes—therefore Mercedes Benz forevermore. So, from Concepçion, Eldorado, Mercedes, and Jazmin, Jassy had chosen to be “Jassy,” though she had long ago decided she could be anybody she darn well pleased; she could do anything she wanted; go anywhere in the world she liked. She had the money, the looks, and the capacity for making friends and having a good time.
    â€œHi,” she beamed now, taking in her brother and sister and Lorenza in one quick shortsighted glance.
    â€œYou should wear your glasses,” Lorenza said. “And you’re late, Jassy.”
    â€œSorry.” Her myopic blue eyes met Lorenza’s. “Allergies, I couldn’t get the contacts in today and I couldn’t find my glasses, it was too late to look for them. They’re probably under a sofa cushion somewhere.”
    Sure they are, Lorenza thought, accepting Jassy’s kiss, breathing in her scent. Jassy was a Dior Poison kind of woman. Exactly whose sofa? she wondered.
    â€œYou look lovely,” Jassy said, taking in her stepmother, head to toe. “I always loved those pearls. Isn’t it time to get out of the black though? After all, it’s been … well, how long has it been exactly?” she asked, walking round the coffee table to kiss Antonio and Floradelisa, and managing to knock over a cup of coffee with her voluminous white voile skirt. “Ooops, look what I’ve done now,” she said with a grin. “Never could take me anywhere.”
    â€œIt’s being without those glasses,” Antonio said. “You’ll kill yourself one day, walk under a bus, or fall off the pier or something.”
    â€œOh, there’ll always be somebody there to save me.” Jassy was nothing if not confident. “Hi, Floradelisa, how’s business?”
    â€œHot,” her sister replied.
    Jassy winked at her, and laughed. “Oh, you mean in the kitchen ! Come on, Floradelisa, it’s time you hooked up with a guy, some young chef as hot as you and your kitchen.”
    Floradelisa blushed, uncomfortable. “I don’t have the time.”
    Lorenza said, “Jassy, I thought you were bringing Paloma with